Monday, February 6, 2017

How to Duck a Bad Idea

Son number two is 16. Son number two had this idea in his head that he wanted a Chinchilla. Then it was a Ferret. Then he absolutely wanted a Hedgehog. Then it was back to a Chinchilla. Then out of the blue he decided he wanted ducklings. He wanted them to imprint on him and follow him everywhere.

The idea for getting ducks was pretty strong. He wouldn't be deterred. Unless you live on a farm, ducks are a really, really, really, really bad idea for a pet. But he was determined. Mind you, Snootyville is no kind of place to keep ducks. The neighbors would go absolutely insane. And the duck poo. OMG the duck poo.

So we agreed to go to the pet store on the other side of the tri-county area and look in an old Feed Store/Pet Store and BROWSE the animals. I told him that we would consider a pet purchase AFTER a two week "consideration" period.

Here's some photos from the excursion:


They have baby chicks... a lot of them.


They have ferrets... a whole business of ferrets.


They even have oddly named dog toys. Make up your own joke there.

He looked at the two tiny ducklings they had in stock, plus a Bearded Dragon lizard, a full size peacock, and quail. Mind you, I was ready to veto everything. 

But then he saw them... a pile of bunnies. He became attached to one in particular. And the thought of avoiding a smelly cage of quacking ducks among the city folk appealed to me. I jumped on the opportunity.

So now I share with you the picture of "Sundance" on her way home from the pet store:


And here she is enjoying her new soft little home:


She may be a brown-noser, but she's not a quacking duck. 

Phew!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Adorable! Fun fact. You can litter box train them to so they can spend lots of time out of the cage. They will quickly eat through wires though so make sure you bunny proof!

If any of his friends get jealous and want their own bunny, suggest they check out the local animal shelter. We frequently get very cute, often already litter trained, bunnies there!

Anonymous said...

Rabbits make great pets. I'm sure you read up on their care before bringing one home. A lot of people don't realize that rabbits need just as much human interaction as a cat or dog; and rabbits live longer than you expect.

Anonymous said...

Yes, rabbits make excellent pets. They can be litter-box trained. But mind you keep electrical cords high off the floor because the darling little buggers chew on anything and everything.
I have a pair of trousers with chew marks from when I thought our bunnies was just nudging me for attention.

Also, be careful picking bunny up. They're picky about how they are handled.

Enjoy!

was1 said...

my son's rabbit, thumper, (yeah, original, i know) just died last year. we had him for 11 years and guestimate that he was about 15. he liked being out and about in the house but he did a job on the wallpaper in one of the bedrooms.
on a related note, my brother and i had ducks when we were young (4 or 5 years old). they weren't around too long before they went to live on the farm.

Anonymous said...

Cute bunny! If Sundance is a girl, you should find a vet in your area who knows rabbits and get her spayed. They have a crazy high incidence of uterine cancer - I've seen them die from it as young as 2 years old.

Also, I'm sure there's part of the cage I can't see in the photo, but they need to have lots of fresh hay available 24/7 - pellets should be ~10-15% of the diet at most, the hay is needed to maintain dental and GI health. Good luck with the new pet!

-a veterinarian with a lot of exotic animal experience

Anonymous said...

Vet anon-

I was also assuming the cage view was only part of it, because rabbits need a lot of room and if that was the size of the cage, it's not healthy for the rabbit.

Even males should be castrated, especially because of where they got this little one. Chances are very high it came from an animal miller, breeding tons of animals with little care for long term health. The first visit to an exotics vet should cover what they need in terms of health care and cage size.