Favoirte Non-Traditional Pet?

I think it would be cool to see what everyone's non traditional pet is. By non traditional I mean a pet that isn't as commonly seen in the average household so pigs, horses, goats, etc. Any pet you think would fit that category really! For me my favorite non traditional pet was my horses. I loved being able to wake up early in the morning and take a ride around my land and out on the trails that were nearby my house.

Despite the fact that I loved having a horse, and it would hands down be my favorite pet, I always wanted to own a ferret. I heard they can be a tricky pet though, and require some investment because they are good at escaping. They are so cute though! Every time I see one I just want to give it a hug. I would never actually own one myself, mostly due to the fact I do not have a lot of knowledge on them and probably couldn't invest a good amount of time to it. It is nice to daydream about though!

When I lived out in the country, I always had a horse, and loved going riding out in the woods and on the trails. sometimes, i went alone, and other times, I participated in organized trail rides.
One of the best trail rides I ever went on is called the Bison Range ride, and it is held every year in Montana on the bison range. People come from all over to go on this trail ride, and the cost includes camping overnight, and your lunch on the trail at mid-day stop. (at least it did when I went on the ride, that was some years ago)
We rode up to a lookout where we could see halfway across Montana, or at least it seemed like that far. the buffalo were running across the plains far below us, and they looked like a huge herd of fuzzy brown mice galloping along down there.
On the way down, we all went right past a tiny baby fawn that thought it was hiding right beside the trail. The mother was patiently waiting for the long line of horses to get past, so she could retrieve her baby.
It was great fun ! !

I think an non traditional pet, that's getting very popular know, would be Sugar Gliders. I have several friends who have them, and the Gliders are such sweeties! My friend usually have one or two snuggling in her shirt when she's reading, haha.

Quote:The sugar glider is a small, omnivorous, arboreal and nocturnal gliding possum belonging to the marsupial infraclass. The common name refers to its preference for sugary nectarous foods and ability to glide through the air, much like a flying squirrel. Due to convergent evolution, they have very similar appearance and habits to the flying squirrel, but are not closely related. The scientific name, Petaurus breviceps, translates from Latin as "short-headed rope-dancer", a reference to their canopy acrobatics.

Most people like them cause they look like a flying squirrel with the cuteness level turned up to a hundred, even though they're actually more closely related to possum! I think they're very sweet creatures, and are very big on cuddling. You have to be careful with what you feed them though, cause they might get calcium deficiencies.

When i was growing up, back in the 1950's, they always had big ads on the inside covers of comic books, advertising Squirrel Monkeys, and I used to want a monkey really bad. One of the top movies back then was the Adventures of Tarzan, and of course, he always had Cheeta , his pet Chimpanzee along , and Cheeta would always do something wonderful and save the day for Tarzan.
I was an only child, so I played by myself most of the time, and the idea of a little Human-looking monkey to ride along on my shoulder was always so appealing to me.
Even though they only sold for about $20 at that time, my mom would not let me have one. I don't know where they came from, or if they even arrived alive and healthy for that price.
I have since learned that they are messy pets to have, and can also bite very hard, and the larger monkeys have even killed people; so I no longer want a monkey, but I do still like to watch them in movies or at the zoo.

Ever since I was little, I've always wanted a horse. To me, there's something about taking care of a beautiful creature and then later, being able to ride them. My dad would often say no to buying a horse -- considering we didn't have the house nor backyard for it and stables cost way too much. But it just so happens that during my early high school years, I went to a nearby stable and I began to care for the horses that were there -- especially one that didn't have a name. Their owners just left him there. The owner saw me petting him and asked me to volunteer to take care of him. Apparently the horse that I chose to take care of had a nasty streak to most people. But to me, he was so kind and allowed me to get close to him. So for a couple years, I was taking care of him and I was able to ride him with the owner watching over me. Because he had no name, I called him 'Promise' because I made a promise to him that I'd be there.

Unfortunately, the stable closed down three years in, and the horses had to be transported somewhere else. So, it was the last time that I saw Promise. D: But yeah, horses would have to be my favorite non-traditional pet.

Bloomsie, I understand just where you are coming from about loving horses ! I think that it is an "incurable bug" that bites you when you are little and never goes away.
I have had horses most of my life, and even though I am nearing 70 years old now, I still love watching horses.
My favorite horse is the Peruvian Paso. They are a gaited breed that is so smooth to ride that it is unbelievable. In fact, the Peruvian Paso is called "The Cadillac of Horses" by many people. If you watch in this video I am attaching, you will see that the riders barely bounce as the horse is moving, unlike most horses that have a very jolting trot.
One of the tests is to give the riders a wineglass, and at the end of the class, they see which horse and rider have the most wine left in the glass !

http://youtu.be/efGZWE4UUQU

My favorite non-traditional pet would probably have to be mice or rats. They are very affectionate, intelligent animals and domesticated rats actually laugh when you tickle them but its not very audible. I wish they lived longer though, I never deal well with any pet dying and its a deterrent for me getting any more rodents.

I would say ferrets are my favorite non-traditional pet. I had two growing and they were so fun and full of personality. They had a large cage that I would put them in at night (sometimes I let them sleep with me) but during the day they were mostly roaming around. They are kind of like kittens that never get old. They sleep a lot but when they wake up all they want to do is play. When you have two together they run and chase each other and play fight. They can be hard to care for though. You can litter box train them but mine never seemed to get the hang of that. They would poop in the corners instead. Sometimes they had a favorite spot and they ruined the carpet we had because sometimes they just go wherever they please. They also have a musky smell, which I didn't really mind but it may bother others. I miss my ferrets but I don't know if I'd own them as pets again.

Years ago my friend Norma had a pt goat for her boys. They got it when it was a baby, and it followed the boys all over when they were playing outside. They lived in the country, so they had a nice barn where the little goat slept at nite, and the boys also had two ponies, and a large Great Dane dog.
Their Grandparents lived just across the pasture behind the house and down the road a ways. The boys would ride over to visit Grandma, and of course the dog and the goat both went along with them.
Sometimes, when the boys were in school, the dog and the goat would go through the pasture and down the road to Grandma's house, and the neighbors got used to seeing them traveling down the street together.
That little goat made a wonderful pet for those boys ! !

I have had several non traditional pets in my home over the years. I had an opossum in my teenage years. My children have had several kind of lizards, hedgehogs, hairless rats, and white mice. Right now there are just two small dogs in my home and that is how it is going to stay.

My favourite non traditional pet would have to be rats. I love them. They are sweet, loving, and clean animals, unlike what most people think. I've had many over the years, including a hairless rat I named Saggy. I had her for about 5 years before she got cancer then died. Another rat I had that I tried to breed, was about 8 pounds, and more than a foot long not including his tail. Boots always seemed to squish pontential mating partners. That was until my sister accuired a huge female rat herself, and we bred Boots and Socks together. A little more than we meant to, but until Socks gave birth to 2 hairless rats that my sister let me have along with 2 other rats of my choice.
Rats are simply the best, I would recommend a rat as a non traditional pet. They are fun and loving, you must interact with them to be such, though.