My niece would love a pet. She's animal crazy and her mom's willing to get her one if it's an animal the child can take total responsibility for. She wants her to realize how much care even small pets need before allowing her to get a dog, which is her dream. Any ideas what would be good for a youngster to teach her that?

She needs a pet she will enjoy - and that won't die on her! It also needs to be relatively easy to maintain its living environment, care for and to feed properly. She is only seven. :)

Please explain in your idea what makes your choice ideal for her age group and why you think she could care for it herself with little or no supervision. She's very bright and we think understands that if she gets a pet, she can't just forget about looking after it if she doesn't feel like it. This is the test of how fully she gets that.

Her mother has laid down one rule: no rats!