What is the strangest pet you or anyone you know has had?

**Missy** · 10-26-2005, 04:58 PM

LOL, most of my pets have been pretty main stream. The most exotic I have had is a hermit crab and I raised rats for a short time (they freaked out my step mother, so i had bunches of them!

) The hermit crab's name was "spanky" but in our home the temp wasn't ideal, and i didn't know then, so he died. I felt awful.

Other than those I have had:
Cats
dogs
guinea pigs
various fish
parakeets
ferret
cockatiels

nothing out of the realm of ordinary here. But I have a neighbor who has miniature horses, chickens and a mule. I had never heard of mini horses till i met one of his.

One of my aunts had a big snake of some sort. Later she had a rabbit and cats, now she has dogs.

Another (ex)aunt has a squirrel who comes and goes.

and my uncle and his wife raised and rescued exotic birds, large and small.

Do you have or know anyone who has unusual or exotic pets?

**Dedlered** · 10-26-2005, 05:00 PM

I had two snakes, a burmese python and a red tailed boa

**hollyhill** · 10-26-2005, 05:07 PM

We have australian spiny stick insects right now.

**mom22grls** · 10-26-2005, 05:10 PM

I had a rat when I was a kid........that's not too unusual, I guess.

**daddys3chicks** · 10-26-2005, 05:10 PM

I have a friend in grade school who had racoons as pets. They were tame and really cool.

**bevjean** · 10-26-2005, 05:16 PM

I have had hermit crabs, but had to give them away when hubby was transferred to Okinawa. It was kinda funny. My husband was in the military at the time and went to work telling the guys that he gave his wife crabs for her birthday. They of couse thought something else. It was hilarious.

Also we had a ball python. We wouldn't eat and the day after the warranty from the pet store was up he crawled into his water bowl and drown himself.

Right now I just have my cat, Oscar and my son has a couple of guppies.

**slowtypinwoman** · 10-26-2005, 05:17 PM

while I was growing up our next door neighbors had a pair of spider monkeys. I remember them as being really mean. thier names were Onie and Crockmier. When we moved to our new house the guy not far from us had tigers and panthers. They were in cages in his basement and had a large pen outdoors. We actually met him because we had some beef that was bad and we gave it to him for his cats. It was cool we got to go in his house and we actually got to pet the panther. He has since moved but it was quite and expirieance to see such awesome animals up close.

**YankeeMom** · 10-26-2005, 05:30 PM

My youngest dd once tried to keep a grub. Named it "Himey"

The dog ate it....

**Newsnerd68** · 10-26-2005, 05:33 PM

Believe it or not we once had a pet pigeon. I found him under our porch as a baby with an injured wing, nursed to health and taught him to fly. You'd think that would be the end, buut he stayed with us for a couple of years. He'd go out during the day and go where ever birds go and come home at night. This will sound like I'm making it up, but I am not. He would sort of hover and peck at the door to be let in. He followed our car around town (it was a small town) and would ride on the hood when we slowed down to turn the corner for home. He also followed ds on his paper route flying from wire to wire and perching along the way. He loved to land on your head and ride around that way too. Pigeons are very smart and quite clean, despite their reputation.

He started staying away from home for longer periods of time and one day he left and didn't come back. I like to think that he found a chickie!

**Michelle** · 10-26-2005, 05:53 PM

We had a Tegu lizard when we first started living together.

**Michelle** · 10-26-2005, 05:53 PM

We had a Tegu lizard when we first started living together.

**Mamaw** · 10-26-2005, 05:58 PM

I dont think it is really that strange but we have 2 goats, Mork and Mindy, 2 dogs, 1 cat and about 12 chickens right now.

The goats get some folks attention...

**chewawalove** · 10-26-2005, 06:49 PM

Hmm..let's see. When I was about 10, I had a pet mouse. A couple of years later, Ddad (almost) made pets of two baby raccoons. They were pretty tame, but still had an unpredictable streak.

Dsil has had 3 ball pythons in the last 6 months, 1 died and 2 escaped from their new home when they were moving in. She now has an iquana.

Our most unusual to date was dd's little pot-belly pig. Sadly, he died last month, but it was an adventure to say the least. It is true that they are quite smart & cleaner than most folks believe.

**dhmunoz** · 10-26-2005, 06:57 PM

I haven't, but my dad said that years ago, he had a friend who had a raccoon that was trained to use the toilet. Now THAT would be cool. I wish my cats would learn that! LOL

I have heard of a lady who had a de-stinked skunk for a pet...and I have also heard that skunks DO make good pets. I think that would be a riot! Can you imagine? Someone comes over to visit, and your skunk strolls out? ROFLMAOOOO

**Katybird** · 10-26-2005, 07:21 PM

We I was growing up we had a red fox. We got him as a baby, his mother had been killed and some hunters found him in the den, they knew my Mom had a reputation for nursing hurt animals and abandoned baby animals back to health so they brought him to her. We had him for about 3 years, he would play with my DM's poodle and have the poodle chase him all over the house and then the fox would jump on the back off a chair and laugh in his own way at the dog who could not figure out how to get to where he was.

He ran away when he was about 3 years old, I think he knew it was time for him to go back to the wild and start his family.