The Aywas Thread

I always thought Chipmunks would make a neat pet, but never owned one myself. I did forget that we also had two rabbits growing up. A white one I stole from an Asian couple's backyard, a few blocks from me, when I found out they were raising them for food! (I was kid then, and didn't understand why someone would do something like that) - And a floppy-ear rabbit, that some idiot left in the hallway of our building when they moved out, and the poor thing was just left in a 20 gallon aquarium with no food, water, etc. So we took it in, cleaned it up and had him for many years. ... I actually have a funny story about the white rabbit though, if anyone cares to hear it...

I actually grew up with a rough bunch of guys, who though they were decent enough, they eventually started getting into smoking pot and partying. Which of course, lead to bigger things later, which is the main reason I stopped hanging out with them. Just wasn't my cup of tea. - Though I never partook in those activities myself, I did get a wild notion to actually get some of the seeds from them, and thought it would be neat to grow some marijuana plants. (Yeah, things were different back then.. or were they? ) ... Anyway, I grew about 7 pot plants that got about 3 1/2' tall in my bedroom. My Mom was a school bus driver back then, so she was usually home during the day-time. And I was always honest with her about things I did and she trusted me, so she was pretty cool with letting me do this. ... So one day I came home, and she said 'you may want to go check your rabbit'? ... She then informed me that while watching a show on TV, the rabbit suddenly came flying out of the back bedroom, jumped up and slid across the coffee table, (knocking everything off of course) then proceeded to speed around the TV set about 4 times and then suddenly skidded to a stop right in front of her, panting. She said after just a few seconds of sitting there, he then sprung straight up in the air about 4', and was running as he hit the floor, heading back toward the bedroom. (She said he did this about 4 or 5 times, shooting from one side of the house to the other) So, when I went into my bedroom, there were no plants to be found. - Not only had he eaten all the plants, he was back at the flower pots, standing on top and digging down into the dirt to get to more of the stems, and was nearly into the roots!

Well, he ended up being ok afterward all this, but apparently just loved eating this rare treat! He was known for eating through power cords on anything he could get to, and we replaced cords on quite a few things before rabbit-proofing the rest of the house. We were all pretty surprised that he never electrocuted himself when he did this, but somehow he didn't. We had him for about 10-12 years.

Yeah, I had a hamster that would do that as well. Being a big male, he would simply kill the entire litter as soon as they were born. And most the time would just decapitate them, which we had to keep cleaning up. - He wasn't very nice at all, and I guess I wasn't either, because after the last time he did this I got pissed off and simply tossed him into another aquarium... which just happened to belong to Sabbath.

I actually felt bad right after doing it, but he was just so damn mean to all the others. He would always go after them for no apparent reason, I guess to show his dominance.

Like I said, I was a kid back then, so I thought I was being the bunny's savior. - I do understand that some do raise animals just for food, and don't blame them at all. (It's the reason I hunt deer. Wild, free roaming, and I will take venison over store meat any day. Plus I do all the work myself. I've never taken a deer to a butcher.) ... But I have known many who've raised Turkeys, Chickens, pigs/hogs, etc. But it's like you said, you wouldn't be surprised how many of them now have pets from these critters, once thought to be a meal. ... First thing you never do is name them! But even if you don't, you spend enough time around them and sooner or later you will get attached, and it's a lot harder to commit the act then. ... Like I could never raise deer and then harvest them. Just wouldn't happen.