Does/Did anybody have/had a pet that wasn't a

[dulcemariamar]

dog or cat?

I had a few hamsters growing up but it is a bit sad that they only last about two years.

My mom also bought my brother a small crab for his fish tank but it escaped that same day. It could only survive like 30 minutes outside of water but my brother refused to sleep in his room because he thought the crab was going to attack him. My dad found it a few days, later dead but it was pretty scary for awhile.

[tktravels]

I had dogs for about 25 years, and DH & I have two cats now.

During high school and my undergrad, I had rats. They don't last much longer than hamsters (three years is a good run), but they are infinitely cooler than hamsters. They're really smart and make great pets!

[dulcemariamar]

Rats?? Do they bite? I think mice can be cute. But I dont know if I could be sold on the idea of a rat.

[allibally]

If I didn't live in Chicago I would be more into the rat as pet thing. We have the wild kind scale the screen on our windows. They are huge things too. Ugh.

I really want a bunny as a pet. H won't let me as he thinks it's silly. *pouts*

[bookbunny]

I have bunnies. We had a bonded trio, but one of our girls, Holly passed away two weeks ago while undergoing surgery for an eye infection. We have two now, and they're the best! They really do have personalities, and love to play and cuddle. They are litterbox trained, and like to hang out and watch TV with us. I lov emy Buns!

[tktravels]

My rats never bit, and I'd often hand feed them. If you get them when they are babes and just handle and love the hell out of them, they'll be super tame.

I used to go out and about with my one rat sleeping in my kangaroo pouch of my hoodie. She was such a fun creature.

My mom was grossed out by my rats initially - something about their tails bothered her. After seeing how chill and sweet they were though, she quickly warmed up to them.

I've never had pet mice, but I've had friends who did. The mice kind of creeped me out because they're so small and fidgety.

[allibally]

Jun 19, 2012 2:53:05 GMT -5 bookbunny said:

I have bunnies. We had a bonded trio, but one of our girls, Holly passed away two weeks ago while undergoing surgery for an eye infection. We have two now, and they're the best! They really do have personalities, and love to play and cuddle. They are litterbox trained, and like to hang out and watch TV with us. I lov emy Buns!

This is exactly what I want!

[dulcemariamar]

Jun 19, 2012 2:53:05 GMT -5 bookbunny said:

I have bunnies. We had a bonded trio, but one of our girls, Holly passed away two weeks ago while undergoing surgery for an eye infection. We have two now, and they're the best! They really do have personalities, and love to play and cuddle. They are litterbox trained, and like to hang out and watch TV with us. I lov emy Buns!

Your siggy pic is killing me. I love bunnies.

[Cheesecake]

I had a bunny, until my allergies became too severe and we had to give him away, also rats, goldfish and indeed cats.

I have fat fingers, please excuse typos!

[dulcemariamar]

www.buzzfeed.com/lilyboo/pictures-that-will-make-you-say-awwwwwwwwwwww

Really cute animal pics.

[GilliC]

I think our household was weird-pet central. In addition to two cats at any given time...

My sister had back-to-back rabbits.
I had a guinea pig for a while.
We ended up with a weird siberian hamster at one point.
Pippa the deer mouse was awesome.
And since my parents ran the nature center at Girl Scout camp for a week each summer, we often ended up with short term pets for that -- mostly garter snakes from peoples gardens/garages or box turtles that found their way into the road in the woods.

Frogs and fish were a given, since we have ponds in our backyard, and sometimes they got to over-winter inside in aquariums.

[irish]

I had a goldfish for a while and my brother was given a terrapin by his gf (now wife of 13years). And we had cats and dogs too. Actually she also gave him a kitten... it was so cute a schoolkid knicked it!!

Seriously, there was a school beside my parents house and a couple of times someone would ring the doorbell and return our cat saying that their kid had snuck it in their schoolbag, or they found it looking scared and lost in an area that he would not have gotten to under his own steam. And then one day he disappeared and never came back...

We have 2 cats at the moment (my parents house) but they prefer what's on offer at the neighbours house so only come home when the neighbours are away, or when the neighbour reckons they need to go to the vet... like seriously???

[dorothyinAus]

We had gerbils when I was growing up. We laugh that a tree we planted in the back yard is so healthy because it was planted over the spot where we buried all the gerbils.

My younger brother had a beta fish and a hermit crab. I think the crab lived for 3 or 4 years.

