Exotic Pets

[Cobra 76 two 2,677]

I've thought about starting this thread for a long time and never got around to it. I've raised lots of snakes over the years, and have had friends with other cool pets that you just don't see usually in people's homes or yards.

 

What kind of pets (other than dogs & cats) do you have...or have had? ....or knew someone who had.....POST PICS!

 

I'll start it out with a crazy pic of my California Kingsnake being dumb and eating himself....it's a nasty habit he has....he's between 3 and four feet long, but likes to get himself down to about an eight inch circle.

 

[camon 233]

I just want to yell at your snake: YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG

[Havoc308 3]

 

I have one of these evil little bastards. Barks, bites, and says bad words late at night.

Edited September 7, 2009 by Havoc308

[Cobra 76 two 2,677]

Yep...he's an idiot...lol I've often thought of changing his name to one of the forum trolls...lol.

 

I need to get some pics scanned into the puter. I've got tons of em from back when I was breeding and selling Burmese Pythons.

 

EDIT>> Damn Havoc that's a cute lil bugger ya got there!

[Juggernaut 11,054]

We used to breed Mangrove Monitors, Green Basilisks, Jackson Chameleons and "strawberry" poison dart frogs....

I'll try and find some old pics....

[TO THE FLOOR IN A 63 121]

I had snakes, lizards and spiders when I was growing up...now I have dogs and cats.

[Ryann 8]

COBRA, what the HELL!! That is the wierdest thing I have ever seen!!! Does he eventually just pull himself back out? Oh my god that is WILD!

HAVOC, cool lizard, he looks plastic!

[Cobra 76 two 2,677]

Tacticool Wife...The times I've found him like that I use a butter knife or popcycle stick to get him straight again. Tripped me the hell out the first time...lol!

[Bayoupiper 738]

My ex-wife................

[Cobra 76 two 2,677]

My ex-wife................

 

PICS!?

[shades_of_grey 1,092]

Cobra, in that second pic your kingsnake has almost arranged himself into an infinity symbol.. while eating himself.. that is pretty damn cool.

 

As for exotic pets.. I've only had one: an albino Burmese python, which eventually reached ~10' in length. Sorry, I don't have pics anymore, (can't find em), and my asshole former roommate stole him. That was several years ago, though.

Edited September 7, 2009 by post-apocalyptic

[Cobra 76 two 2,677]

Good spot post-apolcalyptic...I thought the same thing. That sucks about your albino Burmese...I always wanted one of them. Had an albino King once, but it escaped one night and the cat killed it.

 

A ten foot Burmese is a damn respectable snake...either you respect them or they fuck you up pretty good...lol! Been there...mine tried to swallow my hand once when she was about 12 feet. That was an adventure!

[Cobra 76 two 2,677]

Wow Juggs, that is beatiful.

[belt fed frog 56]

i live with a Miligold Macaw hand raised and free ranging , you dont own a Macaw cause whats your`s is his and whats his is his and they are well known for having an evil streak ,oh is is all small evil most of the time but he is fully capable of cutting a finger off right thru the bone , he likes to fold pennies in half for fun . unlike any other creature but man Macaws and other Parrots are well known to hold grudges for long periods and carefully plan attacks in revenge . when you are dealing with a Macaw you are dealing with a being who is self aware, has the intellect of a 5 yr old human child and the impulse control of a 2 yr old child and this lasts for their entire lives , they are capable of talking and it isnt idle chatter ,he will walk right up to you and clearly demand what he wants from you in a fully and properly structured sentence , he understands the use of "I" and uses it when addressing me ,he speaks over 500 words and understands over 4000 more and i never taught him to speak he picked it up all on his own , my roomie is now 19 years old and will out live me as they live anywhere from 50 to 75 years on average but there are documented cases of them living beyond 100 years

oh and he is not gun shy when i built my house he went every where with me ,store`s , lumber yards you name it and one day a neighbor invited me to shoot some clays so he went with me , well by the 4th shot he was all the way out on the door of my van ,laughing and crowing at every time a clay got nailed and now you can fire a 12 Ga shotgun right over his head and all he will do is duck the ejected case and laugh , he is smart enough that he will wait for a lull in the shooting on my range and come walking down the middle of the range and climb me like a tree, right up on my shoulder and enjoy the shooting and never flinch

 

i tease others that he carries a NAA 22short mini revolver in an under wing holster Rotflmao

 

i have had dogs ,cats , snakes ,turtles and even Tokay geckos (they were household pest control not really pets but a few of 18 i started with( they multiplied and spread out thru the old neighborhood ) were somewhat friendly and let me tell you they have a bite much bigger than they are and mine got very big on a steady diet of FL palmetto bugs i had two males over 2 ' in length) they can get very loud at night during the breeding season my biggest male lived under the refrigerator (it had the best resonance ) ERR ,ERR ,GECKO ,GECKO ,GECKO gecko gecko at all hours of the night , they were fun cause they would come out at dusk and wait to go out on the porches to hunt and occasionally i would scare one off the wall in the dark and you would hear a loud PLOP then skitter skitter as they hit the floor and then ran back up the wall .

