pet for my 8 yr old ds

I think rats are great pets for children. As others said, they are very affectionate, trainable and not as likely to bite as hamsters and gerbils. Hamsters tend to be grumpy. Guinea pigs and rabbits are pretty high maintenance as far as cleaning and they need a lot of space.

 Turtle

 Small playful, friendly dog- we have a Shih-Tzu.  He is great with our boys.  Our boys are 6, 5.5, 2, 1

Yes it will be in his room

Quoting FlyingMommy747:

Will the pet be in your DS's room or not.  If not, perhaps a parakeet.  We have 3, and they are pretty easy to take care of, just clean out the cage once a week and make sure they have food and water.  He could even teach it to talk.

We live on an army base and can only have 2 animals in our house, unless its a small caged animal, those dont count. And we already have a dog and a cat, so it's got to be something small in a cage.

Quoting katielawlor:

Yes it will be in his room

Quoting FlyingMommy747:

Will the pet be in your DS's room or not.  If not, perhaps a parakeet.  We have 3, and they are pretty easy to take care of, just clean out the cage once a week and make sure they have food and water.  He could even teach it to talk.

then you can still do parakeets, but make sure you have some kind of cover for the cage so they go to sleep at night.

Hamsters rabbits and guinea pigs are all very bad ideas. They are nervous creatures and also require a LOT of maintenance. Turtles are a good idea, corn snake, rat, dog, or goldfish. If your kid likes to hug ad squeeze, go with a dog. Most other mammals commonly sold as pets cannot tolerate the attention and can actually die from fear during these "sweet" moments. Turtles are no more dangerous than any other animal if u use logic and have your child wash hands after handling and of course never lick or put the animal in their mouth.
And remember no matter what anyone says, every animal CAN bite although some don't cause as much damage as others.

Guinea pig! No hamsters. They can be mean and hard to hold onto. Guinea pigs are cuddly and low maintenance.

and less biting. I use to raise guinea pigs... for years. I got my first one at 11. They also love tubes to run through and balls to run around the house from time to time. They are very loving and will just lay on your chest and let you pet them for an hour or more (but if you do for that long be prepared to be pooped and peed on :p). I like the turtle idea for an 8 year old though. BECAUSE the cleaning for any rodent or the like is or should be a daily thing (and for an 8 year old boy that will probably get old) and they are very quick. I would take him to a pet store and let him look around. Hold the different kinds. See what feels right for him. Thats what my mom did with us kids :)

Quoting karladiego:

We have a hamster, my son turned 9 last November...thing is, cleaning has to be done everyday, which means looking for food and poop in the bedding, change of the whole bedding once a week and also fresh water. They are nocturnal, ours around 6:30 -7pm wakes up and we put her in a ball to run around the house, but when she is back in the cage she runs on her wheel, chews on blocks, eats, drinks water and that makes noise...believe me, I know.

Maybe a guinea pig, they're up during the day, they're bigger but essentially is the same work as with a hamster when it comes to cleaning and water.

Personally I think any animal that has to be caged is a bad idea, a cat or a dog will love you and stick around because they want to, not because they have to.