I have 2 sugar gliders, and 2 degus, anyone have anything exotic?

Right now I only got a dog and a potbelly pig, but in the past few years I've had water and land turtles, rabbits, hamsters, leopard geckos, dart frogs, use to breed mealworms, roaches, fruit flys, crickets. Don't know if you'd consider any of those "exotic" but I thought I'd share. :)

I've got a hedgehog named Cornelius.

Don't know how exotic she is, but I have an african grey parrot.

potbelly pig eh? do pigs make good pets? same with hedgehogs? are hedgehogs hard to care for? and I dont really know much of birds, can she talk? lol.

Well all I have now are cats but I used to have a skunk he was one of my fav pets. I taught him how to use the litter box & I had to teach him how to walk up the steps because his little legs were so short.

Yes, she can. Cracks me up sometimes!

I'd read that while many parrots can mimic, greys have been documented to be able to use language in context... didn't really believe it until I lived with this bird. She absolutely says what she means, appropriate to the situation at hand.

One time she really freaked me out. I had a migraine and was lying on the couch in the middle of the afternoon. Her normal behavior is to play, laugh, chatter, whistle, etc etc, pretty much nonstop activity of some sort during most of the day... but after I'd been lying there for some time I noticed she was being really quiet and I hadn't heard anything out of her for a while. I sneaked a peek at her and she was sitting quietly on the perch closest to me, just watching me. After a while I got up to go get some water, and VERY QUIETLY (I sh*t you not, she spoke in a near-whisper) she asked "You OK?" I reached out and stroked her beak and said "Yes, mama's OK." I went on to get my water and went and sat back on the couch and sipped the water for a minute, then looked over at her before I lay back down, and she said, again very quietly, "Marnie good girl." (Her name is Marnie). I told her "Yes, Marnie's a good girl." I lay back down and she remained still and very quiet until I got up later and resumed my normal activities, and she then resumed her normal playing, talking, whistling, etc. SHE KNEW I felt bad and behaved accordingly. Freaky. (And I've been known to nap on a Saturday afternoon and it's never before or since stopped her from her normal play... it was only when I had that migraine).

She can poop on command too, which comes in very handy. :)

I had an African Grey I loved him his name was Myron if I ever were to get another bird it would be another African Grey they are so smart. I had him until one day he died of old age poor guy we had him for such a long time :( I remember he didnt like my mother or any female with blonde hair he used to call them f'ing bitches.

potbelly pig eh? do pigs make good pets? same with hedgehogs? are hedgehogs hard to care for? and I dont really know much of birds, can she talk? lol.

Hedgehogs are fairly entertaining pets. They definately have individual personalities. Some can be fairly snuggly and socialable, others can be sort of grumpy and huffy.

Basic care for a hedgehog is fairly easy. Just make sure that they have a large space to run around in, a wheel, a place to hide, food and water and you're set.
Making them sociable takes a bit of work. Ours is 6 months old and wasn't handled a lot before coming to us, so he's not so sure about this whole "people" thing. We make sure that we handle him for at least 15 minutes a day, usually longer, generally as long as it takes for him to uncurl and start to inspect us. During the week, he's usually hanging out with me for most of the evening, he usually unrolls after about 20 minutes. Most will unroll much sooner, Cornelius tends to be a bit of an exception, although he's made vast improvements in the month and a half that we've had him.

While they're relatively small creatures, they require fairly large spaces to play in. In the wild they can cover several miles in a night, so tend to have lots of energy when awake (tee hee...Cornelius is sitting on my lap right now, I just saw his nose!). When kept in small spaces, they tend to get bored really quickly, get stressed and become dangerously obese. I know people who just let their hedgie have full run of the house. They can be sort of litterbox trained, much like a ferret can be sort of litterbox trained (They will use a box more often than not, but accidents are inevitable) It depends on the individual hedgie. Litterbox training is one of the things we're working on.

