I want another snake and would love to own a SPIDER MONKEY!!

I would love to have a monkey too Dex but right now I would settle for a dog.
This is the first time in my entire life I have not had a pet. I do not count the salt water tank full of fishes and crabs as pets.
I have owned snakes before but find them boring.

I want a dog

I want a pet DexMSR

Fuck, no.

Owning a domestic animal that's been domesticated for hundreds and hundreds of years is one thing...but owning something that is still basically a wild animal is another.

I do not condone the exotic animal trade at all. It think it's cruel and really I don't see it's purpose at all.
[Edited 3/11/08 7:56am]

I'd like to have a lion cub until he gets old enough to want to eat me.

JustErin said:

I must agree with you. Most of those so called exotic pets end up being let go after a while and then they are unable to survive or they end up in zoo's the rest of their lives.
Either way they deserve to live in the wild where they belong.
I look back at all of the birds my aunt, uncle and mom used to have, it is cruel to clip their wings and keep them in cages.

I had turtles. That's as exotic as I get I think.

Sweeny79 said:

I used to have turtles too. I loved them. I still scream when we see turtes some where even on TV. Turtles, Seals and Otters are my favourite animals..well besides dogs.

Ghat dayum, I just want a doggie

CalhounSq said:

me too

Domesticated animals have been breed or developed traits over thousands of generations to have a symbiotic relationship with humans.

There are actually theories that our relationship to canines helped us edge out the Neanderthals , which had superior senses of smell for tracking hen ours. Our dogs filled that gap for us.

Also there are breeds of cat, specifically Siamese cats that no longer have good nighttime vision, and so developed other traits that make them extremely loyal housepets. It's not just their natural disposition, but an adaptive trait that helps them to survive by having these close relationships to us.


I could never see a snake, spider, rat, or monkey filling that gap. They're interesting animals. Some are quite cute. But they're wild and I would imagine many are just miserable in our presence and would rather be somewhere else.
Oddly, I place rabbits in the the same category as exoctic pets--I know they're sociable animals--but I would imagine they would much rather enjoy the companionship of their own kind as opposed to humans.
Dogs and cats on the other hand, from what I've seen, enjoy human companionship more than they do their own kind--they even fight each other for it.

My stance is if it's not cruel or unusual, and you're willing to take precautions, why not I guess? But I just don't see what the lure is.

shanti0608 said:

Sea turtles are my favorite!

horatio said:

a pair of Panthers

Sweeny79 said:

Mine too. My uncle caught one while he was out fishing when I was young and brought it home for me. It lived until I bought another water turtle from the pet store and it had some kind of sickness and they both died.

When I was much younger before becomming aware of the " exotic pet " negativities - yes I did

Now - Nope

I have a parrot....does that count?

Imago said:

I kinda, sorta disagree about the rabbit thing. If they are kept in cages all alone I think that's terrible but you can litter train a rabbit much like a cat and let them roam freely (monitored). They can also be very social with their owners...but I do think they are on that line between domestic and exotic. I had two rabbits and they loved each other's company...I definitely couldn't compete with that. It was the same with the rats/mice I had. I always got them in pairs. These animals are all considered domestic but since they are living lives as caged animals, it just doesn't sit right with me anymore and I had decided a while ago that I will not be keeping small animals anymore.

My sister is wealthy. She earns extra money that she doesn't even need with her hobby, which is raising macaws, african greys, and all kinds of other exotic birds. She has A LOT of them.

Sweeny79 said:

When I was in Trinidad last May I was on the beach that has the most giant leatherback turtles in the world who come there for nesting. It was overwhelming to see them come out of the ocean and camouflage. They were so huge . I also saw loads of hatchlings coming out of their eggs and I could touch them. It was breath-taking .

The only exotic animal I ever had was a turtle as well btw, but not a sea turtle.

Serious said:

Yes I screamed when I saw the turtles in your pics from the trip.

My mom used to have one of these:


She did not make a very good pet.

I would love to have a exotic pet,but it take a lot of money jest for the care
an food that it needs.

I used to have these ( red mangrove crabs ) but I would not keep them again, simply for the reasons that Erin posted....they are wild animals, not domesticated,and they should stay where they belong.
Then again, I made sure they had everything they needed ( food, right water temperature, lots of space, enough company because they are very social animals, a floating "land" part in the tank because they live in the water AND on land, and the right minerals and salt in the water) . So,basically, they had it quite good and lived a long time and even started breeding, which is pretty unusual.
Somewhere in the mangroves, it is quite normal that thousands of them die because they get eaten, stomped on, or whatever but I still agree with those that say that ild, exotic animals should not be kept at home.
I had at least five of these cute little fellows and they reached their expected maximum age but they´re mostly already pretty old when you buy them, so seeing them die after a comparatively short time is a bit depressing, same with Siamese fighter fish ( betta splendens ) ....beautiful to look at, but totally overbred and not able to live longer than three years maximum, the legendary competition winner "Mr.G", a betta splendens fighter fish, reached the age of five...which is highly unusual.

my son has a leopard gecko...

a chinchilla is as exotic as im going to get.

pets are harder to take care of then kids at times.


I was up all last night. My doggie got his teeth cleaned yesterday and he was
acting like a big baby all night.

When I was a kid my aunt Socqui had a spider monkey, and that damn thing belongs in the jungle. Monkeys are cute until they rip off their diapers and fling their poop at you. And that darn monkey had great aim... not to mention he screached all the time until you let him out cage, then he would open cabinets and toss plates and cups.... a serious pain. They didn't keep that monkey long, replaced him with a large blue parrot, it was beautiful, until you heard the squawking.

On a side note, a friend of a friend, found a dirty little kitten, it grew to be a bobcat, and she was forced to give it up to the MSPCA since it attacked a neighbor's small dog. She had the thing for 3 years too.

I myself always wanted to own a wolf, or seahorses... and neither is going to happen.

I am satisfied that my mom has a pair of nesting red-tailed hawks in her back yard, they are beautiful, and we can watch them on occasion, and that is good enough for me.

You guys remember that elderly couple that raised 2 chimps?

They got too old to care for the chimps and gave them to a shelter. They couple had never let the chimps get it on.

The first time the couple visited the chimps in the sanctuary, the male chimp beat the shit out of the old man and ripped his balls off.

So...if you raise chimps, let them do it whenever they want, cause if they find out what you've been keeping from them, they'll rip your balls off.

DexMSR said:

u have a snake? you have pics of it? i used to play with those, those things are very strong if they get a good grip of you .. i was in NYC and i stopped a dude in the Village, he had one and i asked him if i could hold it.. thing was so big, it looked like a fur coat around my neck .. the patterns in snakes are beautiful ... http://prince.org/msg/100/263337?&pg=1 <-- i made mention in this thread of how i'd get a Tiger, but cant they're too wild.. ...

Brotha man, you can keep your bed bugs..lol