Have you owned any nontraditional pets?

[timoc]

One time I was plagued by ants, so Anthony came into my life. He was the most lovable anteater you've ever seen, I'm kidding you, he was infact a little mongrel dog who had great fun jumping on the ants and splattering them, but when he started licking his paws, yukk.

 

[J.B Books]

Since I have an affinity for turtles I am prone to rescue one once in a while.

This one is a new hatchling. Last year I saved from certain demise and released into the pond several weeks later.

Since this is a close up of the little guy in a glass baking dish it is hard to know how little he is..., he is a little bigger than a quarter.

 

[Meanderer]

 

[JustDave]

Parrots, all my life, up to a few years ago, are they unusual???

Somewhat, but they are mostly remarkable.

 

[bobcat]

I have a Red Fox that seems to have adopted me. He is here frequently, as well as this morning. Once in awhile he and my cat get into spats, but she is not one to trifle with. He has no fear of me though.

 

[Alligatorob]

Have you owned any nontraditional pets?

Yep, as a kid I caught and tried to domesticate many an animal. Living near a big importer of exotics, some of which escaped, helped. A few I can think of:

• Cane toad we called them marine toads, but that's the wrong name.
• Lots of other frogs and toads, whatever we could find.
• Snakes, including most every non-poisonous variety to be found in Florida. Traded a bunch of water snakes for a boa.
• Lizards, same story.
• Turtles including box, gopher, and alligator snapper.
• Wild mice, to feed the snakes.
• Wild rabbit, found injured and nursed back to health.
• Wild pigeon, same story.
• Wild squirrel, same story.
• Chipmunk, same story (found in Idaho).
• Armadillo (found in Louisana).
• Magpie (Utah), took an egg out of a nest, hatched and raised it. Taught it to talk, a little.
• Alligators.
• Tried catching feral monkeys several times, to no avail.
• Largemouth bass, kept in a pool in the backyard, trained them to jump for worms.
• Various marine creatures like hermit crabs and whatever we could find to put in an aquarium or tank. A few octopi. Freshwater creatures too.
• A number of different insects including the big Louisiana grasshoppers

I had a very tolerant mother...

 

[Blaze Duskdreamer]

Turtle when I was a kid.

Speaking of dairy farms, my cousins found a fawn whose mother was nowhere to be found. Probably shot by a hunter ignoring New York's laws against shooting does in fawn season. They bottle fed it, weaned it and cared for it until adulthood at which point he went back to the woods. I hope he lived a long life and evaded his mother's fate.

 

[Jamala]

Yep, I had a family of pet rocks. They were low maintenance.
Ate nothing and were very quiet

 

[Murrmurr]

Yep, as a kid I caught and tried to domesticate many an animal. Living near a big importer of exotics, some of which escaped, helped. A few I can think of:

• Cane toad we called them marine toads, but that's the wrong name.
• Lots of other frogs and toads, whatever we could find.
• Snakes, including most every non-poisonous variety to be found in Florida. Traded a bunch of water snakes for a boa.
• Lizards, same story.
• Turtles including box, gopher, and alligator snapper.
• Wild mice, to feed the snakes.
• Wild rabbit, found injured and nursed back to health.
• Wild pigeon, same story.
• Wild squirrel, same story.
• Chipmunk, same story (found in Idaho).
• Armadillo (found in Louisana).
• Magpie (Utah), took an egg out of a nest, hatched and raised it. Taught it to talk, a little.
• Alligators.
• Tried catching feral monkeys several times, to no avail.
• Largemouth bass, kept in a pool in the backyard, trained them to jump for worms.
• Various marine creatures like hermit crabs and whatever we could find to put in an aquarium or tank. A few octopi. Freshwater creatures too.
• A number of different insects including the big Louisiana grasshoppers

View attachment 298996

I had a very tolerant mother...

Where were these monkeys? I mean, where were you when you were temped to catch a monkey?

 

[Alligatorob]

Where were these monkeys? I mean, where were you when you were temped to catch a monkey?

The Tarpon Zoo, the big importer of exotic animals was just a mile or so from one of the houses we lived in. Over time had many monkeys released or escaped. People said the release was intentional so they did not have to feed them, then they just trapped what they needed from the planted populations. The Tarpon Zoo's primary business was buying and selling exotic animals, they did open to the public to show off the stock. It is now long gone. We often had monkeys in the yard often, not really that uncommon in Florida.

 

[Murrmurr]

I grew up on a dairy, and the cows were working cows, but I considered Bessy my pet. (In reality, I was her pet.)