Temperature is important. The cage temp needs to remained between 75F and 85F, depending on the individual hedgie. If it goes lower than 75F there's a possibility that the hedgie will attempt hibernation. Hibernation attempts in captivity are deadly because their bodies don't have the fat stores to sustain them AND because there's nothing to tell them to wake up again. Higher than 85F can cause something similar to a hibernation attempt, or cause heat stress, depending on which source of information you find. Because we tend to be mindful of our hedgie's cage temp, we've never had a problem.

We feed Cornelius a base of a high grade light cat food and a variety of other things, depending on what he seems interested in eating. They're supposed to be insectivores, but he seems not too terribly interested in the canned meal worms, or crickets, or silk worms that we got for him. However, I'm pretty sure he ate the live crickets, I'll find out when I clean his cage tomorrow. So far, we've discovered that he likes wet cat food, chicken baby food, scrambled eggs and wheat germ. He'll come out and inspect strawberries but doesn't believe me when I tell him it's food. In general, hedgies can be picky eaters and go on hunger strikes if they don't like the food in their cages. So we tend to try a small bit of something and if he doesn't eat it in a night, we take it away and try again in a couple weeks.

They're interesting little creatures. Although I do have attacks of ethics when I wonder whether we'll ever get another one or not. They're so new to captivity that no one really knows what a good diet for them is, or what their habits are in the wild. There are so many domesticated animals (cats, dogs, etc...) that I sort of question the wisdom of "creating" a new domesticated species just because we think they're cute. On the other hand, I wouldn't give up Cornelius for anything.

That is so cute I want a hedgie :) I had a kitty we named Cornelius (from the planet of the apes :)) His mother had one to many litters & each one came out more sickly Corn had a heart attack at age 3 :(

I was looking at hedgehogs not to long ago cuz my boyfriend was thinking of getting one, but he desided they looked like too much work, well, I was wondering do have a hedgehog bag? like a soft bag you can carry him/her around in? tehe, cuz I carry my gliders in a bonding pouch tho it looks alot like this bag that I heard you could use for carring your hedgehog around, lol, I bring my gliders everywhere, cuz they are asleep all day

I sneaked a peek at her and she was sitting quietly on the perch closest to me, just watching me. After a while I got up to go get some water, and VERY QUIETLY (I sh*t you not, she spoke in a near-whisper) she asked "You OK?" I reached out and stroked her beak and said "Yes, mama's OK." I went on to get my water and went and sat back on the couch and sipped the water for a minute, then looked over at her before I lay back down, and she said, again very quietly, "Marnie good girl."

ha! That's the coolest thing I've heard all day :lol: All the more reason to justify my unrelenting NEED for a parrot! I wish I had the financial and space resources to properly care for a bird right now.. oh well, some day...

Although they're not technically exotic, most people get really grossed out when I tell them I am the proud mother of 3 ratkids. The health problems these kids have along with the time and money I spend battling said problems is quite exotic, though!

My exotic babies are a beautiful little ferret and a severe macaw. The macaw is so smart, but very attached to my mother and not too friendly with anyone else, because she was the one who rehabilitated him (she got him from a bird rescue organization in the early 80s - he's a couple years older than I am!). He says whole phrases, but he's not as articulate as an African Grey.

The ferret is our lucky little girl. She walked into our open garage on a very rainy night in the winter, skinny and sneezing, and we took her in and now she's plump, happy, and very active. People find it amazing that all of our animals were rescued. They're such lucky little things.

I was looking at hedgehogs not to long ago cuz my boyfriend was thinking of getting one, but he desided they looked like too much work, well, I was wondering do have a hedgehog bag? like a soft bag you can carry him/her around in? tehe, cuz I carry my gliders in a bonding pouch tho it looks alot like this bag that I heard you could use for carring your hedgehog around, lol, I bring my gliders everywhere, cuz they are asleep all day

You can get hedgie bags to carry them around in, and I'm planning on getting one soon, for right now though, we just carry him around in either a t-shirt or a towel, depending on how clean each of them are. A bag would make me feel more comfortable when I'm at the computer and he's sitting on my lap, since its about then that he wants to go exploring....

