What was your most unusual pet?

I'm very interested by the kinds of animals the people keep. I was just wondering what your most unusual pet was.

Over the years, as well as a host of farm animals, cats, dogs, rodents and rabbits I've also kept some more unusual animals as pets. These include snails (both common garden snails and giant African land snails), chameleons, crickets, African clawed toads, octopus (octopodes?), edible snails and quite a few lizards.

One of my most unusual was an edible dormouse, but that was more of a rescue than a pet. I've also kept woodlice as pets. Great for kids and easy to keep.

So I suppose I have a fair breadth of experience. But what about others here?

Do you remember the 1970's fad of having "pet rocks?" That was my most unusual "pet," I suppose. Everyone wanted them though, including me! Kinda wacky! I also remember having a Venus Fly Trap, which I considered a pet. It didn't live long though. Since I don't like bugs, I think the poor thing starved from lack of its preferred food. I also had a little painted turtle I loved, and named "Tony the Turtle." I took him up north with me on vacation, & when we got home & were unpacking the car, I left him on a table in the porch while I went to my room with other belongings. My brother's hunting dog picked Tony up out of his plastic home & killed him. I was so devastated!

What the heck is WOODLICE???? It seriously sounds nasty! I'm curious now....explain, please!

I have had many pets. Most of them are the usual kind like cats and dogs and aquarium fish. The most unusual one I have ever had was a praying mantis. When I was a kid, I had a friend who kept one. It was quite big, easily 6 inches from head to tail. One day, when I was already an adult, I found a praying mantis over my kitchen sink. It was a young one about three inches long. I couldn't quite figure out what to feed it. It stayed around the kitchen sink for about a week. Then one day, it wasn't there any more. Probably it just went back home to the trees outside my kitchen.

Mine isn't so unusual .. but for me living in the city having a goat as a pet was the most unusual thing. My she-goat lived with us for a long time.. she had five kids.. but we had to give them away as soon as they were big enough... Zara was a funny goat she followed me to the bus stop when I went to school each morning, she went with me to church.. you could never keep her tied up.. One day she came to school and the kids teased me to death.. I was called Mary after that, only thing the kids sang Mary had a little goat..lol .
Zara was very fond of me.. she died of old age.. I don't even remember how old she was..when she died.. I was thirteen at that time.

True pets must have been kept in captivity and being fed + taken care of. So Victor, that mantis wasn't a pet, sorry.

I have kept plenty of unusual pets myself throughout the years.
From my childhood, there were silkworms, ants, mantis, spider or maybe it was a mini tarantula, grasshoppers, crickets, tadpole. Aside the silkworms were bought, the others were all caught.

Now as a fish keeper, I have some beautiful freshwater shrimps to clean my tropical fish tanks, as well as some aquatic snails to help with maintenance of my aquarium. Zebra Nerite Snails for algae control, Assassin Snails for pest snail control.

My dh had a pet donkey when he was a kid. He did live out in the boonies and his parents did have some small animals like goats and chickens. But, this was actually a pet. It wasn't allowed in the house, but he take it for a walk like a dog. I've seen pictures of him with it and it's the weirdest thing I ever saw.

I had a big, huge Iguana that I kept for a couple of years. This thing was massive, and it was mean, too.

It was kind of lame, because somebody just randomly gave it to me, without asking, or any reason to think I would want it. She just showed up at my house, 'Here you go!' I'm thinking, how the heck am I going to take care of this thing? I love all animals, so I tried to take good care of it, but I just hated owning it. SO, I gave it away to another friend, who actually likes owning reptiles. Hopefully, the iguana got to have a better home than with me!

I had a pet chicken when I was a kid. We had a small farm and one year when we got our chicks one was a light peach color, totally different that the others and they kept pecking at her, we were afraid that they would kill her. So I took an old rabbit cage, made her a nest and put her in there. Every day I did my chores but she became my little chicken buddy. I tied a piece of binder twine to her foot and we went for walks. I brought her into the house, put her in my bean bag chair and we hung out and watched Scooby Doo. She was an awesome chicken. Her name was Peachy and I still think about her.

I have seen some unusual looking dogs. A friend of mine had a dog that looked like he had his legs sawed off. He was a mixture of a Corgi and a Labrador. He looked and acted more like Labrador - but a Labrador with very short legs. He was one of the most lovable and adorable dog I have known.

To be honest, I've never had an unusual pet. The closest that ever came was having a fish with the big, googly eyes like Igor from "Young Frankenstein." That's about it. Other than that, I've only had cats and dogs, although I would love to have monkeys, pigs, a Wild African Donkey.

Well I have never really had any unusual pets except when I went on vacation. Near our house upstate we always had little salamanders that came out every time after it rained. I have always loved collecting these cute little creatures. They were really adorable to me so as time assed I made them a little 2 story home out of a shoebox I had! It was great while it lasted.Haha

My most unusual pet was a pair of Green Tree Amazon parrots. A friend needed to find a new home for them and so we took them to our island. The parrots, one male and one female, were the loudest parrots I had ever seen or heard. Their call was so loud you could hear it a mile away and it was still too loud. They screamed at night and during the day. If I went to take care of them they screamed louder, happy to see me bringing food. The male knew how to talk and sometimes said the same thing over & over again, until it grew tiring. Finally, I had to get rid of them as the constant noise was too much. They were given to a man who was a breeder and needed a new pair. He was just off the highway, but the road noise was so loud it blocked out the noise of the parrots.

(11-30-2012, 01:31 PM)Victor Leigh Wrote: I have had many pets. Most of them are the usual kind like cats and dogs and aquarium fish. The most unusual one I have ever had was a praying mantis. When I was a kid, I had a friend who kept one. It was quite big, easily 6 inches from head to tail. One day, when I was already an adult, I found a praying mantis over my kitchen sink. It was a young one about three inches long. I couldn't quite figure out what to feed it. It stayed around the kitchen sink for about a week. Then one day, it wasn't there any more. Probably it just went back home to the trees outside my kitchen.

Wow! I am probably so behind on this but when I saw your post I was very intrigued. I have never even heard of this species before. Is this like a more evolved grasshopper? (haha). I will definitely be doing my research. You mentioned he stayed around your kitchen sink for a week, I would probably not come close to it..haha.