Awesome Pets

DV8 · Post by **DV8** » Sat Apr 02, 2011 8:11 am

So when most people consider having a pet, they think of cats, dogs, a bird or two, maybe some fish, but I recently saw some translucent jellyfish in an aquarium, in a clear tank with a black light on them, and from what I've read they require little maintenance, and look like a real life lava lamp. Sure, the ability to play or snuggle with a jellyfish will be limited, but it's a small price to pay for a pet that cool!

Can we come up with any more ideas? Winged snakes? Rocket-propelled geese? Fire breathing hell hounds?

Jeff Hauze · Post by **Jeff Hauze** » Sat Apr 02, 2011 8:20 am

Rocket-propelled geese...that honk in Dutch.

Edit: I think my favorite "weird" pet I knew of somebody owning was the guy who owned a skunk. You basically couldn't do anything with it, except feed it. Anything else, you got sprayed and/or bit. It was the most useless pet example ever. But for whatever reason, he freaking loved the thing. He also took more tomato soup baths than anyone I've ever met. We never could convince him that those really don't work.

DV8 · Post by **DV8** » Sat Apr 02, 2011 10:17 am

Tomato soup bath is probable code for something?

SumDumQuim · Post by **SumDumQuim** » Sat Apr 02, 2011 1:15 pm

My friend Norman had a skunk, totally adorable. His was de-scented. It was very friendly and when ever you startled it, it would stomp the ground with it's front two paws. Loved it. Raccoons, THOSE you do not want for a pet.

Crazy Elf · Post by **Crazy Elf** » Sat Apr 02, 2011 1:31 pm

I have Nina Ninja.

Jeff Hauze · Post by **Jeff Hauze** » Sat Apr 02, 2011 4:00 pm

DV8 wrote:Tomato soup bath is probable code for something?

One of those old "household cures" that never really works as promised. When sprayed by a skunk (typically used for dogs), you're told to use tomato soup to give them a bath, as the acids in the tomato soup will break down the oil sprayed. Generally, you just end up with a dog that smells like skunk spray and tomato soup and is now dyed red. It's not a good combination. Best bets are either a peroxide solution, or there are commercial products that will help greatly. Living with the prevalence of the "Pennsylvania Pussycat" around here, you learn how to deal with skunk musk quickly. It's never fun.

3278 · Post by **3278** » Sun Apr 03, 2011 1:30 am

There are a lot of non-domesticated animals we've looked at, like squirrels and chipmunks, and some out-of-the-ordinary pets like sugar gliders and servals, but by and large, these things are rare for a reason, typically that the expense of having them outweighs the benefits. Still, I would very much like to have a raven, for example: Ana and I agree, though, that the best way to have non-domesticated pets is to live where they live, and bribe them to stick around, with food and habitat.

Salvation122 · Post by **Salvation122** » Sun Apr 03, 2011 5:18 am

I kinda think having a racoon as a pet would be boss, although you'd kinda have to treat it like a toddler in the "lock down everything in the house" sense.

Bonefish · Post by **Bonefish** » Sun Apr 03, 2011 7:04 am

I HATE squirrels. Not only do they eath my chinese chicken, but when they're infant,s you have to manually stimulate them to poop, otherwise they die. They don't know how to shit, and they steal all my walnuts. I fucking HATE those bush tailed rats.

3278 · Post by **3278** » Sun Apr 03, 2011 8:09 pm

Salvation122 wrote:I kinda think having a racoon as a pet would be boss, although you'd kinda have to treat it like a toddler in the "lock down everything in the house" sense.

Typically people keep them in cages, only letting them out under supervision, but that's true of ferrets, too - also undomesticated animals* - and we did ferrets your way, basically locking down the main room of the house and just letting them have it. I know some people have tamed raccoons and just let them live around the house, too, but that's pretty rare. Which makes me think:

Given how cute they are, and how simple their dietary needs, and how common they are in urban settings, it's actually surprising that no one has started breeding a line of domesticated raccoons. It seems like we're to the point now, with selective breeding, where, if a trait can ever exist in a population, we can breed for it. We should be able to domesticate anything domesticatable, I would think, and yet we still have just the handful we've always had, plus a few exotics here and there. Ferrets and gerbils are actually comparatively modern domestications. If you look at the domestication of the silver fox, and what we learned from it, I don't see why we couldn't domesticate all sorts of shit. Bears, whatever. Certainly any mammals that are either non-threatening, or with large brain-to-body size ratios; if it's the latter, anything with programming for social behavior or flight distance can be selected for, and the fact that we've domesticated cats shows that we can get by with just the one.

*There are some families of ferret that are domesticated, the product of directed breeding programs, but they haven't replaced the population of the earlier, less-well-bred population of ferrets, which are basically feral things that are largely unlikely to try to eat you.

DV8 · Post by **DV8** » Mon Apr 04, 2011 7:48 am

There's a dude who lives close to where I work that has a little piglet as a pet. He walks around with it, sits on a terrace outside bars and the little dude runs around while he sits and reads his newspaper. His name is "Mo," and I took a photo of him.

Bonefish · Post by **Bonefish** » Mon Apr 04, 2011 10:59 am

No leash laws in Amsterdam?

DV8 · Post by **DV8** » Mon Apr 04, 2011 11:55 am

For dogs there are. Perhaps Mo's owner found a special piglet-only loophole.

Jeff Hauze · Post by **Jeff Hauze** » Mon Apr 04, 2011 6:40 pm

DV8 wrote:For dogs there are. Perhaps Mo's owner found a special piglet-only loophole.

We usually have to pay extra for those kinds of holes over here. I forget we're talking about the Kingdom of Red Light Areas though.

Pdyx · Post by **Pdyx** » Mon Apr 04, 2011 8:14 pm

I really like rodents, for some reason. There's a lady here in central Texas who has a Capybara for a pet. That'd be sweet

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capybara

Van Der Litreb · Post by **Van Der Litreb** » Tue Apr 05, 2011 11:25 am

I know a girl who had a buzzard staying in her attic during winter. She found out when she went to investigate a noise in the attic, thinking it to be another rat. Instead it was a startled buzzard, which startled the girl, which in turn startled the bird even more and caused it to fly into her house. Trying to get a large, pissed off raptor to leave your house obviously wasn't easy, but when she finally managed to grab the bird it calmed down and she could just carry it outside. After which the buzzard immediately flew into the attic. It didn't seem to mind the experience 'cause it's been hanging around the area since.

Van Der Litreb · Post by **Van Der Litreb** » Tue Apr 05, 2011 11:33 am

And as much as I like flying sharks, I think I'd prefer having a buzzard around.

3278 · Post by **3278** » Wed Apr 06, 2011 1:07 pm

Wow, is that not what I pictured when you said "buzzard." I certainly wouldn't mind having one of those nest in my attic. As it were.

Pdyx · Post by **Pdyx** » Wed Apr 06, 2011 4:39 pm

Yeah, I guess 'Buzzard' in the US is more synonymous with Vulture.

Jeff Hauze · Post by **Jeff Hauze** » Wed Apr 06, 2011 6:40 pm

Silly Vikings, raptors are for kids!

Van Der Litreb · Post by **Van Der Litreb** » Wed Apr 06, 2011 9:19 pm

Pdyx wrote:Yeah, I guess 'Buzzard' in the US is more synonymous with Vulture.

I know. That's why I included the link.