Have any (exotic) pets?

[timeless]

I was raised around animals. My mom has always been a dog breeder, starting with Shar Pei, then dachsunds, english bulldogs and now french bulldogs. Of course we've had a few cats, but were never able to enjoy them as much as the dogs.

For the relatively unusual pets, we've had goats, parakeets, amazon greys, over 150 chickens and... um.. ducks, and one Transylvanian Naked Neck (known to us as a Turken, looks like a tiny turkey-chicken hybrid. really cool, but awoke paralyzed from the long neck down one day and died about a week later).

On the exotic side of things, we've had 2 green winged macaws, 1 blue and gold, 1 scarlet and a few love birds. We've had very bad luck with about 3 bearded dragons and a fat tailed gecko. The dragons all died mysterious and unrelated deaths and the fat-tailed gecko somehow escaped. Also, we've had a red-footed tortoise and a russian tortoise. A raccoon got to the Russian tortoise... I've caught many snakes, including a banded watersnake, plenty of cornsnakes and an indigo, but I quickly released them all (the rare indigo into a nearby preservation) except for the banded watersnake, which died of gluttony. It really shouldn't have tried to eat that fish, but it must have died a happy death. We had an alligator in our pond for about a year, but it wouldn't leave so we had to get someone to catch it. That was real fun, holding a wild gator is an experience. Once it was relocated, a few other gators would stop by every once in a while. My brother now has some extremely exotic and some poisonous centipedes, while I have a rare (though not endangered) Cape Gopher Snake.

Everyone says that the strangest pets we've had were the 3 skunks. 2 were pets, but we had to give them up. The other one was a severely neglected and abused skunk that had been found barely alive in a trash bag on the side of the road. We held it for a while until someone we knew had the time to rehabilitate and take care of it.

Now... I've been looking at all sorts of cool animals that I can bring in to my family, none of which I have any serious plans to obtain. Just dreaming. Electric eels, raccoons, opossums... They all are awesome, but it's a hyena which i've had my eye on for well over a year. That will be a decision I make when I'm retired, and have acres of land to spare.

[Nicolas]

We've got a lap moose. But seriously, we've only had the standard stuff: fish, cats (one pure breed, the rest dustbin brand), ducks, chickens, geese, and the most exotic was an afghan dog.

My GF has a greek tortoise. It's older than she is .

[ToSeek]

One of our regulars has an invisible elf in their back yard, but I don't recall offhand who it is.

[Alan G. Archer]

One of our regulars has an invisible elf in their back yard, but I don't recall offhand who it is.

That would be Van Rijn.

[lpgeorge123]

I get dust bunnies that collect in the corners. You don't have to feed or water them and they still grow.

The strangest pets we ever had were chickens. My stepbother showed up with four of them one day. It's not like he was keeping them, only have them be eaten at one point for Sunday dinner. These were real pets. Mom couldn't stand them. They smelled really bad. Apparently she complained to the right person and one day they just vanished. I'm still not sure what happened to them. My stepbrother later came home with a dog, and that went over a lot better with the parents.

Other than the chickens we've had fish, cats, and several dogs.

[Maksutov]

I had a Black Widow spider for a while. It was kept in the garage. Bummer how the hourglass wouldn't tell time.

[tbm]

Sea monkeys.

tbm

[Dragon Star]

Sea monkeys.

tbm

I nearly fell off the couch I was laughing so hard.

[Maksutov]

Originally Posted by tbm
Sea monkeys.

tbm

I nearly fell off the couch I was laughing so hard.

What's the matter? Did you find that hard to swallow?¹


Note 1: Reference: Man Show, The Wheel of Destiny.

[Humphrey]

Well I do have me...

[Maksutov]

Well I do have me...

What the shell?

It's the Emperor!

All kneel before his painted armor!

[Whirlpool]

What the shell?

It's the Emperor!

All kneel before his painted armor!

Which can be an "exotic food".

Just kidding Milord.

[Tog]

Heh, here sea monkeys are not pets, they come right from the water faucet. We can spend 20 minutes to drive out to see them in the wild, and when the wind is just right... well let's just say that I can sleep through the lawnmower running outside the bedroom window, but the smell from the lake has woken me up twice.

As for exotic pets, I think I've had a few.
A Pair of prairie dogs (big ground squirrels).
Four different tarantulas.
Snakes have included a wild caught adult 5 foot bull snake that had a distinctly bad attitude and a ball python that we suspect didn't get quite enough air when he was born. He bit himself once because he thought he was food, and once spent half an hour trying to fold the rat in half and swallow it spine first.
Lizards have included, 2 anoles, 1 dwarf tegu (extremely cowardly), 1 spike tail iguana (amazingly cool lizard), 2 savanna monitors, 1 brown basilisk, 1 flying gecko (with attitude), 2 Chinese water dragons (both female, both great pets), 1 green iguana (not so much a pet, as a room mate), and the only one still with me, a leopard gecko. She will turn 15 this summer and still has about 5 or 10 years to left in her.
We had a magpie for a while. It learned to talk.

The GF has a thing that looks a lot like a cat, but is actually some form of demon.

We also have a number of free range jumping spiders that we take care of it little ways when we run across them.

Oh and a few Betta fish, the first was the best. He'd leap halfway out of the water to attack your fingers.

[Maksutov]

[edit]1 green iguana (not so much a pet, as a room mate)

Had one of those back in 1971. Darn thing decided it didn't want to eat anything and shriveled. Meanwhile my dentist's wife had a large one which she would walk (with a harness!) though the business center of the town. I had some unusual suspicions about what she fed it.

The GF has a thing that looks a lot like a cat, but is actually some form of demon.

No comment.

