Do you have pets? [Archive] - Giant in the Playground Forums

Asta Kask

2010-02-17, 08:16 AM

Of course you do!!!

I have a black tomcat named Castor. He is rather small (10 lbs.) but doesn't let that stop him from attacking small and medium-sized dogs that invade his turf. We think he's 6-8 years old - he's a former stray so it's difficult to say for sure. He has very long, strong claws and the most fantastic eye teeth that are visible even when his mouth is closed. I call him my little sabretooth.

My mom has his brother, Pollux. The two loathe each other, which is normal behavior for siblings. :smallbiggrin: Pollux is half white and half black and is a bit smaller than his brother. Pollux spends most of his time either outside or sleeping next to a heater or other source of warmth.

Mom also has a long-haired tom named Caesar, who looks a lot like a Norwegian Forest Cat or Maine **** - but that's just false advertising. He's as much a farm cat as all the other. Caesar is a very social cat who loves riding in Mom's car. Not far, just around the block. He also finds the most impossibly small spaces and cram himself into them.

Her third cat is a small female tabby named Stina. She is a very shy and skittish cat, but if you take the time to learn to know her, she is well worth the effort.

All cats are neutered, of course.

valadil

2010-02-17, 09:27 AM

Yep. An african pygmy hedgehog by the name of Jeffie. He's got more friends on facebook than I do.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4005/4344538947_1ed00f6d25_b.jpg

Cyrion

2010-02-17, 09:37 AM

At the moment we've got one cat- Ariel. Normally I'd have two or three cats, but we lost Ariel's siblings Puck and Yorick to inflammatory bowel disease over the past couple of years.

My wife wants a yap dog, but I'm not a dog person in general, and I particularly despise yap dogs.

KuReshtin

2010-02-17, 09:39 AM

No.

Since that is too short to send as a reply, I'll tell you about the stupid mutts that the rest of my family has instead.

My parents has a dachshund ('tax' in Swedish) called Moses. Spolied rotten and has his own private daycare centre. My uncle and aunt takes care of him during the days when my parents are at work.

My sister and her boyfriend has an American bulldog called Skrållan. Skrållan is stupid. There's no other way to describe her. She's almost 50kg of which about 2 grams are brain. My sister says that she isn't stupid, she's 'just a bulldog'.
When Skrållan sees a new person, she gets very excited and wants to say hi. When she does that, she starts running as fast as she can towards the person, and constantly refuses to slow down, but rather uses the person as a break.
Right now, she's also hiding the birdfeed that my sister has put out for the birds because of the snow.
Since my sister's boyfriend runs a dairy farm, Skrållan used to have free reign to run about on the farm during the days, and they used to have a running tally on how many cats and kittens Skrållan buried in the flower beds. They stopped counting at four.

My brother has an Irish Soft Withern Terrier called Witte. He weighs in at about 15kgs, but looks as if he should weigh about 35, but most of his volume is fluffy fur.

Syka

2010-02-17, 11:18 AM

I have only one, technically. She's a mean-as-sin Russian Dwarf Hamster named Saffron (after Yo-Saf-Bridge from Firefly). We estimate she is nearly two years old, but I adopted her from a pet store who'd had her previous owner drop her off, so it's just an estimate. She's a dark gray (which has been lightening with age) with a darker stripe down her back and a white cross on her chest, with white paws. The tips of her ears have also gone white in the year I've had her.

There have been several times I thought she would die whilst I've had her. She stopped climbing up her cage (it's not unusual to see her at the top left corner trying to chew the hell out of the bars to get at my mom or I), wasn't running as much, and generally ignoring us. That lasted a few months and now she's back to her normal, "I want to kill everyone" hatred. I missed her. :smallbiggrin:

By all means, she shouldn't be living too much longer, but I have a feeling she'll be a like a bitter old woman and stick around until we're all shocked. :)

I also have kind of adopted my boyfriend's parents dogs, I'm also the one who gives them the most attention, haha. There is the hound mutt, whose a huge baby and scared of his aunt's chihuahua (the mutt is fairly large, too, lol), but a sweetie. There is also the husky-beagle mix whose really smart, and definitely a crotchety old woman at 14 or so. According to my boyfriend, she's been like that her whole life, though. She's a sweetie to humans, HATES all other dogs except for her mutt companion (whose apparently the only other dog they've ever had her with that she's liked).

Mercenary Pen

2010-02-17, 11:42 AM

We have two cats in the house.

The first belongs to one of my sisters and is named Kiro. He's about three years old, and has a black and white tuxedo pattern to his fur. He has a somewhat mischievous personality and is about the most intelligent cat I've yet encountered.

The second belongs to the other of my two sisters and was collected this last saturday from the local RSPCA shelter. Named Kelsey, she's estimated at about 8 months to 1 year old, has a tortoiseshell coat and is just beginning to settle in at home.

