Pets

[farla]

Petsitting again.

Here's what we have:

There's the hermit crabs, always good for crushing guilt and fear. They've been dying each time they molt. Mom brings them home and they promptly dig holes and prepare to molt. We find out that the diet we've been giving them is kind of like feeding a kid nothing but jello. We switch foods. They ignore it because they don't move when they're getting ready for molting. They're still alive, possibly, at the moment. One completed its molt but hasn't come out yet and we're still waiting to find out if it'll die or if the other one will kill it.

Hermit crabs suck.

Also, we need a third one or they'll be sad.

The hamster-gerbil-things are fine, except they've got bite marks on their ears. I don't know if they're trapped together in misery, or if they'd be lonely if I separate them. And this is one of those things you can't undo - if I separate them, they can't go back together. I'm thinking of setting up a second cage and connecting it, but Mom's pretty sure they'll just divide up the territory and fight more.

Also, they hate me.

We're taking care of dogs. Dogs suck. You have to walk them and you can't just leave food out for them and they shit on the floor if you don't let them out. The big dog we're taking care of for our neighbor is too high maintenance. And he wants to run when we walk and I feel bad if I don't but I can't keep up at him going at full speed even when I sprint and it's uphill everywhere here and it's exhausting just doing the walking. And the little dogs our friend gave us have the cats cowering in the basement (which is an improvement over not coming home at all because everytime they came near the little fuckers started barking their heads off and charging the door). They're also fat and needy. One isn't eating, and the other we don't want to feed because he's so fat. He doesn't want to go for a walk. He just wants to sit down on your lap and never ever move except to eat his food, the other dog's food, and the cats' food. He's a chihuahua. I tried to look up what the original purpose of chihuahuas is and after hitting a dozen pages that don't even mention it I found their purpose was to be sacrificed or eaten. Or both. They are like furry pigs if pigs had separation anxiety. And we have no idea if we should be feeding him or not since he's so incredibly obese. AND WHEN YOU EAT FOOD THEY JUST SIT AND STARE AT YOU. AND STARE. AND STARE.

And there's a betta, who isn't causing any problems.

Comments

[wonsab.livejournal.com]

Hermit crabs…wow. Good luck with those, hope they don't die. (Why will they be sad?)

What are the hamster-gerbil-things, any idea?

My dog shat on the floor about two or three weeks ago. It was not a pleasant thing to come home to. I take very little part in the care of this animal — she's pretty much Dad's pet, I can't stand the odor of the food we feed her before input and the smell is most certainly not improved post-digestion, and she has a tendency to vomit rather more than I think indoor dogs are supposed to. She goes batshit insane at the mention of the word squirrel. She's also had a stroke or two, so her brains are a bit addled. Dad seems to think it's a good idea to only feed her in the mornings, rather than splitting up the meals so she might stop begging for scraps when dinnertime rolls around. And she does not understand the meaning of the word "stay."

[farla.livejournal.com]

Hermit crabs are actually really social, and like big groups. Three is supposed to be the minimum you can keep them at. And it does seem true - right now, the smaller one seems to be scared of the bigger one.

They're chinese dwarf hamsters. They act kind of like gerbils, only they don't chew the cardboard tubes I put in the cage for them. Apparently they're better tempered than normal hamsters, but they bite me a lot.

[ember-reignited.livejournal.com]

People... ate chihuahuas? But they're so small! And carnivorous! And... and...

Okay, so really what's going on is that it's gotten to the point where I have trouble remembering why people would ever want to eat any kind of meat, and so all new revelations about just how many kinds of meat people will eat tend to be mind-boggling. But chihuahuas? Chihuahuas? In addition to being gross and kind of sad, that's actually pretty hilarious.

And for once it's the fish that isn't stressing you out. Though you may have just jynxed that.

[farla.livejournal.com]

People ate people, there. In a low-iron environment, the best way to get iron was to concentrate it. With people, you could have ten people who were iron deficient and about to keel over from a stiff breeze, or nine people who had just kicked themselves up to normal health. Or, you could feed the dog the low-iron fish for a while, then eat the dog. Bear in mind they're kind of borderline between carnivores and omnivores, and can be fed on scraps. Plus, in a society whose other options are people, non-human carnivores are downright economical. (Bear in mind the original ones were larger than the modern breed, and likely even chunkier. Even now they've got a nice barrel chest that brings to mind the modern turkey.)

Bettas are relatively low stress provided this one doesn't decide to stop eating on a whim. Of course, we just brought the toads home.

[ember-reignited.livejournal.com]

Ah, I see. When and where was this, anyway?

[farla.livejournal.com]

South America. The Aztecs had them.

[0range-candy.livejournal.com]

Dwarf hamsters are bitches in furry form. I have scars. ;.;

[farla.livejournal.com]

These guys are relatively good natured, under the circumstances - nothing that's a pet for elementary school kids comes back loving humanity.