I've had a lot of pets...When I was maybe 4, I asked my Old Man if I could have a pet, so we walked out into the yard and he gave me a pinecone! He said, "Lets see how you do with old Piney here, be responsible, and maybe in a few years you can move up to get a nice stick!"
Back in the early 60's I had a really cool pet Eastern Box Turtle named Shelly..I was maybe 5yrs old, she was probably 80...I was well beyond pinecones and sticks at that time...Like Steve Irwin of sorts....Me and Shelly went everywhere together! I would catch her crickets, and put them on the floor and Shelly would hunt them down! It sometimes took hours until she would finally corner them and catch them! This was great entertainment for the whole family!!! We didnt have computers or TVs back then! Good Old Shelly! "Roll over! Play Dead! Jump through this hoop!" Oh yeah! Shelly was one smart turtle!
Then, one day in '66 she crawled up out of the sandbox and got away..down in Neosho Missouri...I was so distraught! Cried myself to sleep! The folks were so worried...they even put an ad in the local paper! "Lost, One Boxturtle, answers to Shelly!" So..keep an eye out for her if you are in the area...Shes gotta be 140yrs old by now....
I had a pet spider too! Great big thing that built a web every night on our porch! Good Lord! Oscar was something! Toss a cricket in his web and just watch the horror!
I had a pet toad named 'Chub Wartbottom'...He was a Bufo Americanus...Big old bastard!...He lived down in the basement window well....He also liked crickets I remember...
Even had a ringnecked pigeon once! It had a broken wing, and I caught her in the street and put her out in my workshop..made a nice little apartment, kept her fed, I would go out there at night and work on a boat, and Pidge would hop up to see what I was doing...we were great pals! I was in my mid 30's....Then the damned Neighbors dog Bandit killed her one day...
I've had snakes, fish, frogs, salamanders, Wolves, all sorts of pets, or they me.....
I built a seement pond in the backyard when I was twelve and had 4 nice bullheads in it..they would eat worms right out of my hand! Crickets too!
I maybe would like to have a few pet crickets around here now that I am older?...In a nice little terrarium? Feed them potato peelings and make them a nice condo with a stack of toilet paper tubes? For WTH I dont know, they do sound nice...and crickets will alert a guy if something is amiss, like a Bigfoot sneaking up or the house is on fire or something...and looking back it seems they have always come in handy for many purposes...Or a Burmese Python? Something easy that doesnt require so much attention like my damned dog!
Seems if a guy is outside enough, some sort of animal or bug will eventually show up....I think maybe Crickets! Yeah! A python would let the house burn down with no warning ...my Dog would tip over the garbage can and pee on my shoes....so yeah!...Heading out now to find myself a nice talkative and homeless and appreciative cricket! I can probably whip up a little bow tie and a top hat for him even!
Then again, in my advanced age, maybe all I can handle for a pet is a pinecone? Maybe a stick? Easy to travel with and no crickets to catch or poop to pick up?...Easy to make bowties and tophats for either of them too!
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