Pets

[Synchronized]

I have three fish tanks(currently) and a black capped conure named Pie, who turned 2 in June. Pie again, being held like an ice cream cone. I can get tank pics later.

Snapping Turtle:

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Found in the swimming pool. He's about 3-4" long, and has his own one gallon tank. We assume he's a snapping turtle. He has a LONG tail.

Please release the turtle. Aside from it being illegal to take wild animals inside and keep them as pets, a one gallon tank is nowhere near suitable even for a hatchling snapper. How do you fit his heat lamp and UVB light, which they need to survive? He'll be fine in a local body of water, they can hunt for themselves.

[Brynmala]

Since everyone is talking about people picking up after dogs can I rant a little about horses. Now I don't know what it's like where you live but i live in the countryside, like a 3 minute walk to sheep and horses, so around my homestead there are riders riding their horses and not picking up their poo! Why?! I understand the reasoning that the poo is biodegradable and doesn't stink that much and all that but you know what it's the road! tarmac! It's not biodegrading there, I'd be fine if they'd get off their literal high horse and just kicked their poop to the wayside where it could actually biodegrade and not just look and smell horrible as well as getting on cars tires.

Patently you don't ride. Not only is this suggestion ill considered, it is downright dangerous. Getting off a horse in the middle of the road puts not only the rider but the horse in serious danger from passing cars, which seldom slow down nearly enough around horses as it is. You have far less control over a horse from the ground than you do riding it, so if it gets spooked it is likely either get loose and take off or leap all over the road and be hit by the car. On top of this if you have a big horse it isn't that easy to just get back on again, and even for a small horse getting on from the ground can do damage to their backs... its why people use mounting blocks! All that danger just because you don't like the look of some muck on your road? Justified? I don't think so.

Also horse muck is biodegradable, full stop. It biodegrades. It does that wherever it is, be that in a field, on tarmac or on your doorstep. It also does no harm to car tyres.

Given you are so close to countryside I'd have thought you would have a bit more tolerance towards users and residents of said countryside. How about, instead of moaning, you go and pick up the horse muck and put it on your compost heap like people used to do, and were glad of the opportunity.

[silverflame22]

I agree with the above-
Also, I have a whole ton of birds and rodents- one of our birds is 12 years old! He is a Zebra Finch, which a breed only supposed to live for five. He is still eating and drinking, though he can not fly as well as he used to, he seems quite happy!

[Skitcy]

I grew up in a very animal friendly house, my mother has been an agriculture/horticulture teacher for about 30 years now and due to the farming side of her teachings we just always had many different animals. She focuses on breeding poultry and ducks for show as well as layer hens, has a couple of aviaries filled with birds, 3 little itsa-bitsa indoor kitties (one of which was once a feral kitten, and the other 2 rescues) & a pair of border collies that have been tought to herd the chickens & ducks at the end of the day.

But that's my mother and not me, my partner and I have a single beauty, one tiny cat.

Spoiler

Her name is Opal, she's a traditional lynx point (or tabby point depending on what you call it) siamese with "faulty" genetics as she's missing the gene that restricts markings. I've had her for 5 years now, originally my brother bought her as a gift to my mum, but with so many animals already she ended up in my care which I definitely don't complain about.
Opal is a complete indoor cat that I have harness trained, and feasts on the best raw food I can buy for her, she's spoiled to the point that she even has her own room complete with bed and cupboards to hide in (our guest room).

I don't think I could ever imagine life without this beautiful cat, she's always been there to comfort me when nobody else was and when things are looking tough I always remember her and pull through, for that i'm forever grateful for this amazing accidental ownership

[AnyaWaltz]

I used to have 3 black cats, but when I moved, I had to find new homes for 2. I kept the kitten. I really miss them and I wonder how they are doing now. Has anyone had a similar experiance?

[UniqueZephlyn]

So.

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Haha we don't just have a menagerie, we have a personal zoo it seems.

I have:
4 dogs ( Chinese hairless crested dogs, Very sweet dogs, And they themselves look anything but hairless :p)

3 cats ( two outside , which are basically strays, and one Russian blue inside.)

Easily 20+ fish, we have a nice big pond, maybe 300 gallons or so. Keep in mind, these fish grow to about 2 inches or so

19 turtles. Male/ Females are separated except for our breeding pair. We self incubate the eggs. The breeding pair, which for those reptile nerds, are Ornate Box Turtles, Are From our friend who rescued them from being smushed while they were tearing down a building by the forest. The turtles were in the courtyard of the building, yes they were wild, sorry for all those who are mortified by taking in free animals as pets. At least they didn't die though. We also have 5 red eared sliders, all are from a pet store. One female Russian tortoise, and one female three toed box turtle. The rest are offspring from our pair. Also as a FYI, They have our Wholeee backyard ( Which is the biggest in our town to roam, and it is inescapable.

