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Dogs: I love dogs. I like the snuggling, running, greeting. But I can't keep one in my current living situation. Please recommend me a dog replacement. A miniature Ghost Dog in haunt form. Cats: I'm not fond of cats. They shed. They are disloyal. They are only selectively snuggly. They tear up furniture. Fish: You can't snuggle with a fish. Your fish isn't going to welcome you home. Lizards: You can.. maybe snuggle with a lizard? I don't know anything about lizards. Birb: I might keep a birb. I don't know how to handle the poo, though. Skunk: I think a skunk would be the ideal pet: all the loyalty of dogs, all the cleverness of cats. Can't keep one. Guidelines: Nothing exotic (over $100 or imported). Nothing high maintainence (over $100/mo keeping). Nothing that will tear up my apartment while I'm gone.
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Dec 16, 2014 19:41
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| # ? Apr 26, 2024 14:49 |
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You could pick up a cockatiel for under $100. They are good starter birbs, lower maintenance than most parrots and generally not as bright but very sweet and affectionate. A lot of the qualities people enjoy in dogs are present in birds: a (mostly) chill, loyal, affectionate buddy that can learn tricks and just wants to hang out with you. Downsides include the noise (sometimes bird just wanna scream), the mess (you can potty-train parrots but not all of them are receptive), and the need for a specialty vet. You also need to be able to spend at least two - three hours a day with your bird so they don't just sit around in their cage all day depressed and bored. I'm sure some other birdpeople will come in and add some more but there's a start!!
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Dec 16, 2014 19:53
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I think Cockatiels do better in pairs if you can't spend a lot of time with them. Ours seems much happier since we bought an bird of as-of-yet undecided gender to keep him company. It would increase your work load though, and I think it makes them a little harder to tame. Also, Have you considered rats? I hear they're basically cage dogs and only last 2 years or so rather than 25 years of loving screaming that you can get out of a cockatiel (I love our cockatiels!) Dunno if they're nocturnal or something though, never owned them.
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Dec 16, 2014 20:37
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This is good information, thanks I read through the the OP of the birb crazy thread--pleasantly surprised to find you can harness birds! Does anyone get their birds to fly along while they jog? The three hour a day minimum might be hard for me. I sometimes go weeks doing all outdoors stuff, not inside. And the noise thing. I am not going to rush into this; I don't know if I could handle random screams. I would love to find someone with birds and chill with theirs for a while, get a feel for it. There's no bird rescues in my state but there's quite a few in bordering states. There's a single dove up for adoption in my town. Also, how do birds handle artificial lighting? I know chickens get confused and upset if they don't get a properly dimmed sunset to climb up on their roosts. Do birds do alright with odd sleep schedules, activity at inconsistent times of day, etc, or does it vary on the breed and bird? -- This whole thing stems from catching a wild bird in the library yesterday and being pleasantly surprised by it letting me pick it up without it panicking. (I took it outside, don't worry!) -- I'm not sure if there's such a thing as a cuddly spider. I definitely don't want to get bit and lose flesh, they're the cuddliest looking thing in the Reptile thread. -- NINJA EDIT: *Rats* you say? Hmmmm.. a small furry mammal. Could do. I'll read up on it. EDIT: Rats are amazingly resilient and easy to care for, apparently. I'm not sure if they'd creep me out. Can be poo trained, might snuggle some. Kinda creepy lookin, but possible. Guinea pigs are apparently very vet-intensive. And poop everywhere. Not possible. Gerbils are social and "very clean rodents". That's cool. They also make burrows and would probably be very enjoyable to watch in a ant-farm-like cage. I'd probably be okay with their nocturnalness. EDIT2: It's entirely possible I'm temporarily obsessed with this idea and am not fully prepared to take on a pet. I'll come back to this in a week or so. froward fucked around with this message at 21:13 on Dec 16, 2014 |
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Dec 16, 2014 20:44
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You p much want a same sex pair or trio of rats as long as you can deal with the fact that they will die at age 1.5-3 after having as much personality as a dog edit: gerbils are social with each other but wont give much of a poo poo about you. Rats are p much literally just tiny dogs.
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Dec 16, 2014 23:36
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lizards need a big start-up cost (proper substrate, humidity, UVA/UVB, heat, etc), but as long as you have all their parameters in place, they can be very healthy for a very long time. Bearded dragons will hang out on your body. It's kind of like having a buddy. Except they probably don't feel love. They do come in neat colors though. And you don't have to feed them everyday once they get grown up.
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Dec 17, 2014 05:58
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Seconding the rat thing. I've never owned any but my family members have, and go on and on about how unexpectedly cool and fun they were. I also think they'd handle you being gone and having odd hours better than a bird would. Also, small pets are easier to transport if you need to take them on trips with you or drop them off at a friend's house to pet sit when you are away. My birds don't seem to have any trouble with us being up and about at night. I'm somewhat of a nightowl with weird hours and they don't seem to care. Cockatiels can often be quite screamy little assholes, it's a damned good thing they're cute.
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Dec 17, 2014 07:57
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I recommend against getting a bird. The birds you want to cuddle and play with also want to take up ALL of your time because they're excessively social and would live in flocks of hundreds in the wild. They will be lonely in your house as single birds and are noisy as gently caress to boot. The birds that do fine without human attention all the time are things like finches, sparrows, doves etc. and those won't give a gently caress about you, but also won't want to cuddle with you and so forth. They may also be noisy. Rats are sort of the perfect pets. They don't live forever, so if your living situation changes frequently (or is changing frequently right now) they won't be with you that long, they are smart as hell and can learn tricks. They can be potty trained, trained to play basketball, do your taxes (if it's an easy on-line type software) and have huge personalities. They're also almost entirely silent and are omnivorous so will enjoy sharing more of your food with you. They are crazy-wonderful. Get 2 boys or 2 girls. They come in all kinds of colors and flavors. Remember, the dumbo and rex traits may be linked to mental retardation so if you want smart ones try to get the regular kind...
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Dec 17, 2014 15:26
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Nerwign posted:Remember, the dumbo and rex traits may be linked to mental retardation so if you want smart ones try to get the regular kind... yeah no There are stories of dumbos being kind of tardo when they first started popping up but this hasn't been an issue for decades (and was never really confirmed as a thing in the first place) and the rex gene does not correlate to intelligence in any way
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Dec 17, 2014 23:30
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Superconsndar posted:yeah no Great! I've not met the smart ones but I have mostly just had normal ones.
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Dec 18, 2014 03:56
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| # ? Apr 26, 2024 14:49 |
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There's no "smart ones" to meet. If you've met retarded dumbos that's specific to that line, and nothing to do with the gene itself. I'd love to hear where you met intellectually compromised dumbos and rexes.
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Dec 18, 2014 04:24
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