# most unusual pet



## nabu120 (Jul 31, 2009)

hey, just wondering what sort of unusual pets people have out there?

im thinking of getting something different but im not sure what, i was thinking maybe a bird eating spider and have looked into them a bit cos they have them at my local herp shop but im not sure yet. just wondering what other ppl have.


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## JasonL (Jul 31, 2009)

I have 2 children, both are strange.


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## girdheinz (Jul 31, 2009)

Girdy has pet "slime molds" , they eat cheaply on a rolled oat diet. Amazing creatures.


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## Andie (Jul 31, 2009)

It is funny because if you asked my friends and family, my most unusual pets would be the ones which on here we think are normal.


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## gecko-mad (Jul 31, 2009)

a strange looking insect


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## mickg (Jul 31, 2009)

JasonL said:


> I have 2 children, both are strange.


 lol i have 4 and totally agree, but i had a really friendly rat for years that people thought was unusual


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## Sdaji (Jul 31, 2009)

girdheinz said:


> Girdy has pet "slime molds" , they eat cheaply on a rolled oat diet. Amazing creatures.



Awesome! How fast do they move?


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## gecko-mad (Jul 31, 2009)

centipedes and millipedes!!!!!


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## girdheinz (Jul 31, 2009)

When kept in the dark the growth rate is astonishing, they don't like light much, i have been experimenting on different diets. They are extremely easy to divide and propagate however they can get sick or spore easily if the get hungry. 

You can make them move fast if you place the food source slighty away so the edge of it is just touching. 

The beauty of them is you can store them dry for long periods and then just hydrate them and away they go. 

Gird


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## Sdaji (Jul 31, 2009)

Very cool! How often do they need feeding? How much maintenance is involved? Could you leave them for a couple of weeks?


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## girdheinz (Jul 31, 2009)

Slime molds are escape artists and can escape almost any container. If you leave them for 2-3 days they begin to migrate rapidly and try to escape the container. They end up all over your desk and in drawers etc. However you can allow them to dry out and they should form sclerotia. You can then cut out the paper containing the dried sclerotia and refrigerate them in snap lock bags (these remain viable indefinitelty). I have rehydrated them 12 months later.

To rehydrate you just place the sclerotium on moist paper towel in a container or petri dish and place an oat flake at the edge they will begin growing again quickly.

Gird


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## Sdaji (Jul 31, 2009)

You do a good job of making them sound cute! :lol: Well, I suppose they are pretty cute. What's the easiest way to get your hands on a sclerotia?


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## girdheinz (Jul 31, 2009)

http://www.southernbiological.com/

Under the plants section, you can get a starter kit and instructions. If your lucky to find a colourful wild one (different species) you can attempt those as well.

Gird


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## diamond 007 (Jul 31, 2009)

My daugther has Sea Monkeys, ican hardly see the little, little buggers. funny hey...


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## Dragonwolf (Jul 31, 2009)

I'm pretty sure my teenage son is keeping Slime in his bathroom without telling me........I see a flash of something green everytime I go in there.:shock:
Other than that we just have perfectly normal pythons and tarantulas


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## nabu120 (Jul 31, 2009)

JasonL said:


> I have 2 children, both are strange.


 
i think ill keep trying to avoid that one lol

what exactly is a slime mold? some sort of fungi? any pics?


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## Andrais (Jul 31, 2009)

those fingo's ur talking about remind me of that film called flubber? man, i love that little cool green thing


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## omg_a_gecko (Aug 1, 2009)

kept the dogs vomit slime mould, it was unbelievable... overnight it went from looking like scrambled eggs, then lumped together to look like shortbread biscuits, then oozed red jam like dots on top


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## Renagade (Aug 1, 2009)

my ex girlfriend cherished a freak hair for ages. you know one of those fine white face hairs that you can only see extremely close up with light behind it? it got to 3 or 4 cm, she was filthy when i pulled it out. hahah


