Next Pet after Hamsters?

[blade100]

Get rats! Honestly I think there the best small pet out there.
I have 10 male rats of varying ages living all together in a huge cage full of hammocks,ropes,shelves,ladders,storage baskets,etc etc.
They love living in groups and are highly sociable so getting at least 2-3 same sex are a must.

Mine are litter trained to poo in there corner trays. They get cleaned out everyday and a whole cage clean out every Saturday. There hammocks get washed every 4 days as rats do like to marinate in there own pee pee. That's just rats for you. Lol.

This is an excellent rat forum if you want to learn more about them Fancy Rats • Index page

Amy

[Ren]

They like to marinate in their own pee? :/
Maybe it's because you have 10. I don't like the sound of that.

[blade100]

nope all rats pee in there hammocks its just what rats do.
even when i had 2 rats they still did it.
thats why you have to wash there hammocks.

[crazygal330]

Yep. Hammock peeing is fairly normal. Same as peeing on shelves in a normal behaviour! I have had a rescue rat come to me with a hammock that had never been washed in 4 months. I think I nearly threw up! I change my hammocks every week, and usually do a "rat washing" load, once I have enough to be worth washing. thankfully we have lots of spares

[ButterNut]

Ever considered a parrot? Yeah, when most people think of parrots they think of an extremely high maintenance, 100 year old living, loud pet. But there are parrots that are actually pretty easy! I've never owned one but I really want a green cheek conure. Here re some going from easiest to hardest. Parrots also like to be around humans and some are really cuddly
Parakeet/budgie: Price: 10-20 dollars loudness: not loud. Only chirps. Size: tiny. Easyness: very easy. Age: 8-10 years. Cuddliness: Most aren't very cuddly but if hand tamed they like humans and can be cuddly.
Cockatiel: Price: 20-50 dollars. loudness: not very loud. Size: small. Easyness: easy. Age:10-18 years (might be wrong). Cuddlyness: can be very cuddly. At least far more cuddly then a hamster.
Cockatiels are known to be very loyal and easy.

Green cheek conure: price: 100-200 dollars. Loudness: not too loud. Size: small easiness: kind of easy but much harder then a hamster! Cuddlyness: reaally cuddly. Most love cuddles.

And you should get one hand tamed if you get one

[Ren]

I have had birds. They are not easy. They also require friends and I think it is very cruel to house birds alone, they are extremely social and if you leave them alone too much they will truly suffer from it and can show behavior such as feather pulling and even amputation of their own feet. Of course that would take severe neglect and I don't think anyone on this forum would do that. But they are very needy and need to have someone around them a bunch and need constant stimulation to feel healthy and good. They need enormous expensive cages and many, many toys that need to be switched out every week or so. I love birds and my fiance is planning to get a pair of cockatiels many years from now: the reason he isn't now is because we're full time students and we are very busy. Birds are something to plan a long, long time for. They live very long lives as well so you have to be sure that you're willing to keep them for up to 20 years.

[ButterNut]

Originally Posted by Ren

I have had birds. They are not easy. They also require friends and I think it is very cruel to house birds alone, they are extremely social and if you leave them alone too much they will truly suffer from it and can show behavior such as feather pulling and even amputation of their own feet. Of course that would take severe neglect and I don't think anyone on this forum would do that. But they are very needy and need to have someone around them a bunch and need constant stimulation to feel healthy and good. They need enormous expensive cages and many, many toys that need to be switched out every week or so. I love birds and my fiance is planning to get a pair of cockatiels many years from now: the reason he isn't now is because we're full time students and we are very busy. Birds are something to plan a long, long time for. They live very long lives as well so you have to be sure that you're willing to keep them for up to 20 years.

Its not cruel to house birds alone. You need to give them an hour to 2 hours+ a day but its okay if some days your busy and cant give them tons of attention. You wont come back and they be featherless or anything! You do need time to spend though

Parakeets are pretty easy ive heard. An hour really isnt much compaired to most pets. If you want a pet as easy as a hamster, you can really only choose from a mouse then.

You can get a nice cage on craigslist for about the same price as a hamster cage.

Also, EVERY animal is something to plan a long time to. As I said, Parakeets live about 8-10 years.

Budgies and cockatiels are much easier then a ferret or chin and a budgie is probably a bit harder then a guinea pig. They really arent very hard compaired to most animals but yes they are something to commit to. They are much harder then hamsters but so are every animal your thinking of.

But I guess I cant really talk since ive never had them but ive done lots of research and this is just what ive heard.

[ButterNut]

-By the way, im talking about budgies and cockatiels, NOT birds in general!