[anna7602]

I really wanted a pet snake in HS. A friend of mine had one and I used to spend hours hanging out with that thing. I didn't love the feeding part, though. It freaked me out that what it ate had to be live (including rodents).

I'm holding out for a dog, now. I just don't know how we would ever manage with the kind of dogs I like in a city apartment. (Or how we would travel as much, perhaps a good question for the ladies on this board?)

[bookbunny]

Jun 19, 2012 2:57:47 GMT -5 allibally said:

Jun 19, 2012 2:53:05 GMT -5 bookbunny said:

I have bunnies. We had a bonded trio, but one of our girls, Holly passed away two weeks ago while undergoing surgery for an eye infection. We have two now, and they're the best! They really do have personalities, and love to play and cuddle. They are litterbox trained, and like to hang out and watch TV with us. I love my Buns!

This is exactly what I want!

They're so much fun! I recommend getting a bonded (fixed!) pair because rabbits are so social, that they can get destructive if they're bored or lonely. I also suggest checking out The House Rabbit Society (Rabbit.org) for good info. And feel free to PM me if you have any questions.

And because I am such an AW Bunny Mom, here's a pic of my three:



Hef is the white male, Holly is the brown female we lost, and Jude is the youngest, our Dutch girl.

[tktravels]

Jun 19, 2012 4:53:20 GMT -5 anna7602 said:

I'm holding out for a dog, now. I just don't know how we would ever manage with the kind of dogs I like in a city apartment. (Or how we would travel as much, perhaps a good question for the ladies on this board?)

DH & I both love dogs, but part of the reason we decided to get cats is the whole living in a small space thing. And traveling too!

Our cats behave more like dogs, I think, but they're litter box trained and can fit under the seat in front of us on planes.

Depending on the trip, the cats often come with us, and honestly, they travel better than some humans I know. And when they don't travel with us, we have someone come check on them daily, top off their food, water, litter, and love.

Pictured: our cats and our footlockers, the day before we moved to Poland.

[bookbunny]

Jun 19, 2012 3:27:11 GMT -5 dulcemariamar said:

www.buzzfeed.com/lilyboo/pictures-that-will-make-you-say-awwwwwwwwwwww

Really cute animal pics.

Holy Crap! I did not expect that much cuteness! Each one was better than the last! The baby bears made me laugh, and I almost lost it at the baby hippo!

[fernane]

Throughout my elementary years I had gerbils, hamsters and miniature mice (one at a time except for the mice when there was 2). The mice were teeny tiny, smaller than my pinky finger. I think they were called miniature Russian mice. Then in middle school I had a guinea pig. The guinea pig was definitely a favorite; I love the sounds they make.

I always kind of wanted a ferret too.

[bugabean]

budgies when I was really young, and fish

For a while I bred platys and zebra danios, but my favorite fish are bottomfeeders, esp. loaches. Fun fact: dojo loaches like to be petted. I really, really like having fish and I hope to get an aquarium again when we have a bigger place. I know they aren't very cuddly, but fish are great nerd pets because you have to pay a lot of attention to the water's pH, nitrites, etc. It kinda drives me crazy when people suggest fish are "easy" or a good pet for young children. It's much easier to have a pet who breathes the same air you do without any adjustment!

[Deleted]

I had parakeets growing up.
We had one that was old and mellow and would just hang out on my shoulder. I would let him just fly around and he would hang out where ever then go back to his cage to poop and eat. He would freak my dad out because he loved the shower and would surprise my dad in there all the time.
He died and we replaced him with a parakeet that was probably kin to The Birds in that Alfred Hitcock movie. He spent most of his free him in his cage because when we would let him out he would poop everywhere and try to peck out Barbie's eyes.

Anna....We lived in a tiny 500 square foot apartment when we got our first dog. He is tiny and was fine in an apartment. The people across the hall from us had a mastiff and said that it was lazy and just slept all day. They would take him to the park once a day and let him run but his poops were the size of my dog. My dogs poops were the size of tootsie rolls. He came to us litter box trained but we switched him to using the bathroom outside.

[potatopie]

I had a guinea pig my freshman year of college even though we weren't supposed to have pets. His name was Harrison James and he was BIG. We fed him well : ).

I'd love to have a dog, but I also have had a long time desire to have a pet pig. They are SUPER intelligent and affection animals. When I found out about teacup pigs (first on the list dulce posted), I fell instantly in love.

sigh....someday.

