Recommendations for a pet?

[Jeff Lebowski]

We never had that problem and we have had about a dozen rats. Maybe you got NOrthern California hippie rats. We got Red State rats that have respect for the real America and american values.

We had rats for a few years and the kids loved them.

[happyone]

Besides dogs, we've had fish off and on over the years. At one point, even when we didn't have fish, my youngest daughter kept the tank and pump going. The tank was in my youngest's room and the sound comforted her and let her sleep.

[Uncle Ted]

We had rats for a few years and the kids loved them.

We had rats too. The dogs ate them and anything else that ventured into our backyard.

[Chachi]

The Puffy Check are turning 6 soon. My son wants a DS. I would much rather he get a DS than an animal. He has played with his cousins and really enjoys it.

Kids get bored quickly with the daily maintenance of household pets. Pretty soon, the pet belongs to Mom.
A DS is a fantastic bit of leverage for behavior modification. Right now, my son does not want to risk video game time, so he conforms. If I told him he couldn't play with a hamster for a few days if he misbehaves, not going to have the same impact.

We got our 5 year old daughter a DS Lite for her bday this year. She isn't ever attached to that thing, and to take it away as punishment would be like telling her she can't have carrots for a week. She just wouldn't care.

And, I am victim to this "let's get her a pet" idea. My daughter prayed twice daily for a kitten. Valentine's Day 2009 FN Phat found some free ones and let her pick one out. She picked the fugliest damn cat. All of them were super cute orange tabbies. This one? Black with splotches of orange and white all over...a straight line down her face, making it half black half orange. Even her whiskers on one side are black and the other side are white. She's been the biggest PITA! Then the stupid whore got knocked up at 5 months old. My FIL said not to get her fixed until 6-7 months old. She had 5 kittens. At one time, we had 1 dog, 6 cats, 3 fish. And I am allergic to cats and dogs.

For the sake of your wife...buy the DS.

[Katy Lied]

I know you said no dogs, but how can you resist this fella?

[Chachi]

ugh...ESP no male dogs! One rub on that belly and you've got a red rocket in yo face!

[Uncle Ted]

I got the younger Ted Jr. an used iPod touch off ebay. Most games are free or $1.99 and you don't have to keep track of all those damn little DS games. Also there are some great educational apps. If not an iPod touch go for a dog or a turtle...

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[TheBYUGuy]

Since I started the thread, I hereby declare Soccermom and Levin the thread winners here. Your responses resonate the best with me.

Honorable mention for those of you who mentioned animals in your posts.

[Surfah]

Boo on animals.

[Katy Lied]

ugh...ESP no male dogs! One rub on that belly and you've got a red rocket in yo face!

I'm pretty sure Tank's been neutered. And I'm also bettin' that DevilDog did not spring for neuticles during the procedure.

[creekster]

This dog looks ready for dissection.

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[TheBYUGuy]

This thread is overdue for an update. We had decided that we were going to get a turtle, and we already had a tank that would fit a small slider that we were trying to get. We we calling up the pet store weekly to find out if they had received a new supply of turtles yet, and they kept telling us that they expected them any day. In the meantime, BYUKid kept telling us when we would ask that he wanted a fish. We would try to convince him that a turtle would be cool, but he persisted. So it worked out better anyway. We got him four goldfish, which was four times the number he wanted.

We lost a couple in the first week, but I'm not sure if it was because of over/under-eating or some other reason. The others have thrived since then, but we haven't done anything differently.

He enjoys having the aquarium on his dresser and his friends think it's pretty cool as well. We feed them every night and laugh about how one of the fish ("Gill") eats most of the food and "Pumpkin" hardly gets any. Gill seems to be growing. Overall, the fish are low maintenance, but still enjoyable to sit and watch them. I'm not looking forward to cleaning the tank, whenever that needs to happen.

Some other notes:

-We did get New Super Mario Wii. Actually, I had it since June, but was holding out until Christmas to give it to him. It's a pretty cool game and reminiscent of the earlier Mario games. He enjoys it too much, to the point that tantrums are thrown and hearts are broken when it is time to stop playing. My estimate is that we'd see 3-4 times as much negative behavior if we also had a DS in the house.

-His best friend (whom I have affectionately called "TV Mike" since he was about 2 years old), now has both a DS and a Wii. Pssh. And I thought he talked a lot about video games and TV before...
Anyway, TV Mike has told BYUKid that he is going to get him a DS for his birthday. We have already started to manage the disappointment that is bound to result when that doesn't happen. (Pretty sure TV Mike can't afford a DS for his friend.)

I'd vote for the Chia Pet! Plus when they're bored, think of the gnarly decoration! For the cost of a DS and two games, you could have a Chia-Jungle.

-Per annual tradition, we pulled out Chia Shrek and grew a lush coat of chia hair for him over the break. It is still growing and hopefully I'll be able to post some pictures soon!

[Art Vandelay]

Corn or other similar sized snakes are the easiest pet in the world. Only have to feed adults 1x/month, clean the cage about as often, odorless, are fun to for kids to play with, silent, cool to watch eat, and scare away most guests if they have stayed past their welcome.

[myboynoah]

This guy or gal moved into our yard about two weeks ago. At first I thought it was a figment of mrs. myboynoah's imagination.

If you want it, come pick it up.

White Rabbit.jpg

[PaloAltoCougar]

This guy or gal moved into our yard about two weeks ago. At first I thought it was a figment of mrs. myboynoah's imagination. ...

If you want it, come pick it up.

I was interested, but it has a goiter and the medical expenses will be through the roof. No thanks.