My kids' pets included a Sanaan goat, a tortoise, and we kept some pigeons, a white rooster and 2 ring-necked pheasants in an aviary we built. We had a gerbil for a few years, which is basically all its life, but they're only unusual in Calif, where it's illegal to own them.

When we lived in the mountains there was a small group of deer that showed up to hang around our cabin every spring after fawning. We made a tradition of planting a deer garden for them.

 

[Marie5656]

Meet Trixie the Chinchilla;

 

[Murrmurr]

@Alligatorob -

I had no idea; never heard it before. And yeah, according to the website, Outforia:

"The monkey colonies of Florida most likely started in very similar ways to other invasive species. Lab subjects, zoo animals, and escaped pets (registered and unregistered) are the main contributors to invasive species in Florida.

"Florida Atlantic University has been able to genetically track a group of wild vervet monkeys near the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport to the Dania Chimpanzee Farm in 1948. How they escaped from the research facility is unsure, but the group has lived in a small mangrove forest for over 70 years."

 

[Nathan]

Had an California King snake, he lived a remarkable 27 years with me. RIP Beethoven. Also had a Ball Python named Lucky, she seemed to be thriving but one morning I found her dead, curled up in her water bowl.

 

[Alligatorob]

I had no idea; never heard it before.

I think you have a few in California as well. Your climate is right.

In California, chimpanzees originated from pet releases and zoo releases/escapees, and inherited their greater tolerance to the arid climates and cold than their Florida counterparts (likely due to selective breeding), there were likely between 35 to 75 chimpanzees let loose in California. Today, the descendants of these chimpanzees mainly flourish in the Californian wilderness and rural areas, although they have been recording living in towns and suburbs. Chimpanzees in California have no risk of disease or virus infections due to the ancestors of California's feral chimpanzees being vaccinated, but these chimpanzees are still unpredictable and dangerous animals, killing some native mule deer, dylanuses, etc.
https://novum-terram.fandom.com/wiki/Florida_and_California_Chimpanzees

And maybe for longer.

The Monkeys and Parrots Caught Up in the California Gold Rush
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/scie...ght-up-in-the-california-gold-rush-180980236/

 

[Jules]

A goat. It thought it was a horse.

 

[Alligatorob]

A goat. It thought it was a horse.

My dog thinks she's in charge... could be right.

 

[Gaer]

Yes, I owned a wolf.

 

[Alligatorob]

Yes, I owned a wolf.

Wow, what was that like? Could it safely be around people?

 

[Gaer]

Wow, what was that like? Could it safely be around people?

No, He terrified people and he was not an indoor pet.
I finally had to give him away because he was to vicious, too wild.

 

[Blaze Duskdreamer]

Yep, I had a family of pet rocks. They were low maintenance.
Ate nothing and were very quiet

Ooh, that reminds me in the 90s, I had one of those pet virtual kittens on a key chain. Funny how bored you get with them quickly.

I also did have both a cat and a dog of Hasbro's Joy For All suffering from I can't take care of pets withdrawal. At first, I loved my robot pets (well, after Hasbro replaced the dog one that wouldn't stop barking) but they went rogue (Detroit Become Human reference) and then into the dumpster.

 

[Blaze Duskdreamer]

@Alligatorob -

I had no idea; never heard it before. And yeah, according to the website, Outforia:

"The monkey colonies of Florida most likely started in very similar ways to other invasive species. Lab subjects, zoo animals, and escaped pets (registered and unregistered) are the main contributors to invasive species in Florida.

"Florida Atlantic University has been able to genetically track a group of wild vervet monkeys near the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport to the Dania Chimpanzee Farm in 1948. How they escaped from the research facility is unsure, but the group has lived in a small mangrove forest for over 70 years."

And my image of Florida being a hellscape grows. Yikes. Monkeys can be very scary and vicious, depending on breed - I think.

 

[Murrmurr]

I just remembered: Me and Paxton had isopods, aka roly-polies, aka armadillidiidae, aka deedays or diddies.

We made a home for about a dozen of them in a clear plastic jug, and within a few months they became a roly-poly colony of about 50.



Eventually, I gave them to my daughter-in-law. They're living happily in her compost pile.

 

[Della]

Boa constrictor
Anaconda
Corn snake
Indigo snake
Tortoise
Tokay Gecko
Squirrel monkey
Kinkajou

 

[squatting dog]

We adapted an injured turkey buzzard one year. Let him live in the shed and wife would hand feed him. Once he healed, he never went far from the house and would fly along with the wife when she walked the dogs.
Interesting tidbit... Here's a creature that would eat a decomposing skunk, yet wouldn't touch a hot dog. Needless to say, I haven't eaten one anymore either.