Great advice.
To add to this see if you can find someone who you can personally talk to about the habbits of the creature that most do not talk about on the internet.
For instance..bearded dragons shit reeks. Awesome pets as long as you dont mind cleaning up shit logs that are the size of small dogs shit.
Leopard geckos will bore you out of your mind.
Snakes are some of the simplest pets in the world to take care of....(if you provide them with the correct setup as well as humidity so they shed properly) This goes for most reptiles as well.
Degus like to fling shit around your house if they are not in a aquarium.
Rats to be honest are pretty awesome. They will fling some bedding around but not nearly as much as most rodents.
Everyone has there own view on a animal as well.