Stick insect
Whilst I love seeing animals in the wild, I hate having them near me and cannot understand why people want pets. It seems cruel to me. Since your son suggested snails or worms, why not get him one/some of those? Perhaps he is more interested in the lifecycle of the animals (in a mini Chris Packham way) than having one as a ‘toy’ - obviously you would know best about this.
Otherwise, I was listening to an episode of ‘The Infinite Monkey Cage’ where someone had a crow - sounded fascinating - but still cruel.
Rats make great pets, I currently have two (they should at least be in pairs) but have had over 100 at one point in my teenage years, had to convert a wardrobe to house them all.
Females are meant to smell less than males but I have had both and to be honest if they smell just as much as each other, the key is to clean the cage often.
I clean the entire cage every Sunday and change the bedding every second day, as my rats like using the bedding to urinate in occasionally. They do get out of the bedding area to use the toilet but it seems at least one of them is lazy and pees the bed. Also give them a corner in the cage as a toilet and they will use that, so they are quite clean that way.
Male rats are way more chilled so will probably be better for younger kids as Females tend to be more jumpy. Rats never bite unless you properly give them a reason to they are very submissive and would rather squeak and run off over fighting back.
They can live up to 3.5 years though so a bit longer than the 18 months previously quoted.
They are very intelligent and love to be interacted with usually first thing in the morning and at about 6.p.m if they are left alone they will just sleep until something interesting happens.
Guinea Pigs are awesome. Our two are nearly 6 years old and going strong. They live in our kitchen in a 1 X .5 metre plastic cage which gets cleaned out twice a week, takes about ten minutes. Their food is cheap, nuggets from pets at home, big bag lasts a couple of months the rest of their food is veggies, cucumber, celery, carrot, spinach. They have a run in the garden for nicer weather and love to eat the lawn. Bedding is wood chips and hay from a local farm shop, again big bales are cheap and last ages. Old news papers to line the cage, everything can go on the compost.
Because ours live inside they are very social and make lots of noises when you enter the room. They love cuddles and purr when you stroke them. I think guinea pigs left out in a garden hutch remain shy. The more attention they get the more they give back. Lovely creatures.
