Last updated on October 31st, 2022
If you have been wondering about small pets that don’t bite, look no further because we have curated a list of animals that are easy to take care of.
I always thought that pets are one of the best sources of comfort for a family, especially children. But recently, I was asked a rare question by the parents of a five-year-old.
They wanted to know about suitable pets that do not bite before making a decision on getting one.
Animals that don’t bite:
- Hamster
- Fish
- Guinea Pig
- Gerbil
- Hedgehog
- Hermit crab
- Dove
That seemed to me like a tall order! Aren’t all animals supposed to bite? Most of these animals have teeth, and many times, they use these teeth as defensive mechanisms.
But you’d be surprised to know that several animals don’t bite. Parents are often concerned that if children are left exposed to animals that can bite, it can lead to serious incidents and unnecessary hospital visits.
Therefore, instead of giving them pet dogs or cats right at the onset, it’s best to teach them responsibly by giving them smaller and easy-to-maintain animals as pets.
If you’re of a similar mindset, then you could consider gifting your child one of these animals as a pet on their birthday, and you can be assured that these animals don’t bite:
List of pets that don’t bite
1. Hamster
Hamsters are gentle and delicate creatures that don’t need much when looking after them.
Although you might feel deterred from thinking that the animal belongs to the rodent family, tamed hamsters can become familiar with being handled and cuddled.
You’ll find that after stroking a hamster gently, he’ll start responding to your touch.
Your child can pet the hamster easily because these animals are pretty gentle, independent, and self-entertaining.
You don’t have to worry about providing a lot of attention and care to maintain the health of your hamster.
When you purchase a hamster, get in touch with your veterinarian to learn more about its diet.
Hamsters are primarily nocturnal, but you don’t need to worry about staying awake to take care of them.
Being independent creatures, they can take care of themselves. Although hamsters take some time to trust their human caregivers, they won’t bite you even if you stroke them.
All you need to do is be a little patient with your pet hamster before it trusts you completely.
2. Fish
If you want to add a touch of color and choose a different little pet, then you can opt to install an aquarium in your home.
Fishes are unique animals because you can select several types of these aquatic creatures as pets. Some of them have beautiful colors, while others come in unique shapes.
Not all fishes bite but the gentle ones that do bite, they’re normally trying to protect their eggs or they’re stressed due to a change in the environment.
You can choose to have a Goldfish, Angelfish, Corydoras, Betta, Discus, Swordtail, Neon Tetras, and Guppies in your aquarium.
All you need to remember is that different fishes have different diets. For example, Guppies are some of the easiest fishes to maintain and can thrive well in a clean and well-lit aquarium.
You can feed your Guppies the regular fish food. But if you’re planning to introduce a Discus into the mix, you should discuss (pun intended) its diet with your local aquarist.
Since the discus fish is a carnivore, you need to provide it with a diet of fish food, and blood worms.
It’s also best that you place this fish in an aquarium that doesn’t have smaller fish.
If you don’t want to start with complex fishes, you can always have a Goldfish bowl installed in your child’s nursery.
It’s one of the safest pet fish options, and you’ll know that it’s an animal that won’t bite.
3. Guinea pig
Guinea pigs are gentle creatures known to ‘mouth’ their owners when being held, but they don’t bite.
These are docile and peaceful creatures that can be held within the palm of your hand.
If you plan to gift your child a pet that’s easy to manage and doesn’t require extensive care, you can consider giving him a guinea pig.
Although it belongs to the rodent family and tends to have a pair of large frontal teeth, chances are that you’ll never feel the bite of a guinea pig.
You should ensure that there is a steady supply of food to prevent any unnecessary bites.
The so-called ‘bites’ of a guinea pig are signs of curiosity and not aggression. It wants to find out more about its owner and not hurt him.
The only thing that you need to remember when you purchase a guinea pig is that these animals tend to live in herds. Hence, you should buy two of them. Otherwise, your pet can become lonely.
4. Gerbils
Another member of the rodent family that doesn’t bite and makes for a good pet is a gerbil.
These animals resemble a mouse, but they’re more gentle-natured and like other rodent family members, the teeth of the gerbil can continue to grow throughout its life.
However, if you keep a gerbil as a pet, you can take it to the veterinarian to get its teeth burred.
Other than that, the gerbil itself is a gentle creature, and its bite isn’t hard enough to pierce the skin.
Gerbils aren’t aggressive creatures, which is why your pet gerbil is less likely to bite you.
The only thing you must remember is that a gerbil can bite only if it’s scared or stressed in the home.
In the case of a pet gerbil, you must wait for it to familiarize itself with the environment if there have been recent changes or a new addition to the home.
If you see signs of stress in your gerbil, leave it alone and discuss how you can help reduce the stress levels and make it comfortable with your veterinarian.
Once your gerbil becomes comfortable, you can hold it in the palm of your hand and stroke it.
When a gerbil identifies its owner, you can be assured that it’ll never bite you.
5. Hedgehog
Although hedgehogs can bite you, this would rarely occur unless they mistook your fingers for food.
I’m sure it must be quite strange to have one of these animals on your property but they’d definitely make an interesting pet.
However, before you go off to get one for yourself, you should know that they’re illegal in Hawaii, California, New York City, Georgia, and Washington among other states that may require a specific permit for you to keep one.
Additionally, these may not be ideal for children to have as pets, but in many cases, families often adopt hedgehogs as pets because they’re gentle and easy-to-maintain creatures. On the other hand, they do require special care.
Hedgehogs have weak eyesight, and their bites are usually related to scent. Hence, they’ll never bite out of aggression.
You can be assured that your pet hedgehog will not bite you if you stretch out your hand.
A hedgehog’s defense mechanism is its quills, extending these while rolling itself up into a ball.
Hedgehogs normally bite when they’re in search of food, and hence, if you’re planning to hold your pet hedgehog, ensure that your hands don’t have any lingering smell of food.
Hedgehogs are solitary creatures, and you can easily keep them in a cage.
The important thing to keep in mind is that the cage should be spacious, and your pet hedgehog should have a good supply of food. This will keep your hedgehog happy and healthy.
6. Hermit crab
If you are looking for a pet that is a tropical creature, then you can’t go wrong with a hermit crab.
Hermit crabs are highly social creatures that make for excellent pets. But being tropical creatures, you must remember that the tank in which you house your colony of hermit crabs should have a temperature of seventy-two to eighty-five degrees Fahrenheit always.
The floor material should also be sand to imitate the sea and the sea beach. There should be rocks and sea sponges for the crab to climb.
It would be best to have shells for the crabs to outgrow their existing shells and find new ones in the tank itself.
Hermit crabs require a certain amount of maintenance, and it’s also essential to provide your pet crabs with a proper diet to have a healthy life inside the tank.
7. Dove
While many birds are known to bite, the dove is one of the few birds that rarely peck or bite.
If you want to keep a dove as a pet, you can rest assured knowing that it won’t bite. You can even take the dove in your hand and feed it.
It’ll take the birdseed from your hand, gently peck at it, but never bite. It’s easy to bond with doves, and caretakers mention that it’s easy to domesticate these birds.
All you need to do is build a cage or a coop big enough to hold the bird.
Compared to other species of birds, doves are slightly larger, so you need to ensure that the cage is big enough for the bird.
You could put a layer of hay and straw at the flow of the cage to make it comfortable for the bird.
It’s worth noting that doves often prefer to stay in pairs.
So you should ask your veterinarian whether it’s necessary to purchase a pair of doves or if you can have a single pet dove.
You can develop an excellent relationship with your pet dove without having to be highly attentive to your bird.
