There aren’t that many exotic pets you can have here. I’ve spoken to people who have skunks before. So what exotic pets do you have?
I used to have a wallaby. I now have 5 hermit crabs. Which aren’t that “strange” but I do look after them properly, which is not very common. (sadly, most people who own hermit crabs have no idea what they are doing. It’s not really their fault, pet stores and companies that sell hermit crab supplies spread so much bullshit about them, but I digress)
I’m sure there will be people on here with some weird and wonderful animals.
Not too weird, but as a kid I owned an anole lizard (one that could change color between green and brown shades), a hamster, and a few kinds of fish, in addition to a dog and cat.
Up to a year and a half ago, I owned ferrets, and now I have two rabbits.
Being a ferret and rabbit owner, I’ve gone to a local exotics vet, and seen all kinds of critters in the waiting room. Birds of all types, sugar gliders, a white (domestic) duck, chinchillas, even a prairie dog.
I have a Timneh African Grey…kinda exotic, but no so exotic that he came from the wild. (In the US, all African Greys must be born in captivity, I dunno if that extends to ALL exotic birds or what.)
Well, I kept a couple tarantulas until a burgler smooshed them and have had several different snakes, a lovely iguana named Pop, and a roomie I had for a while had the cutest little descented skunk named Punkin, and I had a mostly wolf hybrid named Llugh. Poor pop died shortly after we got him because his previous owner mistreated him. Other than Pop and the smooshed spiders, I had to give the snakes away because I had to move to an apartment and the place would not let me keep them and Llugh died of old age at 13 which was very old for his type.
Closest thing to exotic now is the guinea fowls, the indian runner duck and the tufted roman geese. Unless aracun~a chickens are still considered exotic?
I have my little leopard gecko Picante whom I love very much. Last night he ate 14 mealworms and 2 waxworms. Boy, does he love his waxworms, but he’s not allowed to have too many because they really are like potato chips for him - fattening and not very healthy. But a couple are OK!
I have four rats (not that exotic, really, but kind of different), a Kenyan sand boa (small, cute snake), a hedgehog, and my son has a bearded dragon (lizard, pretty common) that mostly lives at his dad’s, but comes to visit sometimes. Actually, I think we are going to build him an enclosure here so they can always be together.
The snake and the hedgehog are definitely the most “exotic”, but their care is pretty straightforward. The snake is comically easy to keep; the hedgehog less so, but he has more personality so he’s worth it.
A bearded dragon lives in my basement. He’s not my pet but since I am the one who pays the mortgage here (Char’s owner lives here for free), I am going to claim him for the sake of this thread!
My girlfriend and I have a hermit crab. He (we assume it’s a he…I have no idea really) was a “rescue” animal. Basically one of our neighbors left a mildewy mite infested fishbowl out in the hall with a note saying “Free Hermit Crab!”.
I have a year-old bearded dragon and leopard tortoise, a society finch, and a spice finch. The birds are new, just from this past weekend. Here’s a mosaic of all of them.
I’d love to have a hedgehog if only they were legal in Arizona!
I’ve never heard of a hermit crab (I’m assuming the land type) being a pet. This strikes me as odd. I have electric blue hermits in my marine tank, with a host of fish and coral and other beasties.
Do hermits have characters and habits? Do they recognise the person that feeds them, get playful ? ? Really intrigued.
I have a housebun [Kashi] and 2 Quaker Parrots, Sami and Ginny. I miss my ratties and guinea pigs…and would so love to have a TAG or CAG. No one around here breeds them anymore and no one seems to have one that needs a good home.
We currently have two cockatiels and a green cheek conure. We’ve also had a jenday conure, another cockatiel, and black mask lovebirds (at one point we had six - the original pair reproduced).
Prior to marriage, my spouse had owned an emporer scorpion and extensive collections of salt water fish, from breeding cichlids (the sale of which supported the hooby) to lionfish, puffer fish, horseshoe crabs, and a couple of nurse sharks (one of which is now in the Chicago Shedd acquarium).
They certainly have habits. They like climbing on stuff and digging a lot. Our periodically rearanges his crabitat by digging random holes, throwing rocks and the rest of his stuff around.
They are social creatures and should probably have a few companions. But as I said, we found ours in the hallway and we don’t want to have to buy a huge tank full of crabs.
There are actually entire web sites devoted to taking care of them.
Oh cool, I’ve actually heard of people who have massive tanks that have kept Anoles with Hermit Crabs.
Aw At least they did that, instead of just ignoring it till it died or flushing it or something.
If your hermit crab doesn’t mind being picked up, Pick him up, and wait for him to come out of his shell. hold him above your head. If he fully extends out, look at his underside. If there is two dots, It’s female. Those two dots are gonopores, which are genital openings.
They have distinct personalities and habits. I can tell them all apart from how they act. My crabs are:
Nero = Moves around a lot, doesn’t like climbing, but likes digging. very shy, anyone moves close to the tank and he’ll retreat into his shell.
Jeffery = Moves around slowly, doesn’t like going around things, he’ll just move in a straight line. Loves climbing. will retreat into his shell when people are near, but not as fast as Nero. Him and baby don’t really get along.
Molly = not very active. Not very shy, will freeze instead of retreat into her shell. Loves water. Likes friday
Baby = loves to move fast. Doesn’t retreat into their shell a lot, they rather run into a hiding place.
Friday = Close to molly. Not very active. likes to sit on top of things.
They aren’t like cats and dogs who enjoy being held, but some will learn to tolerate it. I only pick mine up to move them around (For example, if I’m trying to remove their food bowl.) They’ve gotten used to me, they hide less then when I first got them. Some people can hand feed their crabs. I know of a person who has a very large enclosure, and a very large amount of crabs. They’ll follow him around, but it’s assumed they do that because they associate him with feeding. He is one of the only people who have breed land hermit crabs in captivity.
Rabbit that lives indoors. She has a huge playpen here in the living room made from zip ties and Neat Idea cubes, and a big cage that she’s in when we’re not here. She’s litter trained [that usually blows people’s minds] and is a very active, bright girl.
Here’s a pic of her and her Sooper Sekrit Bunneh Fortress:
I live with a small flock of rescued grey parrots, a cockatiel who is normal grey, and three cats, one of whom is grey. The parrots are really pretty mellow, like a book club . One of the cats is a loyal deranged idiot, and another lives for spankings. They average is grey and exotic.
I like bunnies, but they wouldn’t survive my dogs.
The closest thing to an exotic I have is a frog. Not sure what kind, but most likely a Cuban Tree Frog… cheap and easily available. He doesn’t do much, but he’s lasted a few years so I keep dumping crickets in there and changing his water bowl on a regular basis.
Oh, I thought it was some animal I had never heard of! lol. I had a rabbit when I lived in a different area, but the state I live in at the moment doesn’t allow rabbits.
and have had several different snakes, a lovely iguana named Pop, and a roomie I had for a while had the cutest little descented skunk named Punkin, and I had a mostly wolf hybrid named Llugh. Poor pop died shortly after we got him because his previous owner mistreated him. Other than Pop and the smooshed spiders, I had to give the snakes away because I had to move to an apartment and the place would not let me keep them 
At least they did that, instead of just ignoring it till it died or flushing it or something.