Morty

2010-02-17, 11:49 AM

We have a shorthaired German pointer. He'll turn two years old in April and he's fun to have around. He needs to be taken for a walk at least once a day - luckily I don't have to do it now that I'm studying away from home - and he loves being petted, stroked and cuddle to people. Every time I lay down on a sofa and he's inside, he'll try to lay down on them. Since he weighs 40 kilos and is more than a meter long, it can be uncomfortable. But also kind of cute.

wxdruid

2010-02-17, 11:51 AM

We have several pets.

Kenja - dark grey and white tuxedo short hair cat. Very fat in the middle, skinny on both ends. He considers himself King of the house and I belong to him. We adopted him from the next door neighbor who had 3 cats too many for living in base housing.

Rain - light orange/buff short/medium hair cat. She's not even a year old yet, and weighs almost nothing in comparison to Kenja. She loves to play, but she's still skittish although she's improving. We adopted her from the local humane society in Nov.

Blackie - very bitey black dwarf hamster. He's also very old, I expect him to die any time now but he keeps on living.

Sam - leopard gecko. The best thing about him is that he eats crickets. I hate crickets, so I'm happy to watch him munch them up.

Asta Kask

2010-02-17, 11:53 AM

Mercenary Pen

2010-02-17, 11:55 AM

He's a brontosaurus?!?!?!?!

No, he's a brontosaurus/houusecat cross... And if you ask me how, I'll have to say that a wizard did it...

CMOTDibbler

2010-02-17, 11:59 AM

I have 2 cats, Nekoh and Toonces (http://snltranscripts.jt.org/89/89ttoonces.phtml). Nekoh's brown with black stripes, and Toonces is black with a white spot. My parents and I have had Nekoh since I was born, and Toonces was outside our door on Thanksgiving.

Syka

2010-02-17, 12:00 PM

Blackie - very bitey black dwarf hamster. He's also very old, I expect him to die any time now but he keeps on living.

Do they all do this? Haha, they seem to never want to die...and to enjoy biting people. I've so far only encountered one dwarf who wasn't bitey, and that's my friends. I think his hamster is too lazy, lol.

Asta Kask

2010-02-17, 12:06 PM

No, he's a brontosaurus/houusecat cross... And if you ask me how, I'll have to say that a wizard did it...

But what would be the purpose of crossing a brontosaurus with a housecat?

Mercenary Pen

2010-02-17, 12:08 PM

But what would be the purpose of crossing a brontosaurus with a housecat?

Well, it's about as useful as crossing an owl with a bear.

Linkavitch

2010-02-17, 01:03 PM

Five cats, Jack (as in Sparrow), Linus, Lucy (as in peanuts), Elizabeth (Also as in PiratesotC. Will died.) And Hercules. Which is odd, because we have a husky named Zeus. As well as one named Sasha and one named Hershey. And a Bleagle named Annie. Shetland Pony named Black beauty, and two pygmy goats, named Tanner and Starbuck.

Deadly

2010-02-17, 01:35 PM

One albino rose-ringed parakeet named Cali. Her screeches could wake the dead, I'm sure. She's very effective at waking me up early in the morning and generally bothering me when I'm trying to concentrate. And sometimes I suspect she's half-blind too, but I still love her.

http://www.tangveje.dk/files/bird.jpg

wxdruid

2010-02-17, 01:50 PM

Do they all do this? Haha, they seem to never want to die...and to enjoy biting people. I've so far only encountered one dwarf who wasn't bitey, and that's my friends. I think his hamster is too lazy, lol.Every other dwarf hamster I've met have been bitey and don't like to be held. I think when he finally dies I'm going back to owning a rat.

Asta Kask

2010-02-17, 01:57 PM

Every other dwarf hamster I've met have been bitey and don't like to be held. I think when he finally dies I'm going back to owning a rat.

You really should own two rats or more. They need rats for company, unless they live on you 24/7.

arguskos

2010-02-17, 02:17 PM

wxdruid

2010-02-17, 02:39 PM

Well, I have found a place on the other side of the river (MO) that has rats for adoption. It does make me want to save them all, but, I can't. I'm waiting on my friend Heather to ship me a nice expensive cage she has.

Asta Kask

2010-02-17, 02:44 PM

wxdruid

2010-02-17, 02:46 PM

I've had rats before, they all seemed happy by themselves. The one I had in college would come when I called. I'd let him run around on the floor and have fun. I've only had one mean rat, we didn't hold her often.

Asta Kask

2010-02-17, 02:49 PM

Here's a Rat Page (http://goto.glocalnet.net/rat/index.htm) from one of Sweden's great rat experts. I tend to trust her.

Ilena

2010-02-17, 05:14 PM

Damn right. I've got a cat, Oscar. Check it out!

