Thinking of adding to your family zoo? If your kids are under 5, you might want to read this. The American Academy of Pediatrics recently sent out a warning to parents that certain pets and young children don't mix, especially exotic pets like hedgehogs, baby chicks, hamsters, lizards, and turtles.

The doctor's group is concerned because young children have undeveloped immune systems and many animals carry germs. In fact, they say, 11% of all salmonella cases involving young children are thought to stem from exposure to certain types of pets and other animals. And even when germs aren't a concern, biting is.

The best thing you can do as a parent and a pet owner is to do your research. Rather than caving in to a child's pleas or an animal's cuteness, make pet ownership a family decision that involves learning all about an animal before acquiring it. That way, you'll be sure to choose an animal that's appropriate for every member of the family, even the smallest.

When I was a kid, my parents indulged nearly every animal whim that I had, as long as I was responsible enough to back it up. And believe me, there were many. Puppies, cats, a parakeet, hamsters, gerbils, guinea pigs... we had them all. As an animal lover, I'd like to do the same thing for my own kids. As a parent, I see now exactly how much responsibility goes into owning a pet and it gives me pause.

Jeff Corwin was on the Today show recently talking about the best pets for kids, and his choices may surprise you. For instance, if Junior wants a reptile, Jeff recommends a corn snake over a lizard or a turtle. And he thinks rats make far better pets than hamsters or gerbils. No matter what kind of pet a family chooses, however, Jeff has some stern advice for all of us:

• Always choose an animal that has been bred in captivity.
• Think once, twice, then think again about whether you're ready to be a responsible pet owner.
• Consider life spans -- a corn snake can live up to 15-20 years.
• Many non-traditional animals require parental control.
• Do your research. Pets are not an impulse purchase.

Watch Jeff talk more about pets in the video below, then share your pet experiences with us in comments!

Before I was a parent, I was a pet lover. In addition to the two cats that I had brought into our relationship, my husband and I also adopted a dog and another cat. The menagerie was totally manageable... then our kids were born. In an instant, they went from being four-legged kids to pets, a distinction they couldn't help but notice. And not only did I not have time to give them the attention they were used to, suddenly they were in the way and underfoot.

One cat had an uncanny knack for walking into the nursery just as the baby was falling asleep and letting out a very purposeful yowl that never failed to wake a child up. Another would hide under the crib, unbeknown to me, then cry to be let out of the room 30 minutes into the nap (and therefore ending it). The dog barked at the kids playing ball in the street, the mailman, the air. And I spent far too much time dealing with their hair and bodily fluids. I was infuriated with them for months.

We never seriously considered giving any of them away, though I worried they were taking years off of my life. But I daydreamed about it on more than one occasion. That's why this essay Take My Pets, Please really hit home for me. I'm wondering if this is a common phenomenon, this pets to pests transformation that takes place when kids enter the picture.

Bath time need not be traumatic if you have the proper tools.

Sitting there quietly mourning the passing of our family cat, who'd been put to sleep by a visiting vet an hour before, I knew that the hard part was not yet over. In a few minutes, my husband would pull up with our car full of happy kids, and we'd have to gently break the news to them that we'd lost a cherished pet. It was the first time either of them had lost someone they loved, and I definitely wasn't confident in how to handle what came next.

There is a lot of good information out there on the web (believe me, I've read them all in the last week) for parents who are dealing with the death of a family pet. In general, they advise the parents be as honest with their kids as possible and, even though it's terribly difficult, let their child go the natural process of grief. What this means is that trying to lessen their grief by telling them Fido "went to sleep" or "went away," will only confuse them and cause them more alarm. It also means, as tempting as it may be to take everyone's mind of things, it's usually not appropriate to run out and get a replacement pet right away.

Usually the stories we hear of children being attacked by animals do not end well. This is not one of those.

An 11-year-old Brazilian boy named Gabriel Almeida has become of bit of a local celebrity not just for surviving a dog attack, but for the way he did it. He was playing in his uncle's back yard in the city of Belo Horizonte when a pit bull named Tita lunged at him and bit his arm. Almeida fought back with his only weapon: his teeth. He bit that dog right back, clamping down on its neck so hard he broke his own canine tooth.

"I grabbed him by the neck and bit," he says. "It's no big deal. It's better to lose a tooth than to lose your life."

After some nearby workers chased the dog away, Almeida went to the hospital for a couple of stitches. He's doing fine, but Tita, not so much. He was captured and is now living in the pound facing a possible death sentence.

I envy those of you with a backyard. Really, I do. Some of you have cookouts, some of you have pools. Some of you engage in a random game of horse shoe or lawn bowling. For those of you with kids, though, have you thought about just how safe your backyard really is?

This list provides not only a list of things that are potential disasters waiting to happen right in the back of your house, but also quick fixes to make life easier, and safer, for everyone. Things as simple as knowing where to properly place your grill can make all the difference between safety and accident, not to mention charcoal that isn't fully extinguished.

And, did you know that more than 68,000 people are poisoned by plants every year? Some plants, if ingested, can be fatal to pets and small children. For a quick scan of the inventory in your backyard, and whether or not it poses any sort of health hazard, visit prevention.com/links. Then there is perhaps my biggest fear of all: The pool. Unfenced pools have led to so much sorrow over the years it's a wonder people still have them. According to the Home Safety Council, a quarter of the drownings in the United States each year occur near home. Pools can be a lot of fun, but only if taken care of and managed properly.

For more information on these and other helpful tips, including how to deal with pesticides, ladders and decks, check out the article. Then, check out your backyard and see if any of these tips apply to you!

It's the time of year when, walking along wooded trails in New England you can often spot the bright orange of the Red Spotted Newt or Red Eft. Kids call them salamanders (you can learn the difference between the two here) and the whimsical book The Salamander Room definitely captures the wonder and affection many kids feel towards these small creatures.

In the story a little boy named Brian carries home a small red salamander. He makes it a bed of leaves in his room with crickets and bullfrogs to sing it to sleep... and with each turn of the page his room becomes more and more magical as it is transformed into a forest habitat as the boy imagines how he will care for his small new pet.

It's the kind of story I remember imagining as a kid, lying in bed when I couldn't fall asleep: what if the ceiling were removed so that I could see the sky? What if I could sleep among the trees? Written by Anne Mazer, this gentle story is a lovely bedtime book. It's also a great story to read if your child happens to find a newt and wants to bring it home. Which my three year old son happened to do just yesterday.

Clutching it carefully in his palm, eyes wide, Bean begged to be allowed to keep the little Red Spotted newt as a pet. After some quick research, I found that these critters are actually easy pets to keep for a while. If he's going to have a pet, this one seems almost ideal. Better, at least than the earth worms he's always trying to put in his pockets. Although hand washing is a must. Here's why.

It's my opinion that three year olds aren't really able to keep any any kind of pet that requires actual, but the newt only requires a few small earth worms every so often, and a little terrarium to live in. So after a quick trip to the pet store, and a scamper through the woods to gather moss and bark for the newt's new habitat, Bean spent almost an hour tonight narrating a wonderfully elaborate story about what his new friend Leafy was doing in it's little home. (Other names he contemplated: Violet, Speckles, Louie and Spot.)

Does your child have a favorite nature book or a pet from the woods?