Exotic pets

[MindyLee]

Past or present

 

What's to most exotic pet you have owned?

Mine would be a female american florida alligator named Flea.

I bought her when she was only 3 days old at a local pet shop. She was only about 5 inchs long. Pretty neat and wow did I learn everything there is to know about a alligator. I had her about 4 1/2 yrs befor she ran away, yes I did say she ran away BUT not to worry, because it still got cold at night back then, she unfortuntely passed away where ever she was that night. I was so upset and felt so bad for her and looked everywhere but could not find her. I did learn a lesson out of it, now even tho she never bit me, it was a matter of time when she would and can say to others out there... Alligators do not make great pets! Even tho I did love her I knew I most like should'nt have gotten her.

NOW I do want to own reindeer in the future, and will someday

How about any of you?

 

[Matt73]

I can't believe they sell alligators in pet shops

How ridiculous.

 

[Charley]

Many years ago a friend gave us a baby skunk that he found. We had him descented and he was always nocturnal.

 

[Relic]

l married an exotic pet..don't know if that counts

 

[REO]

*I'm* nocturnal, but I'm not entirely sure I've been descented

I had a lil catapillar and I raised him into a tiny orange butterfly. Let him go. His name was Fred. I was 8.

Now my exotic pet is one adult male Couch Snoozer.

 

[MindyLee]

I can't believe they sell alligators in pet shops

How ridiculous.

Now that its been over 10 yrs since I bought her, I too agree with this as it is a shame. I dont know of anyone local or near by the sells them anymore so thats a good thing now of days.

 

[ohmt]

We have a fawn that we rescued this past summer who is still with us. He is so darn funny. We had him on the yard as he healed up and one of our stallion's pens was adjacent to it and I the fawn either slept right up against the stallions (Dream) pen or was nose to nose with him. Eventually he snuck in there and we left them together because we want to keep the deer as 'wild' as possible which means we try not to get close and we don't touch him. We thought once he figured out how to jump the fences he'd leave us, but what he does is jump the fence, go eat with the preggie mares and weanling on the yard, go eat with another stallion, and then when he's full he goes back into his pen with Dream. They cuddle together in Dream's barn.

I'm really hoping the fawn, Merry, decides to leave in the spring. I'd really rather not have a large (he's already big and fat!) buck on the farm.

That's as exotic as we go though...and isn't really exotic. I know if my grandma had her way we'd have a whole bunch of zebras and wallabies though! Surprisingly grandpa keeps saying no??

 

[Marty]

Without a doubt my first husband, Bigfoot. He was really huge, a pro football player, and all big and hairy and strong and stinky and mean. What a rotten pet. yuk

Besides that, I had a little octopus when I was a little girl we bought while we were on vacation someplace I thought I loved him and then I quicky changed my mind when we got him home I decided he was gross. My dad gave him away to the college.

 

[Sonya]

I had a raccoon when I was about 10-14. He was found in a trash can when he was just a couple weeks old. I hand fed him and loved that thing like there was no tomorrow, his name was Scruffy.

Just like an alligator, he was not a good pet, he got mean and aggressive over food as he got older and he went to a park where they are protected.

I also had a true blackfooted Ferret...not the kind you see in the petstore, but one that was captured (not by us, we just happened to come upon him). He was also not a good pet, he was not like your petstore ferrets, much larger and more aggressive.

Some animals are just not meant to be pets, no matter how hard we try.

 

[Jill]

You realize to anyone other than this group of friends on LB, I could say "miniature horses" !!!

Or even dwarf goats. To most crowds, those are plenty exotic!

I'm gonna say flowerhorn cichlid fish. We have one and they are really neat and highly interactive fish. It amazes me how much ours notices what's going on in the room. Also, she knows when I grab a hand mirror, her "rival" is on the way. She starts putting on a show even before she sees her refection. Just sees the frame in my hand and knows what's coming. She also pushes driftwood sticks and plants around her tank. Way "smarter" than we ever realized fish could be.

 

[TheCaseFamily00]

I'm in Indiana and they have a baby alligator at our local pet store,I think it's very irresposible of the store. Our farrier does work for a lady not far from me who has ,kangaroo,and all kinds of exotic animals. I told him if she needs a hand I''d love to go visit one day.

 

[CharlesFamily]

I've never owned anything exotic. But my college roommate's family really became involved in exotic animals and ended up even opening a small, private zoo. Her Dad had always owned a kennel and bred and showed different types of dogs (bloodhounds, GSD). He went to an exotic animal auction one day and bid on a baby tiger because of the horrendous way it was being kept, and that started it all.

