Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Im trying to get something for her what do you think would be good including fish?

Here are the requirements, as I see it:

--Something which a three-year-old child could not injure.
--Something which could not injure her, either directly (such as bite or scratch) or indirectly (animal to child’s hand to child's mouth to child's intestine).

The obvious choice: a big, soft, stuffed toy animal. Let the child pick it out at the store herself. And when she tires of it, you won’t have to care for it.

Have fun,
Joan

well if you are looking for a live animal i would go with something easy like a cornsnake. not a gecko or something cause theyre hard to catch if they get loose.just remember a adult should always be close to supervise and care for the animal. i dont really like fish because you cant really interact with them much and they dont have the personality of a cornsnake or something similar. they just hide if you walk by them and if you get a smart fish maybe it would follow your finger but woohoo.yay.lol. i dont like fish. you may have noticed that. but that movie finding nemo was pertty good.

i wouldn't do a cornsnake cause they are fast and when they are small they like to try to bit. But if you wanted to go with a snake a ball python would be good. its slow and very easy going.
lisa

but sometimes a ball python is hard to get to eat. i have never seen a cornsnake try to bite and i stand behind my dicision 100 percent.

Okay something you must realize is that during the age of 3 a child tends to learn and implant such visions for the rest of their life so a bad experience isn't the greatest.

Docile, tamable, not fast, not too small so she won't swallow it, something that doesn't require special care (when she wants to go pro she can when she grows up a bit more), something that will be active and will eat from her hand. Small kids love touching and squeezing so pick something that can tolerate it. You should definetly teach her how to handle and feed it so she will grow up to be smarter than 90% of the visitors in the petshop near me that thinks snakes like eating people and monitors live in 10 gallon tanks.

I had a large fish that actually let me pet them. Um oscars or something. They were like, huge. I would reach my hand in the tank and stroke them, they wouldn't trip. I can't believe my dad changed the tank with hot water. Never let your daughter see you do that, she will feel insecure later for some reason about that because I do now about my dad. Remember, pets are for life and you cannot simply "replace" them. Never say if the pet dies "Don't worry, we'll just go buy another one. There are thousands of pretty better ones than this one." I hate my dad for saying that about my dog. Why don't I replace him with another Dad that is better! Grrr

If snakes are what you are hoping for (I can't stand fish...I'm just not a fish kinda gal), then the ball or the corn would be okay. Balls are the most docile, but what ever you do....you must be there, like daughter in your lap and BOTH of you hold him. Teach her not to hold (restrain) him, but to let him slide through her fingers and around her hand. This is a good age to start teaching children that animals are all good. I jumped my husbands case yesterday when, while watching Animal Planet, my soon to be 2 yr old neice pointed to a shark and said, "what is it?" My hubby said, "that's a big bad fish". I jumped on his case saying that that is how we spread irrational fears and that he should just say "it's a fish". God bless my hubby though, I'm very emotional with animals and act before thinking.

Anyhow, fully research all kinds of snakes, kingsnakes, cornsnakes, milksnakes, rosy boas, rainbow boas (brazillians are GORGEOUS!), carpet pythons, children's pythons, etc. And before you buy, make sure that it's captive born and bred and that you already have everything required to take care of it. (side note: colubrids, such as kings, corns, milks, etc...are easier to take care of because they do not have the heat and humidity requirements that the tropicals have, however, those tropical requirements are fairly easy to meet and maintain.)

Good luck!
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~redmom~
My Email
Herps:
1.0 Normal corn snake "Ed"

Others:
1.0 Blue Betta fish "'Beta' test"
0.1 White/Lemon/beige splotched and spotted hound mix "Angel"

Human pets:
2.0 Children "Matthew" 7 yrs, "Duncan" > 1 yr
1.0 Hubby "Roger"

"Life will find a way." Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) Jurrasic Park

when i was that age i was always playin ith the local garters.(loved animals since birth)If she is like that a ball python might be ok. If u want a fish i love the bettas.