 

living with free range creatures is enjoyable

 

Jugg`s that is a really good looking Basilisk nice

Edited September 7, 2009 by belt fed frog

[sonnydazegunsmithing 42]

fox , racoon , deer , and a 3 leged bobcat

[zenmetsu 17]

OK... here goes...

 

My pride and joy, a female Egyptian Uromastyx (U.aegyptia). She's almost 5 years old now. Found out last year that she was female and previously assumed that she was a male.

 

My female California Kingsnake (L.californiae). She kills mice in about 5 seconds. I notice that she usually snaps their necks instead of simply suffocating them. Very calm and likes to be held.

 

When I got her, she was really tiny...

 

 

I also have 2 tarantulas. They are like tiny cats in a way... they have retractable claws at the ends of each foot, and they spend their spare time grooming themselves in much the same way a cat does... by moistening their front legs and grooming their back ones and their body with their front legs. So much fun to watch.

 

Here is my Chilean Rose tarantula (G.rosea). I named her Lucy. As long as you are not an insect, she is completely harmless. One of the most mellow pets that I have. She will kill a cricket in about 2 seconds though... much faster than my scorpions will kill.

 

Here she is with *3* crickets in her mouth. Kinda hard to see in the photo.

 

 

Here is my female Mexican Red-knee tarantula (B.smithii). She is not as calm as my other one... she still tries to bite sometimes, and she likes to kick hairs a LOT. Once she is a little bigger, she may calm down.

 

She was pretty small when I got her. Here is her second exuviae that she produced while in my possession, she was a lot smaller than this when i got her.

 

 

 

I have 3 stripe-tailed scorpions (V.spinigeris).

 

I also have a pair of Arizona bark scorpions (C.sculpturatis). These are the really bad ones. Most venomous in the americas. Here they are clinging to the underside of the white colored rock.

 

 

That's about it for right now.

[janusthephoenix 24]

One of my former roommates had a dog that was supposedly nearly full-bred wolf. It's very trippy to walk into your house late at night and seeing a dark outline of a goddamn full-size wolf in your living room with those green eyes shining at you. It seems like something you should be freaking out about. Oddly, he was the nicest dog I've ever met.

[t165 30]

Yikes...spiders give me the willies!!!

 

I seem to remember seeing a porn star named Ron Jeremy being able to do the same thing to himself as Cobra 76 Two's snake does.

 

Doesn't the various kingsnake species diet involve eating primarily snakes as oppossed to other prey. I do not raise snakes as a hobby but that might explain Codra 76 Two snakes perclevity. It also reminds me of the old wive's tale of snakes grabbing their tails and rolling down hills.

 

Did I mention I hate spiders!

[TO THE FLOOR IN A 63 121]

...and I use to raise mice for the snakes. The ones that bit me would go first.

[zenmetsu 17]

Yikes...spiders give me the willies!!!

 

I seem to remember seeing a porn star named Ron Jeremy being able to do the same thing to himself as Cobra 76 Two's snake does.

 

Doesn't the various kingsnake species diet involve eating primarily snakes as oppossed to other prey. I do not raise snakes as a hobby but that might explain Codra 76 Two snakes perclevity. It also reminds me of the old wive's tale of snakes grabbing their tails and rolling down hills.

 

Did I mention I hate spiders!

 

Spiders are awesome. I got these to get over my fear of spiders, and it worked. Believe it or not, their fangs are not the worst thing... well, for Western-hemisphere tarantulas that is. They have very tiny hairs on their abdomen called urticating hairs. They kick them off with their back legs and they are pretty good at aiming them... like tiny darts. The average western-hemi tarantula has 3 kinds of hairs, each designed to target a specific enemy (Other insects, reptiles and mammals). The spiders will kick the specific hair that is best suited for their attacker. Interesting stuff. The hairs do cause an immune system response which is accumulative. The first time you might get a little itch, the next time it might turn into a rash... then eventually you get really bad swelling. Ingenious really. Any creature that makes a habit of eating these spiders will eventually be unable to do so. Dogs/cats have been killed by the hairs when they inhale them.

 

Kingsnakes, like most snakes, do eat other snakes. Rattlesnakes are one of the kingsnake's prey. Rattlesnakes and other vipers rely upon their venom to overpower prey, and they have almost no muscle tone. Kingsnakes (and other colubrids such as corn snakes, etc), and most other constrictors, are immune to the venom of coral snakes and rattlesnakes. Unless the viper punctures a vital organ, the kingsnake will almost always win.

 

Interestingly enough, even though western hemisphere tarantulas have venom which is harmless to mammals, their venom IS quite dangerous to reptiles and amphibians. It is not unusual for tarantulas to ambush venomous spiders and use their agility to avoid being crushed to death.

