How original are your pets?

well, im curious. I get alot of strange looks and questions about my pets and animals that i keep. I have been breeding reptiles since i was 12, and have had a total of around 800 at once. in total, im not too sure, but it would be quite a bit seeing how i got an average of around 300 chameleon eggs anualy, 400 bearded dragon eggs anually, and around 100+ of anything else i was keeping at the time (egg or live birth wise).

Animals in my collection would include, but not limited to; Bearded dragons, frilled dragons, skinks, basilisks, iguanas, chameleons, geckos, boas, pythons, colubrids, tarantulas, mantis', scorpions, milipedes, tegus, mangrove monitors, savana monitors, verious tree, land and water based frogs and toads, and quite a bit more.

I enjoy keeping and breeding these guys as a hobby, along with sharing information about them with society and the younger community. I have, on numerous occations, donated animals, books, equipement, and information to schools, and have attended many reptile shows and sales both as a buyer and a seller.

You'll occationally see me walking a 6 foot lizard on a leesh, or carrying a 11-13 foot boa around the park. or simply strolling along in my front or back yard with a 130 pound tortoise.

So! what interesting pets do you have? or original pets for that matter, meaning smart animals, or rare ones.

Also if you need any veteranary help with reptiles, i can probably help you out with that

[edit on 25/10/08 by Ghost147]

I have a 3 yr old wolf mix and a 6 yr old iguana. I wish I could have more pets, but I have to travel every so often and I have a hard time finding trustworthy people to look after them. Anyway, that's a great hobby you have there. You should post some pics.

My son is 21, and has the same interest in unique pets that you do.
However, he has not owned many that you have.
He has though for many years, kept newts and salamanders.
His oldest female he has had for 8 years.

well, for your sons case, the best pet money wise would be snakes. they dont need large terrariums, they are the cheapest animals to feed EVER as a pet (my 11-13 foot boas cost me about $2 every month). and they are generaly really clean, low maintanance animals. besides that, they love wondering about the place and many enjoy alot of interaction. I but my baby ball pythons in my pockets then hit the mall, alot of people dont even notice a snake is coming out of my pants (no pun intended).

otherwise, if your looking for a really friendly active animal, and dont care much for the amount of maintanance and cost. then invest in a bearded dragon. they are realy funny, and somewhat dumb, which makes them funnier. The babies are known to handwave at people walking by and at other animals, when they are older they love to hang out, and depending on how much exercise they get is depending on their activity level when they are older. a few of my beardies just sat on you for a few hours on end. and others liked to explore the house, usually showing a territorial desplay called head bobing. ive never ever been bitten by a beardy eccept for one insident when one thought my finger was a bug, in which case the bite was somewhat bigger than a paper cut, and didnt get infected.

no reptile comes with saminella (dont know how to spel that lol), it all depends on the clenslyness of the tank (so the keepers fault). aslong as the tank is clean, you have clean animals.

snakes can go anywhere from $10-$100,000. however the usual best ones are $10-$100 US (or canada).

Beardies go for around $40-$120 in canada as babies.

I can go into further detail if you want

reply to post by Ghost147


He doesn't need any more pets. The ones he has keep him busy. And I have a snake phobia due to a bad experience with a puff adder when I was young.
He is a member here too, and I pointed out your thread to him.
He has just as much knowledge of reptiles and amphibians as you seem to, so I figured perhaps you two would have a lot to talk about.
Unfortunately, he works crazy long hours, and I'm not sure when he'll be online.
Edit to add: We are also Canadian.

[edit on 25-10-2008 by AccessDenied]

how does a canadian girl get mixed up with a puff adder?
and yeah, i would like to talk to him

reply to post by Ghost147


Long story..too scary for me to repeat.
I still have nightmares.

reply to post by Ghost147


For some reason I have always had a love for reptiles.

Perhaps you can help me then.

I have two frogs.

a Asian Greenback & a Tomato frog
Although.. I don't think my Tomato frog is an actual said frog.

here is his picture:



And how much do you spend per month on food?
Thank You
Fish

Well, we have a cat that pees in the toilet and another cat that I believe is the dumbest creature ever put on this Earth
(his favorite activity is sitting in a corner staring at the walls)
so I tend to believe they're fairly original.

We do have a 5 year old bearded dragon, though. His favorite activity is sleeping on my shoulder.

Originally posted by fishneedh2o
reply to post by Ghost147

 

For some reason I have always had a love for reptiles.

Perhaps you can help me then.

I have two frogs.

a Asian Greenback & a Tomato frog
Although.. I don't think my Tomato frog is an actual said frog.

here is his picture:



And how much do you spend per month on food?
Thank You
Fish

just a tiny guy. how old?

if i just had a tomato frog, then (depending on what food your getting him, and how big you want him to get, and how much your buying stuff for) around $20 a month or so. perhaps less, on average.

otherwise, i was spending around $500 a month depending on what i had at that time, and what they needed as food.

wow. $500.. that's alot of bugs and pinkies.

