I had a phobia of dogs nothing cures you quicker than getting a baby animal and watching it grow you can't be afraid of that little bundle of fur that you raised yourself.

Yes, it's my opinion-based on the fact that for about ten years now we've been taking in and either keeping or rehoming rescue rabbits, many of which have been left unwanted after kids have gotten bored with them or underestimated the amount of care they need. It happens all too often.

All round best bet - guinea pigs IMHO

whatever you decide on, try rescues in your area before pet shops, please, there are so many critters waiting for their new forever home

I'll second that.

Make that a third.

best plan is not to let them escape

i lost grip of one feeder a couple of months ago though,
i was in the bathroom for an age trying to corner it, eventually did though, the little swine!

Male guinea pigs tend to be more adventurous than females, but you need to get two who have been together since birth almost to lessen the chances of fighting. My two boys don't fight - one's dominant and the other is happy with the arrangement!

They're far better kept as house pets than outside. You won't get the same amount out of them because they won't be used to you.

They need at least an hour outside their cage running around a day - watch cables! They're devils for testing things with their teeth!

A Boa Constrictor

Totally agree. We have two rabbits, brother and sister, male neutered. When a couple of our children asked for a rabbit, I agreed, but only because I knew I would be happy to do all the looking after. Never buy any pet for a child with the view they will never get bored and will do all the work involved.
Also, rabbits do not like to be held particularly and so I actually don't consider them a good pet for children.

I had Gerbils when i was young and i LOVED THEM, they were in a fish tank, filled with sawdust and they would bury tunnels etc, i was very obsessed with them.

One died quite suddenly and my big sister went and got me another, but it turned out to be a male, and before i realised, one was pregnant and i had to get another cage to keep the male in, and then i had to get another 2 cages to separate the males and the female litters when they were old enough until i got them new homes.

Safe to say It taught me a lot about caring for animals.

Apart from the pregnancy, the gerbils were great pets.

I had hamsters also, and i would say, hands down, gerbils are better....

A small tortoise.

That is a lovely suggestion actually, although a very long commitment lol given their lifespan.

and expensive to set up as young tortoises need to be kept in a vivarium with proper heating and lighting until they are old enough to survive hibernation

i've been thinking that a budgerigar could be in interesting pet to have, they can be difficult and take a lot of time to tame, but they're a lot of fuun when they are happy to fly to you

we have "thumb fights" with ours

on the subject of reptiles though however, have you considered a bearded dragon?

they are lovely lizards, happy just to chill out on your arm when handled and to be stroked

That's a lovely idea, and one we hadn't considered, so thank you!

In fact thank you to everyone who has posted. We finally got an answer from our landlady today, and she is grudgingly allowing us to have a small animal, although she's rather severe about how we house the animals. I'm off to search for a family friendly small pet...

And yes, I do have a massive rat phobia. Cannot approach anything ratlike, can't watch them, can't even think about them

ditto, since age 9 - now I've always had rabbits before I didn't live with Mum (allergies) and was allowed cats. My most recent rabbit is still with my Dad. Rabbits are easy to feed, very clean and teach kids daily responsibility and husbandry skills without being as hard to care for as a dog etc. Rabbits have right little characters and love cuddles. As long as the parents ensured it got proper attention a rabbit is ideal for a child

yeah get a dog, but dont get a golden lab because for some reason the owners always end up going blind

Whatever you decide to go for OP be preapred to do the bulk of the feeding / cleaning.

No matter how much kids 'promise' to do all the looking after they usually will not be able to sustain it long term (said from experience - my Mum still berates me about this and I am now 30 - and have my own cat which I am 100% responsible for)

It's not that I didn't love my childhood pet's but sometimes school / friends / out of school activities will get in the way of cage cleaning...

the above is true, but i imagine the OP has taken that into account already
the OP has mentioned that whatever they decide to adopt will be more of a family pet, than just for the child themselves.

i personally was not allowed any smaller pets of my own until i was 15 (goldfish) and able to care for them myself

these were followed by hamsters when i was 17, the same year i got my first guinea pigs
when i was 18 i got my first rabbit
now i'm 21 i have 16 guineas, 6 rabbits, a hamster, a breeding colony of mice, a tropical fish tank, a dog, a snake and three Chinese painted quail
along with another family dog and a family budgie

my mum LOVES that i'm into animals