Me and Oscar, 'bout 2 minutes ago:
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u250/bloodydoves/Photo34.jpg

Just him, about 3 minutes ago:
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u250/bloodydoves/Photo33.jpg

awww so cute! well ... ive got two orange and white kitties, both getting up there in age, a golden and black retreiver, and then 4 horses, 2 quarterhorse appy, both brother and sister, an older appendix quarter horse but basicly quarterhorse/thoroughbred, and a foundation quarter horse, loveum so much :P

CrimsonAngel

2010-02-17, 05:20 PM

I have a cat and dog.

All of us~
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e381/CrimsonAngelChris/pictures/meankitty.jpg

Maggy the cat.
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e381/CrimsonAngelChris/pictures/rawr.jpg
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e381/CrimsonAngelChris/pictures/mylolcat.jpg

Sophie the dog.
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e381/CrimsonAngelChris/pictures/satelitedog.jpg

And a sting ray.
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e381/CrimsonAngelChris/pictures/Kemah_Halloween_018.jpg

EDIT: That's a terrible first pic.

ScottishDragon

2010-02-17, 05:28 PM

My fluffy little bunny,hes calico and has a mane.Named King,don't have a pic right now.

Inhuman Bot

2010-02-17, 05:56 PM

Yesh.

Sparks T. Puppy, American Eskimo Dog extrodionare.

Two okay-ish pictures.

http://i832.photobucket.com/albums/zz243/Slaanash/IMGP0912.jpg

http://i832.photobucket.com/albums/zz243/Slaanash/IMGP0910.jpg

KuReshtin

2010-02-17, 06:05 PM

Sophie the dog.
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e381/CrimsonAngelChris/pictures/satelitedog.jpg

Oh, no you didn't!
THE CONE OF SHAME!!!!

Voldecanter

2010-02-17, 06:05 PM

I have a pure bred miniature Silver Dapple Dachshund ! His name is Elmo and I treat him like my child ....because that is what he is ....My baby !

Drakevarg

2010-02-17, 06:11 PM

Serpentine

2010-02-17, 08:16 PM

I have an English Grey Tabby called Moses (and Boy has similar called Scout), a banjo frog called Jeremiah, an unnamed snail and a box of crickets doomed to the stomach of Jeremiah. Also a small, pale nerd called Michael.

Assassin89

2010-02-17, 08:45 PM

I have a labradoodle back home called Ginger. She has been trained to chase squirrels. I also used to have three fish (Betas I think. Two were in a bowl and the other was in a tank).

Yardo

2010-02-17, 08:48 PM

I got a black cat called Manson. I have no idea why the guy I got him from called him that, not that he listens to his name or anything.

The Valiant Turtle

2010-02-17, 09:27 PM

I actually do have a turtle. His name is Psychadelic, but we call him Psycho for short. Although it's actually possible he's a she, it's not easy to tell with turtles.

CoffeeIncluded

2010-02-17, 10:42 PM

I used to have 10 gerbils, a hamster, and two frogs (The pet shop mixed up the genders. I took care of the babies that resulted, and all of them survived).

Eventually the hamster and gerbils died of old age. One of the frogs died too, and we gave the survivor (Frogzilla) to a friend where she's happy.

Now we have a dog; she's a German Shepard/Border Collie mix with Whippet and God knows what else in her. She's extremely fast and intelligent. I was able to teach her sit two days after we adopted her (She was about 9 weeks old at the time), and she was pretty much housebroken within a week (A few accidents here and there with the carpet, but that was it.)

KerfuffleMach2

2010-02-17, 10:44 PM

I has a seven year old Sheltie. Also known as a miniature Collie. Yes, a little Lassie.

His name is Lucky. And he is made of win. I love his fluff!

He has odd habits. Like taking food out of his bowl, then walking into the living room to eat it. Or only barking when I am walking from my car to the front door. Or when we put his leash on. Until we get outside, he'll bark a lot and keep biting his leash.

He's funny.

Erloas

2010-02-17, 11:27 PM

I've got 2 cats, Penny and Blackberry. I've got pictures of them I'm sure, but not going to bother posting them right now.

I've also gots lots of aquatic pets. 9 dwarf neon rainbowfish, 6 serpae tetras, 6 pristella tetras, 5 zerbra danios, a betta, 6 amano shrimp, 4 peppered corys, 3 nerite snails, and recently added 5 celestial pearl danios (aka galaxy microrasbaros) and 4 otos, as well as about 10 red cherry shrimp.
I've got about 4 of said shrimp berried so I'll have another 30-100 in a couple weeks time and I've also got a baby neon rainbowfish and zebra danio that managed to make it into shrimp tank and live.

My brother also has 2 ferrets that are in the house.

Serpentine

2010-02-18, 01:03 AM

I've taught both cats to sit =3 The frog... is a slow learner.

