The oddest pet you've had in your home

[speedog]

Got to admit, my wife and I are animal lovers and over the years with kids growing up we've had all sorts of animals living under our roof. Hamsters, guinea pigs, fish, stick bugs, ducks, cats, snakes, lizards, frogs, ferrets, budgies, cockatiels and chickens. No dogs amazingly enough, I'm not really a dog person and my wife really isn't either.

So the oddest pet we've had in our home and that we still do have, silkie chickens. Bantam sized chickens, can't ever fly, 5 toes instead of 4 with long feathers that grow on the outer toes, black skin, black bones, black muscles, bright blue cheeks and the hen needs her fluff round her eyes regularly trimmed so she can see. Like being bathed, like being blown dry, rooster crows but not on any sort of normal schedule (bantam sized means not loud, doesn't wake me up). Not smelly at all, live in a modified large wire dog kennel with aspen shavings at the bottom, easier to look after than many of the pets we've had over the decades.

So what is the oddest pet you've had in your home?

[Tik-Tok]

We had an iguana for 15 years. My wife got him 2 years before we met, and he was 3 years old when she got him, so he was 20 when he passed.

Also had a prehensile tailed skink, various frogs, aquatic life, and axolotl.

[speedog]

An axolotl, had to look it up and yupp, that is very odd. Did it require a very specific environment to survive?

[Tik-Tok]

We had two, they were young, about 8", and lived in a large aquarium. We only had them for about a year before they literally vanished.

Came home one day and they were gone. They had been morphing into their adult selves and growing their legs, so the only thing we could figure is that they decided to up and leave the tank, and headed towards the nearby floor drain in the basement.

[bjstare]

Haha my grandpa lived in Texas and used to have a dozen or so chickens like that. I remember he just ordered them out of some magazine, he had a few different varieties with different types of feathers and stuff. So weird, some of them looked like they were wearing pants.

Weirdest thing I had was a Macklot Python. Honestly was kind of a regretful purchase though, as I ended up not handling it enough and it got aggressive. Now we just have a couple little dogs.

Also, the axolotl looks like a real life Pokemon.

[ExtraSlow]

Not that weird, but we've had those aquatic dwarf frogs, which were neat. Had a pair for Degus, which we "rescued" from a bad home, and they were neurotic as fuck. Suspect they would have been better if we got em young.

Growing up had the regular cycle of rodents, hamsters, gerbils, Guinea Pigs, mice, fish, a cat.

[tirebob]

We have had a hedgehog, lizard, dogs, cats, Guinea pigs etc. Best was a bantam chicken I hatched from an egg in elementary school and I took home and we raised in our garage/service station. That thing would hop up on the fender (pops always used fender covers on every car he worked on) and would hang out while dad pulled wrenches. After a year my parents felt bad thinking he needed to be in a more natural environment so we gave him to a friend who raised bantam chickens on a farm and it died in a few weeks. Couldn’t adapt to normal chicken life I guess.

[JRSC00LUDE]

My kid.

[03ozwhip]

Had a ferret and a Mexican hairless. The Mexican hairless is the wierdest looking animal period.

[eblend]

I think I have a cat...not entirely sure given the behavior which I have never seen in a cat. Sometimes I think its a cat/ferret mix...

[Mitsu3000gt]

At one point I had around 30 tarantulas - other than a pet rock it is probably the lowest maintenance pet you can possibly own, they don't make noise and they don't smell:

[bjstare]

^That's one I never could relate to. They're just so gross.

[Mitsu3000gt]

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^That's one I never could relate to. They're just so gross.

Haha that's fair - most people don't like them. My mom hated them too until she learned about them, and then I would always catch her watching them and looking after them. I find that's the case with most people who are initially grossed out by them.

[Skrilla]

Some cool pets in this thread! I grew up with lots of different animals, but I think the most interesting was a black bear cub. Had some Iguanas, Blue and Gold Macaw, African Grey Parrot, couple snakes, ducks etc. My Mom used to work for Amoco doing the Environmental side, so we usually had domestic rescue animals at our house growing up.

[Clever]

My 10yr old daughter owns a ball python, we picked it up in the fall from the reptile expo, she wanted one in the spring and we told her to do some research and she did. She even used her own money to buy it. We’ve learned so much cool things about them in the last couple of months, i personally enjoy watching it during feeding but my kid handles it everyday and they seem to have formed a bond, pretty cool animals, low maintenance too.

[03ozwhip]

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At one point I had around 30 tarantulas - other than a pet rock it is probably the lowest maintenance pet you can possibly own, they don't make noise and they don't smell:

Burn that motherfucker down!

[loweg]

Poison dart frogs here 500 gallon paludarium with bumblebee dart frogs, some ranitomeya imitator chazutas and a ton of fish

[ExtraSlow]

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bumblebee dart frogs,

That's these ones, right?

[03ozwhip]

I read that as bumblebee dog farts. Dyslexia got me all fucked up lol

[Mitsu3000gt]

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Burn that motherfucker down!

Haha - I got lots of those requests.

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Poison dart frogs here 500 gallon paludarium with bumblebee dart frogs, some ranitomeya imitator chazutas and a ton of fish

How dangerous are those? I assume not very if you're allowed to have them as pets in Canada?