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## R3PT1LE (Aug 1, 2009)

I had a pet tick


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## hornet (Aug 1, 2009)

Wow, those slime moulds sound great, will have to get me some. As for unusual pets i keep australian tarantula's, trap door spiders, funnel web spiders, various scorpions, giant roaches, Giant crickets, Giant millipedes, over 20 species of stick insects. Also got katydid and grasshopper eggs cooking


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## Sock Puppet (Aug 1, 2009)

Renagade said:


> my ex girlfriend cherished a freak hair for ages. you know one of those fine white face hairs that you can only see extremely close up with light behind it? it got to 3 or 4 cm, she was filthy when i pulled it out. hahah


 
haha, I had a pet eyebrow hair that was about twice as long as the others & kept sticking out, it drove my wife crazy, I wouldn't let her pluck it (mainly 'cause I was enjoying it driving her crazy haha). Then another one appeared on my other eye brow, so I kept telling her I needed them, I was growing antennae so I could walk around at night without bumping into things. haha. Unfortunately the cruel woman got them on consecutive nights while I slept, shocking way to wake up. Now I have sore shins from bumping into things at night. 

Apart from that, I haven't had anything strange (well, not strange to people like us), but my brother used to keep a huntsman spider & a praying mantis.


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## blackduck (Aug 1, 2009)

never heard of slime molds before so I was curious enough to google for pics and info...

surely they have nothing to do with what I found in this link :shock::

Overman's Healthy Choices, Inc.: Slime Molds


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## girdheinz (Aug 1, 2009)

That is one species yes, but not the one kept as pets try this page Slime mold - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 
.
Or on the website i mentioned above Home Page click here ---> L2.30Physarum polycephalum, slime mould, streaming multi-nucleate protoplasm 

Gird


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## derekm (Aug 1, 2009)

blackduck said:


> never heard of slime molds before so I was curious enough to google for pics and info...
> 
> surely they have nothing to do with what I found in this link :shock::
> 
> Overman's Healthy Choices, Inc.: Slime Molds



LMFAO!!!! I checked the website, thought "what a quack", then came back to the email and noticed that you identify yourself as "blackduck". Congratulations on finding a quack, blackduck!! :lol:


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## MrsDragonLady (Aug 1, 2009)

WOW Slime Mold now that would be unusual.

When I was a kid I was fascinated by the Hornworm Caterpillars then when my kids were young I used to make what I called 'bug hatcheries' from old dressing table drawers - the ones that had the piece of masonite on the bottom that slid out as it made it easy to change their food and later set them free.
I would nail plastic tubing on the inside sides to keep fresh leaves in, tacked flyscreen on the open top of the drawer and stand it up on the front of the drawer. We would then find different types of caterpillars and put them in with a supply of what they were eating. Afterwards we would wait and watch to see the cycles as they turned into butterflies. It was amusing, interesting and educational.


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## byron_moses (Aug 1, 2009)

i have 2 ferrets thats about it as wierd goes


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## m_beardie (Aug 1, 2009)

well i used to think it would be snakes and lizzards but now look at me 

probably pet rocks or imaginary pets are the most unusual


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## pyrodarknessanny (Aug 1, 2009)

i have imported fish, i love bettas (fighting fish) but i don't like "fighters (betta splendens) 
confused anyone yet? . well there are something like 30 plus species in the betta complex, 
betta splendens being the one everyone knows, i found it boring so i'm keeping and breeding some of the wild species. 

the one im working with at the moment is betta chonnoides its a mouth brooding species from bournieo.


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## Sdaji (Aug 2, 2009)

Thanks for the link! I'll be putting in an order!

What type of katydid eggs do you have, Hornet? I have some katydid eggs on the go too, just the common green one you see in Melbourne.


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## jacorin (Aug 2, 2009)

i have 5 kids :O:O 3 of which are teens,NOW they ARE the strangest pets u can keep lolol


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