 

Brazilian Salmon-pink is my next spider to get.

Edited September 7, 2009 by zenmetsu

[Gothmog 24]

Well, i'm a lil ole country boy, Had all sort of critters as pets, some even mom knew about. My Daddy and me found a abandonded coon cub once and he was my first pet at the age of 5. Graduated to a few deer, a lynx, and sevearal mallards. I now own, train and soon to be a breeder of King Shepards. Still miss that coon, smart as a whip and very cuddle loving.

 

HUZZAH!!!

[Superhawk138 202]

Being originally from SoCal i used to have gopher snakes, Cal kings, coachwhips, rosy boas, red diamond rattlesnakes, desert iguanas, and anything else I could capture. Moving to GA I worked at a exotic pet store and had a bunch of stuff breeding pair brazilian rainbow boas, jungle carpet pythons, a couple of yellow anacondas (pain in the ass). After the pet store closed down I sold most of them at reptile shows and had a loss of a few. The only two things I have now are a Mole Kingsnake and a red ear slider. I still love Herps but can't afford to buy live mice and rats all the time and having to drive an hour to the nearest place to buy them. My Mole king eats frozen no problem.

 

 

Zen your Uro is nice.

Edited September 7, 2009 by Superhawk138

[zenmetsu 17]

Being originally from SoCal i used to have gopher snakes, Cal kings, coachwhips, rosy boas, red diamond rattlesnakes, desert iguanas, and anything else I could capture. Moving to GA I worked at a exotic pet store and had a bunch of stuff breeding pair brazilian rainbow boas, jungle carpet pythons, a couple of yellow anacondas (pain in the ass). After the pet store closed down I sold most of them at reptile shows and had a loss of a few. The only two things I have now are a Mole Kingsnake and a red ear slider. I still love Herps but can't afford to buy live mice and rats all the time and having to drive an hour to the nearest place to buy them. My Mole king eats frozen no problem.

 

 

Zen your Uro is nice.

 

Nice lookin snake ya got there. I'd put my snake on my gun, but she'd probably musk it... "musk it"... gun... i kill me!

[Cobra 76 two 2,677]

good one!

[Cobra 76 two 2,677]

beltfedfrog awesome sounding bird you got there! I remember hearing him in the background when we were talking on the phone. What a cool room mate!

 

zenmetsu the spiders are awesome. Thanks for sharing the hair flicking info. Nature rocks! I tried to like Tarantulas once but the one I was attempting to adopt at the pet store.....well it ran straight up my damn arm and jumped onto the top of my head! Then the dude was like...ok wait! Don't put your hand up there or he may not like it. LOL! That was about the time I told him to remove the big bug from my head and I would just take those frozen mice and rats home that I originally came there for...hahahaha! I do still like them...but through glass. My buddy has one.

 

Nice lookin Mole King too!

 

Yeah T165 the reason he chases his own tail til he actually catches it and devours it is because it's in his nature to eat snakes. It just seems to me he would finally figure it out that it's his own tail he's munchin and that's why it hurts.

[zenmetsu 17]

Shannon,

 

You ever feed him goldfish? If you have a big water dish like I have, you can put a couple of small goldfish in there and they will happily fish them out. It is kinda funny to watch.

 

If he eats mice/rats and still tries munching his own tail, maybe he is seeking some nutrient that is present in reptiles/amphibians.

 

Oh... next up on my list of pets is a pacman frog. Those things are nuts. They even eat small

. That or a big American Bullfrog. Most frogs will eat mice, but for some reason pacman frogs are funny to watch. Edited September 7, 2009 by zenmetsu

[Juggernaut 11,054]

Thanks Shannon!

 

Zen, Sweet Uro!!!!

[zenmetsu 17]

Here are a few more.

 

this is how she begs for food... just sits there staring at me until i take pity and feed her.

 

She actually sits under her lamp until she sees me put my boots on in the morning. When she sees that, she knows that I am heading out, and she runs over to her food dish. Going to take a video of it one day. Very comical.

[bigcec1 72]

Hmm well a few of my pets arnt here right now but um lets see here I usta have a flying squirl um some a snake or two but not big on thouse a bat that was an interesting one um an aligator till he was about 3 ft then let him go but usualy had iguana,s cameleons and geckos just dont piss off the iguana thats not a good thing the two I have one is 4ft the outher a little over 5ft the big one has a ball on the end of his tail and if he hits you with it more than likey it will bust the skin open but fun to bring to the mall and put his shirt and leash on and let him walk around

[scarbrough68289 76]

That's "Monkey" my girlfriend's Sugar Glider. It only likes me. She is not very well trained but I can get her to come to me and sit in my hand when she's eating. She loves Mealworms. I've got her to jump/glide across the room onto me to get one before. other than that she doesn't do anything. If you don't come say hello once a day she'll stat barking. Makes a pretty funny noise{crabbing} if you scare it too. Scares the crap out of most if they've never heard her before.