When you finally give into the demands of the kids who have been harping on about getting a pet for the past who knows how many months, you’re probably thinking to yourself that a dog or a cat is just far too much responsibility when little Jake or Jennifer can’t remember to put their laundry in the basket yet. The best pet you can possibly buy them as a starter is a cute, fluffy hamster! Inexpensive, easily tamed and mostly kept alone, hamsters are  low maintenance animals that make ideal first time pets for young or older children.

To begin: housing

Hamsters aren’t very sociable animals. Most breeds like to be kept alone, otherwise they will fight. There are, however, one or two breeds that enjoy eachothers company, usually the smaller breeds like roborovski hamsters and dwarf hamsters. Check with the breeder first! Regardless of number, hamsters need an ideally sized cage to sleep and play in, one large enough for a bed, a wheel, a toy or two and a food bowl. There are plenty of hamster cages out there to choose from!

Feeding

Unlike cats, dogs, rabbit or other larger pets, hamsters don’t require any jabs, rarely require vet treatment and only require feeding once a day – sometimes not even that! Hamsters are very good at regulating the amount the eat and will only ever nom on some nibbles when they feel hungry. That’s not to say you can’t give them a treat or two here and there, because some fresh carrot, brocolli or a couple of nuts offers an additional element of nutrition to their diet as well as providing ideal, healthy treats along with store sold hamster food. Be careful not to give your ham too much wet food though (cucumber, for instance), as this can lead to a nasty stomach ache!

Playtime!

If you have a safe environment for your little hamster to run around in, let him or her explore! Though they will likely have a hamster wheel in their cage, they like to get out and about and enjoy an adventure from time to time. If you can’t let them run around on the floor, there’s no harm in letting them crawl and climb all over you – it still counts as exercise! You can also find a selection of hamster toys to keep them occupied in their cage.

Maintenance

Some longer haired hamsters will need a minimal but additional level of maintenance. From time-to-time they do need a little haircut, but this is easily performed with a pair of curved nail scissors. Of course, you must clean out any hamster cage once a week, especially during the warmer months. Your hamster wants to live in a clean, sweet smelling home just as much as you do! Don’t use fine sawdust though, as it can effect their breathing. Hamsters will rarely need to go to the vet for any reason, perhaps never in the course of its whole life, but you should still be aware of any health conditions or problems a hamster can develop.

Take a look at some hamster care guide books for more information!

Though a lot of people offer a wrinkled nose or a curled lip at the mention of pet reptiles and pet amphibians, they can make tranquil, harmonious and sometimes even affectionate additions to the family. Not only are pet snakes, pet geckos, pet frogs and any other reptiles or amphibians excellent talking points, but the tanks they habitate can even help to brighten up a dull room or provide glow and ambience. They are also good fun to decorate with tank plantlife or other tank acessories and depending on what kind of pet reptile or pet amphibian you own, can be quite lively and entertaining.

If you’re a first timer reptile or amphibian owner, it’s usually best to start small. Don’t just go ahead and buy a 10 metre python because you won’t know a thing about handling it, nor the kind of expenses you will face by keeping one. Instead, go for something like a leopard gecko. Though they can live for up to 20 years and are thus a long-term committment, they are only 8-10 inches in length so they don’t require an enormous reptile tank to house them (though bare in mind that you can only keep one male in a tank of more than one gecko). As they’re nocturnal reptiles, they don’t require any UV lighting for their tank. They do require a basking spot, but a regular incandescent bulb will do the trick. They are usually fed treated insects, but adult leopard geckos can be fed treated mice.

More experienced owners might be interested in buying their first pet iguana. The most important thing to consider is habitat. Iguanas can grow up to a substantial size and so will require a reptile tank to suit their growth. Ideally it should be twice as long as the iguana and as tall as possible. Iguanas will require ultraviolet lighting during the day, unlike leopard geckos, but they are fairly cheap to buy and set up.  Iguanas are herbivores, so a hearty diet of fruit and vegetables is very good for them. They do require calcium and vitamins supliments, however, to prevent them from getting Metabolic Bone Disease.

For more information on leopard geckos and iguanas, or other pet reptiles and pet amphibians, take a look at all of the pet care guides on adflyer. Just type ‘pet care’ into the search bar, or whatever else you’re looking for, and away you go!

At some point in your life you will have walked past a parrot and heard it screech ‘hello’ in a startlingly human voice. They are exceptionally clever animals capable of learning quite a vocabulary, but why is it they so easily imitate the sounds and words we use? Experts suggest parrots, like most animals, talk in order to communicate with others. If a young parrot is with its mother, it will of course learn the sounds the mother parrot makes, but if it is surrounded by human voices, it will consider its new environment to be home and start to mimic sounds.

Not all parrots are excellent speakers. Pet birds that are generally known for being capable of speaking are African Grey Parrots. They are capable of imitating humans to the point where they are almost indistinguishable from actual human speech. You have probably found yourself fooled by a parrot or two on some occasion!

Though parrots can use quite a list of words, they don’t understand the meaning to what they’re saying. Much like young parrots squawking for attention from their mother, parrots will make these vocalisations in order to evoke a response that grants them attention. They won’t understand the significance of the word itself, but they will understand the reaction or action that word results in.

If you would like to buy a bird that will talk, it’s a good idea to get a young bird and keep it alone in your home. Alternatively, find a bird that already knows how to talk! It’s much easier to teach them something new, compared with older, non-talking birds. They can be difficult to encourage to talk. Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that you will get a bird that is willing to have a conversation with you. Some birds just don’t talk and you will have to accept that.  Just like any other pet, they deserve every ounce of love and attention, and not just for their oratory skill.