Help me choose a pet...

[Umbran]

don't shed hair all over everything

Anything with fur sheds. Period. It is just that ferrets are small, and have less hair than a larger animal. Spread over an entire apartment, you won't notice it much.

Someone who is allergic will still notice it, mind you.

 

[Merkuri]

Someone who is allergic will still notice it, mind you.

As someone with allergies, telling me your pet doesn't shed won't convince me of anything. It's not actually the fur that we're allergic to, but the dander and saliva. Even if your pet sheds not a hair, its invisible dander will still be all over the apartment, in the funiture and carpets. It can take about three months without a pet for a room to become dander-free.

Many pets who don't shed (or who don't shed much) are also hypoallergenic, but the lack of loose fur doesn't make a difference in and of itself.

That's something to keep in mind when choosing a pet if you have friends or roomates with allergies. Birds and lizards will probably not affect them (some people are allergic to birds, but it's much less common), but mammals (like the ferret) will probably make them uncomfortable when in your apartment.

 

[Ranger REG]

No deal. If they want a rodent, they can do what they usually do, which is chase one down in the woods and kill it themselves.

Yeah, but how often they get to hunt ferrets in the woods, and bring it back for dinner?

 

[IcyCool]

1. Birds are for eating.
2. Ferrets are like small, annoying, stinky cats that you pretty much have to keep locked up.
3. Lizards are for giving people the screaming heebie jeebies (including their owners).

If you absolutely have to get one of those three, my suggestion is to go with the ferrets as the least of 3 evils.

 

[Captain Howdy]

I would suggest getting a bearded dragon. My girlfriend has one, and it is a really great pet. She got it when it was a hatchling, and now it's about 9 months old. At first it was really skittish and just sat in it's tank all day, but once it realized that we weren't going to eat it, it grew more attached.
I get the biggest kick out of this little guy. We feed him usually every other day, and we take him out of the tank every day for some play time. If I sit of the floor, he likes to crawl up my arm and nuzzle into my neck where it's warm. Sometimes the lizard and I just sit there and watch TV together. He is awesome.
We were talking to a lady that owns some, and she said that as they get older, they will recognize you by your face and voice, like a dog or cat would. Right now he is still small, but when he gets bigger, he will be a blast to play with.

On the plus side, bearded dragons are silent, don't smell, are easy to care for (just cleaning the tank and feeding), and are pretty social little guys too. They do have special temperature requirements, but you can get a uv light and a heat lamp. Talk to the people at your pet store about the equipment.

 

[Galamir]

I have a bit of exp in the dept. so let me share some knowledge with you. As in a small apt I would recommend either the fish, short hair cat, or lizard.

Fish:
Very little trouble, easy to take care of, although a little boring. You can spruce this up by getting a variety of fish or an interesting type of fish such as a "Japanese fighting fish" but they don't like any other fish at all. Though if put a mirror in the tank they get all puffy. You could also get a castle or seawater fish. Sucker fish can also be interesting.

Cats:
A cat would be a good idea but depending on how big you apt. is it can be a little stressful. I know my cats like to get under my feet especially around dinner time. They will also sleep on random things like keyboards and stairs(!). A short hair cat would be a good idea if you dont like the prospect of sheading. Though they are really friendly and my cats still will love/trip me to this day.

Lizzard:
Prolly your best bet in your situation low/no noise, almost no trouble, very friendly once they get to know you. And a heat lamp and electric rock will work wonders for your pets happiness. Also you should refer to your local pet store employee about food and feeding you pet. A word to the wise: Do not try to hand feed you lizard the first day. Unless of course you want a large welt along your hand.

 

[Elf Witch]

Any advice on a pet for someone who lives in a small flat (apartment)?

I have recently gone from living in a house with a large backyard to living in a (relatively) small 2nd floor apartment. When I moved I had to give my dog (of ten+ years) away to someone with sufficient room for her.

I'm not trying to replace my dog (no pet could do that), but I am looking to get a new pet...

I've basically got it narrowed down to one of three choices:

1. Bird (parrot of some kind)

2. Ferret

3. Lizard (probably a Bearded Dragon or Eastern Water Dragon)

Anyone have experiences they think might be helpful in choosing?

Cheers - Thurbane

I have all three.

I have bred birds and right now I own a bare eyed cockatoo, Rainbow Lory, Bourke Parakeet and a lovebird. I have also owned budgies, finches, canaries, pigeons, cockatiels, Quakers, aLiliac head amazon and greewing wings.

Birs are great pets if they are hand raised. They are intellegent can be taught tricks. They can be playful and most like interaction from their human flock mates.

There are downsides to all pets and for birds they are messy. They tend to throw their food around, not all can be trained to poop on command and some birds like the cockatoos and cockatiels put out a lot of feather dust that can cause allergies.

The good thing about their waste is that it does not stink like mammal waste bird cages only smell if they are not kept clean. Also it clans off things really easy on cloth I use hydrogen peroxide to clean it up.

As for biting I tell this to everyone thinking about getting a bird. If you are afraid of being bit don't get one. Birds no matter how well trained or hand raised and bred in captivity are still hard wired for the wild. When they get spooked they will sometimes bite. Some of the bigger birds get hormonal and bite during breeding season.

Usually when I have been bit it has been my fault for not paying attention the clues my bird was sending.

Birds need a nice size cage but a bird should never be allowed to fly around your apartment. That is just leading towards disaster. They can fly into windows, celing fans, into the toilet and drown or fly out an open door and never be found. You need to get their wings clipped and you should have someone who knows what they are doing do it.

My big birds don't need a room of their own. They have nice cages with lots of toys to keep them amused and they have playstands that they come out on everyday and play on and climb around on.