They have since come to their senses and placed all of the animals they collected into reputable rescues....I never agreed with what they were doing, but I did go visit a couple of times and I understand the thrill of owning these animals that most people will never get that close to. If you stood next to the tiger's pen and laid your hand flat along the outside, she would come up and rub against it like a cat and "chuff" in her throat. She enjoyed being "petted" and that was a pretty amazing thing to be standing that close to an animal that large!

They also had zebras, camels, wolves, bears, arctic foxes, otters, monkeys, lions and a leopard. They ended up with a couple of wallabies which I had to be in on a roundup once after they escaped their pen. They are fast little critters! Then they had your more "traditional" exotics - miniature donkeys, a miniature stallion, and pot bellied pigs.

Again, while I never believed people shoud own these animals privately (I think it is an accident waiting to happen), I could not ignore the thrill from being able to be so close to these animals. It was a definite experience I will never forget.

Barbara

 

[Riverrose28]

I have a pet crow, I've had him for 15 years. A co worker found him as a baby under a tree he didn't even have any feathers. I hand feed him until he was able to eat on his own. He can't fly, some thing is wrong with one wing. He bows for me and screams when the dogs get into some thing. His name is Poe.

 

[cretahillsgal]

Nothing exotic here, but I would love to own a whitetailed deer.

 

[StarRidgeAcres]

I had an African pygmy hedgehog years ago. He was fun, sweet, easy to keep. His health started failing so we found a specialist from the St. Louis Zoo to see him. His teeth had grown too long and could no longer eat properly. Nothing we read or where told warned us of this. We had his teeth pulled and ground all his food after that and he lived several more years.

If it was a good idea, I would LOVE a fennec fox. But I know they shouldn't be pets although many people have them.

The people I'm leasing this home and farm from run the National Tiger Sanctuary. We've gotten a behind the scenes tour and big cats are magical! I don't want one as a pet but wow are they amazing and beautiful creatures.

 

[Horse Feathers]

My husband raises exotic waterfowl- Black Swans, Canada Geese, Snow Geese, and about 20 kinds of duck. I have my mean and noisy Blue and Gold Macaw (she can be nice, but she don't like to be touched) and I had a saltwater Lion Fish for about 5 months (hard to feed right and they are poisonous) and A Snowflake Morey Eel-2 years (bit me while cleaning tank) . Now I have easy saltwater fish (wont hurt you while cleaning the tank).

 

[LindaL]

When I was 18 I bought a tarantula at a pet store. I named "her" (not even sure she was a she...lol

) Charlotte and had her for about 4 years. She got loose from her aquarium a few times and I would find her in my closet or someplace hiding...lol Also, one morning I woke up and looked in her house and there were TWO of her (freaked me out at 1st...lol) but she had molted, which was actually kind of cool to see that they do it in "one piece" (wish I could have seen her do it).

I finally gave her away to someone when I got married. Should have gave HIM away then...lmao...but that's another story!

 

[leeapachemoon]

I've had many, many exotic pets because I worked at a pet store that sold them. (Never an alligator.) And I've been bitten by almost everyone of them at one time or another, including an albino burmese Python!

But the most exotic one that I own was probably the Degu. He was very cute and like a small squirrel.

 

 

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

My husband raises exotic waterfowl- Black Swans, Canada Geese, Snow Geese, and about 20 kinds of duck. I have my mean and noisy Blue and Gold Macaw (she can be nice, but she don't like to be touched) and I had a saltwater Lion Fish for about 5 months (hard to feed right and they are poisonous) and A Snowflake Morey Eel-2 years (bit me while cleaning tank) . Now I have easy saltwater fish (wont hurt you while cleaning the tank).

Just hadto coment on this ....lol, Canada geese are so NOT exotic (unless you live on the other side of the world ) Just ask anyone who frequents a park where they congregate.

I'd love to have seen your Lion fish. I love to look but couldn't imagine having to worry about being bitten or poisoned Yikes, I'll stick to my pond fish, nothing exotic for me.

 

[Katiean]

This was a young male ostrich that I had

No he does not have a proper fence. However this was before he reached breeding age and got aggressive. They get aggressive even if you hand raise them. They are wild animals and will always be even though they are being used for meat. A male ostrich can kick a chain link fence post out of the cement and ground. A full grown Ostrich can KILL a large man. When we changed the fence to a taller fence we still handled the birds with 10' 2x4's. It was the only way to collect the eggs.

We also had Emu's. They are a bit easier to handle and not as mean. Emu's do form bonds with humans. At least ours did. I would recommend that if you are going to raise ostrich you need a proper Ostrich farm setting as you can get hurt. They are not pets.