• Count Regal Inkwell@pawb.social
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    5 hours ago

    My bestie has an iguana. Not that exotic in the grand scheme of things, even if pretty cool.

    So I’m also internet acquainted with a guy that cares for tiger cubs. Except the big kitties aren’t his, he just works at a zoo.

  • garbagebagel@lemmy.world
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    9 hours ago

    This isn’t that exotic I guess but I had a customer at the restaurant that would smuggle in his pet rat (I worked the graveyard so usually nobody was around). Its name was Gizmo and it would sit on his shoulder under his sweater and he would feed it French toast. Sweetest little thing.

  • TriflingToad@sh.itjust.works
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    14 hours ago

    saw someone with a big ass snake.

    Also, I owned a hedgehog once, dude had some serious trauma from his 5 previous owners. Yeah, 5.
    He was always angry, but I still played with him anyways trying to get him to warm up to people. Never did, but he did like exploring all the books and crannies of the room. Wish I could’ve had him before all his previous owners :(

  • QuarterSwede@lemmy.world
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    16 hours ago

    Half dog, half wolf hybrid. That thing made a Great Dane look small. I mean, his head was slightly lower than mine at 5’8”. I could’ve easily ridden him. Beautiful animal. Wish I had a picture.

  • Sequentialsilence@lemmy.world
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    17 hours ago

    My aunt worked as a zoo vet, and was one of the people animal control would call if they found an exotic animal and didn’t know what to do with it. As a result I grew up being able to casually play with several different species of monkeys, as well as an asshole African grey parrot. When I was in high school she even fostered a serval cat for a short time till they could find a more permanent facility.

  • agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works
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    22 hours ago

    Met a couple with a pet raccoon, on a leash and everything. I asked them how it was, since my wife had fantasized about a pet raccoon. They described it as a “little mischief goblin”.

    • garbagebagel@lemmy.world
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      9 hours ago

      Omg my dream. We used to have some visit us at my old work and we would feed them grapes and give them a lil bowl to wash their grapes in. They were the cutest.

    • Majorllama@lemmy.world
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      22 hours ago

      We had one get into our trash once. I guess we had thrown out some yogurt that was starting to go bad and this little fucker got yogurty little foot prints all over our front porch. It almost looked intentional how many there were and how spread out it got them. Thankfully we just let our dogs out and they pretty much licked the porch clean lol.

  • dustyData@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    My nephew has snails. He smuggled them out of the schoolyard in his hoodie after the teachers caught him the first time and confiscated them. My sister found them and had to take them to a pet store to make sure they weren’t dangerous. Now they sit in a nice terrarium and it turns out the hardest part is keeping the humidity up.

  • Semi-Hemi-Lemmygod@lemmy.world
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    15 hours ago

    I worked with someone who lived in South Africa who nursed a couple wild finches back to health. The finches got better but never flew away, and lived in the house. They’d sit on her shoulders during zoom meetings.

  • chaosCruiser@futurology.today
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    23 hours ago

    I’ve seen someone walking a pig in the forest. Yes, a large pink hairless pig. It was almost like walking a dog, but this animal was quite a bit larger than most dogs.

  • ieatpwns@lemmy.world
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    23 hours ago

    I knew someone who dealt in exotic animals and they came to work with a baby caiman alligator in a Tupperware because they were selling it after work

  • Majorllama@lemmy.world
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    23 hours ago

    I live in California. Pretty much all the cool pets are illegal here.

    That being said I knew a guy who had a raccoon and several ferrets. Their house smelled awful but once you were there for awhile you kinda stopped smelling it and the raccoon and ferrets were adorable together.

    • chremylus@lemmy.imontheweb.net
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      22 hours ago

      I had a ferret in my 20s. Little dude bathed at least once a week and still smelled. Was (almost) litter trained and could bend in half, spastically hopping around like a little smelly crackhead

      • Majorllama@lemmy.world
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        22 hours ago

        Yeah they stink no matter what. You can get their stinky gland removed but I’m still not sure if that’s good for them or not. Idk. I’m not a veterinarian and they are super illegal here so it’s not really something I am concerned about at this present moment haha.

        • chremylus@lemmy.imontheweb.net
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          21 hours ago

          Heard about the gland thing, and definitely not into it, but he had just an overall musky smell. Not like he sprayed or anything. We went to beach a lot and he’d hang out under umbrella shade and flirt with the girls.

          • Majorllama@lemmy.world
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            21 hours ago

            Yeah the smell is strong and odd but it’s not outright bad. Just a bit weird until you get used it.

  • GingaNinga@lemmy.world
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    23 hours ago

    I’m friends with one guy who’s got an axolotl and another who’s got one of those African grey parrots. Both really cool animals. Also knew a kid back in school that had a pet squirrel.