[clogged]

Rabbit, iguanas, snakes, frogs, fish, and a chicken. My mom had a few different types of birds while I was a kid.

Now we have a hell cat that simply refuses to drop dead already. Once she's gone, no more pets. Ever.

[ninjatofu]

Oh dear, I've always had pets. Always a dog and a cat, at least. We've had frogs, fish, gerbils (they ate each other), a snake, rabbits (we were told they were both male. They weren't. We then had 13 rabbits) and 2 birds in China that were "free range" in the house. I'm now terrified of birds.

[fernane]

Jun 19, 2012 9:02:28 GMT -5 ninjatofu said:

Oh dear, I've always had pets. Always a dog and a cat, at least. We've had frogs, fish, gerbils (they ate each other), a snake, rabbits (we were told they were both male. They weren't. We then had 13 rabbits) and 2 birds in China that were "free range" in the house. I'm now terrified of birds.

This reminds me of my first gerbil in 4th grade. We were told it was a male, but lo and behold, I woke up Thanksgiving morning to her having 5 babies!

[azure]

We always had a dog, cats and fish.
I've also had a chinchilla, salamanders, frogs and turtles.

Right now we don't have anything, we want to get a dog, but we want to move to a house with a garden first.

[tricolore]

Jun 19, 2012 4:53:20 GMT -5 anna7602 said:

I'm holding out for a dog, now. I just don't know how we would ever manage with the kind of dogs I like in a city apartment. (Or how we would travel as much, perhaps a good question for the ladies on this board?)

Not sure if you guys are staying in Europe, but travel here is super dog-friendly. Lucy goes virtually everywhere w/ us and it's easy-- all she needs is an EU pet passport (essentially proof of rabies and a couple other vaccines). She loves ferries and is great in the car/bus/taxi. She's good on trains, but not in love with subways (she'll go, but space can be tight).

To answer the question, in addition to cat/dogs we had rabbits and my brother had a bird (parakeet) and gerbils at various points when I was a kid.

For now, I'm freak enough about Lucy (if my travel comments didn't make that obvious) that I'm not sure I need anyone else !

[crimsonandclover]

We always had 3 cats and a dog growing up. In addition to that:
- An aquarium with various fish
- A rabbit
- Horses (one at a time, I had a total of 3 - they didn't die, I rode them competitively and sold them when I was ready to move up to the next level)

DD is currently obsessed with bunnies. My mom has several as decorations around the house, and DD points at them and has to go visit them and kiss them whenever a bunny comes up in one of her books, and she has to give them a good night kiss before she goes to bed. I'm ok with her loving bunnies. I feel like we could actually have one of those. I, on the other hand, was obsessed with horses and am going to try to steer DD away from that direction, as much as I loved it.

[allibally]

Jun 19, 2012 5:08:48 GMT -5 bookbunny said:

Jun 19, 2012 2:57:47 GMT -5 allibally said:

This is exactly what I want!

They're so much fun! I recommend getting a bonded (fixed!) pair because rabbits are so social, that they can get destructive if they're bored or lonely. I also suggest checking out The House Rabbit Society (Rabbit.org) for good info. And feel free to PM me if you have any questions.

I learned while living in Switzerland that it's actually illegal to not keep bunnies in pairs. I would probably get two anyways!

But it's awhile off. I keep looking at the adoption website for the local place though! We are still working on getting a cat.

[tktravels]

Jun 19, 2012 11:56:31 GMT -5 allibally said:

We are still working on getting a cat.

Have you checked out Treehouse? I used to volunteer at the Uptown facility, and they always had some really sweet kitties!

[crimsonandclover]

Jun 19, 2012 11:56:31 GMT -5 allibally said:

Jun 19, 2012 5:08:48 GMT -5 bookbunny said:

They're so much fun! I recommend getting a bonded (fixed!) pair because rabbits are so social, that they can get destructive if they're bored or lonely. I also suggest checking out The House Rabbit Society (Rabbit.org) for good info. And feel free to PM me if you have any questions.

I learned while living in Switzerland that it's actually illegal to not keep bunnies in pairs. I would probably get two anyways!

But it's awhile off. I keep looking at the adoption website for the local place though! We are still working on getting a cat.

So what happens if you have two and one dies? Do you have to get another one? Or do you get a death certificate for the first one that you can show if someone accuses you of bunny-abuse?