The Finally On Time Question Of The Day, Wednesday, October 4, 2017

[Margret]

In terms of pets, definitely dogs. The thing about a dog is that when it's happy it's happy with it's whole body, so great to watch.

Animals that should never be pets:

• River otters. Now there's an animal that knows how to have fun!
• Great apes, elephants, and the larger marine mammals all appear (so far as I can tell) to be sapient, which is incredible. I wish we could figure out how to talk with them (though some great apes have managed to learn American Sign Language, but that's in captivity and I hate to see a sapient creature held in captivity). How do we think we can learn to communicate with alien species (should we ever encounter them) if we can't even learn to communicate with the other sapients on our own planet?
• Bats.
• Penguins. People call them "flightless birds" and some people refer to their wings as "flippers," but have you ever seen a penguin swimming, from underwater (either video footage or looking through the glass at an aquarium)? They aren't flightless; they just do their flying underwater, and those so-called "flippers" are definitely wings.

And regarding hamsters, be careful when you're setting up a habitrail for them:


Margret

 

[maggiedemi]

I like llamas, horses, ponies, friendly dogs that have been trained, goats, rabbits, and chickens.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

I should mention that I am not fond of anything with more than four legs, nor can I work up a lot of enthusiasm for slugs. At all. Ever.

 

[rubysmama]

Cats are my number one favourite pet and animal.

I don't really have a 2nd favourite pet, but 2nd favourite animal is the elephant. I love their family dynamics. All the females taking care of the young. And the saddest thing I ever read was that they recognize the bones of their own family and will even try to bury them. Breaks my heart knowing they are still killed for ivory, however, I also read that because so many are killed for their tusks, more elephants are being born that don't grow tusks. So nature is working to save their lives.

 

[neely]

Dogs.

Ditto, same here! I consider myself an equal opportunity pet lover and like cats just as much as dogs.

The other two animals I'm very fond of although not as pets are panda bears and primates.

 

[margecat]

Skunks and foxes. Bet that I'm the only one who likes skunks here!

 

[amysuen]

#1 Cats!

#2 More cats!

#3 Who cares?

YES!

Although I was going to say Cats, Kittens, and More Cats, but Who cares works for #3 too.

 

[Willowy]

And regarding hamsters, be careful when you're setting up a habitrail for them:

LOL, that's terrific. "Who knows what would have happened if they hadn't all been male"

Skunks and foxes. Bet that I'm the only one who likes skunks here!

I like skunks! I want a pet skunk someday. Pet-bred, of course. They even have different colors now. . .

But I like wild skunks too. And foxes. I had a family of foxes living under my shed one year. They haven't been back though, idk why.

 

[Margret]

LOL, that's terrific. "Who knows what would have happened if they hadn't all been male"

Oh, good. I was sure there was someone here who would actually listen to it and get it.

,I should probably post it over in Funny pictures and memes, too.

Margret

 

[muffy]

Turtles specifically, or turtles and tortoises?

I love both. I like the tortoises because I enjoy feeding them in my yard and I like the water turtles because of all of their beautiful colors and because they are so graceful. When ever I see a tortoise I run inside and get a can of Fancy Feast. They love that stuff.

Muffy

 

[Willowy]

When ever I see a tortoise I run inside and get a can of Fancy Feast. They love that stuff.

Aw, I wish I lived in a place with wild tortoises! Yours are probably box turtles, technically. . .tortoises are vegetarian. But there are gopher tortoises and others in various places in the US. Supposedly there are some native box turtles here but I've never seen one. I want to feed box turtles in my yard! I'm jealous .

I like opossums for some reason. They're just so clumsy and funny. There are a couple that come eat the farm cats' food every evening. They're almost braver than the cats (who are feral) and will sit there munching even if I'm 10 feet away.

 

[muffy]

When we were kids we just called them box turtles. I grew up about 10 miles from here and we had a lot of wild life. I do enjoy feeding them. I have deer, geese, ducks, rabbits, foxes, raccoons, possums, beavers, skunks, snakes, ....

