I used to have a lot of pets. No particular order:
- Three cats (Kitty, Mimi, and Junebug)
- A border collie pit bull mix (Elvis)
- A rose haired tarantula (Legs)
- A rat snake (No Legs)
- A bark scorpion (which travel in my cooler while I was camping out west)
- A flat rock scorpion that I thought escaped (Zoidberg)
- A second flat rock scorpion to replace the first who later came out of hiding (Zoidberg 2)
- A bark scorpion, who I later realized is the most venomous scorpion in North America
- Two other scorpions, I don’t remember what kind.
- Dwarf shrimp (so many, no names)
- Guppies (also so many)
- 3 Rasboras (my oldest calls the school the Piranhas)
- A blue beta fish (Jelly Bean)
- A red beta fish (Jaws)
- A single rescue budgie (Jack Jack)
- A flock of budgies (Big Bird, Ripley, Kush, and Diesel)
When my ex-husband I moved to Colorado we had a dog, two cats and a tarantula. We also had a snake before we moved but were able to rehome it. It was already hard enough staying in a hotel with our zoo. We got a pet-friendly room, but still had to smuggle in the cats and the tarantula.
I had to put my cat, Junebug, down in November. She was 18 and had my whole heart. I adopted her from a shelter when she was 10. I went there for a kitten after Kitty died. She jumped up to me, climbed on my shoulder and nuzzled my hair. I did not get a kitten that day, I came home with Junebug.
Now I just have Jaws (in a 4-gallon tank by himself) and the Piranhas (in an eight-gallon community tank). And I used to have a tank of dwarf shrimp but I moved them to the community tank. And surprise! After almost a year of hard work and trying to fight nitrate levels, they do better in that environment. I do nothing for them except take care of the tank and they breed like crazy. Randomly I’ll see a baby about 1 millimeter long and say “welcome to the world little guy.”
I drain about 25% of the water and replenish it with fresh water every week. It’s a lot of algae scrubbing but I love my tanks. I use a big red bucket and a hand vacuum to drain the water. The walker I used to use around the house makes a helpful table on wheels when I’m maintaining my fish tanks. And no, I would never ask my parents to help scrub algae, although the thought is tempting.
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