Community Chat

[J Town Girl]

Throughout my life I've had dogs, cats, a duck, parakeets and fish.  I've always been a lover of rodents and throughout my adult life have had many many pet rats.  They make wonderful pets.  I now have two Yorkshire Terriers and a male canary.  I also have two female guinea pigs.  

[J Town Girl]

---

@Glittergal wrote:

Lots of rabbits and rats and mice, specializing in disabled animals.  They are so grateful and loving.

---

You are my hero.  I absolutely adore rats and mice.  I've never had mice but over the years I've had so many rats.  They each have their own personalities and make such fun and loving pets.  I've never understood the disdain so many people have for them.

[riley1]

Was raised with cats and dogs, parakeets, gerbils, a duck - the basics, I guess.

Since being married, I've had plenty of dogs, cats (inherited from my sister), a guinea pig (Kramer), an African grey parrot named Simon (after 20+ years he decided to be a she and sometimes we call her Simone - when she is laying eggs) and a Maltese.

I just love animals.

[RedTop]

At home we always had hunting dogs; squirrel and rabbit beagles.  They were treated well, but were not pets.   

I had 2 hamsters in my late teens; both were sickly and didn't live long.   

My husband and I have always had outside dogs.   My girls have had hamsters, hermit crabs, fish, and dogs.   Thanks to teacher daughter and her idea to have "class pets", we currently have a 10 year old chinchilla and 3 guinea pigs, who I feel sure will NEVER see a classroom again!    

We've never had cats, altho our only female dog allowed a former neighbors cats to hang around here occasionally.   ALL of our male dogs have hated cats, and had killed cats, which is how they came to live out here in a cat free zone.   

[suzyQ3]

I love creatures, so keep that in mind.:-)

Our family has had dogs since our daughter was three. Our current pup is a Golden and is such a joy during these times.

But one day when our daughter was probably eight or nine, we often visited a large parrot at a pet store. We loved to play with him. So we got this idea that it would be great to get a parrot. We picked out a young Red-Crowned Amazon parrot, also known as a Mexican Red-Headed parrot.

That parrot quickly became attached to my husband, so much so that he/she would bite anyone else. Let me tell you that those bites were very painful, especially the on my nose. Another bite sent me to the doctor.

The bird did learn to say some words -- it loved "apple." But mostly, it loved to shriek at a decibel that could cause hearing loss. :-) Oh, and his food was always all over the place.

Remember, they have a huge life span. Yup. But one day I found Herman (named after my father) at the bottom of his cage. Never good. We don't know what happened. My husband was distraught. Poor Herman.

I'm not so sure that you can still buy them legally. I do know that many must have escaped or been released because I see (and hear) them in the trees around here.

I was a beautiful creature.

[SloopJohnB]

@riley1  similar to your Simon/Simone, we had a cockatiel named Mr. Peabody until she later was renamed Mrs. Peabody.  🐣

[gertrudecloset]

Several Dogs

Many cats (over the years and now too)

Bunny rabbit (dad bought us when we were little)

Bunny rabbit I took care over one summer (daughter's class pet).  

Turtles

Fish

Hamster

That's it.  I think that's enough for me!  LOL

[Sushismom]

I've had cats all my life (64 years) except for a brief period when I was 7.

I also had a cockatiel whom I had to give up because a new kitty liked him TOO much. 

I've also had fish and a rabbit who "belonged" to my greatniece. He made friends with an outside cat that was white just like he was.

[Boomernichols]

@beach-mom My family owned calves, goats, dogs, cats, turtles, birds and numerous fish aquariums through the years. Oh I forgot, when in middle school I signed up at 4H and got 25 chicks, mom was really proud when I came home with these!

[RedTop]

My trucker daughter is fascinated with larger birds like parrots; sends me videos to watch about cute things these birds do.   I have told her in no uncertain terms that NO birds are coming here!   

When my maternal grandmother was in her early 60's, my uncle carried in a parrot.   He knew the original owner, who had just died, and the family wanted to find the bird a home with an older woman.  My grandmother was fascinated with the bird, and he adapted easily to her, but that bird was extremely jealous of us grandkids.  

When we were there, she usually had to cover the cage, as he became quite agitated with us in the house.   We saw him bite all the way thru her index finger because she gave one of my brothers a cookie!  

The bird had quite a vocabulary when he came, and thanks to my Papaw, learned a few more choice words that he repeated during Sunday dinner with the preacher and his wife at the table!  As soon as they left, Mamaw was fussing at Papaw for teaching the bird bad words, but her rant resulted in the bird picking up yet another phrase that he repeated just as often, which we found hilarious.  

"Shut up and die" was something Papaw used to say to the bird all the time, and one day he just did.   I have tried to remember the birds name, and all that comes to me is ****** Bird, which is what Papaw called him from day one.   Mom is too far into dementia to remember the bird, and when I asked both brothers, their response was "****** Bird"!