Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok, I get teased all the time about owning so many different animals. My Mom thinks I'm obsessed! My friends and family joke about my house turning into a zoo, and my husband is about ready to kick me out...

Right now I own 3 German Shepherd Dogs, 1 iguana, 4 aquatic turtles, 4 firebelly toads, and 1 cornsnake. And, I'm telling you, if I had more money and space I'd LOVE to have a hedgehog or ferret...How many pets do you all care for?? Does anything that I go through sound familiar?? Please tell me yes!
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~Heather~
3 German Shepherd Dogs (Tasha, Austin, & Kaiya)
1 Iguana (Irwin)
4 Firebelly Toads (Kirby, Gus, Pico, & Tiki)
1 African Cichlid (Arnie)
3 Red-Eared Slider Hatchlings (Otis, Jasper, & Jade)
1 Southern Painted Hatchling (Milo)
Check out my website with most of my pets!

I don't think you have enough animals to take care of---(not enough to keep you out of trouble anyway.) If you had enough pets, you wouldn't have enough free time on your hands to even think about other peoples opinions, much less let their opinions bother you.

I'd list all my stuff, but I'd probably bring down Kingsnake's server!

(about 200 parrots, 200 snakes, 300 lizards, a dozen torts., (maybe 800 eggs incubating) plus I raise all the feeders needed to keep them happy--mice, rats, roaches, crickets, silkworms, kingworms)

It's a good thing I don't have any more room!

(yes, this is now a business and not just a hobby anymore)

Rodney

LOL...I feel MUCH better! I adore all of my animals and wouldn't have it any other way, but geez, I wish some people would just lay off. I think my Mom is so concerned because she wants a HUMAN grandchild. But anyway, thanks for your reply.......by the way can I come live at YOUR house??? Sounds like a pretty cool place!
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~Heather~
3 German Shepherd Dogs (Tasha, Austin, & Kaiya)
1 Iguana (Irwin)
4 Firebelly Toads (Kirby, Gus, Pico, & Tiki)
1 African Cichlid (Arnie)
3 Red-Eared Slider Hatchlings (Otis, Jasper, & Jade)
1 Southern Painted Hatchling (Milo)
Check out my website with most of my pets!

Yes you are wierd....crazy....and selfish for not giving your family a baby!!!

(lol) Just kidding.

I catch the same flak from my family. "Boo HOO no grandkids!!"

I am not as burried as Rodney...but with 60 snakes, three cats, one blue tongue Skink and four fish (including a psychotic cichlid) I think I qualify for this thread.....

Get more...It drives the family nuts (lol)

Frank
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"The luxury of not getting involved departed with the last lifeboat Skipper..."

I love your webpage! It's so cute. My grandparents used to have a German Shepard named Zeb, so I just love them. Right now I'm in college, and just have my hedgie and boyfriend (kind of like a pet) to keep me company. But back at home we've had lots of different critters, including dogs, cats, chickens, rabbits, raccoons, fish, parakeets, and a goat. Someday I hope to have my own minizoo again too!
The school and home count:
0.1 African Hedgehog (Kaimah)
0.1 Kitty (Whiskers)
0.1 Beagle Puppy (Belle)
0.1 Beagle/Walker Mix (Scrappy)
1.0 Smelly Pigmy Goat (Pepe-as in Pepe le Pew)
0.0.2 Coi
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~Mel

Thanks! I'm glad you like my website! I haven't done much to it lately though I will soon though! LOL...yeah I forgot to add that my husband probably counts as one of my critters too! LOL I love all of my animals and love talking care of them. To me it's like stress relief! I can't imagine a house without animals! When I went to college all I had was fish...I hated it! I'm so glad you are able to have more animals at college!
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~Heather~
3 German Shepherd Dogs (Tasha, Austin, & Kaiya)
1 Iguana (Irwin)
4 Firebelly Toads (Kirby, Gus, Pico, & Tiki)
1 African Cichlid (Arnie)
3 Red-Eared Slider Hatchlings (Otis, Jasper, & Jade)
1 Southern Painted Hatchling (Milo)
Check out my website with most of my pets!

That's one of the reasons I give for having my zoo "It's cheaper then therapy" I always tell them !! Really, when you have a chronic pain condition like I do, taking care of my animals and watching them and even building new enviroments for them is one of the best stress relievers for me there is...it keeps my mind off the pain which affects me 24/7. I can't imagine my house or my life without them.

I bought my first terrarium to work and had my dart frogs, everyone grew to love them and when I took them back home a month before the company move, a lot of people complained (and loudly). So much so that I decided to go from the small 5 gallon with 2 baby frogs on my desk to a 35 hex complete with waterfall in the center for my office and the president of the company comissioned me to design the front lobby of the building with a waterfall and tropical plants because he liked how I designed my office with the terrariums and plants so much. I can't wait to get started on it! Talk about stress relief at it's best, especially when you get paid to do it!! Now if I can only get the company to buy me more frogs

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Chantel a.k.a. sillygirl
"I came, I saw, I adopted"

1.3 green anoles (Stumpy (M)), and the rest remain nameless.
1.1 green tree frogs (Romeo & Juliet)
1.2 Firebelly toads
2.3.0 D. tinctorius (Surinam Cobalt)
0.0.8 D. azureus
0.0.1 Clown Tree Frog
0.1 Anerythristic 'B' (Charcoal)corn snake (Popcorn)
0.1 Snow Corn (KandyKorn)
0.2 Amel Corns (KornSilk & KornMuffin)
0.1 Normal Corn (PepperKorn)
1.0 Creamsicle Corn (Kream)
0.0.1 Giant African Millipede
1.0 Betta (Sushi, Charlie)
2.4 Domestic house cats (Bad Boy (m), Bart(m),Sasha(F),Little Bit(F),Spirit(F)
1.0 Rottweiler (Jake)
2.7 Rats (Mouse, Socks, Sugar, Squishy, Fox, Lucky,B**CH & Tinker)
1.3 Mice (My step-daughter seems to think they are pets)
2.0 Betta (Sushi, Blue)
1.0 Husband (David, who loves all my critters too)

Wow, that's really cool that you're getting paid to make the terrarium! Go get yourself some more frogs when you get paid!

Just out of curiousity, what are rats like as pets? I've heard that they learn their names and are very loving as pets...
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~Heather~
3 German Shepherd Dogs (Tasha, Austin, & Kaiya)
1 Iguana (Irwin)
4 Firebelly Toads (Kirby, Gus, Pico, & Tiki)
1 Hypo Corn Snake (I think I decided on Egan-means "little fire")
3 Red-Eared Slider Hatchlings (Otis, Jasper, & Jade)
1 Southern Painted Hatchling (Milo)
Check out my website with most of my pets!

I wouldn't say my rats they know their own names, but then again, I never tested them on it either. I originally got them to breed for my snakes for food. I just grew to love them like any other animal in my house. They can be very sweet, and they are very intelligent in their own right. I have one rat who knows how we get in her cage and trys daily to lift that latch to get out. She's also the same rat that loves to sit on your shoulder and then will bite at the top of your sleave to get you to put your arm up so she can run across your arm to someone else's shoulder or anywhere else she wants to go. She's also a good surrogate mom and will foster other litters for me. All in all they have good personalities when they are socialized properly. If they are not however, the little turds bite you every time you stick you hand in their cage. Which is what happened to the first generation I had because they were purchased as "feeder" rats from a herp store. So they were never held or loved on. (the picture below is three babies we raised for breeders/pets Sox/Mouse/Silver. Silver unfortunantly died in labor about a month ago.)

As far as the terrarium for my office, I didn't get paid to build that. I'm getting paid to do the front lobby. I'm doing the terrarium for my office because I love building them and maintaining them and because other people here appreciate the effort I put into them. Unfortunantly it's not a cheap hobby, but then again none of the hobbies I ever had were.

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Chantel a.k.a. sillygirl
"I came, I saw, I adopted"

1.3 green anoles (Stumpy (M)), and the rest remain nameless.
1.1 green tree frogs (Romeo & Juliet)
1.2 Firebelly toads
2.3.0 D. tinctorius (Surinam Cobalt)
0.0.8 D. azureus
0.0.1 Clown Tree Frog
0.1 Anerythristic 'B' (Charcoal)corn snake (Popcorn)
0.1 Snow Corn (KandyKorn)
0.2 Amel Corns (KornSilk & KornMuffin)
0.1 Normal Corn (PepperKorn)
1.0 Creamsicle Corn (Kream)
0.0.1 Giant African Millipede
1.0 Betta (Sushi, Charlie)
2.4 Domestic house cats (Bad Boy (m), Bart(m),Sasha(F),Little Bit(F),Spirit(F)
1.0 Rottweiler (Jake)
2.7 Rats (Mouse, Socks, Sugar, Squishy, Fox, Lucky,B**CH & Tinker)
1.3 Mice (My step-daughter seems to think they are pets)
2.0 Betta (Sushi, Blue)
1.0 Husband (David, who loves all my critters too)

Rats are the leet roxor!
I'm probably the only person with rats that eat mealworms and a dog that eats mice... But it's good to share.
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Eryx - All the fun of a boa in a convenient pocket size!

