Top 5 Animals ANY Student Can Live With

Whilst you are at University, it’s easy to forget the cute and fluffy things in your life; namely your pets from home. We at the Soton Tab say why wait anxiously for university holidays to be reunited? Being a real grown up now surely means you can justify having your own pets? Everybody needs something to love!

5. African Pygmy Hedgehog

These little bundles of joy are domesticated versions of the thing that used to wander into you garden late at night. They can be bought online for around £100 from registered breeders and they live in a hamster cage. The more they like you the less they curl up into a little ball when you handle them. They eat meal worms which you can buy freeze dried from pet stores and they nest in the most adorable fashion. Not convinced? Check them out here.

4. Rats

Plenty of choice on how to house these critters, you can either keep them in a wire cage with bedding and sawdust or you can simply not clean your kitchen for a few months and wait for them to show up. Contrary to popular belief, rats are not dirty animals but adaptable to horrid environments. You can go albino or keep it real with a brown coloured rat. Either are very friendly and sociable animals once you get over them running under your floorboards.

3. Fish

Clearly the easiest animals to not kill  look after. They operate as both a pet and a decoration. Feeling extravagant? Why not buy a filter etc so that you can have little nemos and baby sharks. WARNING: Baby sharks will probably eat the nemos….. Top tip with fish is to make sure you buy a snail for the tank also. The snail eats all of the algae and fish poo and helps keep it cleaner for longer.

2. Rabbits

Rabbits are the most endearing of all the pets that students can afford to keep. They live for up to 5 years (some longer) and they are cuddly and adorable, making them a complete babe magnet. Rabbits ideally need to be kept inside as thanks to ongoing season change and lack of sheds in student houses, outside is a bit too cold for them. A bunny will function really well in your bedroom as long as it has a cage filled with hay and sawdust for nesting, plenty of food/water and a owner that is ready and willing to let it out to hop around. A bunny is for life not just for University however, so make sure you are 100% able to commit to its welfare for the next couple of years before purchasing.

1. Hamsters

The ultimate student pet has to be a hamster. Hamsters come in various different breeds with various different requirements from their owners. Syrian Hamsters are ideal as they grow big, friendly and are territorial animals that don’t require a mate. Roborovski Hamsters are super fast, super small and super cute but beware they do fight with each other and are very skittish. Chinese Hamsters are also a good shout, but they are climbers that like to be sociable and therefore require lots of toys, lots of love and lots friends in order to be happy. Hamsters are hardy little animals that can be stroked and cuddled, but they require handling and love in order to be friendly.

Have you got a pet at University? What is your number one furry friend? Let us know in the comments section below!