UnChosenOne

2010-02-18, 01:06 AM

What pets I've got? 4 cats (mainly needed to kill rats and mouses), 3 dogs (Finnish lapphund females) and 2 Finnhorses (both are geldings).
Cat

This cats name is Aapo and he isn't nicest person around.http://img199.imageshack.us/img199/1742/img0309nf.jpg
Another cat
This male kitten is called Wallu and he is a quite nice person.http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/7308/walluu.jpg

Asta Kask

2010-02-18, 07:48 AM

I used to have 10 gerbils, a hamster, and two frogs (The pet shop mixed up the genders. I took care of the babies that resulted, and all of them survived).

Gerbils are sooo cute. Dumb as stumps (or rather, completely ruled by instinct), but cute. I used to be able to put my hand in the cage and one of them would come and lie down in it, and then I scratched him behind the ears and he fell asleep. We need an *aaawww* smiley.

I've had rats too, and I remember when I brought home two new rats for the old one to play with (the old one's brother had died a few weeks before). The old one looked at the two new ones for a couple of seconds and I thought "Oh crap, there's going to be a fight." And then the old guy lay down and the two new came over to him and nuzzled him behind the ears. And the look on the old guy's face - bliss. Complete bliss.

Thursday

2010-02-18, 10:37 AM

Syka

2010-02-18, 12:55 PM

I reallyreallyreally want a hedgehog for a pet. An old friend of mine's hedgehog had babeh's and I wanted one but she sold them all before I was going to move (plus the dorm I'd've been in didn't want pets...of any sort).

I loved my gerbils (Mal was a brindle looking one with half a tail due to his former owners cat reaching him the DAY before I picked him up; Simon a pure white but not albino one with half a tail because his litter mates mauled him after they moved enclosures...:smallfrown:). Yet, everyone (including me) preferred my satanic hamster. The gerbils were adorable and sweet but Saffron had the spunk.

Solaris

2010-02-18, 01:31 PM

I also have a Beehive and suit, instruction books, and all the kit, -but as yet no bees (those come by post)... unfortunately my housemates are not keen, but its something I've been wanting to do for ages and ages. How do I persuade them?

With honey.

sparkyinbozo

2010-02-18, 02:40 PM

Two female basset hounds, Suzy and Daisy.

Thursday

2010-02-18, 03:17 PM

With honey.

*Lies Forehead on desk and feels stupid*
Fair Play -Guess I walked into that one!...

They won't go for it though.

bladesmith

2010-02-18, 03:19 PM

Crested Geckos FTW!

I have two, but no easily linkable pictures, :smallfrown:
one has eaten various pieces of gaming paraphenalia down the years, and at least one large elastic band, with no obvious ill effects..

I also have a Beehive and suit, instruction books, and all the kit, -but as yet no bees (those come by post)... unfortunately my housemates are not keen, but its something I've been wanting to do for ages and ages. How do I persuade them?

I'm a biologist by trade, (and also obsessed by 'creepy crawlies!')so there are often Moths and butterflies and other insects in keepnets all over the place, if its summer.

Heh, crested geckos would be for the win, should I ever get one. My flying gecko was as close as I'm probably going to get for a while. Still really awesome, though.:smallbiggrin:
At the moment, I'm down to just me and my tiger salamander, Sher Khan. If it were up to me, he'll survive for another few decades above and beyond the one that he's already spent with me. I consider that one of the huge up-sides to having a salamander, is that they will basically live as long as you let them. That, and I can play tug-of-war with earthworms. In the house, though, we also have a couple leopard geckos and a fish tank full of guppies and tetras. Unfortunately just lost the rabbit.:smallfrown:

As for the beehive, I'd say go for it, then find someone to process the honey and bribe your housmates with that. My dad was a beekeeper for a long time, and its totally worth it, even if you were just one of us kids that kept getting stung.:smalltongue: Its also comforting to know that I'm not the only one that adopts random bugs, even if mine are shorter term. Dragonflies that fell in the lake and their wings are too wet to fly, moths and butterflies with damaged wings and whatnot, praying mantises(mantii?) that happen to land near me... Yeah, since I usually find them at a camp that I work at, I just show them off to a few kids and let them go. But trust me when I say that lifeguarding with a dragonfly on your nose makes quite an impression with city kids.:smallbiggrin:

Je dit Viola

2010-02-18, 03:25 PM

Ooh!

I have (had? Yeah, let's call it that, replacing "I" with "My family") pets.

I have a Blue Heeler dog, and he's very pretty. Black and white. (I took care of him after my older brother moved out, until I moved out too, leaving him with my younger brothers)

I have 2 birds, both tropical birds but different kinds, and I used to have another 5 birds. (Blame my brothers, and I had to take care of them too)

Umm...fish. Had a whole lot of them, but they all died (old age, maybe? Or it might have been because I was the only one who ever fed them and changed their water) except for one, and we gave that one away.

