Most Weird Pet You've Owned?

Our female stick insect, Tinder :) The male, Twiggy, died. Males only live around 6-9months, females live up to 18 months. She is getting close to that now.

From Photography: Nature

» Edited on: 2013-01-12 00:50:58

That's pretty cool, never seen one like that before! I've had a lot of weird pets actually...currently I have 5 Pythons, but in the past I have had all sorts of reptiles, Quails, Finches, Rabbits, Tarantulas (never liked these honestly), smaller critters like Gerbils, Hamsters, Guinea Pigs, etc. The list goes on, but I'd have to say the most unique was my Pot-bellied pig, Gretta. She used a litter box, was super smart, and was the coolest pet I've ever had.

I love aquariums. Before I moved, I had a really nice 75 gallon reef tank set up. Unfortunately, the livestock did not survive the move. Right now, I only have freshwater setup. My unique pet is Captain Reginald Fluffypants, a crayfish who has a little 8 gallon aquarium all to himself.

I've got a pair of ferrets, not that strange I know but They are awesome. The one loves exploring and stealing stuff and the other loves to play with people, they are both super smart and get into all kinds of mischief :)

I was a vet tech for many years and have owned many odd animals. Raised Gouldian finches, had burmese pythons, had a couple potbelly pigs from a rescue, a tarantula once, had a hedgehog, had several skunks(again from rescues), and raised a raccoon and returned him to the wild.

I did not have pets that were odd in what they were. Now I did adopt a hampster named Wembly from a coworker in the military who could not take him along to the new place. He rode shotgun with me all the way from Anchorage, Alaska, back here to the Catskills in NY. He got out once on my mother while I was at classes and he came if she called him. Never had another hamster that ever did that. I've stuck to cats and dogs for the last 14 years with Scarecrow, my alpha male cat of attitude, being the first and oldest. Strangest thing a dog we had growing up would do is catch rocks out of the air if you tossed them. Then again as a puppy she would try to catch watermelon seeds you spit out. She caught a bird once in her mouth and was not sure what to do with it so brought it back to mom who managed to get it from her. Most annoying pet a friend had in the military was a cockatoo that would imitate the squeaky door at the end of the hall. It wasn't bad enough hearing the door, but this bird hearing it all the time could imitate it perfectly.

I have had a fair share of weird pets in my day lol but this one tops them all lol. Most of my weird pets we're weird for their species. Like: My Cat Tweek, who not only survived a tomble dry cycle in the diswasher but when we opened it and he jumped out he shook himself off then jumped back in. That cat was FLUFFY! On top of that he could unlock and open doors which reigned hell on us. Finding our front door open at odd hours of the day. We ended up getting bolt locks to keep the cat inside. Now I have a bunny named Bunzorz who prefers wood and cardboard over carrots and lettuce. The guy will throw a mean dent in anything wooded if give the opportunity. Musta been a beaver in his past life. Most exotic animal? I had 2 California Newts that I caught in a river in the Santa Cruz mountains (Before I found out they were illegal to own). My cousin and his cousin each took a pair with me taking a pair. We were told that they wouldn't live through the week in captivity. Well my cousins didn't make it, his cousins didn't make it but mine survived 7 years when I finally found a suitable home for them that had a bunch of California newts already in the area. I returned them to their home after 7 years of taking care of them. Was quite a nice set of pets. They loved the warmth of hands and loved to be held but you had to keep them wet at all times. This is what the lil guys looked like.

» Edited on: 2013-01-12 12:34:13

I had a pet iguana called Scratch, named because she used to favour climbing up my arms to enable her to sit on my head. I even drove the car moving house with her once sat up there when she got tangled in my hair and it was too much of a drama to remove her. She got to 8 years old before I had to rehome her to move countries as NZ does not allow them. My snake collection was pretty legendary but also could not be flown into NZ. We had a burmese python, royal python, boa constrictor, reticulated python and various rat and corn snakes. We used to give the large snakes and iguana time in the garden, but had to be careful the snakes did not eat the cat. I also had 2 huskies and a German Shepherd which I flew over here from the UK. My favourite was the German Shepherd who I resuced when a puppy farm was busted for cruelty. He was 30kg wieght when I got him and lived for 3 months under a chair because he was so starved and scared. His proper weight once we got him back to health was 50kg so you can imagine what a skeleton he was when we got him. He loved me so much, he used to follow me round wherever I went and used to try and climb on my lap when I was watching tv. He died of cancer/old age a few years ago, but I was honoured to have been able to give him a happy life with an acre of land with a natural spring and trees to chill out in. Best pet ever!