One Garden snake. Its fine being in its nice huge tank. Its like, half a foot.

Message me if you wanna talk about tuttles :O

[MunchyRawr]

I just got two young male ball pythons a little over a week ago and they haven't even done much yet but I love them so much While they're still so young I'm keeping them both in a 20 gallon tank (30" x 13" x 12"). Also because I may be moving into a house soon, so one big tank would just be easier to move. I do plan on getting a 2nd tank to separate them when I can. I've been told that I'm a little over protective of them and that I probably don't need to check on them as much as I do haha '^-^

I'm in a 6-unit apartment building that "doesn't allow pets" on paper. But the super has a cat and has had an iguana, and my across the hall neighbor has cats and very noisy birds so I figure no one needs to know that I've got two tiny snakes. I do take each of them out for a few minutes every other day or so, but I try to leave them alone mostly to grow accustomed to us and our home. I've given them a water dish/pool that they'd both be able to fit in, and two hide spots and one plant in the corner that they sometimes climb, and sometimes hide under the leaves of. They've got a red night bulb on 24/7 since my apartment's insulation kind of sucks, and a 75-watt white bulb on the other side which we have on for about 12 hours a day. A 15-watt under tank heating mat is under a middle portion of the tank, more toward the hot side and with the half-log tunnel on part of the heat mat so they have multiple choices for elevation, cover, heat. Typically the hot side is around 88-92 during the day, while the cool side is at 86-88. At night they're usually 84-86 and 76-82 depending mostly on whether we go to sleep with our main heat on or not.

I've named them Liquid and Ocelot, after characters in a much loved video game series that my boyfriend plays. Ocelot seems to be the more bold one - he's a little older, and I've caught him exploring pretty much every spot in the tank. Liquid, on the other hand, is either really lazy or just more cautious. I finally caught him climbing on top of the log tunnel to relax today, and I got really happy and excited. I took maybe 10 pics of him on the log hehe


Tl;dr: I'm obsessed with my two baby ball pythons
Pictures maybe when I'm on an actual computer
Also I apologize if the Swype on my phone has swapped some of my words

[Synchronized]

They've got a red night bulb on 24/7 since my apartment's insulation kind of sucks, and a 75-watt white bulb on the other side which we have on for about 12 hours a day. A 15-watt under tank heating mat is under a middle portion of the tank, more toward the hot side and with the half-log tunnel on part of the heat mat so they have multiple choices for elevation, cover, heat. Typically the hot side is around 88-92 during the day, while the cool side is at 86-88. At night they're usually 84-86 and 76-82 depending mostly on whether we go to sleep with our main heat on or not.

Seems like you're taking good care of them! I'd make sure all your heat is on one side, though-- with two heat lamps on either side and a UTH in the middle you don't have enough temperature gradient for them to regulate their bodies properly. You're best off having the pad and just the nightlight on one side 24/7 and getting rid of the daylight altogether. One end of the tank should always be at least 8-10 degrees lower than the "hot" side.

[MunchyRawr]

Seems like you're taking good care of them! I'd make sure all your heat is on one side, though-- with two heat lamps on either side and a UTH in the middle you don't have enough temperature gradient for them to regulate their bodies properly. You're best off having the pad and just the nightlight on one side 24/7 and getting rid of the daylight altogether. One end of the tank should always be at least 8-10 degrees lower than the "hot" side.

I'm trying cause they're my first reptiles! And yeah, I considered a lot of options with the lamps. It's easier to position them separately now because we have two separate lamps instead of the original giant white light fixture that held all the bulbs. If I leave one side without any lamp, it drops below 75 sometimes I've moved the red lamp over a little so now their cool side usually is about 8-10 degrees cooler than the hot side. If I notice they're getting too hot, I open the door between their room and the living room because that side of the apartment tends to be much cooler, so they get some fresh air flowing in. If they're a little cold, I'll shut both doors to their room so that the heat can stay trapped in there for a bit.

I fed them on Friday! It was the most amazing thing to watch I have these two clear plastic drawers that I put each of them in, one by one, then dropped the mice in each drawer, one for each snake. Since the drawers were clear, I got to record the whole thing!

[Brynmala]

I have an exam next Wednesday that I really must revise for. So of course my stupid horse runs into the gatepost yesterday evening - massive skinned patches (first aid only required, we can deal with that), bruising, and now this morning a fluid filled lump, probably a blood blister. I've spent what seems like most of the morning on the phone to the vet and now I need to spend today and the weekend intermittently hosing cold water onto it. Why did he have to choose this week to be such a prat?! It's not even like he's got the excuse of being young and stupid - he turned 25 last week!