Topic starter
Obvious answer is a pet shop but our local one is not great. What are the options/general wisdom on buying small pets these days? Back in my day it was all word of mouth about accidental litters that needed homes.
Posted : 21/04/2025 9:45 pm
Adopt. There are loads of these sorts of animals that get abandoned because people think they're easy and don't live as long as they do.
The RSPCA/SSPCA are OK places to start, if only to point you to a local specialist rescue as they're only really set up to deal with the pets that look good in adverts like dogs and cats.
Posted : 21/04/2025 10:08 pm
convert reacted
If you get gerbils, don’t get a hamster cage - an aquarium half-filled with sawdust and peat makes a much more suitable habitat.
think they're easy and don't live as long as they do.
they are very easy to care for (especially given the above as the environment is quite self-sufficient) and they only live for three or four years.
Posted : 21/04/2025 10:35 pm
Yes gerbils benefit from a big and tall cage -they are very athletic and like space to climb and jump...
I'd recomend a hampster if you are limited with space.
Posted : 21/04/2025 11:02 pm
Get a hamster or two guinea pigs. Both are more sociable and will require less sawdust! And don't expect children to clean them out. They talk a good game, but that soon fizzles out. We should have stuck with hamsters, but the children did make it to adulthood (and didn't clean out the cage/hutch of either).
Posted : 22/04/2025 9:57 am
Topic starter
gerbils seem to be wanted as they sleep less during the day apparently. I have realised that it will be my pet ultimately so don’t want too much hassle or biting. Guinea pigs would have been perfect but you know kids.
Will check out an adoption - all depends if they talk up a vicious little critter to get it off their hands.
Posted : 22/04/2025 10:02 am
We had a succession of hamsters. They had a decent sized cage with tunnels, a wheel and wire bars on the top half. They're crepuscular rather than noturnal, so the kids saw them in the evenings after school (as they grew older and stayed up later they saw more, obvz).
They were all very active and pretty entertaining - variety of monkey-bar techniques on show as well as the wheel etc. We had a clear plastic ball, a sort of zorb type thing that the kids had them in while their slaves cleaned out the cage. If you start to handle them early on, and regulalry, they're very docile and non-bitey
Would buy again
Posted : 22/04/2025 1:05 pm
Gerbils are notorious to sex, I gave away a lot of “same sex” couples- I think I was responsible for thousands of offspring!!
Posted : 22/04/2025 1:16 pm
we had gerbils when I was a kid. they made great pets
Posted : 22/04/2025 1:20 pm
I, too, had gerbils as a kid and into my early 20s. The last pair I had were called Ozzy and Vince (I saw both Black Sabbath and Motley Crue in the same week I got them). \m/
Posted : 22/04/2025 1:26 pm