Possums are one of my favorites.They are so cute to watch. They also come up and eat the ferals food along with the raccoons.

Thanks for the reply.

Muffy

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Oh, good. I was sure there was someone here who would actually listen to it and get it.

,I should probably post it over in Funny pictures and memes, too.

Margret

You probably should. And I liked it so well that I googled the lyrics and played it again so that I could follow along and not miss a thing! It put me strongly in mind of Tribbles.

I like opossums for some reason. They're just so clumsy and funny

If a rat and a cat had a baby, it would be a possum! I think they are adorable, just not in my top two!

 

[Margret]

I liked it so well that I googled the lyrics and played it again so that I could follow along and not miss a thing! It put me strongly in mind of Tribbles.

Yeah, well, that's probably because it actually mentions tribbles.

I have the CD around here somewhere.

Margret

 

[Mamanyt1953]

OH, it did, didn't it?

 

[cassiopea]

- Horses
- Donkeys
- Swans
- Foxes
- Doggies
- Bats


Kind of cheating a wee bit since cats are already covered, but Cheetahs and Servals too

 

[Mother Dragon]

There are animals besides cats?

Well, if we must, I'd have to say the American bison (incorrectly called buffalo.) They're magnificent. Huge, shaggy, powerful, and courageous. Don't ever get between a cow and her calf or the whole herd will reduce you to a grease spot.

 

[DreamerRose]

Horses would be second for me. As a teenager, I had a horse and loved it. As a companion animal, dogs would come in next. We had a Sheltie for a long time, and he was a joy to have around. Such a personality.

 

[Margret]

We had a Sheltie for a long time, and he was a joy to have around. Such a personality.

We used to have a next door neighbor who had a couple of Shelties. Gorgeous little dogs, but they were convinced that their humans owned the entire block we live on, and it was their job to chase all the neighbors away. They weren't vicious, but they barked menacingly at anyone they met while their human walked them. One day Roger barked back. The poor little Shelties hid behind their human (who was laughing uproariously), and never barked at Roger again. The rest of the neighbors were still fair game, though. Apparently Roger speaks fluent canine, at least for one phrase, which translates "This is my neighborhood, and I'm a bigger dog than you."

Margret

 

[Willowy]

Shelties tend to be timid. But also very barky, lol.

I currently have a Rough Collie (Lassie type). I got him from an ad on craigslist, from a girl who couldn't keep him. I never was much for purebreds, but I'm finding I really like Collies. I don't know why they aren't more popular. Maybe the fur. . .so much fur.

 

[Mother Dragon]

In terms of pets, definitely dogs. The thing about a dog is that when it's happy it's happy with it's whole body, so great to watch.

Animals that should never be pets:

• River otters. Now there's an animal that knows how to have fun!
• Great apes, elephants, and the larger marine mammals all appear (so far as I can tell) to be sapient, which is incredible. I wish we could figure out how to talk with them (though some great apes have managed to learn American Sign Language, but that's in captivity and I hate to see a sapient creature held in captivity). How do we think we can learn to communicate with alien species (should we ever encounter them) if we can't even learn to communicate with the other sapients on our own planet?
• Bats.
• Penguins. People call them "flightless birds" and some people refer to their wings as "flippers," but have you ever seen a penguin swimming, from underwater (either video footage or looking through the glass at an aquarium)? They aren't flightless; they just do their flying underwater, and those so-called "flippers" are definitely wings.

And regarding hamsters, be careful when you're setting up a habitrail for them:


Margret

Oh, Margret, how in the world did you find this? It's terrific! We had a giant Habitrail that formed a huge multi-tiered square. We didn't have the hole to fill our place with hamsters, but they did about the same with their reproduction. We thought we had five males. We were 60% wrong. Average litter was 14. We had about one litter a week until the territorial females killed the males. Then they set about killing one another. We finally separated the last 21.