Any Exotic Pet Owners Here?

[Chasing Embers]

The wife is afraid of spiders

Ah, there's a loophole. A tarantula isn't technically a true spider.

-spiders bite side to side, tarantula fangs work up and down

-spiders have an active breathing process, tarantulas require air movement to fill their book lungs

-spiders can survive falls from great heights, a fall of about a foot can be fatal for a tarantula

 

[brian64]

-spiders bite side to side, tarantula fangs work up and down

Yeah, that'll make her feel better right away.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Yeah, that'll make her feel better right away.

Technically a tarantula isn't a tarantula either. That's an Italian wolf spider. Fear of it's venom prompted the Tarantella dance centuries ago.

 

[brian64]

Technically a tarantula isn't a tarantula either. That's an Italian wolf spider. Fear of it's venom prompted the tarantella dance centuries ago.

Technically a tarantula isn't a pet either.

But then for someone who collects skulls, well....(I'm still wondering what happened to Anthony Rosenthal).

 

[Chasing Embers]

Technically a tarantula isn't a pet either.

Nor are fish. I consider both more a study than pet.

 

[Chasing Embers]

But then for someone who collects skulls

I was trying to remember when that fascination started. I think it was Brian Schroeder's art for bands like The Misfits and Metallica that drew me to them.

 

[Chasing Embers]

I'm still wondering what happened to Anthony Rosenthal)

I've been wondering that lately too. Just shot him a PM.

 

[brian64]

I was trying to remember when that fascination started. I think it was Brian Schroeder's art for bands like The Misfits and Metallica that drew me to them.

View attachment 48820

You might want to consider keeping the skull and spider obsessions hobbies separate...mixing the two could create unanticipated difficulties.

 

[Chasing Embers]

You might want to consider keeping the skull and spider obsessions hobbies separate...mixing the two could create unanticipated difficulties.

 

[brian64]

View attachment 48823

That may be the creepiest thing I've ever seen.

 

[Mr.Mike]

 

[brian64]

View attachment 48825

Ok, that's pretty creepy too.

 

[renfield]

A piranha I had in college is as exotic as I’ve had, which isn’t really very exotic. Actually a docile fish and easy to keep.

Nobody’s mentioned keeping a Blue Ringed octopus. I used to see those in the reef aquarium store here and people actually bought them. I didn’t even like being near their tanks. Beautiful but I can’t imagine keeping one. No anti-venom but since death occurs within a few minutes of a bite probably a moot point.

 

[Country Bladesmith]

Nobody’s mentioned keeping a Blue Ringed octopus. I used to see those in the reef aquarium store here and people actually bought them. I didn’t even like being near their tanks.

WTF? People keep those as pets? Right next to the cone snails and sea snakes I guess. ?

 

[wayneteipen]

I've always had a fascination for unusual and exotic animals. In my early 20's, I had a number of reptiles including a Columbian red-tailed boa, ball python, albino California kingsnake, Northern copperhead, Tokay gecko, Nile monitor to name a few. I had a ferret back then too. Had saltwater fish tanks with lionfish, various eels, triggerfish, and all manner of exotic fish.

One of my daughters has the same gene apparently. She's always asking if she can have various unusual pets like axolotl's, sugar bears, exotic birds, etc. We've been researching mantids. I've always had a fascination for mantids. We'll see.

 

[briarbuck]

Wanna see me scream like an 8 year old girl? Surprise me with a snake. God I hate snakes.

 

[mso489]

My two cats look like pedigree Maine Coon cats. My wife posted them on a Maine Coon site and they received much praise, looking like they started as two of those hundreds of dollars kitten. I did pay up an adoption fee, but since they think they are so exotic, I don't mention to them that they came out of drainpipe so they wouldn't drown in the next rain. Cleverly, the rescue people made me adopt the one I had chosen and his brother because I was still working and they thought they needed the company. When they were kittens, I had to escape to a coffee shop now and then to keep my balance after watching them fly around the ceiling all the time. Kittens. Their predecessor with me was a big mixed Abyssinian orange tabby who looked just about like a cougar. When newly adopted, I had to wrestle him into the carrier, and he was extremely agile escaping me, but then I sat down and realized -- no nipping and no claws! What a guy.

 

[mso489]

The sea snakes off Vietnam were so bad the Navy suspended the swim call off ships' whale boats before I got over there. I did see a twelve-foot (estimated) hammerhead shark gliding under the hull in clear water. On Midway Island, a sailor took out one of the loaner sunfish sailboats with his buddy, and he dove off for a swim and never surfaced. Tiger sharks were a problem. The commander of the base went out hunting sharks and bought back an especially large one, but it's insides did not contain the sailor's remains. We did have a mama seal who used a sand spit island as a nursery, and I could hear the snorting and see the heads of sea turtles off the breakwater at night, really large, maybe 80 pounds or more.

 

[Snow Hill]

A piranha I had in college is as exotic as I’ve had, which isn’t really very exotic. Actually a docile fish and easy to keep.

Nobody’s mentioned keeping a Blue Ringed octopus. I used to see those in the reef aquarium store here and people actually bought them. I didn’t even like being near their tanks. Beautiful but I can’t imagine keeping one. No anti-venom but since death occurs within a few minutes of a bite probably a moot point.

...much less picking one up.

 

[didimauw]