has anyone ever kept ?

[TheSeagull]

While I've never kept them specifically as a pet, several snails somehow manage to find their way into my pocket... I would consider keeping an injured animal or raising an insect larva if I could find any...

[ron1863]

My dad used to breed Border Canaries and we had a regular supply of injured birds being handed in for us to look after. Also reared a baby Hedgehog.

[squeek]

Originally Posted by gleditsa

i had a jackdaw, which was rescued after the old tree that the nest was in blew down, killing 3 of the 4 youngsters,
he became almost one of the family, and would sit on your shoulder and take a keen interest in whatever you were doing, sometimes much to my fathers annoyance when he was repairing something on his workbench, as he would suddenly jump down and fly off with one of the components to one of his secret stashes,

one alarming habit he had was to jump into the coal fire and sit on the bars Phoenix fashion, many a time he had to be pulled of the fire as his feathers smoked, but he never seemed to suffer any burns, even to his feet, just a few singed feathers
he had to be shut outside at mealtimes as he was quite adept at swooping onto the table and flying off with whatever he fancied

still have fond memories of "Jacky" all these years later,

j.

i bet that was alarming, glad he didnt burn himself, great story

[squeek]

Originally Posted by ron1863

My dad used to breed Border Canaries and we had a regular supply of injured birds being handed in for us to look after. Also reared a baby Hedgehog.

aww a baby hedgehog, we dont get many h/hogs in our garden.

[squeek]

Originally Posted by Dutchess

Hi j (gleditsa),

I am envious....I have fancied the idea of a tame corvid! As a child, I recall my grandad kept a rescued magpie ("Maggie"! ) but she was kept in a big aviary and didn't interract with us kids very much.

Have you seen this recently posted link about a jackdaw?

Jackdaw causing havoc!

D.

liked the link, made me laugh

[PMG]

No I've never taken a wild thing and deliberately tamed it - tho I have had contact with wild animals that have become tame (not from anything I have done) and they continue to live in the wild. If we lived really close to a badgers sett I would feed them and interact with them until they were not frightened of me and we would both love to have badgers in the garden and the kitchen. Same goes for foxes. We've had tame blackbirds and robins at the caravan site which would come into the campervan when the side door was open - we feed them mealworms in the breeding season. I've had a robin sit on my foot while I made sandwiches - it was waiting for the crumbs dropping (and yes I was deliberately brushing them off!) it would go for a crumb then hop back on my foot

But I wouldn't deliberately take something wild and young and rear it tame to keep it like a dog or cat. Taking injured things in which end up not being able to be released cos of their injuries is a different matter. I've had injured birds and youngsters and got them better or raised them then let them go.

Pauline

[gleditsa]

Originally Posted by PMG

But I wouldn't deliberately take something wild and young and rear it tame to keep it like a dog or cat. Taking injured things in which end up not being able to be released cos of their injuries is a different matter. I've had injured birds and youngsters and got them better or raised them then let them go.

Pauline

over the years, i had hand reared many birds, with mixed success and all who were able to were released back into the wild,
the jackdaw i had was never a pet, he was still a wild bird who was free to go his own way whenever he liked, indeed he would dissapear for several days at a time, and we often thought he had returned to the wild, and that we had seen the last of him, but he always came back when he was ready to, (we would later find out that he had been spotted in a neighbouring street creating his own brand of havoc )

as i said, he was never kept fastened up in any way, having his own private "flat" in my fathers workshop, which had free access to the outside at all times for him,
i'm not sure if he preferred a life with humans, or if it was something he had grown up with and may have thought it normal behaviour for a Jackdaw,
whatever it was, he seemed to enjoy his life with humans, even though he was free to go his own way whenever it suited him.

j.

[PMG]

Originally Posted by gleditsa

over the years, i had hand reared many birds, with mixed success and all who were able to were released back into the wild,
the jackdaw i had was never a pet, he was still a wild bird who was free to go his own way whenever he liked, indeed he would dissapear for several days at a time, and we often thought he had returned to the wild, and that we had seen the last of him, but he always came back when he was ready to, (we would later find out that he had been spotted in a neighbouring street creating his own brand of havoc )

as i said, he was never kept fastened up in any way, having his own private "flat" in my fathers workshop, which had free access to the outside at all times for him,
i'm not sure if he preferred a life with humans, or if it was something he had grown up with and may have thought it normal behaviour for a Jackdaw,
whatever it was, he seemed to enjoy his life with humans, even though he was free to go his own way whenever it suited him.

j.

Yes corvids are extremely bright Many years ago I did a stint of helping out at a local-ish wildlife rescue hospital and the crows and magpies were extremely ingenious at having 'fun' ....... I used to smoke in those far off days and if a cigarette was smoked too near the bars or in the aviary itself several of both species would wait till you had smoked it to a stub and then snatch it! They held the still smoking stub in their beaks and passed it up and down their wings - anting - killing parasites with the smoke!!

Pauline

[Hedgehoggy]

Some lovely stories here

Does stashing a tin full of ladybirds under my bed as a young child count? My mum had a merry fit when she opened my secret tin when she was cleaning under my bed... I can still clearly remember her marching me out into the garden pronto and making me release all my beloved ‘pets’! She let me keep the next hissing/spitting/growling feral kitten I came home with after that incident!

[ron1863]

Originally Posted by squeek

aww a baby hedgehog, we dont get many h/hogs in our garden.

We have had a couple of hogs in our back garden for years. I don't know how they get in but they do an excellent job of keeping the slug population down