I've got an Iguana and 2 rat childrens. I second Katt Fink, they are the most expensive pets I've ever owned, and I don't care to think about how much i've spent on vet bills in the past 2 years. Eveyone thinks I'm crazy because of my animals. They are extra fond of the no lights after 7:30 rule (Iggy is trying to sleep!) :)

For "normal" pets I've got a cat and a betta. :)

My exotic babies are a beautiful little ferret and a severe macaw. The macaw is so smart, but very attached to my mother and not too friendly with anyone else, because she was the one who rehabilitated him (she got him from a bird rescue organization in the early 80s - he's a couple years older than I am!). He says whole phrases, but he's not as articulate as an African Grey.

The ferret is our lucky little girl. She walked into our open garage on a very rainy night in the winter, skinny and sneezing, and we took her in and now she's plump, happy, and very active. People find it amazing that all of our animals were rescued. They're such lucky little things.

I've considered getting a ferret in the past, and will probably end up with one from a rescue some day. The timing hasn't been right for one just yet. They are fascinating little creatures.

potbelly pig eh? do pigs make good pets?

Potbellys make excellent pets. I got Shpongle in March and he is now just over 7 months old. It took til he about 6 months before he really got the housetraining down, he poops and pees outside with the dog and if he's inside and has to go, he uses a litterbox. He comes when calls and knows how to sit. It takes a lot of patient and care to have him, but I suppose that is true with any pet. I love having a pig, he is so affectionate and entertaining! He is very vocal too. He loves to cuddle and sleep with you whenever he can, he is very intelligent and sweet. I would definitely research pigs before getting one, as they aren't for everyone, but there's great books out there and an awesome online community of potbelly pig owners if you are interested. And one cool thing is my dog and pig are buddies now...they cuddle and hang out with each other quite a bit. :)

oh,I have 1 rat too, 2 dogs and a bunny , but my sugar gliders are my babies <3

:( Why would you want to keep exotic "pets"?

I have 2 sugar gliders, and 2 degus, anyone have anything exotic?
wow, my school use to have a degu as a class pet, I would love to have one but my mom thinks there to much like rats and she wont let me have one of those ether, I have a rabbit and thats considered "exotic" by the vet.

Why would you want to keep exotic "pets"?

Same reason why would you want any other "traditional" pet. I have pets because I love them and their companionship. They are like my children, best friend.

:( Why would you want to keep exotic "pets"?


Because I have the knowledge and ability to care for them and they're dying by the thousands in shelters, etc.

I have a quaker parrot and some little birdies. :)

I have a Red Eared Slider. (Aquatic turtle) They're really not so exotic. I've had him since he was a hatchling. My brother's idiot friend bought him out of a bookbag in a liquor store, and didn't know what to do with it (it was smaller than a quarter) and so he gave it to me. He's getting pretty darn big now... (He's 7 this summer)

Yes, she can. Cracks me up sometimes!

I'd read that while many parrots can mimic, greys have been documented to be able to use language in context... didn't really believe it until I lived with this bird. She absolutely says what she means, appropriate to the situation at hand.

One time she really freaked me out. I had a migraine and was lying on the couch in the middle of the afternoon. Her normal behavior is to play, laugh, chatter, whistle, etc etc, pretty much nonstop activity of some sort during most of the day... but after I'd been lying there for some time I noticed she was being really quiet and I hadn't heard anything out of her for a while. I sneaked a peek at her and she was sitting quietly on the perch closest to me, just watching me. After a while I got up to go get some water, and VERY QUIETLY (I sh*t you not, she spoke in a near-whisper) she asked "You OK?" I reached out and stroked her beak and said "Yes, mama's OK." I went on to get my water and went and sat back on the couch and sipped the water for a minute, then looked over at her before I lay back down, and she said, again very quietly, "Marnie good girl." (Her name is Marnie). I told her "Yes, Marnie's a good girl." I lay back down and she remained still and very quiet until I got up later and resumed my normal activities, and she then resumed her normal playing, talking, whistling, etc. SHE KNEW I felt bad and behaved accordingly. Freaky. (And I've been known to nap on a Saturday afternoon and it's never before or since stopped her from her normal play... it was only when I had that migraine).

She can poop on command too, which comes in very handy. :)



That is sooo sweet!:smitten: