Decorative rats
Some of these rodents are treated with caution. But as pets for children, they are quite cute. There are a variety of colors, there are even hairless ones. It is better to have two same-sex rats, in the company it is easier for them to endure captivity.
Pros: Suitable for families who travel frequently. If you are going to leave for a few days, you can safely leave the animal in a cage. The main thing is that it has enough water and food. If you often take the animal in your hands from childhood, it will quickly become tame.
Cons: specific smell. If released from the cage, it will gnaw on everything that gets in the way.
If children are at home: it is better not to start if the child is under 7 years old. Until this age, children are careless in handling small pets. In response, the rodent may bite.
Where to stay: the cage must be at least 60 by 40 cm and at least 50 cm in height. It should have a house, shelves, ladders, tunnels, so that the animal has a place to climb.
What do they eat: barley, oats, millet, wheat. You can give nuts for grinding teeth and chicken bones.
Varieties: tailless, rex, dumbo, hairless, satin.
| The weight | 250 – 650 g, males are larger |
| body length | up to 30 cm |
| How many live | 2 – 3 years |
Hamsters
Watching this pet is a real pleasure. He runs amusingly in the wheel, munching on tasty treats on both cheeks and sleeping curled up.
Pros: quickly become attached to people and become tame.
Cons: very small, you need to make sure that the cage is locked. If he runs away, it’s hard to catch. You need to bathe and trim your claws. Leads a nocturnal lifestyle. Sleeps during the day and makes noise in the evening. Lives for a short time.
If children are at home: it is better not to start if the child is under eight years old. The hamster may not survive active games. And it is also able to bite if the child strongly presses it to itself.
Where to stay: for dwarf breeds, the cage should be at least 30 by 50 cm, and for Syrian breeds – 40 by 60 cm. The cage should have a house and a wheel for running, you can put various steps to make it more interesting for the animal to run.
What do they eat: hard grains (wheat, oats, millet), seeds and nuts can be given as treats.
Varieties: the most common houses for keeping are dwarf (roborovsky and dzungarian), Syrian.
| The weight | dwarf – 50 g, Syrian 100-200 g |
| body length | dwarf 5-10 cm, Syrian – 12-18 cm |
| How many live | 2-4 years |
Chinchillas
An active and cheerful animal will become an excellent pet for children. Females are nimble and restless, males are more calm. You can stroke them, scratch them, but this is not the animal that will sit in your arms for hours.
Pros: Chinchillas are funny and interesting to watch.
Cons: they sleep during the day and play pranks at night. They do not tolerate air temperatures above 26 degrees, in the summer the room will have to be cooled. The optimum temperature for them is + 18 … + 20 degrees. If released from the cage, it will gnaw on everything that gets in the way.
If the children are at home: Do not buy a chinchilla if there is a child under 5 years old in the house. The animal can be very frightened by screams or crying.
Where to stay: the cage must be spacious, at least 50 cm wide and 70 cm long. Ideally, find a cage with shelves located at different heights from each other. Chinchillas love to sit on them. There should be two trays in the cage. One with filler (preferably wood, so that there is no unpleasant smell), where the rodent will go to the toilet, and the second – with fine sand, for swimming. Yes, yes, these animals do not swim in the water. The sand needs to be sifted every few days so that there are no feces there.
What do they eat: specialized feed, herbs, dried fruits, wood sticks for grinding teeth. It is better to give food in the evening, when the animals begin to be active.
Varieties: small long-tailed and large short-tailed.
| The weight | 500-800 g (long tail), 1,1 to 1,4 kg (short tail) |
| body length | 28-38 cm (long tail), 28-49 cm (short tail) |
| How many live | 6-10 years |
Ferrets
Strictly speaking, ferrets are not rodents – they belong to the weasel family. These are playful and restless pets. While you are not at home, they feel comfortable in a cage, but as soon as you arrive, they will need to be played with. The more you exhaust him, the calmer the night will go.
Pros: You can start if there are cats or dogs at home. Ferrets are friendly and will get along with other pets.
Cons: They emit a foul odor if they are strongly frightened. If you let them out of the cage, they can organize a hiding place where they will carry things that are poorly lying at home.
If children are at home: get young ferrets at the age of two months. Do not allow children to bring close to the face, the animal may bite.
Where to stay: the cage should be no less than 60 by 80 cm. You need to put a house and a hammock in it, as well as put various rags and shreds. You can’t keep your pet locked up all day, for 2-3 hours you need to let him run around the apartment, after closing the door to another room and removing or protecting valuables, as well as medicines, household chemicals, wires and everything that can be chewed. The second option is to go outside with him, you can walk the animals on a harness.
What do they eat: specialized food. Another option is to give natural products: turkey, rabbit, chicken, beef. In this case, eggs, cottage cheese, kefir should be added to the diet.
Variety: ferret (a domesticated species of steppe ferrets).
| The weight | from 700 g to 2 kg, males are larger |
| body length | up to 45 cm |
| How many live | 8-10 years |
Guinea pigs
Funny animals with a complaisant and friendly character. They do not like loneliness and rejoice when they are played with and held in their arms.
Pros: Guinea pig hair does not cause allergies. The animals are clean and carefully monitor not only themselves, but also their cage neighbors.
Cons: rather shy.
If the children are at home: Explain that you have to be very careful with guinea pigs. Under no circumstances should you throw a pig on the floor. Any careless movement – and a furry friend can suffer greatly.
Where to stay: a cage or terrarium with an area of 40 by 80 cm is suitable. The cage can be low, most importantly – spacious. Inside, you definitely need a house so that the pig can hide, and a few toys. For example, a tunnel to climb in, an old sock or a toilet paper tube stuffed with hay. Pigs love to chew on them.
What do they eat: specialized fodder, hay, dry herbs, branches of fruit trees.
Varieties: long-haired, short-haired and hairless.
| The weight | females – from 700 g to 1 kg, males – from 1 to 1,5 kg |
| body length | from 20 to 35 cm |
| How many live | from 5 to 8 years |
Popular questions and answers
We talked about whether the communication of a child with animals is useful and what problems may arise medical psychologist Gulnara Sotskaya.
– to give the pet into good hands, but if the child is strongly attached to the animal, this step will inevitably lead to mental trauma;
– limit the contact of the child with the animal – do not let the pet into the rooms where the baby is most often located, establish good ventilation of the premises, purchase an ionizer for air purification, carry out frequent wet cleaning of the premises.