Welcome to Gaia! ::

I wanted a "fun" topic up, since we're so serious in here. *wink*

Do you think that people should or shouldn't own pets? What sorts of animals should be allowed as pets? What sorts shouldn't be?

And what, if any, pets do you have?

Schnoodles are cool, but I think my favorite part about them is their name. It is so much fun to say!

Reptiles can be very hard to care for, people need to do research before they get one, to make sure they have the time and money to keep them healthy. I have a Three-Toed Box Turtle, Gaia (named after the Earth Goddess, long before I found the site), who is hibernating right now. I've had her about six years, and she's about 21. My mom has a snake, who she just had to get treated for mites. Not all vets know how to treat reptiles, so one has to make sure that there is a vet somewhere in the area before getting one.

I really want a puppy, but we can't until we have a house and a yard. I miss dogs so much (I always go up and pet other people's dogs), and I can't wait to have my own!

Along with the turtle, we have a gerbil, a cat, three rats, and three gold fish. And I'm getting a parakeet, because I need a larger zoo. *wink* Seriously, though, I have a large, one-bird cage, I made sure that my vet could treat birds, and I've done tons of research to make sure that I know enough to be able to own a 'keet. I don't think that people should buy pets without lots of thought and research first, because pets are alive and need special care. It bothers me to see people get pets as decoration, and then not take good care of them.

Also, I want a Benny the Puppy. Because Gaia pets are way easier to care for than real ones.

I wonder if our Target has the cards yet? (It took me two weeks to track down the last card there.)

I love the new evolving pets, they are so much fun. But, then, I also spend way too much money on them. *wink*

Yeah, it makes me sad that so many of the pixel pets use the same slots!

I have a cat named tiger. heart heart heart heart heart

He's so cute. I've had him eight years, I think. I got him from a classmate.

I think people should be able to have pets.

I've seen the show, Taboo and they were talking about pets. I don't think people should be allowed to have monkeys they can be so dangerous. Poisonous snakes are another thing.

Probably any pet that people don't know how to take care.

I was kind of thinking, based on a dog's head-size...who is to say they cannot learn human-like activities? I mean... my dog is kind of getting on in years, but she's only 8 years old. Even though she ages faster than a human, she has still only had 8 years of experience. So, I thought- if dogs were tought from the days they were born, as with human children ,that words have meaning, then perhaps they could learn text and reading. They could read up to about the level of a fourth-grader, assuming they have similar learning abilities.

Nobody has ever tryied to teach a dog to read, but I think that it could be possible, by asserting early that words have meaning, as we do with human children. Start with short words in large size, then move on when they understand. For example, Food, with a picture. They must place their paw on the food to get food.

People should only be allowed to have pets if they are able to take care of them. Often times, people can't take of them and they end up breeding (like one neighboor seems to have a dozan cats) or they dump them in the streets and the poor animal dies.

Now as for what kind of pets? It's best to stick with domestic animals since some animals (like lizards) don't do so well in captivity.

At the moment, we have two cats (one is named Tiger as well. Well really it's Tiger Lilly but we just call her Tiger, the other is named Chaos) and a dog (his name is Bandit).

We had two lizards not long ago, one was named Ryuu (it's Japanese for dragon) and the other was Karma.

We had a few other pets like a Rabbit (his name was Roger and a spider bit him and he died), a turtle that we found outside our house (his name was Slow Joe, he some how escaped and ran away). A few hamsters (Teddy, Stripe, Rusty, Crystal, and Jewel).

And few other cats, dogs, fishes. One dog was a Shih Tzu named Meili (it's Chinese for beautiful), we think somebody took her.

I just got a parakeet (on Valentine's Day - so his name is Kama, after the Hindu God of Love), and I've never owned a bird before. He's so cute and interesting. I've read everything I could get my hands on about 'keets, to try to make sure that I'm taking care of him properly.

Has anyone here ever owned a parakeet or other bird?