All birds can make a lot of noise and that goes for the small ones to some people are annoyed by this.

As for talking budgies can be really good talkers. But not every bird learns to talk and that should never be a reason for getting one. I like budgies they are playful bold and a lot of fun. Because they are small they don't as a large a cage nor do they need a huge mutlilimb playstands that take up a lot of room.

If you want a cuddly bird then cockatiels are great for this they love to be on their owners some learn to talk and whistle but they are not known for their talking ability.

Another small bird that is full of big bird personality are lovebirds. They are parrots in a small package. They don't talk as well as other birds but they form a close bond with their owners. BTW it is a myth that you need two. Never get two lovebirds if you want them to bond to you. Also you need to get a recently weaned hand raised bird. They are impossible to tame if they are not hand feed and if they get weaned and don't get enough attention they revert to their wild state.

Some other good small bird choices are Parrolets, greew wing parakeets, bebe parakeets, bourke parakeets and some of the smaller conures.


I have had igunas, geckos, and bearded dragons. I personally think beardies make the best pet. First of all they are very calm and don't bite and if they did it does not hurt. I hand feed mine worms and he sometimes catches my fingers it dosen't feel like a bite at all.

They have some gorgeous color morphs avilable now the sunset beardies are beautiful.

Beardies need some crickets, wax worms and superworms in their diets as well as a selection of greens. If you are lucky your beardie will have been raised on one of the new pelleted diets and that helps when you don't have fresh food and can't find prey.

Small hatchlings need new born pinheaded crickets and some people feed young beardies pinkys. I don't and different vets give conflicting advice on this.

They need like most lizards a light set up to provide UV this is vital to their development of thier bones they also need a basking hot area to be able to digest thier food. If they get cold after a feeding their food just sits in their system and can mkae them sick and or kill them.

A warning reptiles can carry salmonella so cage maintence is important also wash your hands everytime you handle them or thier equipment.


Ferrets are clowns and fun. But they smell I bath Nefertti once a week and clean her cage litterbox daily. I also wash her bed once a week.

I only let her out when I can watch her ferrets have an amazing abilty to get into trouble. They have been killed by people sitting on them when they have claimed into the couch cushions or been killed climbing up into the matress. They have escaped into the wild (which is a death sentence for the ferret) through a small hole in a dryer vent. They have the ability to get into the smallest holes.

As Umbran said in the US they are prone to cancer, which is why they are now bringing in ferrets from other countries to help bring in healther genes. So ferrests in your neck of the woods should not have this problem.

Ferrets do not have imunity to the virus that causes felines to have colds and it can kill them fast. Tut my one ferret got sick at around 2 AM with a cold he caught from my cat. BY 7 Am he was in critical condition with my vet fighting to save his life and he was dead by noon. Ferrets like birds often mask their illness until they are really sick so if you notice that they are showing symptoms take them to a vet ASAP.

I think ferrets make great pets for the right person. They are great fun and very playful they will keep you laughing for hours. Of course not all ferrets can really be litterboxed trained outside of the cage and they will go in corners. Their waste while small and eaily cleaned up does have odor and can ruin carpets and cloth furniture if not cleaned up right away and an odor neutralizer used.

Also be aware that ferrets don't live as long as cats and dogs or even beardies and small birds they live to be about 7 as the average.

What ever pet you get do research first make sure you know what you are getting into. So many impulsive pets purchases in end in a bad way for both the owner and the pet.

 

[Elf Witch]

I have a bit of exp in the dept. so let me share some knowledge with you. As in a small apt I would recommend either the fish, short hair cat, or lizard.

Fish:
Very little trouble, easy to take care of, although a little boring. You can spruce this up by getting a variety of fish or an interesting type of fish such as a "Japanese fighting fish" but they don't like any other fish at all. Though if put a mirror in the tank they get all puffy. You could also get a castle or seawater fish. Sucker fish can also be interesting.

Cats:
A cat would be a good idea but depending on how big you apt. is it can be a little stressful. I know my cats like to get under my feet especially around dinner time. They will also sleep on random things like keyboards and stairs(!). A short hair cat would be a good idea if you dont like the prospect of sheading. Though they are really friendly and my cats still will love/trip me to this day.

Lizzard:
Prolly your best bet in your situation low/no noise, almost no trouble, very friendly once they get to know you. And a heat lamp and electric rock will work wonders for your pets happiness. Also you should refer to your local pet store employee about food and feeding you pet. A word to the wise: Do not try to hand feed you lizard the first day. Unless of course you want a large welt along your hand.

I am not trying to be insulting here but don't depend on advice from pet store employees they often don't really have any training and often give some horrible advice on feeding and caring for pets.

Not even speciality stores that only carry say reptiles or birds can be counted on for giving good advice sometimes they are in it for the money. Sometimes you get lucky and the person who owns the store is into herpotolgy or keeps up on the lastest avian advances.

Get advice from a qualified exotic vet. Or from up to date publications. There are some good magazines.

And while you can get good tips from other pet owners on the internet you can also get a lot of old wives tales and out of date advice that maybe harmful to you pet.


BTW are you talking about siamese fighting fish when you are saying Japanese fighting fish? I have never heard of a japanese fighting fish.

If it is a siamese or also known as betta they can be kept in a tank with other fish just not other bettas. They do well in a tank with peaceful tank mates. And keeping a mirror in the tank is bad for the fish. They puff as a challenge to other bettas which but stress on them and cause them to not to eat. Imagine if you lived in a constant state of heightened flight or fight.

BTW this is male bettas we are talking about female bettas can be kept together in a big enough tank.