Pet ideas.

J

J.huff23

Arachnoking
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Thinking about downsizing on the snakes and inverts to get a pet that is more interactive. I cannot get a dog or a cat because my dogs haven't accepted any new dogs into the family. The will fight with the new one and I don't like that.

So I'm looking for a medium-low maintenance pet that I can interact with and can interact with me. I prefer smallish size and minimal odor.

Any ideas guys?
 
J

JZC

Arachnobaron
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Tegus are very interactive. If you don't want a hero, how about rat, guinea pig or rabbit.
 
The Snark

The Snark

Dumpster Fire of the Gods
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A mongoose of course. Serves double duty of pet and why you ever thought you would want a pet in the first place, not to mention all other small animals, pets and pests, in the place will vanish. Brush up on your first aid before hand.
 
pitbulllady

pitbulllady

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The Snark said:
A mongoose of course. Serves double duty of pet and why you ever thought you would want a pet in the first place, not to mention all other small animals, pets and pests, in the place will vanish. Brush up on your first aid before hand.
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LOL, you can always tell the authorities who come to confiscate the little darlin' that it's really a ferret with a crystal meth addiction.

pitbulllady
 
B

bugmankeith

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Parakeets are very interactive and once you have care down aren't too high maintainence.
 
Stirmi

Stirmi

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If you are interested in parrots just let me know I've been working with them since 7th grade
 
A

Aviara

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If you keep your dogs indoors, really think about whether a bird would be a good addition to your household. Birds and dogs cannot be together when the bird is out of the cage, and you should be spending a good deal of time with your parrot. Even a parakeet needs at least an hour a day of free flight time for proper exercise and health, and additional time spent socializing with you. It's much better for the bird to have access to all the areas in your house that you access during free flight time rather than being confined to a "bird room" and to have a cage located in the middle of the "busy zone" of the home.

Ferrets make great pets - I love my two - but again if your dogs live indoors you may have an issue. At the least you would have to consider dividing the ferrets' areas from the dogs' areas as ferrets need about 6 hours of "play" time out of cage per day. You'd also need to have a lot of patience as ferrets get into EVERYTHING and can drive you crazy. They really don't smell though, especially if you go with an appropriate raw diet and clean up after them every day. Rats also make great pets, and females or neutered males don't smell too bad. Tegus, bearded dragons and other "friendly" lizards can be kept in their cage for the majority of the day, so they may make a better pet for you - and you would be more familiar with caring for them as you have cared for reptiles.

All of these pets are significantly more high-maintenance than most snakes and invertebrates, however they are also more interactive and you may derive a lot more joy from owning them. Although initially they are very expensive, my favorite pet out of the above (having owned various birds, rats, mice, a tegu, a bearded dragon and various other "interactive" pets) would be the ferret. My two are highly entertaining and although they need strict supervision when they're out of their cage, they entertain each other very well.
 
The Snark

The Snark

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See what happens? I come up with a really good idea and get totally ignored. Then people start flocking in with their suggestion where you have to have this and that and you can't have the other and on and on. A mongoose is compatible with any other pet... until they mysteriously vanish. It makes it's own bed, runs it's own potty business, eats anything that doesn't eat it first, sorts your trash and garbage and tells you exactly what home furnishings needed replacing anyway. And the best part it, unless you have a weird predilection for crawling around your house on your hands and knees with a flashlight, you seldom even see the *&#% @*$^ #% thing.

pitbulllady said:
LOL, you can always tell the authorities who come to confiscate the little darlin' that it's really a ferret with a crystal meth addiction.

pitbulllady
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No officer, I work in a lab. DNA research. We are trying to cross a Norwegian rat with a weed eater, a weasel and a chain saw.
 
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catfishrod69

catfishrod69

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^ I absolutely hate sugar gliders. Biting little winged spawns of satan!

I suggest a ferret or chinchilla.
 
pouchedrat

pouchedrat

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Sugar gliders are fairly high maintenance, noisy, stinky (unneutered males especially, they scent mark everything), and you need to spend a ton of time with them...

I still say a pair of rats. I've had a ton of various pets in my life, mostly sticking with unusual rodents and some other medium to small species of exotic and domestic mammals, but I always come back to rats in the end. Rabbits were sorta cool, but the cage was huge and I had to clean the litter box out daily, sometimes twice a day. Ferrets were great, but have that natural musky odor all the time, and each one had serious medical issues later in life that cost a lot in vet bills. hamsters, mice, gerbils, etc. CAN be interactive, but nothing compared to rats.

My prairie dogs are AWESOME, larger and longer lived than rats, but definitely MORE destructive (haha... more destructive than a rat? you bet!) and only two out of three are bonded to me. One is seriously bonded, the other could take or leave me but will yahoo greet me whenever I pet him, and the third prairie dog will bite me if given the chance. They're ground squirrels, fun, my one boy cuddles nonstop, and just always wants to be out with me and hanging on the couch. Their diet is mostly hay and some pellets, some veggies and roots. My three have a 6 foot long x 6 x 2 cage, with three full floors and 6 half levels. I'm not sure I would recommend a prairie dog, but I will say if bonded, they're very rewarding pets who crave attention, similar to a rat. They also don't smell anywhere near as much as my rats, or rabbits for that matter, but rats really dont' smell so long as you keep up with cleaning them out. OH and prairie dogs can get MAD at you for ignoring them!! If I don't let mine out when I walk by at a given time of day, they will CRAB at me and get PISSED OFF to the point where they'll nip the heck out of my fingers if I try shooing them back into their cage again!

My ULTIMATE pet was my pouched rat, but good luck finding one of those again..... super intelligent, craved constant attention from me, and did tricks! But I would say his intelligence was BEYOND that of a dog, and it became a task just trying to come up with enrichment activities on a daily basis for him, so he didn't go too crazy while I was away from home at work. high maintenance too. messy and destructive, but the perfect pet for me.

Spiny mice can be cool, smart little things, but not all bond, and it takes work to get to that level with one. If not, you get a crazy psycho mouse who will bolt up your curtains and take a flying leap at your face. Personal experience!! Or you could get ones who go crazy and eat each others' tails and ears off.... yeah. On the flip side, you get one who'll hang out with you, can learn simple tricks, and can be like a smaller version of a rat. They also have very little odor to them, being desert rodents. And their quills are pretty cool. I bred spinies for years, but got out of it when my first son was born. I sort of regret it now, since I had some who were really personable little pets.

For reptiles, why not just a bearded dragon or a leo gecko? my beardie will sit on my shoulder or in my lap for HOURS on end. She's my gardening buddy and will lay out in the sun on the back porch while I work, content just to lay there. My argentine tegu is great, loves people and will actively climb into my lap, but she does need an enormous cage and eats a TON while she's awake (they hibernate like 7 months out of the year).
 
G

Galapoheros

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I've considered a descented skunk too. There is one that lives under my storage shed. If I go out at night and act like I'm scared of it, it will chase me.
 
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