recently my daughter wanted to have a pet as her companion so that she wont be feeling lonely.

her favourite is cats but due to the place & the environment we are staying, it's impossible for us to adopt any pet which need to let loose & run around in the house.

i have no knowledge about keeping pets, need some advices on this matter.

she wanted the pet to be long live (at least over 3 years) & easy to take care of, relatively small in size after mature into adult.

bugs / insects & geckos / lizards are not in her list of acceptation.

thanks

Cat or dog is the most suitable or fish.

Search for small size cat/dog breeds.

cat & dog is not allowed in the vicinity

what type of fish you recommend for kids?

Small fish like guppy and tetra. Goldfish is small and beautiful but it is not for newbie.

Make sure that you learned all the basic before hand as fish is not as easy as you think at first.

The fish tank require regular maintenance and a reasonable sized tank even for small fish.

For eg. you need to change half of the water of the tank every 2 week. Full water change every half year. Good water filter system and etc.

Only go for it if you are sure you can take over if your daughter losing interest.

Read this guide/FAQ
https://www.reddit.com/r/Aquariums/wiki/index/

Other small pets to consider are sugar glider and hedgehog. Do search and read the pros and cons first.

she need pet which can have hands on interactions, not just watching the pets go about

Try Tortoise?

good idea, but must must must be vegetarian tortoise, else it will bite people.

Guinea pig would be quite a good choice. Avoid hamsters, because they tend to bite, even if you care 100% for them.

how much space is required for tortoise or guinea pig ?

As a past owner of a turtle and hamster i would advise you against it unless you can stand their habitat smell.

Probably better to get a sugar glider or a guinea pig.

Sorry, cannot agree on the hamster part. But I will say that they will bite only when startled/threatened and scared. I've had a couple of hamsters before, one after another. 2 died of old age while another escaped because someone left the cage open.
Never once was I bitten by them. They even eat food off my fingers.
I believe most importantly is to have them be comfortable with your presence and scent, then they need not be scared of you touching them.
Same goes for any domestic animal, I guess.

So, TS, hamsters are nocturnal animals. If you don't mind your daughter staying up late a bit just to play with them, depending on what time is her bed time of course.

i didn't know they would have such bad smell

would prefer diurnal pets

for turtle , you need to change the water frequently , once in every 2 days

I don't know if a fish will make her feel any less lonely though as they are not interactive. Cats and dogs are you best bet but since it's not plausible, hamster or guinea pigs are next best options.

9 years old? Old enough to be responsible for taking care of a pet?

https://petrock.com/

i suggest sulcata or star tortoise

rabbits.

rabbits need quite big area for running about? aren't they considered fragile animals?

taking care of pet is one of the way i think to educate her to be caring & responsible

the "rock" as pet is definitely not into consideration, she would think that "my daddy must be crazy"

This post has been edited by steevan1000: Aug 14 2023, 04:56 PM