DD wants one desperately and is currently ot speaking to me and dh because we don't want her to have it.

We dealt with rodent problems for 20 plus years and just don't want it in the house.

Any ideas ?

get her a younger sibling, and tell her if she takes care of the sibling, diapering it and feeding it and bathing it, and can demonstrate her responsibility, then you will consider a hamster.

[and I realize it's too late, but power struggles with kids never end well]

Get her a goldfish!

by the way, are lubavitchers allowed to have nonkosher animals as pets?

my experience has been that even if kids desperately want a pet, the thrill often wears out. maybe find someone with a pet hamster, and offer to take care of it for a week, and see how that goes. maybe the thrill will wear off once DD has to clean the cage etc for a week and she sees what's involved in taking care of it.

Does she have her heart set on a hamster or would another small pet be an acceptable substitute? I don't see what your rodent problems have to do with getting her a hammy...it's certainly not going to wreak havoc on your house and how bad is your aversion, really? If she wants something small and furry, why not turn her onto a sugar glider instead? They're pretty cute and fun, and may not upset your "rodent sensibilities" as much. Alternatively, you could buy her a budgie (parakeet), lovebird, or cockatiel..when handfed and tamed, they make very affectionate and entertaining pets. If you want to go slightly larger, there's hedgehogs or guinea pigs. If she's not planning to handle it, how about some interesting fish or reptiles. (Tarantulas are also beautiful and probably the most low-maintenance pets on earth after the pet rock.)



Good point. I had thought her DD was older, but with young kids especially, it's very common for them to become bored once the novelty wears off.

I'm not privy to the ages of her kids.

Nor am I, but that was the impression I had (I have no idea if it's accurate).

Scooby-Dooby doo, where are you . . . ?

yeah, you're right. we took care of a hamster for a week when its owners went on vacation, and it got it out of my kids' system.

DD is 18 and halfway through school to be a dental assistant. Her friends are all in seminary and she’s lonely.

Yes, she’s had fish ovr the years and was good with them. She cat sits occasionally and brings her brushes and sings to them, brushes their fur, and loves them.

She has her own room, but we have a (smallish) 1200 sq foot apt and I'm afraid of the smell, plus the nightmares that dh will have as he been so involved with the rodent control for so long.

(For the record, DS is older; he's 20 yrs old).

Get her something she can shecht and eat when she gets bored of it...

How about a hamster? And you can offer that DD will help take care of it and will play with it...



Seriously, you're in a tough situation. But it sounds to me that the issue is davka with a rodent. Is there any way she would compromise with another type of animal and you and she could meet halfway?

I'd suggest either a guinea pig (still a rodent, but less pest-like) or a small bird. The cage won't smell if you use Yesterdays News or newspaper with woodshavings over it, and change the bedding out fully every few days. A small bird won't produce any smell so long as she changes the papers daily and keeps the cage and toys/perches clean. Cockatiels produce a fine dust that will find its way onto surfaces, so if you're a neat-freak you'll probably want to go with either a budgie or a lovebird, and then get a skirt around the cage that will catch the majority of the mess.

If you're fighting with your 18 year old daughter over a hamster it's a sure sign that the entire family needs urgent therapy...

That's true. When I was her age and wanted a dog, I just moved out.

Do you like rabbits?

A rabbit is a bad idea...they need a lot of room to run around and I get the impression that her and hubby would not be happy with a bunny all over the house (I have two, and I see how stressed out they get over shabbos when they don't have run of the apartment). Guinea pigs have almost as much personality, but don't require the floor time..she could probably get away with letting it run around on the bed or in the bathroom, holding it, etc.

Once more.


Wow.

mosheshmeal
.

I personally have bad experiences with hamsters...they can be quite vicious.

Perhaps she can volunteer at the North Shore Animal League?

This thread was posted twice. The mods combined the posts. I posted once in each because I thought maybe one thread would just get deleted.

