What pets did we all have as kids?

[lemming]

Hi. Since we all love animals, I think it may be interesting to know what pets we all had as kids. I had a small zoo going on and I loved every pet. At one point I had 35 hampsters, 18birds (zebra finches), 15 Rabbits, 7 stick insects and 2 dogs. My poor mum! Now, I am owned by 3 cats. What about you?

[nightshade]

I adore cats and until recently have always had two about the place to soothe my mind
As a boy I had everything but a dog (nothing against dogs ) frogs, toads, newts, lizards, snakes,magpies, jackdaws, Rabbits, rats, mice, budgies, guinea pigs(their eyes drop out if you pick them up by their tails) tortoise,even a piglet for a short while (my father said he ran away) and a lot of others that I cannot recall a the moment

[Beryl]

Grew up with birds(budgies) cats, and dogs

[willandtracey]

I had a new bull calf each christmas for a few years (typically with tinsel round neck) and i had a small herd of goats (although they later got eaten without my permission) as my own. But all the animals we had on the farm were a bit like pets - they all had names and their own personalities although some were more mischievous than others!

i've got a cat at the minute and i'm planning some bees or hens...

[Alan]

With six kids plus man and dad, our small terrace house was a zoo without the animals!

I personally had mice, hamsters, gerbils, a crow, a dog, racing pigeons, tropical fish, goldfish, frogs, toads, newts (seasonally of course) and when I was in my teens kept ferrets (27 at one point! - it was like a fur coat running towards you at feeding time! ). I hasen to add I didn't have all these animals at the same time!

At present I don't have any pets, but would have a dog if I had the room (a nice big back garden).

[life through a lens]

I'm still a kid (at heart) so do my dog and goldfish count ?!?!?

Growing up I had various pets including dogs, cats, stick insects, tropical fish, horses donkeys, sheep, guinea pigs, Rabbits and anything else I could keep without my mum finding out !!

I just hope the current tenants of our old house don't do too much work at the end of the garden, its like a pet cemetery

Olly

[Kev Lewis]

Slow Worms, newts, mice were always being caught and caged. How times have changed!

Now, and then, we always had fish, dogs and Rabbits. Currently a Golden retriever and lionhead Rabbits have the run of the house

[Ollie]

Well I grew up on a farm so was surrounded by animals most of the time, but as household pets we had cats, dogs, budgies and Rabbits.

We currently have two dogs, an Airedale terrier and a Standard Poodle. We also own or are owned by twelve cats. I must add that these cats are not free roaming cats that are allowed to decimate the local wildlife. We have gone to great expense to ensure that the local wildlife and our neighbours are not troubled by them. We have a purpose built cat run fastened to the back of our house. This run is 40 foot long by 18 feet wide and around 12 foot high at the highest point. There are various levels incorporated into this run and various climbing frames. This is to ensure the cats can get the fresh air and exercise required to keep them healthy. The back door of the house has a cat flap that gives access to this run therefore day or night the cats can get into the run if they want. The cats also have the complete run of all the downstairs rooms in the house. Most of the cats are rescues from the local CP branch although we do have three pedigree cats as well.

Sorry for waffling off thread slightly but animals of any kind are a great passion in mine and my wifes lives, and no, they are not substitutes for children we have always had animals and we do have two grown up sons as well.
Ollie.

[Wild-Woman]

Can't remember how many guinea pigs I've had-probably approaching 30. Got 2 now, 3 Rabbits (one is an elderly house Rabbit) and my two tortoises Vinny Jones and Rocky!!!
Would love a dog but wouldn't like to leave it alone all day while we work. That doesn't seem fair to me.
If I got the lottery up one day, I'd have a sanctuary for poorly or unwanted pets and a rehab for wildlife. ww

[rlchew]

We always had dogs from as early as I can remember .... anything from one to three at a time.

We also had budgies and a canary at some stage.

Richard

[John D]

I too was brought up with animals such as cats,Rabbits and dogs. My wife also had pets in her family. During most of our married life (43 years) we have had pets as well as three of a family. The pets included three cats and eight dogs. Six of the dogs being our favourite GOLDEN RETRIEVERS. We had five all at one time when we were involved in showing. Currently we have two (see avatar).

[Tiggrx]

As a kid I had (at various times) goldfish, a catfish, various tropical fish, gerbils, zebra finch, curlytail lizards, Rabbits, stick insects, crickets, a border collie, various pond creatures (water snails, water scorpions etc.) and probably others which I can't remember at the moment. I also had some African giant snails and a storm snail more recently. Currently I have a 8 month old tortoise.

[Boddie]

I had a dog, called Sooty, some hamsters, kept newts from time to time and also had, and still have, a tortoise called Virgil. And I am still a kid.

[cherrybee]

Originally Posted by Boddie

And I am still a kid.

yes Boddie I believe you thousands wouldnt

[pheonix]

as a family we always had dogs at least one, most of the time two and sometimes three! and like olly i kept anything i could keep hidden from my parents - this included deaths head cockroaches (no need to ask why i hid them!!). other pets included tropical fish, goldfish, mice, toads, praying mantids, and the odd spiders i caught.
currently i have tropical fish, a tarrantula and two kittens

[Barbara]

When I was little, my eldest sister used to bring kittens home (I don't know where she got them from) . I can remember meeting my mum coming home from work with a kitten under my coat. I remember I used to take it rides in the boot on my little three wheeler bike. We always had cats most of them were named Bobby after 'Bobby Charlton' by my dad. I have had cats all my married life as well. Actually, I cannot remember ever being without a cat.

