So, who has pets other than Cat/Dog? - Page 5

jen32966 · 01-19-2009, 10:26:20 AM

I have a desert Tortoise (Tom) who is right now hibernating. And 3 box turtles who are all hibernating as well. (Destiny, Olive and Tucker) The tortoise is strictly vegetarian but really, I don't have to supplement that much because he grazes in the back yard on the grass and weeds. I work for a veterinarian and says that it is best not to over supplement him with vegetables because that is how their shells will "pyramid" and that's a bad thing. So, he's pretty easy.
The box turtles love snails and slugs also from my yard that I have to go and hunt for. As you can probably tell- I don't use any fertilizers or pesticides in my yard. The box turtles also will eat spring mix and frozen, thawed vegetables which I buy pretty cheap at Winco. But I only have to feed them from March to October.
I also have 5 cockatiels outside in an aviary and I just buy inexpensive cockatiel food for them at the feed store. And they also like to nibble on spring mix so I buy a large quantity at Costco or again- only like 1.25 a bag at Winco.
I have 1 cockatiel in the house that I hand raised- his name is Monk- I buy him the cockatiel pellets at PetsMart or Petco- both stores are down the street from each other- so depending if I'm at Trader Joe's for me- then I go to Petco... Or if I'm at Target- then I go to Petsmart.
We also have 2 dogs and 2 cats. I buy their food through work because I can get it at cost. My cats are on prescription diet for food allergies (1 has the allergy and they both eat out of the same bowl)- but it's still pretty pricey even at cost!
We might still have some Natures Best coupons at work for dog food- I'll have to look and I'll let you know in case anyone feeds that to their dog. It's the Science Diet "natural" line of food.

Tinyone · 01-23-2009, 09:51:25 PM

Well, our babies right now are a dog (min pin) a cat (that adopted us) she found out where to find food on the porch that my daughter just had to leave out for her because she was a stray roaming the neighborhood (someone's pet at one time because she is declawed and very friendly) and a rat. Yes i said a rat! And I must say, out of all of the pets my daughter has had the rat has to be the most enjoyable, socialable pet any child could have. She has had gerbils, hamsters, dwarf hamsters, mice, turtles (the turtle was kind of fun too) and fish.
The rat hangs out with her on her shoulder as she walks around the house, he is with her when she gets ready for school in the morning, and when she is doing homework or drawing and she is laying on the floor he crawls all over her. He will walk around on the floor but he doesn't go far from her. If she calls his name he comes to her and she also has taught him a few tricks.
Now about food costs. Always have coupons for dog & cat food. Never any coupons for rat food though. Luckily he doesn't really eat much. We have found out he will eat goldfish crackers, saltines, carrots, pretzels. She feeds him a little of whatever she is snacking on.

skw6559 · 01-23-2009, 10:08:23 PM

Originally Posted by Ronald1

Hello. We have a couple "traditional" pets - dogs, but my babies are my parrots.

We have 4 currently - an African Grey, a Medium Sulfer Crested Cockatoo and 2 Macaws - a Blue & Gold & a Scarlett. They talk up a storm, so it is rarely quiet at our house!!

The parrots eat seads and pellets, but eat a lot of people food too. They love mixed veggies, pasta, mashed potatoes, fruit and believe-it-or-not CHICKEN!! (They almost eat better than the kids...well they do eat healthier than the kids who are teens and live on soda and junk food!!)

My husband has a reptile business, so we have lots of snakes, lizards, frogs, spiders (and mice & rats for food). Thankfully these are NOT housed at our house, but they are sometimes expensive to feed.

I have a Military McCall - Gomer who eats everything (except carrots

) He also loves chicken as well. He loves to eat all the things that he shouldn't have like pork chops, steak and especially bacon. He starts yelling whenever the bacon starts to fry for his piece.

orchidofpurple · 01-23-2009, 10:30:28 PM

Currently I have a 3 toed box turtle, 2 tokay geckos, 2 leopard geckos and a corn snake. Up until about 2 years ago DH and I ran an exotic animal rescue group so I have had about every pet listed here and many many others. What I found for saving $$ was we ordered crickets, meal worms and mice on line we were able to order in bulk so it saved us over 50% of regular retail. We always went to reptile or exotic animal shows that were in our area they usually had great sales on supplies. Also the local Petco used to have 25 cent clearance days where everything on clearance was 25 cents we would buy almost everything. We would get food, toys, supplies, bedding and heath remedies for a quarter each it was awesome. Also on freight days they would sell damaged bags of food for cheap.
As for the critters that ate fresh fruits and veggies, if I bought fresh (I usually bought frozen) I would freeze it. I always made sure to cut it up or puree it before I put it in the freezer. I found that ice cube trays worked great that way once it was frozen I could put single serve cubes into a larger container.
For the birds I would make bird bread that I would freeze in individual portions.

atlgirljj · 01-23-2009, 10:38:32 PM

meems your goats are beautiful! I sure wish we could have them where I live.

