I want to hear from the people with pets like centipedes, prarie dogs, alligators, scorpions, vultures, octupus... What is taking care of your pet like?
I used to have 2 sugar gliders. Very high maintenance pets. They are very social and will get depressed without enough attention. They are also group animals and when you get them you adapt them to your scent as the "home tree". This means you being gone for let's say a vacation or something will stress them out to the extreme. Since they are basically wild animals they have a very strict diet you also need to maintain, on top of them being picky eaters, can't really give them the same food more than 2 days in a row or they won't eat it. They often take a bite or two of food before throwing it and going for a new piece.
All that being said they can be very fun and loving animals. They live a long time and are quite smart. Their little hands look like people's thumbs and all and they LOVE untying knots and anything plastic that crinkles. Had them through college and had a tapestry on every wall so it was fun letting them run around the apartment free and climbing where ever. Always a good laugh when someone was over and didn't know they were out. They would lead across the room to get back to me or the cage and seeing someone freak out as they saw something dive bombing them out of their peripheral never got old. My favorite thing about them was this demonic noise called crabbing that they make when they are scared or upset.I had a sugar glider get stuck in my room from a hole in the ceiling. I was naked and afraid and so was it.
Ended up releasing them back outside but they were so cute.
A neighbour 2 blocks away had a lion until early this year. Idk what happened there and don't wanna find out.
I can't even imagine the meat cost but it must have kept crime down.
Pretty sure they also own a farm in another city so gkt the meat part down lol
Budgerigars (small parrots).
They're active, smart, and social. They fly.
So I made them a flight cage that takes up most of the room they're in. I'd prefer a full walk-in aviary, but don't have room in my apartment.
Cleaning isn't bad, I just shop-vac out the litter tray & refill it with a 20lb bag of corn cob bits. Fresh food in the mornings, take it out & replace with pellets around noon. Clean water daily. Millet treats when I let them out (about an hour per day to interact with them).
Feathers get everywhere when they molt. And feather dust. Their room has its own HEPA filter.
Vet appointments are more expensive for exotics than cats & dogs. There are fewer exotic vets, and I always go to a board certified avian vet. Boarding when I go on vacation is also more expensive (about $50/day), especially since they're flighted.
They're not anywhere near as loud or destructive as larger parrots, but that doesn't mean they're quiet. Just means they might not damage your hearing from the next room. They wake up with the dawn, and let you know about it.
They're extremely sensitive to airborne toxins (avian respiration is rather different from mammalian). That means absolutely no teflon cookware use, no air fresheners, etc.
There's a hawk in my yard that likes me. When I walk out, it flies to the nearest fence and waits for me to comfort/feed it, like a dog who had just realized its dinner has just been poured.
I had 4 Madagascar hissing cockroaches for several years. They are docile (female) to feisty (male). As long as they have plants to eat, things to hide in, and water to drink, they're good. Mine seemed to especially love eating slightly damp rose petals.