Had 2 very beautiful cats, one black one with topaz eyes and the other that looked like a miniature lion.

Ooh, and some pet spiders, but they don't count.

Also had a pet hampster.

Also, had a pet rock. I gave it googly eyes, and put it next to my pillow each night.

Oh, right. I have younger brothers, if they count as pets.

Asta Kask

2010-02-18, 04:09 PM

Oh, right. I have younger brothers, if they count as pets.

Only if they're trained. Otherwise they're vermin.

Marillion

2010-02-18, 04:10 PM

I have a cat, whose name is either Samus or Kitty. (My brother insists its "Kitty," and she DOES answer to that name (by "answer to it," I mean "look in the speakers direction momentarily before continuing to ignore them.") but I argue that "Kitty" is not more a name for a cat than referring to your son as "Boy.")

You...You mean my mom didn't love me!?!?:smalleek:

I do that with my dogs, to the point where they answer to their names as well as "dog" (and "moron", and "jack***"), but only when they're in trouble and they know it.

I have two dogs. One's a yorkie/silky named Olivia. She's black and tan with that silvery color yorkie puppies have. She's a total idiot, and she thinks she's a cat, but she loves me, and she's very good at yapping until she's hoarse at our friends protecting our house from intruders. She also has really bad teeth that I'm going to need to get pulled at some point. Leave it to the british...:smalltongue:

The other one is Hemi, a Boggle (Boxer/Beagle) who we got from former roommates who didn't really take care of him. He's brindle with white patches, and he's basically a boxer sized beagle. He's a lovable goofball with moments of genius. I think he's learned to work the locks on his crate from the inside. He also thinks he's a cat, or at least, that he's the same size as Olivia. That wouldn't be so bad if he didn't love to cuddle. Forcibly. He's very particular about his feet, and he's got a small case of separation anxiety. The only big problem, though, is that people keep mistaking him for a pit bull. This is because they are blind and ignorant. Personally, I have no problem with pits. I love pits. Apartment complexes, however, don't.

I also have two cats. Gizmo is a tuxedo cat who's done nothing but gain weight since we got him fixed. Unfortunately, he still retains his kitten-ish playfulness, and as such, I mostly refer to him as "That [expletive deleted] cat". Foxy is a muted calico. She's very quiet and hates nearly everyone except me.

My mothers pets include Whopper (a black and orange longhair they found in a Burger King drivethrough), Pasha (a stand-offish but pretty siamese), Sasha (the siamese's grey kitten, who's downright mean), and Romeo the boxer. That dog is gorgeous, a moron of the highest degree, and indestructible. Once, we took him fishing, and we tied his leash to a log, thinking that he might be able to move it, but he wouldn't get far. 10 minutes later, I'm chasing him around the forest until he dives into the pond WITH THE FORTY POUND LOG STILL ATTACHED and swims to the other side with that big ol' dopey grin on his face. Another time, he got loose, and I had to literally run him into the ground. It took 45 minutes running up and down hills and through forests and a field of mud that took my shoes off before he got tired enough that I could catch up to him and tackle him, still with that dopey grin on his face. And another time when he got loose, he was hit BY AN OIL TANKER. He got right back up and kept running with nothing wrong but a bloody lip. Guess what he had on his face.

If nothing else, that dog kept me in shape while I was living with my mom.

Asta Kask

2010-02-18, 04:24 PM

I have two dogs. One's a yorkie/silky named Olivia. She's black and tan with that silvery color yorkie puppies have. She's a total idiot, and she thinks she's a cat, but she loves me, and she's very good at yapping until she's hoarse at our friends protecting our house from intruders. She also has really bad teeth that I'm going to need to get pulled at some point.

But that's her breath weapon! It's vital to defend the house!

Marillion

2010-02-18, 04:32 PM

But that's her breath weapon! It's vital to defend the house!
1d2 acid damage, fort save (DC 8) or nauseated. :smalltongue:

A friend who DMs at my apartment always brings along a large purple hat. One night, when she was being particularly yappy, he took the hat off and thrust it at her, yelling "In the name of Bast, I REBUKE thee!" She turned around and ran, and stayed hidden the rest of the night.:smallbiggrin: Unfortunately, he doesn't have enough levels in cleric to affect a dog with Hemi's HD and his over-friendliness.

Thursday

2010-02-19, 05:43 AM

My flying gecko was as close as I'm probably going to get for a while. Still really awesome, though.:smallbiggrin:

Was it a Madagascan? See now I'm Jealous, -they have those at the shop down the way, but I really can't justify the cash and extra space etc.. I just go in there and stare periodically.. also at the Treefrogs.
I love Lizards of all forms, (I used to have Leopard Gs too, and Sandfish skinks, -also really awesome, but you never see those except as a moving ripple of sand!) but Cresties are probably the cutest. The only thing to watch is (probably like flyers) they are extremely good escape artists if I'm not careful. I also wouldn't mind a Salamander, but I just don't have the room. Sounds awesome though. Get them! Get them!

