How old were you when you got your first pet?

I was about seven years old when I got my first pet. At that time I liked a particular TV programme on Belgian and Dutch TV. All the characters were animal puppets who lived together in a forest. All animal characters had distinctive human traits.
One was a tortoise called 'Stoffel' who spoke really slowly. I really liked Stoffel and thought he was sort of cute. That summer I begged and begged my parents till they bought me my first pet. Of course it was a tortoise and of course I called it 'Stoffel'.
So Stoffel the tortoise was my first pet. Though it was as slow as the character in the TV show it sometimes wandered off into the neighbours' garden. Other than that I took really good care of it. Sadly Stoffel died after he had accicently been picked up and dropped by one of my friends.
I was really sad when that happened!