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Post by betty on Jul 18, 2024 12:12:03 GMT -8
Is there anyone out there who hasn't had any pets other than gerbils?
Does everyone go gerbils first?
If not, what were other peoples gateway pocket pets?
And I mean YOUR own first choice for a pet. Don't include cats or dogs in the answers as they are often family pets rather than your own choices...
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Post by catnut on Jul 18, 2024 12:34:17 GMT -8
i was a cat lover first, always loved cats and had my first cat when i was 12 and also had a guinea pig once my cat passed but also had a gerbil as the same time as my guinea pig. I've had gerbils since 1991 when i somehow decided to get a gerbil (Woolco had small pets and that is where i bought my Pepper, not many pet stores had gerbils and not often at the time), She lived until she was about 3 years- took her the vet as she had some mild bleeding from her vagina and balance issues- vet didn't know what it was so i didn't get anything and she lived a month later, luckily didn't get much worse and she was a great pet- i also bought another gerbil who was also a single a few months after her and was afraid to bond them and heard they declanned),Pretzel also lived to 3 years old.
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Post by betty on Jul 18, 2024 12:47:29 GMT -8
Our first family pets were actually snails - which is totally random?
But the first pet I actually wanted and got was a gerbil - well a pair of gerbils. Then - like the popular Gru meme - I got two more gerbils...
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Post by LilyandDaisy on Jul 19, 2024 6:13:43 GMT -8
As a child I used to collect random insects from outside and try to keep them as pets. At various points I had snails, slugs, ants, woodlice, and a caterpillar (which bit me resulting in a life-long wariness of caterpillars!) Plus sea monkeys until the little tank was knocked over. My first "real" pets of my own were rabbits though I didn't really enjoy having them.
I got into gerbils through my older brother. He originally wanted degus, so we went to Pets at Home to look at some (they used to sell them back then), but when our parents saw the size of the cages they needed they said no. Gerbils were the second choice. He got a female pair and after they had died, I got a male trio.
I would say gerbils were the gateway pocket pets for me even though I had rabbits first.
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Post by betty on Jul 19, 2024 11:27:02 GMT -8
I love that you collected random things - I think I did to actually - maybe not slugs (weirdo).
My sister wanted a rabbit and so we got 2, and I was told one was mine - but like you, I was never really a rabbit person (poor things).
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Post by ConnieW on Jul 19, 2024 12:47:48 GMT -8
Our first small pocket sized pet was a pocket parakeet. He was a Grey Cheeked parakeet. That was back in the 1980's when these birds were still imported to the USA from Peru, South Amrerica. My husband was raised in Peru because his family were missionaries in the Peruvian Jungles. He was with the natives and saw how they would climb the trees and raid the nests of this birds and take the baby birds to raise them in their native huts. The natives would chew food in their mouths and let the baby birds eat from their mouths. It was most like how there mother birds fed them. When old enough the natives sold the birds to merchants who imported them to the USA. That was their living back then. So when these birds got to the USA they were already very tame. We saw one of these birds in a pet store and my husband recognized it and said we had to have it. So I got him and brought him home. He was a very fun bird to have.
He was only caged at night because he was so tame. His wings were clipped so he would flutter down to the floor and walk over to one of us and climb up our legs to our shoulder where he loved to be. If we ate anything he would of course think it was for him and he would 'beg' at our mouth for us to open up to let him have some. Sometimes at dinner time he would climb up one of us and get on the table and go around and sample the food on everyone's plate. He never stepped on the plate, he stayed on the table. He was a very fun pet to have. We miss him to this day.
Other pets we have had are mice, hamsters, gerbils, rabbits, cats, dogs, fish (and other aquatics), Amazon Parrot, a Love Bird, an Orange Chinned parakeet, and a gecko. As a kid I also had ducks, chickens, and horses. I lived on a farm. I am wondering if guinea pigs would be fun to have. I won't have a ferret as a neighbor of ours once has a ferret and it would hide under their couch and come out and bite my ankle. And it was painful.
Now at our house we have one dog, two cats, two gerbils, one hamster and one gecko. The INN is full! LOL!
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Post by betty on Jul 20, 2024 2:07:14 GMT -8
Wow conniew - what an animal-packed past you have. Glad gerbils made the cutting list for sure!
I have never had a ferret either, although had a good friend who loved them to pieces. Funny how we are all so different...
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Post by julz6852 on Jul 20, 2024 5:15:09 GMT -8
Excluding cats, my first actual pet was a rabbit back in the 1990's called Skippy. He was a black/white Dutch and was a real sweetie. My second rabbit after Skippy had passed was a Dwarf Lop called Thumper (I had just seen Bambi and was obsessed with Thumper) and he was as stubborn as **** lol. He hated anything that went into his rabbit run (unless it was food) and if I was cleaning his run out - he used to literally throw out the dustpan and brush and would also try and chuck the broom out as well lol.
Other previous pets I have had are 3 golden pheasants, guinea pigs, cats, gerbils, corn snakes, syrian and dwarf hamsters and tarantulas.
Currently, I have got 1 cat (Winnie), 1 dwarf hamster (Gizmo), leopard gecko (Leo), tarantula (Truffle). I am also getting things set up for getting a couple of gerbils next week (all being well)!
Julz xx
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Post by betty on Jul 20, 2024 9:24:32 GMT -8
Yay - I had a black and white dutch too - although Skippy was a great name! I have heard that rabbits - especially lops - can be very 'characterful' and great personalities.
Golden pheasants some amazing - were they in an aviary or free-roaming in the yard? There was a converted priory down where I used to live that had lops and peacocks 'roaming free' in the giant central atrium...
Truffle the tarantula - cool. My partner doesn't name their tarantulas - shame.
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Post by julz6852 on Jul 21, 2024 4:36:49 GMT -8
The golden pheasants - 2 males and a female were given to us on a temporary basis (apparantly) by my Nan and Grandad. As we were only having them on the short term - Dad only built a temporary aviary whilst my grandparents were away on holiday - 6 months on from that Dad started getting a more permanent aviary built, but unfortunately the 2 males somehow escaped - one was caught by a fox and had obviously tried and failed to escape and the other one we never saw again. The female lived out her full life with us and I even got her hand-feeding.
I've always named any animal that have come into the house - apart from a majority of the pondfish we have and the locusts that Leo (leopard gecko) has for food lol.
Julz xx
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Post by betty on Jul 22, 2024 0:49:27 GMT -8
Oh no - you can't name the live food!!!
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Post by julz6852 on Jul 22, 2024 1:19:58 GMT -8
Oh no - you can't name the live food!!! Unless you call them "Dinner"! Lol  xx |
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Post by betty on Jul 22, 2024 1:25:36 GMT -8
Nooooo.......
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xx