We have a bearded dragon, he's 10 years old now. When he was a baby his tank was by my computer, and he used to get excited about paper coming out of the printer. Now he's in a big tank that's on the floor in the living room, so he likes to watch everyone come and go. The dog likes to lay by the tank so it's like they're hanging out.

He eats mealworms occasionally, but when I peel carrots he eats those, also any greens. They don't eat a lot so they're not expensive pets, anyone wanting a reptile I wouldn't hesitate to recommend one since they're easygoing. Check your local classifieds or grocery store bulletin boards, you can find one with the tank and everything for cheap when kids go off to college and sell them.

koala1 · 01-27-2009, 03:06:28 PM

Hello,
I am new and not sure how to do what I have to do on all the pages. When I have time, I will learn as I go! We have 3 Pygmy Goats. Bob(dark brown),Cocoa(lighter brown), Marshmallow(black and white). Marshmallow lived in the house for 2 years when he was a baby. With diapers! We have a fenced yard, and he went out with our dogs. They got along great! I love goats! We spend enough time with them, so they are very friendly. We are able to give them the shots they need. We had 4, but one passed away last Spring. (sigh). They have a heated water bowl in the winter, so the drinking water doesn't freeze. We have 3 dogs and 2 cats also. All inside!

papadsgirls · 01-27-2009, 08:39:34 PM

I have 2 dogs and 2 horses that adopted me.lol my nieces have 2 horses, but with them being teens they don't spend the time with them, so I of course, feed, clean barns, water, and play with them. I get the dirty work and they get the pleasure. I wish my knees would let me ride. They are now my babies. I can go out side and they run to the fence, waiting to see if they get there treats. I have taken stock on peperments and butterscotch for these babies. Chief and Grace also love Mountain Dew. Only thing don't thank you can just share a 20 oz with both. They love this stuff. I only give it to them when they don't escape for the week. I hate electric fences. So If they stay in every week, they get there Mt. dew as a reward. Grace always gets hers. She hates to get out. She will wait at the gate to get back in. Chief he likes kids to much to stay in. My little attention seeker. I wish i had picts of them. Chief looks just like his name sounds, even with the mohawk I cut every spring. Grace's grand father was known for his broadness and she carries his carricture.

Debbieomi · 01-27-2009, 09:30:11 PM

We have a guinea pig, shown in my avatar with my son, Spencer. We adopted Sunny from a family who couldn't care for him anymore. He's our second senior citizen piggy adoption. Trolli was with us for 13 months before he passed away. Sunny is getting pretty gray, he's about 7 1/2 years old. We want to get a baby next.
There's no truth to the saying that you can't teach an old dog or guinea pig new tricks. We taught Sunny to make a circle when he wants a treat. He's our cuddly doll baby.
I printed off a bunch of those Kaytee coupons but found it was way more expensive at PetSmart (the only place that carries it here) even with the coupons, so they went on my trader list. I buy his pellets at WalMart and he eats fresh fruits and veggies. He doesn't eat too much, so it's definitely not a budget buster. Brocolli is his fave!
There are wonderful pics in this thread, I've enjoyed seeing everyone's animal friends.
ETA: One way we do cut costs is on his bedding. We only use it in his cage where he stays when we are not home. We only have to change it every 3 weeks or so. When we're home, he is in the living area with us. He has a few fleece blankets that we put out on the living room floor for him, along with hidey places and toys, food bowl, water, etc. He's super good about staying on the blankets. I bought up enough blankets to lay down fresh ones every day and I launder the others once a week.

kattididd · 02-23-2009, 04:40:04 PM

I am just working my way around HCW and discovered this little area. We currently have 1 dog (toy poodle, Dewey), 3 cats (Bailey, Spot, and Gina), 1 bunny (Miss Howard), and 2 gold fish (Nemo and Ariel). I also seem to be feeding half of the neighborhood cats.
As far as food cost for them. Both the dog and cats eat cat food (dog can't digest dog food for some reason), I buy bunny pellets for Miss Howard and she gets carrots, but that is about all that she will eat because she is very picky. We have her litter trained and so that only required cat litter. I usually buy the big bags of bunny food at Walmart and that will last for a while. Fish food for the gold fish is just standard fish food.
I do wish that they put out pet coupons for pets other than cats and dogs.