As for the beehive, I'd say go for it, then find someone to process the honey and bribe your housmates with that. My dad was a beekeeper for a long time, and its totally worth it, even if you were just one of us kids that kept getting stung.:smalltongue: Its also comforting to know that I'm not the only one that adopts random bugs, even if mine are shorter term. Dragonflies that fell in the lake and their wings are too wet to fly, moths and butterflies with damaged wings and whatnot, praying mantises(mantii?) that happen to land near me... Yeah, since I usually find them at a camp that I work at, I just show them off to a few kids and let them go. But trust me when I say that lifeguarding with a dragonfly on your nose makes quite an impression with city kids.:smallbiggrin:

Heh, Shhh! you are not alone! Some stuff I collect for work, but by no means all of it. We don't really get any impressive Mantids in the UK, mores the pity. You can buy them, we used to keep one in the lab at a certain university I worked for, and fed her drosophilla from the genetics lab. Thats probably quite common actually. I'd love to live somewhere with a wider variety of microfauna, but knowing me I'd probably end up being bitten by something dangerous pretty much straight away.

Never tried the dragonfly nose trick, do they behave if you fish them out of the water then? From what I know of city kids I believe you. Nice! keep up the good work.

The bees are definitely gonna happen, but maybe not here as the garden is very small and someone will be stung, (in addition to me!) I don't want to upset anyone too much.:smallfrown: The honey would also be rather useful to feed the butterflies etc, its got to be better than transporting the stuff from New Zealand, like the stuff in my local store.

Asta Kask

2010-02-19, 07:46 AM

I dreamt this night I had gotten 2 gerbils and a European (or Black-Bellied) Hamster, and the hamster was attacking my cat...

http://www.animalpicturesarchive.com/ArchOLD-6/1135054066.jpg

Asta Kask

2010-02-19, 11:08 AM

BTW, have you seen Titanocat. (http://www.verismocat.com/htmscripts/leo-guinness.htm)

bladesmith

2010-02-19, 02:54 PM

Was it a Madagascan? See now I'm Jealous, -they have those at the shop down the way, but I really can't justify the cash and extra space etc.. I just go in there and stare periodically.. also at the Treefrogs.
I love Lizards of all forms, (I used to have Leopard Gs too, and Sandfish skinks, -also really awesome, but you never see those except as a moving ripple of sand!) but Cresties are probably the cutest. The only thing to watch is (probably like flyers) they are extremely good escape artists if I'm not careful. I also wouldn't mind a Salamander, but I just don't have the room. Sounds awesome though. Get them! Get them!
I think he was Bornean, because they caught one almost exactly like him on a nature channel special about Borneo. The internet says they're from Malaysia and Indonesia(Kuhl's flying gecko looks closest). And yes, he was a master escape artist, and nearly impossible to catch when he got out. The skinks sound like fun... I was looking into getting a caecillian, which would probably be about the same, as far as observing them goes. What can I say? I'm a sucker for amphibians.

Heh, Shhh! you are not alone! Some stuff I collect for work, but by no means all of it. We don't really get any impressive Mantids in the UK, mores the pity. You can buy them, we used to keep one in the lab at a certain university I worked for, and fed her drosophilla from the genetics lab. Thats probably quite common actually. I'd love to live somewhere with a wider variety of microfauna, but knowing me I'd probably end up being bitten by something dangerous pretty much straight away.

Never tried the dragonfly nose trick, do they behave if you fish them out of the water then? From what I know of city kids I believe you. Nice! keep up the good work.

The bees are definitely gonna happen, but maybe not here as the garden is very small and someone will be stung, (in addition to me!) I don't want to upset anyone too much.:smallfrown: The honey would also be rather useful to feed the butterflies etc, its got to be better than transporting the stuff from New Zealand, like the stuff in my local store.
Well, I don't often find mantids here in the midwest US either. Occasionally get one that comes out of the woodwork, though, and its always interesting. As for the dragonflies, they only behave as long as their wings are wet. As soon as they can, they're gone.
Good luck with the beekeeping, too. I guess it does help to have a little space, especially if the people around are actually worried about getting stung. Then again, the people in my neighborhood always seemed to find it handy to have someone who knew about bees around. At least, when swarms decided to park in their yards. :smalltongue:

Heh, side note: Titanocat is always how I pictured Mister the cat from the Dresden Files books. Funny

CoffeeIncluded

2010-02-19, 10:52 PM

Gerbils are sooo cute. Dumb as stumps (or rather, completely ruled by instinct), but cute. I used to be able to put my hand in the cage and one of them would come and lie down in it, and then I scratched him behind the ears and he fell asleep. We need an *aaawww* smiley.

