PERFECT PETS

For children vaguely desirous of owning a pet but somehow unable to consider a cat or a dog, the Sabins suggest starting your own ant or earthworm colony or breeding ladybugs, advise goldfish over other more expensive tropicals, and offer more detailed advice on keeping and caring for some of the most popular birds, rodents, and amphibians. There are a few warnings--parrots bring diseases, cockroaches bring other cockroaches, rabbits don't thrive in apartments--but the Sabins clear the controversial turtle, recently associated with salmonella: ""There is no danger if you follow sensible rules of hygiene and if you keep your turtle in a proper environment."" Probably every category touched on here is treated more extensively, if separately, elsewhere, and other comparative general surveys, such as Shuttleworth's Pets and People (1975), also exist. Where there's room for another, or a replacement, this will do as well.