[Jonny]

I was given a rough collie called Cilla on my first birthday and she was lovely.
I now have two kids.
I also want to get me one of these....................Jon http://www.iwantoneofthose.com/searc...uctCode=ANTQUA

[Kyani]

I've never been without animals!

My parents had a German Shepherd before I was born, and other family members I seem to live with part-time during holidays have various other dogs. Usually big ones - the best kind!
I've had...4 hamsters, an uncountable number of fish and owned a half share in a pony for a while.
We had 3 cats up until about a year ago, but now we're down to one. Unfortunately he's petrified of dogs and it isn't fair to inflict another animal on him now. Also, I'm off to uni this year so I'm a bit stuck for getting more pets right now...

When I finish uni my mum and I have already planned to buy a horse together. And then we will begin our collection of large dogs. And goats. I want goats. And ducks. And possibly one pet cow. More horses. *sigh* I'm going to have to marry a very rich man.

[Lou-D]

I've always been a great animal lover but, as my mum was never fond of animals, I wasn't allowed to have many pets as a child. When I was very young we were given a 'boy' cat called Bobo which we only kept for about six months before she ('he' surprised us by having kittens!) was given to a neighbour to my great distress. When I was a teenager I had budgies, stick insects (ended up as a nightmare as they reproduced and my parents were finding tiny baby stick insects all around the lounge for months afterwards!) and 12 hamsters. Ok, I couldn't walk the hamsters, budgie or stick insects but I indulged my love for canines by walking neighbours' dogs. I spent alot of my time outdoors, exploring drain banksides (I lived in the city of Hull then) and local disused railway lines, learning about the wildlife that lived on them. My 'adventures' were never complete without a dog by my side. Dad fuelled that love of wildlife by taking my sisters and me on trips to Barmston Drain and Flamborough Head in Yorkshire. We often collected caterpillars, bringing them home and raising them to butterflies or moths in a specially made box. We'd also did 'strange', but interesting, things such as catching house flies and putting them on to spider webs in the garden. I have alot to thank my dad for!

Nowadays, I have a rough collie bitch, 3 cats and 10 pet ferrets and still love to go 'exploring'!

[BigT]

Originally Posted by pheonix

currently i have tropical fish, a tarrantula and two kittens

A tarrantula and kittens....there is just something wrong with that picture!

As for me, guinea pigs, budgies, a cat, a tortoise (still going strong 30 years later). Most recently a cute little rescued rat with a fetish for all things leather and plastic!

[pheonix]

Originally Posted by BigT

A tarrantula and kittens....there is just something wrong with that picture!

lol! im sure they wouldn't get on too well if they met but fortunatly i live in a big house and they are kept very much apart!

[Scarlettvegetable]

I used to have a whole host of reptiles, about 100 odd at one point of various snakes and lizards. Have had frogs and spiders too. Have had a few ferrets, hamsters, gerbils, cats, sadly my childhood doggy died a few weeks back, she was a collie cross alsation, and was beautiful. Had a rottweiler, a budgie, my dad used to keep all sorts of crabs and wormy things. Lots and Lots of stick insects, they reproduced and as they were so small escaped, and you'd find them on the ceiling in the kitchen and in the cupboards...lol

Thats all I can remember, at the moment I have a Monitor lizard, 3 leopard geckos, which have bred and eggs are due to hatch end of May, a Ball Python, and 3 rats, which are absolutely gorgeous! If I dont say so myself! The Monitor lizard makes a good photography subject as he loves to pose!

All this and only 18! Imagine what I'll have to say when Im asked this question in 30 years?! There will be a list as long as this page!

Oh yeah, I forgot, when I first started getting into reptiles I saved a few rats from being fed to a snake, and they had babies so I ended with 26 rats at one point! Which was great because they were all so friendly!

Sara

[Greengage]

We had several budgies. One was quite extraordinary and lived for almost 15 years. He was very playful, considered himself part of the family and was a brilliant talker. His talking sessions were more like some kind of rap. There was a lot of feeling in the words with his body swaying from side to side and his head bouncing up and down. We also had a canary mule (half canary, half goldfinch). He was not friendly, being highly territorial, but he was an extremely good singer. He was so loud people could hear him streets away. We also had a tortoise which lived for ages - it had had other owners who passed it on when their children grew up so it was probably quite ancient. We called it Tom until we realised after some time that it was a female. I remember having to collect it from other people's gardens when it went walk-about like tortoises do.

[Tinkerbell]

We had a rescued bulldog - Sam - which may have looked a little intimidating but far from it. Sam's favourite spot was sitting on the low wall outside out house, kids either side of him sitting on the wall waiting our turn for a go in the long skipping rope. A lovely companion!

[May]

Originally Posted by Klewis

and lionhead Rabbits have the run of the house

We have a lionhead (house) Rabbit too! Plus a cat who id like the feline equivilent of Jeckyl & Hyde.

Growing up I had dogs, cats, gerbils, budgies, a Rabbit and a goldfish. When a little older rats and mice.