I've had rats too, and I remember when I brought home two new rats for the old one to play with (the old one's brother had died a few weeks before). The old one looked at the two new ones for a couple of seconds and I thought "Oh crap, there's going to be a fight." And then the old guy lay down and the two new came over to him and nuzzled him behind the ears. And the look on the old guy's face - bliss. Complete bliss.

Awww.

Funny story about gerbil intelligence though. I kept them all in glass aquarium tanks with black plastic...Rims? (Is that the word?)

And one by one, each gerbil, even the ones in separate tanks, learned to stop up their exercise wheel with bedding, climb up the side of the wheel, and gnaw on the plastic in an attempt to escape.

But you know what's adorable? Teaching tiny baby gerbils, with fluffy coats and just-opened eyes, to drink from that inverted water bottle by wetting the sides of the cage near it with a wet cotton ball (And their mom showed them too), and watching these tiny baby gerbils lick the water droplets off of the walls. :smallbiggrin:

Don Julio Anejo

2010-02-19, 10:55 PM

I have a mackerel tabby kitty cat curled up two feet away from me right now :smile:

Yarram

2010-02-19, 11:54 PM

I... Don't actually have any pets.:smallsmile:

Zevox

2010-02-20, 12:23 AM

I don't, personally (I'm really not an animal person in any sense, so I doubt I ever will), but my parents do, and as I still live with them I'm thus stuck with one around. A dog, Cairn Terrier (think I got the spelling right), named Princess (my little sister named her). For the most part, I ignore her - my parents take care of her. About all I do is set her food out at noon on occasions when I'm the only one home at that time, and on even rarer occasions let her in or out the door to the backyard when I'm the only one home and she bugs me enough.

We used to have another dog, also a Cairn Terrier, by the name of Fuzzy (that one was my parents' doing), when I was very young. Dog life spans being what they are though he died when I was in fifth grade or so (we got Princess about a year later because my mom wanted to have a dog around again - actually, now that I think of it, that means she's getting kind of up there in age for a dog now). I think I actually used to play with him back then, but I don't remember much about that.

Zevox

Asta Kask

2010-02-21, 05:06 AM

But you know what's adorable? Teaching tiny baby gerbils, with fluffy coats and just-opened eyes, to drink from that inverted water bottle by wetting the sides of the cage near it with a wet cotton ball (And their mom showed them too), and watching these tiny baby gerbils lick the water droplets off of the walls. :smallbiggrin:

That is, indeed adorable.

Young rats learn what is safe to eat by observing their elders. Unfortunately, this involves stealing food from the elder rats as well. Many was the time when I saw the old rat running ahead, eating some prize while the two younger rats followed like tugboats in his wake. :smallbiggrin:

And we never had any difficulty giving them medicine, since it was fruit-flavored. The 'lucky' rat would chomp down on the pipette, suck greedily and watch the other rats warily to see if they were trying to steal his prize.

I miss them sometimes. But cats are easier to care for, and just as fun, but in other ways.

Solaris

2010-02-21, 05:34 AM

I have this scruffy little rodent.
http://img693.imageshack.us/img693/7134/l84dabde4d333bf10e6f70c.jpg (http://img693.imageshack.us/i/l84dabde4d333bf10e6f70c.jpg/)
You have to ambush her with the camera, 'cause otherwise she runs away and hides. As near as we can tell, Cuddles is terrified that the camera will steal her soul.

billtodamax

2010-02-21, 05:41 AM

I have a cat called puss II.

She's... almost 13 now.

She's gotten some bad kidney problems though. And she's getting forgetful. :smallfrown:

Johel

2010-02-21, 06:04 AM

Past experience with critters made me wise enough to not get any right now...or ever again !!

Goldfishes : me and my brother dropped the plastic aquarium so many times that the poor things must have died from a hearth attack eventually. Mom found them one morning, floating in its aquarium, belly up.
We had other goldfishes that were forgotten near a window. During the sunny summer. Hot tubs are good but the fishes didn't appreciated...

Aquatic turtles : after one of them nearly ate the other, we had to keep them in separate aquariums. Because of space issue, one had to rot in the plastic aquarium of the (then-long-deseased) goldfishes, with water at room temperature while the other enjoyed a spacious, UV-lit, warm-water aquarium. We used to switch them every week. Then got bored.
We released the one of my brother in a local pond. If it survived the winter, it must have decimated the local fauna...
Mine grew to monstruous size, making the once-spacious aquarium look like a pitiful jail. I also forgot to feed her on several occasions. Then the heater of the aquarium broke. Finally, many years latter, after having forgotten the thing for a week or so, the smell from the aquarium gave away that "something was wrong with Charlotte". Buried in the garden, with a metallic spoon as tombstone.

