Hi All,

Here are the answers for me and my hubby.

how many of you, had no close pets as children, but later in life
became animal and ferret people?

My poor Husband had NOTHING around him as a child or early adult life.
He was 25 when we got married and he meet his first pet, my ferret Coco
Chanel when we flew to Pakistan to live.  Out of fear, it took him 2
weeks to per her on his own.  Now, almost 11 years later he is quizzing
me on my care taking of the furchildren.  Did ya do this, did ya do that!
He still carries them around like they are infants all cradled in his
arms.

- how many of you, had a couple of standard pets such as dogs or cats
as children?

We had cats and dogs all my life.  Got my first horse at age 5, my first
pig at age 8, first goat at age 8, rabbits at 9, cow at age 10, mice at
11, chickens at 12, rat at 13,

- how many of you had close contact with more unusual species of animals
as children?

snakes that were basically catch, keep a day and turn loose because they
weren't allowed in the house started at about age 11, iguana at 13,
raised a raccoon on a bottle at age 14

The best was saved for last- my first ferret at age 32.

So are our today's lifestyle choices groomed into us, or have any of
you had sudden enlightenments later in life?  I think you could say the
ferret at age 32 was an enlightened moment.  I had never seen a ferret.
( raised and lived in California)  Walked into an out of state pet store
and there they were.  Fought the urge to buy one for three days then went
back and bought the most vicious one I could find.  I just knew she had
to come home with me because no one else would want to buy such a biter.
The store almost refused to sell her to me because she had bitten me
so hard.  They tried to pry her off me and I said no I'll just pay for
this one.

This was really fun, thanks Wolfy for asking, See ya in Toronto,

MJB
[Posted in FML issue 5271]