» Edited on: 2013-01-12 19:47:34

I've never had any pets outside cats, dogs, and a few small pets. My family was a cat family, growing up we had three cats. Now that has changed to three dogs and two cats with one gerbil thrown into the mix. My oddest pet though was a dwarf hamster I had several years back. I called her Mischief, my mom called her Cujo. Why? Well this hamster loved to bite; my mother swears that when she first picked her up, Cujo bit her finger and wouldn't let go. Then she looked at my mother and holding on with her tiny paws, readjusted and bit her again. Thinking of that hamster makes me smile. She rolled down the stairs twice in her hamster ball and got out of that same ball at least twice. She survived both times because she was mean enough to scare the cats from eating her. My mother said that one day she was letting Cujo run around the house, and she hadn't realized Cujo got out until she heard an odd hissing/spitting noise. Walked into our living room to discover that little hamster on the floor surrounded by three cats and a dog, covered in drool. She was hissing at the cats, who didn't really know what to do with her. She died of old age, but she was the most ornery little thing. My favorite pet ever has to be the cat my mother had, he died when I was twelve. I would tell you his name, but it's not very appropriate. I used to get into trouble when I was little for yelling for him when he got out. So I just called him Big Fat Cat because of his huge belly that touched the ground. My mom had him before I was born. My partner in crime. He always knew when we were upset, he would come and lay next to you and just purr, as if he knew you needed it. Growing up, I tried to paint him yellow, rubbed toothpaste into his head, gave him a haircut, stuffed him into my toy baby stroller, and I used to drag him around and fluff him up to use like a pillow. Mom said that he tried to sleep in my crib with me and would yowl with me when I was crying. He was never mean and to this day, I've never seen another cat like him. He was a stray cat my father's friend's found in Italy for my mother; he fell from a three story window, smooshed his face. Best pet to grow up with, ever.

I had a green iguana. His name was Ignatz, although we called him Iggy. On hot summer days I would put a ferret harness on him and take him for walks around my house and little bit down the street. I would let him climb the small trees that I could easily reach and get him out of. He enjoyed just basking in the sun. He also stalked the local rabbits. Never caught one and I have no idea what a vegetarian lizard wanted with one, but he would see one, crouch down real low, and start slowly stalking after them. Eventually they would notice and bound away. For an iguana in captivity he lived a long time - close to 12 years. He got to be close to six feet long including the tail and we eventually gave the spare bathroom and tub entirely to him for a living space and used a different bathroom. My father and I are avid aquarists. I have only ever had freshwater aquaria, but my father raised crebenzas and all sorts of saltwater things. We had creyfish we caught at various times in a local creek. Inevitably they would escape. :( I have had all sorts of freshwater fishes ranging from cichlids to "guoramis" to, well, lots of stuff. At the moment I just have a large tank of corydoras sterbai that I have been breeding for ages. They are wonderful fish. Corydorae in general are my favorite kind of fishes. One day I hope to have some mudskippers - I like gobys an awful lot. My gf and I have 3 birds. 2 green cheek conures, who are adorable little parrots that get up to all sorts of antics and have quite an interactive vocabulary where you can carry on long conversation with them. We also have an American Singer (we think) canary with lovely white frills on the edges of his wings and tail. I rescued him in a parking garage 2.5ish years ago, my gf and I nursed him back to health, and he has been an absolute dream. I have never heard a canary who sings so beautifully - and even even sings during his molts (for those not in the know, that is almost unheard of)! He responds very well to music - he listens intently to what is played and adds his song as a lead line or an additional melody line that rhytmically and tonically meshes perfectly, as though it was part of the piece. He especially likes electric guitars (Steve Hackett is his favorite) and horn sections (Fela Kuti, Parliament-Funkadelic, and big band jazz go over very well). The conures are musical, too, but they mostly like things with rhythms - the more complex the better. They start dancing to the beat, moving their feet to the downbeats and their head to the off beats and sometimes their wings or vocalizations to more complex portions of the rhythm. All 3 birds are particularly fond of Miles Davis fusion era - particularly the tail end of it when Pete Cosey was with them. I play a wide variety of instruments and the birds love it in particular when I practice ethnic percussion like pandeiro or cuica - they start singing and dancing, it becomes a big party when people come over and we perform music for an always ready audience that wants to dance and add a lead vocal line. By the way, if anyone here is a serious canary fancyist, we would love to talk to you. We just would like to see if we can find out some more info about the canary we rescued - maybe figure out the type. We tried locating the breeder, but have had no success finding the breeder via the legband markings. Our family has also had various dogs over the years who were all unique in their own wonderful ways. My mother is skilled at training dogs and has gotten them to to talk like Scooby Doo and do all sorts of crazy tricks. First dog was half German Shepherd half Golden Retriever, the next two were pure bred Gordon Setters, and now we have two at once (a first for us), a German Shepherd and a Golden Retriever.

» Edited on: 2013-01-13 07:49:06

» Edited on: 2013-01-13 07:50:51

I've had lots of pets...hamsters, a ferret, a chinchilla, pair of lovebirds, iguana, Burmese python, fresh & salty fish, bunny, turtle, dogs and cats. Not all at once, lol. Currently have 3 dogs - German Shep/Wolf mix "Clovis", 50 lb brown dog "Dalton", Rhodesian Ridgeback "Savanna". Newest addition at Christmas...Bengal kitten my honey named "Stormageddon".

» Edited on: 2013-01-14 05:23:19

Wow! Interesting collections from everyone! I've not been one for unusual pets, but I did have one that acted kinda strange. At least all my friends thought so, I bought a baby red doberman, and raised him for about 4 years and 80lbs. The strange thing for him was, I think he believed I was a dog. Whenever, anyone came over the dog looked to me for how he should act. It was quite humrous that when my mother came over, he became a licky 80lb baby, but when someone I didnt like, for example my roomates girlfriend, he just stared at her like she was lunch. Scared the crap out of her. It was a sad day when I lost him, years ago. Best dog I ever had.