Hamsters : The first one became obese (he was well fed...) and nearly raped the second one, a small female we got from a friend. The two were separated and a attempt to reunite them later ended with the first one losing an eye (the thing got infected, grew to horrible proportion). The hamster died eventually....
The second hamster made a prison break attempt which ended in the bucket where we store salt for the winter. Never thought a so little thing could drink so much... It died a year or so latter, after a life of traumatic experiences.

Gerbils : Two of them. Both died of old age, three and four years old respectively. The little bastards have a incredible number of "prison break" attempts, with one of them cutting the edge of his tail on a chocolate's plastic container while trying to cross my room. The other tought me that, while small plastic shelter are alright for hamster, gerbils must have wood...because they'll gnaw anything they can.

Guinea pig : fitted somewhere between the gerbils and the hamsters. No idea how it ended.

Now, I think it's no wonder my parents never, ever agreed to have a dog...

Asta Kask

2010-02-21, 08:10 AM

Gerbils : Two of them. Both died of old age, three and four years old respectively. The little bastards have a incredible number of "prison break" attempts, with one of them cutting the edge of his tail on a chocolate's plastic container while trying to cross my room. The other tought me that, while small plastic shelter are alright for hamster, gerbils must have wood...because they'll gnaw anything they can.

Yeah, we used one half of a coconut shell for our gerbils - they swiftly reduced anything else to splinters. I'm still not sure whether the coconut shell was too tough or just tasted awful...

Amiel

2010-02-21, 08:39 AM

We did, yes; now, not so much.

First pets were goldfish; we didn't have any fancy tank setup; it was a rectangular glass aquarium sans thermometer, filter, substrate, yet the fish seemed to like it okay. However, we did position it in direct sunlight...still, they managed to survive for a while.

Had goldfish throughout my childhood, which, while nice to have as pets are absurdly boring.

We also went fishing, not so much directed at eating the fish but catching them to live in our aquarium. We managed to nab quite a few and they swam like they liked their new home. We came one day to find one native fish particularly bloated and many goldfish gone. You do the math.

Also used to go around my garden collecting insects, spiders and to stick in nicely landscaped jars. It was pretty nice seeing them in a habitat like that, and they seemed content. Probably my own imposition so said.

We used to have an awesome cat, Snoo (a tabby), who, when we were walking around the neighbourhood, would follow us around and walk with us. If the distance got too far from our house, we used to say "Go home, Snoo, no need to follow us anymore," and he would listen and find his way back home.
He ran away, but possibly to spare us the heartache of seeing him die. He was getting old. There's a theory that goes that some cats choose to die some place else; dunno if that holds any water though.
Snoo was originally a feral cat that one of our family friends adopted, or Snoo adopted them, and we adopted Snoo or Snoo adopted us?

We found some kittens and another cat that looked exactly like Snoo; except Snoo II was a she and gave birth to kittens, we eventually had to give them up for adoption.

Oh, before that, we actually found a possum in our backyard and we adopted that too. But it found its way back into the bush.

Nothing particularly fancy.
I would like to keep frogs as pets; a nice terrascaped vivarium, vibrant looking and healthy with happy residents would be a nice addition.

Symmys

2010-02-21, 08:47 AM

We've got a chubby tabby that's older than I am. We used to have her brother, too, but he got cancer and died. :smallfrown:

Thursday

2010-02-21, 10:00 PM

I think he was Bornean, because they caught one almost exactly like him on a nature channel special about Borneo. The internet says they're from Malaysia and Indonesia(Kuhl's flying gecko looks closest). And yes, he was a master escape artist, and nearly impossible to catch when he got out. The skinks sound like fun... I was looking into getting a caecillian, which would probably be about the same, as far as observing them goes. What can I say? I'm a sucker for amphibians.

I've only ever seen madagascan flying geckos in the flesh, but I think I know the ones you mean, those are awesome too, I'm still jealous.. little blighters. Caecillians are also awesome, now you have me thinking.....

Well, I don't often find mantids here in the midwest US either.

Shame, I sympathise, I have to go all the way to France.. annoyingly there is so much more variety on the continent, grumble stupid island effect..

they only behave as long as their wings are wet. As soon as they can, they're gone.

I'm gonna try this out come spring. I live in a swamp!

Good luck with the beekeeping, too. I guess it does help to have a little space, especially if the people around are actually worried about getting stung. Then again, the people in my neighborhood always seemed to find it handy to have someone who knew about bees around. At least, when swarms decided to park in their yards. :smalltongue:

Thanks! Unfortunately probably won't happen for a bit, -they are a bit concerned, I can sympathise, though I've been stung so many times now I've lost the fear reflex (not the pain though, curse it), and there isn't much room. Also, feeding butterflies sugar solution is the quickest way I've ever discovered to aquire common wasps, (Jellowjackets to you North americans, I think??) in their hundreds, so I'm not over popular anyway..