2021 Animal Stories
"Adoption Animals"

The more exotic members of the family
By Nila Smith

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[January 27, 2021]  For generations, when a child would seek to have a pet the obvious options were a puppy or a kitten. Some very progressive parents might consider a hamster, guinea pig, turtle or rabbit. Rarely would it be that a snake, reptile other than turtle or a bug would be considered as an appropriate animal to have living in the home.

But like many other portions of our life and society, with the generations have come change in perspective, and today there are a wide variety of unconventional family pets.

When looking for a new or unusual pet, the first question must be if it is allowed in your community. Many animals that fall under the header of “exotic” are not allowed in residential areas.

For example, the city of Lincoln has a long list of animals that are not permitted to dwell within the city limits.

[“Except as otherwise expressly provided for in this chapter or Title 11 of this Code, no person shall keep, harbor or allow to be kept within the City limits any live chicken (except egg laying hens as defined 6-2-33), turkey, goose, duck or any other poultry or byproduct bird, pigeons, goat, sheep, swine, cattle, horse, or any type of hoof stock, any type of farm animal including any pygmy or miniature variety thereof; any lion, tiger, leopard, ocelot, jaguar, cheetah, margay, mountain lion, lynx, bobcat, jaguarondi, bear, hyena, wolf, wolf hybrid, poisonous reptile, monkeys, or non-domesticated animal found in its natural state to be wild and potentially dangerous to human life. It is no defense to a violation of this section that the owner or keeper of the animal has attempted to domesticate the animal and there shall be no grandfathering in of any prohibited animal.”
 


Within the list the only exception granted is for hen (female) chickens owned for the purpose of egg production. Rooster or male chickens are not permitted and chickens that are owned may not be slaughtered for meat.

While the list is lengthy, many of the animals included would probably not even be considered such as lions, tigers and bears (oh my!) On the other hand, owning pigeons, a duck, or pigmy goat are pets that some families would entertain. So, before you say yes, be sure to check your city or county zoning office to see if you have the legal ability to say yes.

By definition (from Wikipedia) an exotic pet is “a rare or unusual animal pet; an animal kept within human households which is relatively unusual to keep or is generally thought of as a wild species rather than as a pet.”

Sticking to the word “unusual” in the definition there are several pets that could be included into the family without violating local restrictions. These “unusual” pets can include anything from an ant farm to a dragon to cockroaches, mice, rats, spiders and all things in between.

But why would someone want one of these out of the ordinary pets? To find out, it is good to hear it right from a pet owner.

LDN asked Logan County teenager Devin Fry to talk about her pets. Devin owns two bearded dragons. She’s had them for two years and they are rescue animals. She loves her dragons and enjoys talking about how cute and loving they are. Even though the little reptiles are fierce looking, they have a gentle nature and are very playful. Devin also knows them by their personalities and sees the differences in each one.



The bearded dragon can grow up to 24 inches long. They have a life span of as long as ten years. They are friendly and they can move their front “arms” in a manner that makes them appear to be waving. From Wikipedia, “The name "bearded dragon" refers to the "beard" of the dragon, the underside of the throat, which can turn black and puff out for a number of reasons, most often as a result of stress, or if they feel threatened.” Another characteristic of the lizard is its body armor of reptilian scales including the area on the throat that puffs up.



Devin shared a photo of her two dragons. “The beardie on the left is a female named Mable, and on the right is a male named Bowser. Both are rescues, so I am not sure of their ages, but they are now at least two years old.”

Devin said that she has always been fond of reptiles, and as a very small child her parents, for a time, had dragons. When she decided that she would like to have her own, she said it took a little convincing to get mom Bobbie Snyder to agree.

“I've always loved reptiles; when I was growing up, we had two bearded dragons and I've loved them ever since. My mom is very supportive of me, however, it took a small amount of convincing to initially get her on board with another pet.” Note that Devin said another pet. Bobbie and Devin love animals and they have a few including dogs that they adore.

Devin started her personal reptile experiences with a gecko, another pet that is by the definition of “unusual” considered to be an exotic. She then moved on to the dragons.

“After I proved myself able to care for my leopard gecko, she (mom Bobbie) agreed to let me get at least one bearded dragon.”

Devin said she proved herself to her mom, and in addition demonstrated that having the special pets made her happy. At the same time, mom expected that when Devin said she would be responsible, she meant it fully. “My mom told me yes because she saw that I was responsible, but also she saw that taking care of my babies made me happy and made me feel important -- I even pay their vet bills!”

Devin noted that part of being a responsible pet parent was to be an informed pet parent. Before getting her dragons, she did her homework, literally.

“To make sure that I was ready to care for my beardies, I started by asking my parents about what they did for my childhood beardies. After gaining some basic knowledge, I continued learning by looking at exotic care websites, articles, vlogs (video blog,) text threads, and learning about common mistakes and risks.”

