Rabbits are cute, cuddly animals suitable for apartment dwellers. Photo provided to Shanghai Star

Songbirds

If you enjoy the company of a singing animal but want something with longer lifespan than a cricket and expect it to be good-looking, a canary or budgerigar is a good choice. With proper diet and care, your canary will become a happy and healthy singing bird, and it can live as long as 20 years. For the bird's nutritional needs, you can provide it with canary seeds or pallets as a base diet and a teaspoon of mashed boiled eggs for a great supply of protein at least twice a week. Canaries should eat vegetables such as broccoli or lettuce, fruit such as apple or oranges and fresh water on a daily basis. Although canaries spend most of their time alone and do not interact much with people, its distinctive and beautiful singing ability will make them a great companion at home. Canaries are easy to buy for about 600 yuan.

Hamster

For people who are looking for an active, cute and small animal, a hamster can satisfy your needs. Hamsters are a playful rodent, they like to play with toys such as a running wheel and also interact with humans by climbing on hands or arms. Hamsters need to be fed daily with seeds or pelleted hamster mix. It would be better if you provide some fresh fruit and vegetables because a highly active animal needs more nutrition to stay healthy. Hamsters require a suitable living environment, therefore, you need to take out all litter and bedding and put clean shredded paper and pelleted bedding inside the cage every week. Hamsters have life span of two to three years and are priced from 15 yuan to 45 yuan.

Chinchilla

Chinchilla's cuddly appearance has already won over many pet lovers. They are active, fun to watch, clean and odor-free. You only need to follow several simple steps, and a chinchilla can live for 10 to 15 years. Chinchilla's diet habits are very simple: providing it with hay and fresh water every day is sufficient. What you need to pay attention is that it has personality, meaning you need to be gentle and wait for it to warm up and feels comfortable with you. Chinchillas are more expensive than hamsters. They costs 1,000 to 1,200 yuan.

Rabbit

Compared with a hamster or a chinchilla, rabbits require more attention, but their tame and playful personality will be worth your energy, and they can live as long as eight years. Rabbits need to be fed twice a day with fresh fruit, vegetables and hay, and supplied with fresh water every day. Normally, rabbits are very good at keeping themselves clean, so you don't need to bathe them. Never put a rabbit in a bowl of water because it will get frightened and even killed. Rabbits will consider you a playmate if you spend time with them. They will jump to you or nod their head when they are very excited. The price of a rabbit ranges from 30 to 400 yuan, depending on the breed.

Where to find these pets

Wanshang Flower and Bird Market 417 South Xizang Road (close to Liuhekou Road)

Pets to find: turtle, cricket, rabbit, bird, and chinchilla

Caojiadu Flower and Bird Market: 33 Wanhangduhou Road (close to Changshou Road)

Pets to find: bird, rabbit, hamster and fish

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