What is a good class pet for my second graders?

Question

I teach second grade and would like to get my students a "class pet" this year to help foster a sense of responsibility and get them more interested in science too! I have the requisite aquarium, but I was kind of wanting something a bit more fascinating for them.

I would like a pet that is relatively easy to take care of and does really well with children. I also don't think I can deal with a pet that eats mice, worms, etc. I've considered slider turtles, a hedgehog, or guinea pig. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thank you so much!

Answer 1

Do NOT get guinea pigs. They need much more room than a classroom can accommodate, and you do need at least two guinea pigs, not just one! Guinea pigs do not get along well with young children, second graders will not be able to handle them the correct way, there are precise ways to handle and care for guinea pigs that are too difficult for a classroom of children that age. They will be easily injured by little children handling them incorrectly, and will be very upset about all the commotion EVERY day in their lives. They prefer a quite home environment with a large amount of space and few kids.  

Answer 2

Box turtles are wonderful, and not as much work as sliders, which have to live in a water filled aquarium. Be careful with the reptiles, make sure the children wash their hands after handling them. My daughter has a terrible allergy to guinea pigs, go figure. She can't even go into a room where one has been without breaking out in hives and wheezing. So I'd use a little caution with furry creatures. I think that it's wonderful to have animals and plants in the classrooms. So much can be learned thru interacting with the kids and other living things. You mentioned getting them interested in science, but they can also learn art, literature,social skills, so many things. Have a great school year! Moth

Answer 3

i say a rat    there very cute and loving         your second graders will love a rat because there nice and tame if you go to petsmart       why   dont you look at pet rat picuters online eith your students or just have a vote between      rats       box turtle      ferret    giunea pig         babay rabitt        

Answer 4

Please try a bearded dragon. they are gentle by nature and never bite if they are just shown a little bit of care. do not get any turtles because they carry salmonella and u don't want any 2nd graders getting that. i am only thirteen but i have dedicated a lot of time to my beardy. they also can hold from eating for up to week if you have any snow days or anything like that. they are a great pet for anyone and they become friendly and are always gentle. also if u get a reptile carpet all u have to do once in a while is rinse it off (and throw it in the dryer if u want.)

Answer 5

Try a webkinz it's a pet online you have to feed it and take care of it like a real pet.

Answer 6

despite what a few other people have said i would say guinea pig out of your choices. I've had guinea pigs and they mostly stayed in their cage and i have 6 little brothers and sisters who all loved them. They're social and like to be held but they can also do okay with out a lot of attention. turtles and hedgehogs might not be as social and easy to take care of. One of my friends has a hedgehog and hers is nice but she bred hers and handled hers a lot. i've heard that hedgehogs from pet stores can be aggressive and they sleep a lot.

if you do get a guinea pig i would suggest getting a nice big cage with lots of toys. i bought mine a set of those levels that you see in ferret cages. just don't put it too high so it'll hurt itself but mine loved his. also maybe get him some sort of hide out where he can go to to get away and feel safe.

Answer 7

you should get a guinea pig as i have a little cousin that loves them and plays wiht him heaps

Answer 8

i say guinea pig

Answer 9

Butterflies can be exciting. Start with a caterpillar and watch them eat leaves for several weeks, form a cocoon and then turn into a butterfly.

http://www.butterflyschool.org/teacher/r...

Astrobuf

Answer 10

Bunny is the best answer. Breed it outside the classroom and raise babies. It is a great and fun learning process. The babies are small and cuddly and can be handled by your students. Watch them grow then take them into local farming store and get a little bit of money for them. Then you can invest it back into fun things for your classroom.

Answer 11

small bunny rabbit! GREAT TO HAVE AND ADORABLE! VERY FASCINATING TO LITTLe kids too!

Answer 12

i would say a dog but that is just me, a nice fresh water tank would be nice because there r all types of cool things u could put in it like eels sharks crabs, even turtles and frogs and its easy to take care of. if u would like a animal that they could interact with maby a rabbit, but they tend to bit when they r young, I know that Ginny pigs r very good with kids and every one could hold them because they r very calm when held. I would say a hamster but i have also had bad experiences with them  (bit me on my finger took a chunk off). Also a ferret would be nice but they r a lot of work. That is all i can think of hope i helped

Answer 13

Your best bet is probably going to be either a rabbit, a bearded dragon, or a Chinese water dragon.  The rabbit for obvious reasons, and the lizards for the fact that they are very sweet, they are fun because you can hold them and put them to sleep by rubbing their heads, and they are very interesting to watch eat.

Answer 14

All of those would be great ideas, here are some more...

- Hedgehog (though they eat meal worms)

- Guinea pig

- Rabbit

- Slider turtle

- Hamster (though probably not as exciting as the others because their nocturnal)

- Rats (their rlly fun and cute too)

Thats about all I can think of right now, I may add more later though, good luck!

Answer 15

i agree with the person who said bearded dragon, they are cool class pets!!

Answer 16

How about:

A tortoise

A hedgehog

A Guinea pig

A hamster

A rat

A mouse

A rabbit

A Royal Python

Hope that helps! =]

Answer 17

Here are some pet suggestion i can think of that will be easy to look after.

-Rabbits

-Guinea pigs

-Birds (budgies, canaries ect.)

- Turtles

-Insects (butterflies, grass hoppers ect)

- i own a water dragon great animal and r easy to look after.

-Fish

-Childrens python

-rats or mice.

-You could make a ant farm or worm compost ect.

One that would be great are Green Tree Frogs. They could help the children care and what to do if they get away, how to catch them ect.

Anyways goodluck

Answer 18

NOT a guinea pig. A class room is NO environment for a guinea pig. They require ALOT of of cage space, for too much for a class room. Please, rule out the guinea pig. Not to mention, you would have to send paper's home to all the parents because many people have allergies to guinea pigs, and other furry rodents.

It's not fair to put an animal through being a "classroom" pet. A guinea pig needs care more than just for the time you are at school. Since guinea pigs need a buddy cause they are social animals, you will need to get another one. two guinea pigs require at LEAST 10.5 sq ft.

Even if you were to plan on bringing them home with you everday, that will do nothing but create stress on the guinea pig. Stress will cause them to have mites.

They require much more space than people realize, and MUCH more proper care.  Society seems to have a bad view on how to care for these animals, a pet store cage even in the largest size is certainly not an acceptable amount of space. A class room is no place for a pig.

Not to metion these are animals that are very fragile.

Though I must say it is WRONG that two male pigs would fight. That is another very WRONG myth about guinea pigs. I in fact have two guinea pigs who are very happy with eachother that ARE males. They key thing is giving them enough SPACE and territory like they NEED.

The advice about breeding rabbits is TERRIBLE as well. It teaches pure irresponsibilty to the kids. Breeding animals without any care of the animal and what it goes through and careless breeding without knowing ANYTHING about the animals gentics will be tuaght to the kids, and they think this will be okay. Putting an animal through that is not "fun". You have to be EXTREMELY arrogant to believe that.

Please, I am not sure about the other animals, but I am here to tell you to rule out the guinea pig. It won't fit the "classroom" type of animal, despite popular perspective of these animals. Same with the Rabbit. They need much more space, and care than a classroom will provide.

In fact, the best thing you could do with is either an aquarium with salt water fish in it, that would be sweet. Or even a cute turtle. Though I am not too sure and could be reccomending something terrible for those animals.  I know some turtles can carry some deadly diseases..but like I said, I am so unsure. Just please, no guinea pigs or rabbits.

Answer 19

i would get 2 female guinea pigs. if you get 2 males, they fight. if you get a male and a female, and one is not fixed, then you know what happens.