# Anyone Here Have An Unusual Pet **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 11, 2009, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-an-unusual-pet/520924 "2009-12-11T22:10:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2009, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-an-unusual-pet/520924/21 "2009-12-12T15:34:15Z")
My dad owns a pet shop, and over the course of my childhood, in addition to the normal assortment of cats and dogs and rabbits an guinea pigs we had chinchillas, various and assorted reptiles and birds, including a caimen, a toucan, and a few macaws, and we also had monkeys. I can’t recommend them. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2009, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-an-unusual-pet/520924/22 "2009-12-12T17:06:34Z")
> [@andiepandie](#): > > I know I’m not the only Doper with ferrets! Currently have two of the sweet little buggers 🙂 Yup, as you might guess from my username, I have a ferret. I think I first adopted the username when I had five. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![SandyHook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dec6dc/32.png) [@SandyHook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SandyHook)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2009, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-an-unusual-pet/520924/23 "2009-12-12T17:10:53Z")
Ms Hook had skunks, racoons, and flying squirrls when she was growing up. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2009, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-an-unusual-pet/520924/24 "2009-12-12T17:15:04Z")
> [@Pullet](#): > > Does a husband count as a pet? I guess that depends on how you treat him and what you do with him 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![GESancMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gesancman/32/2923_2.png) [@GESancMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GESancMan)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2009, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-an-unusual-pet/520924/25 "2009-12-12T17:36:46Z")
> [@Terraplane](#): > > When I wake up in the morning he greets me by bashing his claws against the glass of the tank in a charming “I will fuck you up and eat the eyes out of your still living face” sort of gesture. If i try to put anything alive in the tank he destroys it completely, plant or animal. He will, for no reason at all, shred aquatic plants into tiny bits that clog the filter and that I have to pick out before they rot. All while nervously avoiding his determined and presumably painful grasp. He leaves piles of headless skinned minnow carcasses around his little rock grotto as, I assume, some sort of warning to all that, yes, a complete murderous asshole lives here so fuck off. > > He is absolutely fascinating and way better than anything else you could ever have in a fish tank. My nurse sharks would have had your crawfish for breakfast. Literally. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2009, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-an-unusual-pet/520924/26 "2009-12-12T19:31:49Z")
Does a pet-rock count? ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2009, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-an-unusual-pet/520924/27 "2009-12-12T21:27:47Z")
> [@notfrommensa](#): > > Does a pet-rock count? Only if it’s a REAL pet rock you purchased in the 70s. Not a fake rock you found on the ground 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2009, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-an-unusual-pet/520924/28 "2009-12-12T21:36:12Z")
A friend’s dad used to work in forestry in a pretty rural area - he discovered an orphaned beaver cub one year and brough him home. When I met “Bucky” he was pretty cuddly and liked t steal your potato chips. He also though he was a tiny, little lap baby - not so… ---
**Author:** ![Terraplane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@Terraplane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terraplane)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2009, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-an-unusual-pet/520924/29 "2009-12-12T21:39:45Z")
> [@GESancMan](#): > > My nurse sharks would have had your crawfish for breakfast. Literally. 😛 He _does_ look delicious. If he ever pinches me I’m reaching for a pot and some Old Bay. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2009, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-an-unusual-pet/520924/30 "2009-12-12T22:07:21Z")
My cat’s from Bulgaria. Does that count? ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2009, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-an-unusual-pet/520924/31 "2009-12-12T22:50:50Z")
My dog is unusual, in that I strongly suspect that he’s a guy in a dog suit, mooching off my family. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2009, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-an-unusual-pet/520924/32 "2009-12-12T22:55:08Z")
I tried having pet worms. I kept them in an ant farm filled with dirt after the ants died. ---
**Author:** ![Ruffian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71e660/32.png) [@Ruffian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruffian)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2009, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-an-unusual-pet/520924/33 "2009-12-12T23:00:49Z")
A horse, a pair of red-eared slider turtles, a ball python, and a corn snake. In the past, I’ve had hermit crabs, crawdads (LOTS of them), salamanders, frogs, rats, and a baby snapping turtle I caught in a local creek (that was returned to the creek after a few months). ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2009, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-an-unusual-pet/520924/34 "2009-12-12T23:08:11Z")
Currently I have a Boa Constrictor and a Ball Python. I’ve had them for a very long time. ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-an-unusual-pet/520924/35 "2009-12-14T16:30:19Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > Only if it’s a REAL pet rock you purchased in the 70s. Not a fake rock you found on the ground 🙂 The ones you find on the ground need homes too. I consider them “rescued strays” rather than the ones bought from “breeders”. ---
**Author:** ![flight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbce88/32.png) [@flight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flight)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-an-unusual-pet/520924/36 "2009-12-14T16:57:06Z")
Three sugar gliders. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/jpSuXwmE4Ww/hqdefault.jpg "sugar glider / Cookie Monster") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpSuXwmE4Ww) [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/79-MM0P_77M/hqdefault.jpg "sugar glider / sugar eats melon") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79-MM0P_77M) Note the videos are not of mine, just two I found on youtube. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-an-unusual-pet/520924/37 "2009-12-14T17:39:24Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > My cat’s from Bulgaria. Does that count? Only if it speaks Bulgarian 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![starwarsfreek42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e56c9b/32.png) [@starwarsfreek42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/starwarsfreek42)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-an-unusual-pet/520924/38 "2009-12-14T19:24:35Z")
I have two rabbits. ---
**Author:** ![Pyper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pyper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pyper)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-an-unusual-pet/520924/39 "2009-12-14T19:37:02Z")
In the past I’ve had rats and my parents still have the box turtles that we adopted when we were children. At one point we had up to five turtles because they had eggs. Now there’s just two turtles off different species. (The male and babies were adopted out to good homes.) ---
**Author:** ![Morgis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@Morgis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgis)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-an-unusual-pet/520924/40 "2009-12-14T19:49:46Z")
I have two ferrets. My mom used to have a chinchilla that lived to be 11 years old. That thing outlived the dog. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-an-unusual-pet/520924.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-have-an-unusual-pet/520924.md?page=3)