There is also the ASPCA (www.aspca.org) and the New York Animal Care & Control (www.nycacc.org)

(All of which adopt out small animals like hamsters in addition to dogs/cats.)

I totally should have been dlz. I’m so sorry.

mosheshmeal
.

I vote for gerbils. Hamsters sleep during the day and are awake at night (like one of my roommates), which is disturbing to most normal people when they are trying to sleep and someone is running on a wheel (or walking up the stairs and slamming doors and clonking around with heavy-heeled shoes). Gerbils, in constrast, are awake during the day and sleep at night. They don't bite. They are cute. They don't have a bad odor, as far as I can recall. They don't slam doors or wear shoes. I think they are great pets, other than the fact that they only live two years.


Wikipedia says that they are also nocturnal, and that they are very social and therefore won't do well if they have to live on their own without much interaction from another being.


Why not a black panther?

Would you wanna clean that litter?

But gerbils tend to be more fractious. Far more prone to biting and flighty by nature. If she wants something she can cuddle, gerbils aren't it. BTW, wheels aren't recommended for hamsters, gerbils, or GPs anymore, due to physical problems that they cause (though they should be fine for roommates).

No problemo.

Would she like a parakeet?

Why not get a Boa Constrictor or something that EATS rodents???
They LOVE to "cuddle"....

A baby is a lot more work than any pet.


When we got our cats as teenagers, the thrill never wore off. I actually go back to my parents house now that I've moved out to see them. One still greets me at the door.


Get her a kitten. She's old enough to take care of it herself.

Thank you all, I don’t know what to do. I told her if she brings one home, it’s gonna be made into soup.

To add fuel to the fire, ds got a laptop that we didn’t want him to have….

I had rabbits a few years ago. They are super cute but live in their own parallel universe-meaning that they have little to no interaction with humans. And they do need lots of room. Another issue is that any plants, cables, parts of furniture, etc. within their reach can and will get nibbled.

No, and they tend to view all animals as food, including pets. Reminds me of Excel Saga...


there you go...

Lubavitchers eat hamsters?

No. Hence the prohibition against keeping non-Kosher pets.

Yes, I know about the Rebbe and the taluchah and that treif animals are a "bad hashpa'ah" etc. but I'm reading between the lines

I guess I don’t have to post what we’re breaking the fast on……….

um, uh, may I respectfully suggest that you are having some control issues here. Your children are adults. If you don't want them living with you and think they shoudl get their own digs, then say so. But you can't infantilize your grown up children any longer.

My thoughts exactly. Since when does your son have to ask your permission before making a purchase? Unless it was on your credit card which is another thing altogether. Why do you care if your son gets a laptop? Good for him!

taluchah?

K-Rebbe knows of what he speaks...

Okay, okay,k I hear you ..........

Hamster died.

Yes the rebbe told them when they made a parade not to use costumes from non-kosher animals.

...but then again didn't the Shpoler Zeide dress up like a bear?

I guess we can kiss Shuli's bunnies goodbye

Mine also only lasted a few days. Then I got a gerbil, who was my devoted pet for two years.

I'm not sure what happened to the hamster (we didn't do a necropsy), but I have a theory. The hamster was running on its wheel all night long, and the squeaking wheel was keeping me awake. Now, some say that the squeaking wheel gets the grease (though others say that the squeaking wheel gets replaced). In this case, my mother used petroleum jelly (Vaseline^TM) to lubricate the wheel so as to keep it from squeaking. The rodent then spent a lot of time licking the wheel, as it apparently liked the taste of petroleum jelly. Then it died. Perhaps petroleum jelly, while tasty to rodents, is also poisonous to them.

I seem to be the only animal-lover in my family. I would LOVE a pet, my dream is to one day have a Siberian Husky
We did have chameleons 2 years ago, but they didn't survive the winter. I could deal w/ a lizard/reptile type pet.

and if you do, I will never come to visit you unless you lock that thing up. And besides, it'll knock ur daughter down.

Or maybe the wheel went to fast for it, and it suffered a heart attack?

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