[Tog]

Had one of those back in 1971. Darn thing decided it didn't want to eat anything and shriveled. Meanwhile my dentist's wife had a large one which she would walk (with a harness!) though the business center of the town. I had some unusual suspicions about what she fed it.

My iguana was too something to be harness trained. The first time I put it on him he broke two of his ribs trying to get away from it. When we'd go out, he'd ride under my jacket. He had some odd ideas about food as well. Giant mealworms were food, crickets were not. Fruit was not, broccoli was. Lettuce was, but the one time I tried spinach, he spit it out then dropped to the floor to eat the carpet. I'm assuming it was to get the taste out of his mouth. He did like Captain Crunch. The only time I actually saw him sit up (balanced on his tail) and "beg" for food was when a bit of turkey skin fell off my sandwich and onto the floor. He ate it then saw where it came from and really wanted more. As it turns out, I may or may not have been food. He tested me about once every two weeks, by biting me, but never actually went in for the kill. Oh, and pinky mice were a disturbing surprise as a treat. I figured, yeah, they're vegetarians, let's see what he thinks of a mouse. Think Stanley Tucci's last scene in Jurassic Park.

[Vermonter]

I have an adorable leopard gecko I call Runamuck.

[Mister Earl]

I have an irritable and elderly cockatiel we informally call "Spike". He'll spend hours looking in front of, then behind mirrors, trying to be quick enough to catch the other bird hiding. Occasionally his behavior changes for the wierder. The other day I happened to see him rolling. Yep. He'd tuck his head between his legs and roll. I was drawn by the soft "thump" as his tail hit the floor of his cage. He'd get caught up on the bars now and then and would then get angry. I still don't know why he starts doing it.

Even wierder... a few months ago he started to peck. Cockatiels are seed eaters, and don't have the beak for pecking. He was just ramming his beak into nearby objects. TAP TAP TAP TAP. Couldn't figure out why for the life of me. Finally, one day I see him sitting on the windowsill, looking outside. On the other side of the windowsill was a little finch or something. The finch started pecking the glass, and he pecked right back. So that was where he'd picked that up!

[Occam]

One goldfish
One frog
Two cats
One dog (long haired miniature dachsund)
Three chickens
Assorted spiders, blowflies, crickets (seasonal)

When I was a kid, I had a wonderful lizard, bright green about 12 inches long. He used to go around with me, tucked inside my shirt for warmth but would poke his head out often and scare the living daylights out of people.

[Serenitude]

Not really exotic, I guess, but we have a Maine Coon cat. They have a unique look and build, especially the tail. They also make sounds that no other cat breed makes, such as chirping, trilling, and other noises I can't even describe. Also, they're one of the few cats that can moderate their own feeding, so the bowl is fill-and-forget.

[mike alexander]

I've heard of (but not heard) Maine Coons. Sound cool.

My son kept anoles for quite a few years.

Quite a few snakes around the house. Garter snakes everywhere, and the last few years I've seen a couple of rubber boas living out by the shed. Standard-issue and honking big salamanders. And being Oregon, giant slugs. Not pets, strictly.

We also got a Malaysian walking stick once. In a year or so we had several hundred.

They are parthenogenic.

[Maksutov]

Not really exotic, I guess, but we have a Maine Coon cat. They have a unique look and build, especially the tail. They also make sounds that no other cat breed makes, such as chirping, trilling, and other noises I can't even describe. Also, they're one of the few cats that can moderate their own feeding, so the bowl is fill-and-forget.

My sister had one when she and her first husband lived in North Windham. What an interesting animal! More like a dog than a cat.

[Maksutov]

I've heard of (but not heard) Maine Coons. Sound cool.

My son kept anoles for quite a few years.

Ditto re my son. He imported a few to CT after visiting his grandparents in Florida. When we were watching the Cosmos episode that concerned Mars, and had an intro about Welles' War of the Worlds, he immediately recognized the eye with the "unfeeling gaze" as being reptilian and probably a close-up of an anole.

We also got a Malaysian walking stick once. In a year or so we had several hundred.

They are parthenogenic.

With all those hundreds, how big was the Parthenon they built?

[Maksutov]

I've heard of (but not heard) Maine Coons. Sound cool.

My son kept anoles for quite a few years.

Ditto re my son. He imported a few to CT after visiting his grandparents in Florida. When we were watching the Cosmos episode that concerned Mars and had an intro about Wells' War of the Worlds, he immediately recognized the eye with the "unfeeling gaze" as being reptilian and probably a close-up of an anole.

We also got a Malaysian walking stick once. In a year or so we had several hundred.

They are parthenogenic.

With all those hundreds, how big was the Parthenon they built?

[Nicolas]

Also, they're one of the few cats that can moderate their own feeding, so the bowl is fill-and-forget.

Off all tens of cats of various types we had, all but one could normally moderate their own feeding. And even that one only sometimes ate too much at once.

I don't have a lot of experience with dogs, but as far as I know it's dogs that eat way too much if available.

[HenrikOlsen]

My parents have a Main Coon/Norwegian Forest Cat 1st. generation mix, it's two very similar breeds and the mix is just plain wonderful.

[Nicolas]

Hm, I think my brother also has a cat closely related to that.

We had a white Persian. Quite maintenance sensitive, but other than that a really nice cat.

[Inclusa]

I guess ball pythons are somewhat commonplace today?

[Swift]

Would one keep a dead pet thread in a pet cemetery?

I currently only have two cats, but at various times in my life I've had box turtles, toads, and a garter snake, but I'm not sure those are considered exotic.

[BigDon]

Currently I have Frogzilla.

My three flounders. (Didn't get as popular as My Three Sons.)

Nine bumblebee gobies in with them. Which are much, much more venomous than people give them credit for. Though you sort of have to work at it to get stung.

Carnivorous plants

A whole 55 gallon full of little tetras of diffeent sorts