Devin concluded her comments about her pets. “I love making sure my babies are happy and healthy! One of the most rewarding things about having my beardies has been getting to know each of their little personalities, behaviors and attitudes. I don't think I will ever live without a bearded dragon again!”

Curious to see what Devin meant about personalities, LDN found a YouTube video of a bearded dragon named Mochi. It is a must watch as you will soon see why these little lizards are so popular today as pets.

Bearded Dragon Comes Running When His Mom Calls Him
The Dodo Soulmates


When Robert Browning was 10 years old, he (and his mom Mindy) agreed to babysit two Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches for a family friend. Robert babysat for the summer. During that time the two bugs were generous multipliers. When the family friend returned home to retrieve her bugs she had the original two plus many more.

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During that time, Robert had grown pretty fond of taking care of the bugs. So when the friend offered to give him a pair for his own, he and his folks agreed that it would be okay.

Robert is an adult now. He had to give his pets to new homes when he graduated high school and headed off to college. But for about nine years he loved them and enjoyed taking care of them.


photo credit University of Nebraska

For those who are unfamiliar. A Madagascar cockroach is quite large. They can partially fill the palm of an adult hand. They are not the loathsome roaches that most people fear will invade their homes, but like those roaches they are very aggressive multipliers.

The bugs grow to a length of two to three inches. They are a wingless bug, so they cannot fly but they are excellent climbers. The males are distinguished from the females by the thicker hairier antennae and their very pronounced horns. The hissing sound the bugs make comes from the forceful expelling of air from their respiratory openings which are found in the fourth segment of their body. [Wikipedia].

Robert’s mom talked about taking care of and getting to know the bugs. “They were honestly a pretty easy pet. They stayed in a ten-gallon aquarium with a screen top and wood chips. They can climb any surface so the screen top was a must. We also used Vaseline around the top rim of the aquarium to keep them from getting out if the screen was off. They had a gelled water that they loved and they also ate dry dog food. As a treat, we would feed them fruit. Oranges were their favorite.”





Mindy said that they did have differing personalities which was interesting, considering they were a bug, and people don’t often think about bugs having personalities. “The male liked me better, the females liked the guys (Robert and his dad Andrew).”

When the babysitting job came along, the male of the pair was named Rocky. When Robert got his own set he named his male Rocky 2 and the female was Rachel.

Mindy was asked if it took a lot of coaxing for her to agree to have the large cockroaches in her home. “No. Snakes would have never made the cut, but I probably would have been okay with about anything else. Honestly, I was fascinated by them, he started out babysitting for two, but they soon had babies and we gave 18 back to Jen (the family friend) and kept a male and female. They had babies as well. By the time we passed them on, we had about 30.”

When Robert was in college, the family decided that it was time to give the bugs new homes. Over the nine or ten years that they had the roaches, they had lots of babies. Robert gave several of his bugs to local schools for the kids there to learn about and enjoy.

In all, the whole family enjoyed the bugs. They also had pretty good luck with taking care of them. Rocky 2 outlived his lifespan by a couple of years, and became the most beloved of all of them.

“The average lifespan is about five years. We had Rocky 2 about seven. We lost several when they molted. We very seldom just went and found one dead in the tank. It was usually a failure to get all the way out of the old shell.”



But for those who made it out of their shell, Mindy said the bugs took on an interesting look for a very short time. “The coolest thing is when they molt. They are by nature, a black and brown bug, but when they molt they are snow white for a few hours and are just beautiful.”

Like Devin Fry and her dragons, one of the best attractions for Mindy was the educational value and the lessons that Robert learned about caring for another living thing. “I loved that we had a pet for Robert that was so educational, they were not expensive to take care of, easily contained, and as I said, they had a lot more personality than you would think.”

Now cockroaches may not be the pet for every household, nor dragons for that matter. The point is, what you love, care for, and feel is a part of your family is a pet, and it is special.

There are a number of people in the world who say they are not dog people or cat people, but that doesn’t mean they couldn’t be a fish lover or bird lover. Like these two youngsters that thought outside the box for their choice of pet, the important part is to do your homework first.

Regardless of what you are attracted to, before you take in an animal or a bird or reptile, study a little, talk to others who have similar pets, or even try babysitting. If the pet gives you joy then it’s for you. But if you find that it is more work than you anticipated, tests your patience or creates disruption that you can’t tolerate, then pass it by because what you don’t ever want is to be a neglectful pet parent.

 

Read all the articles in our new
2021 Animals Stories Magazine

Title
CLICK ON TITLES TO GO TO PAGES
Page
Introduction 4
These HEROES save lives 5
We are Family! 11
The more exotic members of the family 15
Animal adoption stories 21
Pet contest photos and winners 28
Best methods for training your pet 47
Spaying or neutering your pets - When, why and why not 50
You, your pet and Covid 55
Rainbow Bridge 57

 

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