Alternate pets

[tom]

Besides dogs, cats, and maybe ferrets (or mongooses in the other hemisphere) what animals could be made pets? My father/uncles once had a pet raccoon, is this a possible major pet? Would otters or foxes be breedable into domesticatable versions? How about squirrels? Hedgehogs? I know some are kept as pets, could they hit the big time? Opossums? Any other suggestions?

[Abdul Hadi Pasha]

Originally Posted by tom

Besides dogs, cats, and maybe ferrets (or mongooses in the other hemisphere) what animals could be made pets? My father/uncles once had a pet raccoon, is this a possible major pet? Would otters or foxes be breedable into domesticatable versions? How about squirrels? Hedgehogs? I know some are kept as pets, could they hit the big time? Opossums? Any other suggestions?

How bored are we today, tom?

I understand sloths make excellent pets, though apparently they don't do much.

[Landshark]

Foxes might be do-able. I remember a documentary from a few years back that featured the breeding program mentioned here:

In dogs, the juvenile characteristics have extended into adulthood because some of the genes that control timing of adult characteristics have been transformed through selective breeding. This was demonstrated by a breeding program for foxes in Russia. Foxes most "friendly" toward humans were bred with other "friendly" foxes to tame the species and make it easier to raise foxes for their fur. After 20 generations, the foxes exhibited characteristics of dogs, including a color pattern in their fur coats.

[tom]

AHP:
I was just wondering. Also, I post more threads after an outage, cause there's more "room" on the Discussion Board.

[Otis Tarda]

Miniature pigs, horses, llamas etc.
Martens
Paradise birds

[Guilherme Loureiro]

I had a couple of squirrels as pets once. They are chaos incarnate; even though I liked them, I sure wasn't amused when they chewed my toys. I don't think they would be popular choices as pets.

[Diamond]

A friend of mine has a big lizard. And I mean, a friggin BIG lizard. I believe its a monitor lizard. Its over four feet long, not including the tail. He's got a room in his house devoted entirely to this thing - corkboard on the floor and walls, and a 'lizard door' cut into the outside wall so it can get into the backyard.

This creature is as friendly as a dog - it likes to be scratched under its chin, it'll play fetch, it likes to curl up (as much as will fit) in your lap. Its a little scary.

[Abdul Hadi Pasha]

Originally Posted by Guilherme Loureiro

I had a couple of squirrels as pets once. They are chaos incarnate; even though I liked them, I sure wasn't amused when they chewed my toys. I don't think they would be popular choices as pets.

When I lived in Poland a friend bought me a hamster for Chrismas because everybody thought I must be lonely since I lived alone. Somehow I got the hamster possessed by Satan; it would raise its claws. bare its teeth and hiss at anyone who came near it, and spent all its time trying to find a way to escape from its terrarium.

One night it did finally escape, and completely surprised me with the amount of sheer destruction one furry little animal could wreak in a single day. It managed to devour an entire square yard of carpet to build a nest and chewed holes in every conceivable item in an apparently relentless search for food and revenge.

I recaptured it, but it was so nasty and hateful that I neglected to clean the terrarium and it eventually drowned in its own urine.

[Guilherme Loureiro]

Behind that harmless appearance hamsters have, hides a mean, psychopathic beast; squirrels aren't mean, although they sure are mischievous.

[Adamanteus]

Originally Posted by tom

Besides dogs, cats, and maybe ferrets (or mongooses in the other hemisphere) what animals could be made pets? My father/uncles once had a pet raccoon, is this a possible major pet? Would otters or foxes be breedable into domesticatable versions? How about squirrels? Hedgehogs? I know some are kept as pets, could they hit the big time? Opossums? Any other suggestions?

I understand that in some parts of the world, marmosets and tamarins are kept as pets in large cages. A marmoset is a small monkey, about the size of a rat. A tamarin is about the same. They're apparently easy to take care of if you have the space.

[zoomar]

From a cultural perspective, I would define a true pet as an animal which is fully domesticated and which is bred and raised primarily for companionship (including some work-related uses), not food. I would not include wild animals which are raised in captivity, no matter how cute they are. In general, to me an animal which lives its life in a cage is not a true "pet" - they're more like moving, noisy decor (sorry you bird, fish, and boa lovers out there)

I've always considered the most fascinating alternative pets to be primates: monkeys and apes - both for their intellegence and the possibility they could be trained to do a lot of tasks that only an animal with hands could do. It is interesting to speculate about how society with a range of primate pets and work animals would look.

[David Howery]

monkeys and apes are bad bad ideas for pets. They're cute as hell until they get to be adults. Monkeys and chimps can be vicious creature; it isn't often realized just how competitive their societies are in the wild. I remember reading a book about the Simba rebellion in the Congo; it mentioned a rebel leader who kept a male chimpanzee to kill his captives, usually by pulling off parts of their bodies. Apes in particular suffer from a lot of diseases in captivity, way more than cats or dogs. As big as gorillas and orangutans are, they have surprisingly delicate health....

[Diamond]

Originally Posted by zoomar

I've always considered the most fascinating alternative pets to be primates: monkeys and apes - both for their intellegence and the possibility they could be trained to do a lot of tasks that only an animal with hands could do. It is interesting to speculate about how society with a range of primate pets and work animals would look.

Just as long as one of them isn't a chimp named Caesar.

[Beck Reilly]

I've heard that skunks are supposed to make good pets, once their, for lack of a better term, *stink blatter* is removed.

[Diamond]

What about those disgusting-looking little Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs?

[Landshark]

Originally Posted by Guilherme Loureiro

Behind that harmless appearance hamsters have, hides a mean, psychopathic beast; squirrels aren't mean, although they sure are mischievous.

So if someone was planning a campaign of global mayhem a legion of giant mutant hamsters would be an asset?

Hypothetically speaking.

[Kuralyov]

I've read that octopi are smarter than dogs, almost as smart as young kids...maybe if scuba-diivng catches on much bigger than OTL...

[Diamond]

Originally Posted by Kuralyov

I've read that octopi are smarter than dogs, almost as smart as young kids...maybe if scuba-diivng catches on much bigger than OTL...

Did you ever see that special, "The Future is Wild" on the Discovery Channel? It postulated a race of intelligent, tool-using, arboreal octopi taking over mankind's rung on the food-chain after we go extinct. Totally OT, but your post reminded me of it.

[Melvin Loh]

Here in Aust, I think some of our local wildlife could conceivably make good pets- esp kangaroos, koalas and possums. I think some ppl in particular parts of the country do indeed have some such local fauna as pets, including here in Darwin- WI these practices for domesticating local wildlife caught on quicker with European settlers ?

I myself wouldn't mind having a pet bear cub as a pet, or some sorta big cat- I know how much trouble it would be to keep such large animals as pets, but it'd be so cool still. I've3 seen NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC documentaries on ppl in such states as Montana, Wyoming, and New Mexico who've had their own pet black or grizzly bears. Yeah, real living teddy-bears, huh ? (lol)

[Guilherme Loureiro]

Originally Posted by Landshark

So if someone was planning a campaign of global mayhem a legion of giant mutant hamsters would be an asset?

Hypothetically speaking.

Nope, they wouldn't be an asset - they're bound to do as much harm to you as to the enemy.

Actually, I overstate my case; not all hamsters are mean(in fact, the mean ones might only be a small minority), but those that are are surprisingly unpleasant to deal with, far more than their size would indicate.