I'm more a cat person, or a 'waifs, strays and oddballs' kind. Have only ever had a dog once, and that was after I realized some fuckwits were just chucking her out on the street all day and leaving her to fend for herself. There's always been something in me that just has zero tolerance or patience for bastards like that, and whether the critter has two legs, four or on occasion, 8 (last pets were some brown widow spiders. fucking coppers killed them in a raid, deliberately from what I can tell. I've a sickening feeling they were microwaved)
Quite tame actually, for all their notoriety, black and brown widows are more of the 'curl up and hope it goes away' sort when something a potential threat is in the vicinity. Although one did get me once, after laying egg sacks, didn't half fucking hurt, and not just at the bite site, could hardly move the day after. But understandable enough, and usually they retreat, rather than go howling berserk like I've read of say, some people who kept Phoneutria spp. spiders, or giant centipedes as pets (Phoneutria=brazillian wandering spiders, just about the orneriest bunch of 8 legged psychos I've ever heard of, I've even read of one encounter, unintended, where someone tried flattening one with a broom, only to find a large, deadly spider sprinting up the handle intent on payback)
And at least, calm disposition aside, they are relatively small, and can't really put on those sudden bursts of speed large mygalomorph and a couple of the more dangerous, large araneomorph spiders can (typically the ones that are the worst they have to offer by way of a bite, like Phoneutria, and the bigger, reportedly calm in captivity, but damn near invisible desert burrowing spiders related to recluse spiders, only with far fewer bites recorded to humans due to their naturally remote habitats, but when it has happened, the prognosis is grim, no antivenin available, and of two I am aware of, one guy died, the other lost an arm, apparently when kept as pets, they don't tend to be aggressive but can put on a real sprint, and try throwing themselves up tank walls) Just what you want to find in your shoes one day
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Have had other odd pets, took in a baby hedgehog, and reared it up to strength before releasing it again, found in a back alley, stick thin, bugger all in the way of fat reserves, and would definitely not have survived the winter.
A rook or raven, not sure which, a rescue after finding it wounded, the result of a shotgun blast, quite a few birds actually. Including one that was less a pet, more a momentary rescue, found a small sparrow type bird stunned in the middle of a road, think it had KOed itself flying into a bus shelter. Was going to take it to a nearby vet, only I had to go to a GP appointment myself,was on the way there at the time.
So this little bird goes up the sleeve of my trenchcoat, intended to keep it safe, warm and calm in the dark. Only it didn't quite work out that way. Woke up mid consultation with the doc, shot out of my coat sleeve like a bullet and went on flying madly round the room. Eventually recaptured, with some effort, and a decidedly stunned GP, who did give me a bit of a telling off not to bring animals there again, but seemed to see the funny side of it, and that it was a rescue, so I didn't really have much choice at the time.
Hard not to laugh your arse off, little bugger made quite a scene, flying around twittering like a meth-addled bat outa hell, around this small surgery room, absolutely golden the look on the GPs face, although I suspect I probably looked much the same, after it shot out of my sleeve like that. Wasn't banking on it waking up in the middle of my medical appointment. Christ it was fucking funny as though
