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 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.
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