I have over 60 pets. Not counting babies produced this year, of which I have 26. Only 7 warmblooded ones, though.
endotherms:
0.1 dog
0.3 rats
1.0 shorttailed possum
1.0 Bourke's parakeet
1.0 Roborovski dwarf hamster
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Eryx - All the fun of a boa in a convenient pocket size!

Then you don't have enough...

My front room where my computer and office is looks like a rainforest and sounds like one when it rains. I've got rats and superworm beetles breeding UNDER my desk. Superworms in my filing cabinets. A dog kennel(Rottie) w/lots of fruit fly cultures going on top(ran out of room in the cabinet), 5 snakes and 6 rats in my bedroom, 3 dart frogs in my kitchen, and 5 cats to catch anything that escapes. Oh and my step-daughter has 4 mice and 1 snake in her room. On top of that I build terrariums all the time to house MORE frogs because hell....I'm addicted to them now. I'm building a 40 gallon hex to bring to work with 3 of my Dart frogs because I can't go all day without looking at them (and I'm running out of room at home) and after that I've got another 40 gallon I've got to find room for because I am going to get my Amazonian Milk frogs come hell or high water. And the majority of the food in the fridge and cabinets is for animals instead of humans and the freezer is full of rats of all sizes for the snakes!

My kids tell me I should charge admission to my house. But because of me, they now know a lot about corn snakes and frogs, they've gotten over their fears of snakes and rats and even creepy crawly things (except the Giant millipede).

Now I'm looking for a bigger house for my animals to move into. I work to support my animal habit but I love them dearly and they are all very well taken care of. About 20+ hours a week is devoted to their care.

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Chantel a.k.a. sillygirl
"I came, I saw, I adopted"

1.3 green anoles (Stumpy (M)), and the rest remain nameless.
1.1 green tree frogs (Romeo & Juliet)
1.2 Firebelly toads
2.3.0 D. tinctorius (Surinam Cobalt)
0.0.8 D. azureus
0.0.1 Clown Tree Frog
0.1 Anerythristic 'B' (Charcoal)corn snake (Popcorn)
0.1 Snow Corn (KandyKorn)
0.2 Amel Corns (KornSilk & KornMuffin)
0.1 Normal Corn (PepperKorn)
1.0 Creamsicle Corn (Kream)
0.0.1 Giant African Millipede
1.0 Betta (Sushi, Charlie)
2.4 Domestic house cats (Bad Boy (m), Bart(m),Sasha(F),Little Bit(F),Spirit(F)
1.0 Rottweiler (Jake)
2.7 Rats (Mouse, Socks, Sugar, Squishy, Fox, Lucky,B**CH & Tinker)
1.3 Mice (My step-daughter seems to think they are pets)
2.0 Betta (Sushi, Blue)
1.0 Husband (David, who loves all my critters too)

LOL! I'm going to copy your post and forward it to everyone that bothers me about my animal addiction!

All I have to say is God help my husband when we move into a larger house. We are going to try to start breeding alpacas once we move into a home with acreage (he's actually in agreement with that idea). I've also had my eye on either a full size horse or a mini....plus a bunch of other farm animals....
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~Heather~
3 German Shepherd Dogs (Tasha, Austin, & Kaiya)
1 Iguana (Irwin)
4 Firebelly Toads (Kirby, Gus, Pico, & Tiki)
1 Hypo Corn Snake (I think I decided on Egan-means "little fire")
3 Red-Eared Slider Hatchlings (Otis, Jasper, & Jade)
1 Southern Painted Hatchling (Milo)
Check out my website with most of my pets!

Four snakes, three (and however many babies) rats, about three hundred million hamsters (dwarf and regular), three goldfish, two cats, a millepede and a tarantula and an Egyptian spiny mouse. As well as three roommates. In an apartment. And of course I'm planning to get more snakes; why else would I bother building a rack system?

Nonetheless, I don't think I could live with FOUR German shepards.

Don't worry; nobody understands who doesn't keep that many pets
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Kitt