Yup. Ketchup is just a little dude (he is about the size of a golf ball when he "puff's up"). I have had him about three years. Between the two frogs they eat about 8 dozen small crickets a week.


I also have a dog & a rat.


[edit on 25-10-2008 by fishneedh2o]

Well today I took 3 of my 5 doggies to "Pets and Pumpkins" Below you see my 9 year old struggling with Yugioh or Yuggie as we call him.

He is the dinosaur chihuahua viciously attacking the cute little bumblebee. (Well, not actually, but he likes to act tough)



I am not saying he is any more precious than the rest, he is just the most entertaining...

Then there is Kysha, I have pictures of a dog from when I was a little girl that belonged to my grandparents, and I loved that dog so much, she looked exactly like Kysha! I have freaked out relatives here in the Midwest with pictures of me with Keesh and the old photos of me with 'Pooge", lol, they just cant comment... Keesh is 11 years young and my sweetest friend. I honestly do feel she has been with me all of my life, or at least a continuity in some unexplained way. She talks, her best word is 'HOME'. She can also vocalize HUNGRY... Both Keesh and Pooge are 1/2 coyote, they would not even give her rabbies because of it. Oh and excuse the mess, I just turned to my right and snapped this picture of her for you.







[edit on 25-10-2008 by antar]

reply to post by fishneedh2o


well crickets, pinkies, fuzzies, hoppers, adults, small rats, medium rats, large rats, extra large rats, rabits, meal worms, wax worms, dew worms, super worms, king worms, butter worms, horn worms, silk worms, veggies. so... lol

how big is the tomato frog. because if he is 3 years or so, that pic makes him look a bit small for his age.

Originally posted by Ghost147
well, for your sons case, the best pet money wise would be snakes. they dont need large terrariums, they are the cheapest animals to feed EVER as a pet (my 11-13 foot boas cost me about $2 every month). and they are generaly really clean, low maintanance animals. besides that, they love wondering about the place and many enjoy alot of interaction. I but my baby ball pythons in my pockets then hit the mall, alot of people dont even notice a snake is coming out of my pants (no pun intended).

I'm the son AccessDenied mentioned earlier. I love my sallies they are quite possibly even cheaper and more low maintenance than even a snake. For example no heating equipment is required, newts and sals love it cool anything over 20 degrees is too high. feeding is easy I simply collect a few worms from under logs near the house and supplement with reptile sticks. Both are trained to take food from my hand. I have a Blue spotted salamander she's the 8 year old mentioned before, and a much younger paddletail newt P.labiatus. I do plan to get more different ones and maybe even get into breeding eventually.

Well my 2 cats are pretty standard. 1 rescued from a shelter, one rescued as a tiny little kitten meowing under a log. They are both happy and old. My dog was also rescued from a shelter. I wasn't sure what his make up was, but it turns out that he's a Rhodesian Ridgeback. Great dog, and an excellent companion for my son.

My Reef aquarium is quite original. Just shy of 400 gallons, it contains many species of coral and polyps. Clams, shrimp, several types of crabs (the arrowhead crab is my favorite). Several fish, the LionFish being the most exotic, although the flamehawk is cool, and the clownfish who calls the anemone home actually come to the surface and like to be petted. No kidding. He really does like to be petted. Yep, Nemo is a cool fish. My reef tank contains an entire world covered with pink, and purple coralline algae. I get lost looking at it for hours. The ecosystem is awesome!

Would you please take a picture of your aquarium? I would love to see your pets!

Originally posted by Ghost147
reply to post by fishneedh2o

 

how big is the tomato frog. because if he is 3 years or so, that pic makes him look a bit small for his age.

I just dug him out of the substrate and actually measured him. He was not too happy with me. He is just under 2 1/4 in / 6 cm.


Yes lombozo please post pictures

[edit on 27-10-2008 by fishneedh2o]

I have two sheep
a Northern snapping turtle
a Russian legless skink
two dogs
an opossum
a crow
7 chickens

I really wanted a tortoise, but I found a puppy abandoned in the woods almost 2 months ago, so I couldn't take in another pet. Well, it turned out that once my doggy's hair grew in (after treating for mange) I ofund out she was a tortoise shell dog! I know you wanted more exotic pets, but I think Deeds is pretty original!

Well, currently I only have dogs. The uniqueness of them is that one is a flat coated retriever and one is a newfoundland (with some LH Lab). I have only met one person in 2 years that has ever heard of a FCR breed, everyone else just looks puzzled like what I said was in hell-speak. I get similar reactions ot the Newfie, but since the local Petsmart has Newfie calendars, more people tend to at least have heard of the breed.

As to my previous unique pets, I once owned a Timber Wolf. A lot of people were apprehensive around him, because of the natural wolf glare that they constantly possess.

Before that, I have a 6 foot iguana that used to sleep above my head every night. He went a little nuts around molting time, so I ended up giving him over to a reptile sanctuary.

A friend of mine had a Burmese Python that grew to about 14 feet and that was one very cool snake. He was the most docile reptile ever. I learned to love snakes because of him.