Chevy thread comments/age appropiate etc.

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ctomaselli

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Hello all, although I am new to this forum, I would like to put my 2 cents in this topic. My 15 year old daughter asked for a tortoise for Christmas because she saw a bunch of baby sulcatas at our local aquarium. My husband and I decided she could get one but it was her job too research. I also felt it was my responsibility to also research and verify if she was able to care for this tortoise. I raised the questions to her...
1. Who is going to care for it?
2. Where is he going to live when he starts weighing 50 lbs + as he won't fit in an enclosure?
3. Who is going to carry that monster when he gets to 100lbs and it is raining outside?

From that point on, a sulcata was out of the question, with no questions asked. Ergo, we came up with either a Russians or a Hermann.

Now, I know my daughter is 15, going to high school, no job, no money... But as a parent who approves of her getting any type of animal only means that I am financially responsible for keeping her pet healthy until she can get a job. If I don't want the financial responsibiltity, then i would have told her 'No' to begin with. We currently have a boxer dog and 2 cockatiels, and 2 aquariums and we do our best to take the best care of them. They are our family. If my kids are sick, I take them to the doctor... If my animals are sick, I take them to the vet... Simple as that... We often see a few teenagers on here and I know they do their best to take carenof their pets but it is also a parents responsibility to help their child take care of them too. I could be wrong to some people here but I do feel strongly about this with my kids. Thanks for reading.
 

travisgn

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It seems very simple to me. Age doesn't matter, resources matter. The only catch is that, for most sub-adults, one of your resources is your parents. Not always, of course. But, if someone is 15 (or 13 or 10 or whatever) with no source of income or transportation, their parents must be willing and able to care/pay for/transport a pet. If they are not, it doesn't matter how capable the child is, they shouldn't have a pet.

At 13-15 I had a source of income of my own, and while I didn't have a car/driver's license I could easily acquire transportation to a vet or store through my older siblings or the city bus. That was me. Every case is different.

I would also suggest that this goes both ways. A couple people have brought up their view as parents: that they see themselves as ultimately responsible for their child's pets. In addition to that, I think that a mature teenager should be able to objectively determine what kind of support they can expect from their parents and make their own decision regarding getting a pet. As I already said I did not require my parents' support at 15. However, if I didn't have money and transportation of my own, I would not have considered getting a pet, because I knew that my parents were 1) not always financially capable of taking over the care of my pets, especially with regards to vet bills, and 2) not particularly fond of pets in the first place.
 
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