Clay
Welcome back to this week in the lab. I am daddy Clay.
Brad
I am daddy Brad. You know it seems that as soon as kids can walk, they are toddling after anything on four legs.
Clay
And if you don't already have a pet, the whining starts about age four. Daddy, can I have a Mastiff, daddy can I have a gorilla, daddy can I have water buffalo?
Brad
For some families with young children thinking about adding a dog or cat to the mix, it's just overwhelming.
Clay
Or if you are like me, you've got allergies or you don't like the idea of animals biting your children or another mammal in the house crapping on the carpet.
Clay
Dude, are you a animal hater?
Clay
They are perfect for the grill.
Brad
We suggest that you consider starting small, that's why we've come with a dadlabs guide, the starter pets. Now there are a lots of good reasons to buy your kid a pet. Recent studies have shown that pet ownership comes with a multiple health and emotional benefits. Kids that have pets miss fewer school days, have a lower incidence of asthma, and they also have higher self esteem.
Catherine
Well, they really get them to be more responsibility about things, if they are put in the position of helping to take care of them. To learn how, what, ways are involved in taking care of them, and that the animal that's dependent upon them, to get the proper care. It also teaches them patience, it teaches them how to handle things with gentle touches, because a lot of little kids tend to squeeze, or push on things too hard, and you can modify that behavior.
Clay
Pet ownership also affords you an opportunity to teach the kids a life lesson without seeming like you are teaching life lessons. You know, things like being responsible, nurture, care take, is good stuff.
Catherine
Some children are ready at the age of two or three to be a participant in taking care of a pet. Some children are not ready until they are nine or ten. Obviously a child that is showing an interest in pets, that would be one that you would probably choose sooner. But a lot has to do with a child, and what they are capable of, and what they are capable of understanding. The biggest thing with little pets and little kids, is there is lots of chances for the pet to be on the receiving end of the wrong kind of care or treatment.
So the owner is really the parent, and if the parent is ready to have a pet, I think you could pretty much start at any age.
Clay
See you honey. I don't know if your family is like ours. Three kids, two careers, who has got time for a pet? Come on guys, get in we are late, please hurry, and if you manage to finally get a couple of days to think of vacation, then you got to worry about putting the dog in a kennel, or hiring a teenager to take care of it. Please where is other shoe, you think it's hilarious, where is your socks?
Brad
So start with low impact pets. Here are few that we really like.
Clay
Bugs. I mean, what could be a lower impact pet than an insect? Now my three year old is really crazy about these bug kits that come from insect floor. Here you can see there is a variety of insects that you can choose from. Here is an ant farm, these are lady bugs, and the lady bug larva. This is an enclosure for beetles. Hot favorite is the butterfly garden. Now in the box, you get a little enclosure like this. You got a card, you fill it out, you send it in, and in a few days you get the live caterpillars. Cool thing here, they've got all the food and everything they need. You just watch it, and in a few days they climb up in the lid, and they create their cocoons.
You transfer the cocoons, end of the enclosure, and in a few days the butterflies emerge. It's so cool, my three year old everyday I came in door, he has got a full report, dad, they are making cocoons. Oh, now one is emerging, he was absolutely fascinated. Here's the kit we used at home. This is a slightly larger enclosure. We yielded about ten painted lady butterflies that are emerged from their cocoons, pretty amazing. The thing that they will tell you in the instruction book, when those butterflies come out of there, it's like this bloody alien extraction mess. How cool is that?
Brad
Goldfish, they are easy to care for, had low vet bills, and they hardly ever take dump on the carpet. We suggest you get a better Siamese fighting fish. These are domestically brown not plucked off or released from somewhere like nemo. They are beautiful, and because they have a special organ they are not that kind. It allows them to drop air from the surface of the water. And so they can be kept in small tanks with simple filtration. One to three gallons is best. They eat flies and they are hardy. One thing that you want to make sure there is only one per tank, because the males, they do get out, they'll fight to the death. Other then that, pretty much of a perfect starter pet.
Clay
Bugs and fish they are great, but they are kind of low on the snuggle factor, if you know what I mean. Plus there is some value in teaching kids to carefully handle live animals. So what about rodents?
Catherine
The rodent variety pets are pretty popular with kids, but they are not always the best pet, because they are sometimes a little grumpy as they are handled too much, and they can get bitten by them. So it's a matter of the parent and the child doing some research together, coming up with a pet that they both think that they can take care of, and that's a good learning thing for the child to do that research, and read about them, and go visit, and talk to other people that have them. That's a very good educational opportunity I think.
Clay
Since the release of the movie Ratatouille, rats sales has spiked. Guinea pigs remain popular, and gerbils seem to have left the whole Richard Gere scandal behind, so to speak. But in my house the Rodent of choice is the Hamster, and not just any hamster. but the tiny, dwarf hamster. Look at these little guys. They are totally hilarious, they are cute. they have got a lot of personality. and they are really easy to domesticate, so that they can be handled safely by the kids without getting bitten. They are just really terrific. The bedding that they have now is made from recycled papers, instead of those old nasty wood chips. So you don't get a kind of smell that you usually get in the house.
One thing though, these guys are nocturnal. So the kids will complain, but you really need to put the cage somewhere other then the bedroom. These guys spent so much time running on that wheel at night. They will be convinced they are not bad.
Brad
So those are our great ideas for starter pets.
Clay
Now the great thing about these small --
Brad
Daddy Clay, I know that you are about to make some dumb ass, baseless joke about pets. But I want you to remember that a lot of our audience, and a lot of folks here in the lab, we really love our pets, and I just want you to respect that.
Clay
The really nice thing about these smaller pets, is that they make really wonderful odors. So you got a recipe that you particularly like, just drop to us in a comment, and we'll fry those little critters up right here in this studio.
Brad
Well, if any bag of dog ends up on your front porch, you asked for it man!
Clay
So please drop us your comments, and come back next week when we kick off our big bike extravaganza. See you then, because fried gerbils are great, even a --
Brad
Respect my friend, respect, although I have it, but all people don't.
Clay
I love animals for breakfast.
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