Your Most Unusual Pet!

If, I could by law get one, it would be a Javelina. Sort of a little wild pig, very social. I think it would be so cute running around my yard and it could snuffle up to me.

Where my daughter lives in MN, they have red squirrels. They are small and mean. They'll chase the larger gray male squirrels down and bite off their testicles. I watched them go after the poor gray things.

I think my javelinas would be better.

i would,but i'm not a animal person myself.glenn is plenty

My latest want is a "Javelina" It a medium size long hair pig-like animal. It's very social and has personality. They run around in the desert and you can hunt them. I looked on line, trying to buy some for my back yard, no luck. Of course, after I read the downside, I may be in luck. In order to establish their territory, they have a scent gland that they rub on things that smells like mild skunk and they have tusks. My neighbor's might complain.

Edited by: PJCHILIS at: 7/5/2010 (10:23)

lol

The desert turtles have a better chance at survival, because of having water available. Also, it keeps animals attacking them for food. I'm not sure if you get a male and someone else gets a female, whether they get visiting privileges.

i had a cousin that was always getting box turtles when he was a kid.we figured he would out grow it.he is 58 and has his basement and yard fixed just for his turtles.

We have little lizards here in FL. I think they're called anoles. They change color with their environment. They hide out and run out and snatch any little living thing they see. I had beautiful Monarch butterflies and their larvae was crawling on their host plant and the anoles ate ALL of them. Next fall I have to put screening around the plant to try to protect the larvae.

Why do people want to take the turtles out of the desert and keep them in their yards? Do they have a better chance of survival in captivity?

We have small sand colored lizard here that are really cute. My neighbor, who had the gopher, has his lizard tamed, so he'll stop and be talked to. The rest of us have unruly lizards that don't take to training. My goal is to have a bunch of them that will come and beg at the patio table.

We also have huge desert turtles here(several feet long). If you find one, it has to be turned over to the Wildlife officials. Then, you apply for a permit, take classes and have your yard inspected for turtle healthy habitat. They can live for years and years and the state wants them taken care of well. They have to have a shelter, fenced yard in which to roam, ample water and food of their preference. That's where it gets tricky. Some like some cats, turn their noses up at mundane food. One lady we talked to, had a turtle that wanted avocados, mangoes and papaya. She didn't say, whether it had a preference to Mexican or Hawaiian papayas. Huge difference in price.

Anyway, when we get too mature to travel in the summer, I'm going to apply for a desert turtle.--PJ

p.j,how mean,but i bet you had alot of fun.

I was a sadist little brat when I was little. I loved chasing the chickens around with the leg hook. The leg hook was for catching them for dinner. I didn't want to eat them, just make them squawk.

We had a pet hen. We got her as a chick one Easter and she grew up and laid eggs under the house. We would find them by the smell because there wasn't a rooster around so they just rotted. She always lay them in a hidden place so we never got to eat any. I don't remember what happended to her or what her name was, but she was around a long time.

how cool is that?

I had a dog when I was 17, I don't remember it's name, but I taught it to say,"I love My Mama". I finally, had to give the dog away, because it tried talking all the time and he was driving everyone nuts. I had seen it done on "The Ed Sullivan Show" and thought it was neat. Not, so!!

LOL

We had a pet squirrel, he love saltines so his name was Crackers.

you think.he still has to put up with me.maybe that is why he is like a mad dog sometimes.

Lucky Glenn !

how funny.i never have to worry about stepping on glenn

Grace, I love your story. At one point, I tried collecting nightcrawlers to make money, but it did't do to well.

My brother kept worms under his bed in a coffee can for fishing. My Tim, age 2 went into the bedroom and ate all of them. My brother Mike was about 11 at the time and he was so mad.--PJ

Edited by: PJCHILIS at: 4/24/2010 (14:04)

When I first started reading about how to be a "worm keeper" I read an article that said you could keep a box of worms in a dark closet in your house. So I collected a bunch of earthworms and set them up in a spare bedroom closet, following ALL the directions,or so I thought. That night, when I got up to go to the bathroom, I stepped on something cold, wet and skinny. When I turned on the light I found my hallway, crawling with earthworms! There was one direction I missed, and that is that you can't use earthworms from your yard because they wonder around at night(nightcrawlers - duh!) You need to use special worms called red wigglers.

I had a wood box, crate like thing, that my girlfriend and I would fill with dirt, (mom and dad loved the holes in the yard). We would collect all the worms we could find and put them in the box. We would add sticks and grass but never any water... poor things. They never lasted long but we had fun.
I guess I still play with them but they are in my gardens and compost. I love seeing them in the compost bin.

I got stuck taking care of my DD's hamster. I was the same way ... I feed it, cleaned the cage but I never wanted to touch it... ick

everyone seems to have had unusual pets but me.is there something wrong with me.

Hay I had worms too when I was aa kid, used to keep them in my pants pockets! Mom didn't like it too well when she did laundry and found them
put a gardner snake in my jacket pocket one time. Can barley beleive I did that - can't stand to ever see a snake now!

I'm not an animal person either, although I have a Yorkie who I dearly love. I guess our's was a hamster, although that's not too unusual. It was unusual for me, because I can't stand rodents. While I cleaned his cage, fed him, and bought him treats, I never touched him. Too ewww for me!

i'm not an animal person,so i guess it is glenn.he can act like a mad dog sometimes.

Boy, I'm losing it. I forgot about my goats "Billie and Ginger" when I was little. I learned to read before I was 5, because we had 40 goats and all were named. When, they got butchered, my mom would put their names on the meat packages. There was no way, I would eat Billie or Ginger.

OH, I forgot! I had worms too! I was really into vermiculture(growing worms)for a while because they're good for the garden. My efforts failed, in FL, because my worms were attacked by fire ants. In CT, it's a no-brainer, now. The garden is full of earthworms!

KALI, What a devoted "mommy" you are!

worms, it was sad!

Edited by: JERSEYGIRL318 at: 4/23/2010 (10:28)

We had an iguana for a short time!

My current dog Kali's esophagus muscles don't work (birth defect), so she choked on food and water. The vet said she had too much tissue in her throat, so she had her uvula lasered away, like I did, for snoring though.

Well that didn't help Kali and the vet had no other ideas, so we had to try to figure out a way to keep her alive. It was hit and miss and she was starving to death when we started spoon feeding her semi soft food.

Kali is now a happy health dog and will be 6 next month. I will spoon feed her birthday cake!



Edited by: KALISWALKER at: 4/22/2010 (22:21)

We had a pet goat named Minnie Moo that was my DD Vocational Agriculture project, in high school. She was a big hit in the neighborhood.

While my children were coming up we had MANY pets - dogss, cats, brids, rabbits, a little white mouse (school pet), of course the usual hanster or two, the kids wanted a monkey _ dad said no (before I could), thought they were going to bring a "wounded" baby skunk in - NOT, we did let them have a raccoon for awhile.

A snake & a lizard. I've also become friends with the chipmunks, one sat on my foot while I was doing a project in the garage. I even have a witness that can confirm it really happened.

We laugh with our neighbor over his pet "gopher" that he had as a kid. He kept it in a bird cage. It got so fat, it couldn't roll over. DH had a "chicken" I had a lost, injured "emu" for a short time. Once, our boys had 50 "prairie dogs".

So, what was yours?