Well, I should start by saying that I volunteer at the local humane society/animal shelter and generally we try to educate parents not to get pets for children as presents or as rewards because we think that this teaches them that pets are commodities (like an ipod). So I would stress to your daughter that she is getting rats not as a reward but because she has shown that she is responsible enough to take care of something.
At eleven she should definitely be capable of caring for the rats herself. However, she should understand that they will represent a new hobby, and she will have to dedicate around ten hours a week to them. This includes the widely recognized 1 hour of daily handling/supervising out of cage plus 2 hours of cleaning, feeding and watering. NOTE: cleaning means not just changing litter but washing the cage, the dishes, the toys, doing laundry, and “updating” their habitat so that they remain stimulated.
You and her should start by planning a set-up for the rats. Investigate cages, setting up a couple secure areas for them to play outside the cage, discuss what kind of rats best fits your life style (males and females are VERY different). You may also want to talk about what you will do if you find out there is something wrong with one of the rats (some have respiratory infections and need long term medication, others will get tumors). Talking through these things should give you and her an idea if rat husbandry is something you really want to get into.
Note: I think that what is most challenging about rats (their psychological neediness and physical fragilities) are actually what make them good for good children. I know that I learned a lot about taking care of myself and about medicine and biology from taking care of rats.
A good site on rats is the National Fancy Rat Society site.What should I know about having 2 rats for a kid?
well, im going to connect on the same basis as i am a kid, if its her first pet that's a rodent, monitor her the first week or so and see how she is doing, when she cleans her cage you should help her so she can learn what to do. when she cleans it make sure she uses a clean rag, dumps all the bedding out, and cleans the whole cage with hot water and the clean rag. have her remove wet spots from the cage daily with a little spoon, and have her change to water and food as well as cleaning them about every 24 hours. don't let her give the rats more food then they can eat, also when she has them out, monitor her to make sure she is not letting them go freely wherever they want, and ALWAYS!!!!! make sure she very thoroughly washes her hands after she touches them or the cage as they can get dirty. o. and have her clean the cage twice a week to avoid them becoming ill or such. i would say every four days. and for me i write down when i clean there cage as you can get off track of the days. hope this helps :) sorry for it being so long :)
You can find tons of info on my site. Just make sure she cleans the cage at least once a week and gives the rats lots of attention. And please feel free to e-mail me if you have any questions at all :)
my site: http://www.tessastarrsrats.weebly.com
No comments:
Post a Comment