Peoples Pets

[larrythelandboarder]

been readin some posts about peoples pet bufo toads, been very tempted to get a toad myself.

was also wonderin what type of animals other people here keep as pets.

anyone keep anything a bit strange? not that toads are the usual of course

i have a pet bosc monitor, called George, think hes about 6 years old, ive had him 4 years or so now.
hes about 3.5 feet long and is very docile, no bites so far (phew)

[Mermaidia]

that lizard is huge. What is their life expectancy and what does he eat?

[bugs]

We have the usual, 2 cats and a dog, plus Liz, our water dragon. She's my avatar atm.

[Hippie3]

Originally Posted by larrythelandboarder

...
i have a pet bosc monitor, called George, think hes about 6 years old, ive had him 4 years or so now.
hes about 3.5 feet long and is very docile, no bites so far (phew)

beautiful, awesome

[larrythelandboarder]

Originally Posted by Mermaidia

What is their life expectancy and what does he eat?

from what ive found out they can live upto 20 years average 15, mainly cos of their size, evidently some other monitors can live longer.

mainly feed him chicks and mice, but a snack from the fridge every now and then is never refused
used to buy locust for him n he would go mad to catch them, problem is boscs are really smart and he knows i will feed him so hes got lazy, the couch potato of lizards!!

Originally Posted by bugs

... Liz, our water dragon. She's my avatar atm.

cool!!

A FOAF had a bearded dragon, v cool, but alot more skittish than my monitor

[bugs]

That monitor's cool. Good thing he does't bite!
I never thought I'd like lizards, but Liz has real personality. She's real friendly, too, likes to be held and ride on your shoulder or on top of your head. When I'm at the computer she comes to this end of the cage to say hi, like she's doing now. I think it's because she wants to be fed.

[larrythelandboarder]

yeah i was supprised how much "personality" a lizard can have, george is like a miserable old man that wants attention but doesnt want to show it.
sometimes while im layin on the sofa readin he'll come up to the side of the chair, so ill put my hand down to stroke him, he'll make like hes gonna back off then just flops down, spreads out his legs n makes the most of the fuss

[bugs]

Hehe, reminds me of my last girlfriend...

Liz isn't big enough yet to give her the run of the house, not quite a foot long. We used to let her bop around on the couch, but one day we forgot she was there and she took off. 3 days later we found her, perched at the top of a curtain rod, dehydrated and the worse for wear. She recovered fine, but we're careful not to let her out of our sight now.

[larrythelandboarder]

at least you found her and she was ok! george is bigger than some of my friends' dogs so theres no losing him.

on the other hand its difficult to keep him locked away when i have to, hes big n strong enough to break/open most things and too damn smart to not to find a way out of the rest

[Beastmaster]

Neat lizards!

I've had a myriad of pets, hence my nym.

Currently I'm limited by living in an apartment, but that's no excuse to be petless!

So I have a cat, and a few tarantulas. I'll spare ya'll the boring details and just post the pics, being worth thousands of boring wordy details:

ok, posted some pics of the cat, got some of the chickens I used to have in the foreground.

And then I remembered I had a pet rattlesnake for awhile, three pics of her growth in the one year I cared for her.

Enjoy!

Oh yeah i am also rearing a colony of south american orange spotted cockroaches, for T food, I guess they count as pets too... or maybe livestock?

[larrythelandboarder]

i like the tarantulas! i was torn between a tarantula and a lizard in the shop when i bought my bosc. the lizard won on the personality vote.

also that is one MEAN lookin snake! cool

[aumbrellaforainydays]

awesome beastmaster! alas a master who is as he says, or at least the arachnid, feline, and serpents.

[Beastmaster]

don't forget the chickens and cockroaches

[Hippie3]

now that i like.

[SharkieJones]

So does the tarantula have any kind of personality? When you go to feed it does it anticipate, follow, etc...

[bugs]

I have to admit, that's a pretty spider. I just don't think I could master the old atavistic fear to keep one.

[Jake420]

My house has had lots of pets to grace it with, but my crowning pets have included two squirrels, two owls, a perigrin falcon, and a wolf. I miss Wolf. The ranchers around here poisoned him. Anyway, my current pets include three dogs, a few cats, lots of kittens (one just had a litter), some tetras and a dragonfish.

[BrOsK]

that monitor is gorgeous. fat and healthy you are really doing a great job with him. i have 5 poison dart frogs, 3 crested geckos, 2 pitbull mixes(i call em shit bulls) and a black cat who runs shit around here. a regular petting zoo.

[Beastmaster]

Originally Posted by SharkieJones

So does the tarantula have any kind of personality? When you go to feed it does it anticipate, follow, etc...

Yeah they do, each one is different:

The Lasiodora parahybana, or Salmon Pink Birdeater, the Big One in my hands, is a voracious predator of anything I drop into the terrarium that moves once it hits ground. They generally only move once, or get caught at landing.

The Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens, or Green Bottle Blue, is a total spaz, who freaks out and well, has a tantrum -wiggles legs, flops even upside down like hes just grabbing and biting anything and everything in the vicinity, plus flicking microscopic, toxic barbed 'urticating hairs' in all directions, whenever disturbed. When he was a juvenile he would voraciously attack insects the same size as him, now he seems more interested in finding a mate.

The Poecilotheria regalis, Indian Ornamental, in the last pic, is the only really venomous tarantula I have, and prefers moths, but is generally, also, only interested in waiting for a mate to come along.

The only one docile enough to safely handle is the Salmon Pink Birdeater, who still isn't fully grown, btw. When she's hungry, I don't bother her though, she makes a rattling/hissing sound and sends clouds of urticating hairs at the slightest offense. After a nice meal of a big juicy cockroach, she's as friendly as my cat, as you can plainly see.

Yes, keeping tarantulas, especially some of the species recommended for more advanced keepers, does call for a suppression of irrational phobias.

[Mermaidia]

So will you be getting a mate anytime soon for those? Also, do they eat their mate?

This is a great thread

[Beastmaster]

Getting mates for my tarantulas would be a dream come true. I almost successfully bred a pair of Avicularia avicularia, common Pinktoe tarantulas from equador, but mom ate the eggsac. They are still rather sensitive to disturbances, etc. that are normally tolerable for pet type habitats.

But yeah, I'd like to be a tarantula breeder, that would be cool.

Oh yeah

So, tarantula sex. Lemme see if in this delerious state i can relate to you the ambiguities of this delicate dance. The male prepares a small bed of webbing that he uses to catch his ejaculate which he then picks up in specialized cups in his pedipalps (you might have noticed that tarantulas have 10 legs, the front pair being rather smallish, ie 'pedipalps' leg/hands) and then seeks out a female.
The female sees the smaller tarantula and moves in to investigate a possible meal, and begins to grapple with the intrepid male. Male tarantulas have whats referred to as a 'tibial hook' on the front pair of legs bordering the pedipalps, that are used to hold back the front legs and/or fangs of the female back while he inserts his sperm sacs into the pockets on the underside of the females abdomen. Upon successful transfer, he gets the fuck out of there as fast as he can, and, yes, sometimes, gets caught and eaten.

That's about it in a nutshell.

[larrythelandboarder]

Originally Posted by BrOsK

that monitor is gorgeous. fat and healthy you are really doing a great job with him.

thanks!! tbh the hardest part of looking after him is keeping him intersted in stuff, trying to get him to hunt is nearly impossible now, he knows the food will come and seem prepared to wait indefinatly for it (longer than im willin to make him go without)

as for the spiders are some species more docile than others when mature? i like pets that can be left to do their own thing some of the time n not be caged permanently. im a great believer in alot of handling of pets, keeps em friendly

[SharkieJones]

Interesting spider info. I don't think the wife would be able to handle a tarantula in the house, but It's nice to see yours though.

[Jake420]

When I was in grade school, they had an experiment where a hungry tarantula and a hungry praying mantis were put into the same container. Without explaining what your reasonings are for your answer (that will come later), guess which creature won.

[Ras Asad]

the mantis eh??? lol...

Ive got a turtle and a couple kitties....the ex took the dog and havent seen em since Beautiful chocolate lab

[Jake420]

Now take into consideration that both were caught in the same field two days prior. The Tarantula was about twice the size of the Praying Mantis. Which do you think would win?

[rizingfire]

I had 3 iguannas in my apartment but they weren't mine. There was a 2.5ft green, a 3.5ft rhino and a 5ft black nose....the smallest one was the most viscous.......But here is a pic of my lil girl now...she is so cute. She likes to box. She hops sideways like a ferret and she will run up and slap you in the face with her paw and run away. She taps me on the forehead when she wants me to get up...

[Mermaidia]

She is cute! Is she a siamese? I've always wanted a seal point applehead. They are are really smart cats.

[Endo]

im scared shitless of spiders and venomous snakes.. anything that and bite me and poison me and make my fist the size of a basketball. they are cool to look at but you would never catch me even thinking about holding one.. you guys are brave. right now my gf and i have 2 chihuahas 2 stray cats we adopted, and thats about it. im looking into setting up a nice fish tank, perhaps brackish water fish, im also toying with the idea of a boa constrictor, and the gf really wants one of those pretty veild camilions (sp).

i bet the mantis slaughterd the spider no problem.

[Jake420]

Oh no. It didn't slaughter it so much as ripped it to pieces. One quick swing with it's front pincher-forelegs and it swiped the first long, hairy leg off the Tarantula. Ate that in five seconds or less, then it did it again. Damn spider was trying it's best after that initial loss of limb to get the fuck out of there. When the first seven or so legs were gone, the Praying Mantis was pretty much finished with it... And the Tarantula was just plain finished. Poor thing. No wonder some people say watch your fingers around those things!