How many do YOU own?

I want more, too, but want to get my housing situation worked out first so I know if I'll have a herp room and won't have to move any more animals than necessary. I need to get some female balls to go with the poss het pied and albinos and I think I want to get a few leopard geckos. They're so pretty

0.0.1 ball python
1.0 bichon frise (dog)
0.1 Akita (dog)
1.0 cat
1.0 rabbit
2.1 mice ( strangely enough one is a pet that ive had for about 2 years)
1.0 chipmunk ( i found the thing under my deck after my cat hurt it and i nursing it back to health. There was no external injury but he just drags his back legs around. i cant afford to take him to the vet so they can charge me hundreds of dollars on something that will probably not even make it.)

ohh and i almost forgot. i have 5 chickens and 2 ducks

Let's see...

1.0 Ball Python
1.0 Red Tail Boa
0.0.1 Bearded Dragon
0.1 Boston Terrier

Fish (cichlids in a few different tanks): Midas, Motaguense, Convict, Severum, Managuense, & 2 Plecos

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JLC

Kids are awesome...but oh so hard to raise! They start out so "simple" as tiny newborns, who just need lots of love and milk and sleep and diapers. Then they start to grow up.....LOL

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I have to agree with Judy. Everyone complains about newborns and never getting any sleep or the terribles twos, but that's the easy part. Smulkin and I have 3 boys ages 11, 12, and 14. Each is awesome in his own way, but, man, somedays you just want to tear your hair out - or theirs, either way.

The great thing about pets is they never really leave that stage of just needing food, sleep, exercise, and love. My signature tells you most of what we have in our house. We also have a dwarf hamster and four mice that were supposed to be food but have now been adopted by our 11-year-old (our budding zoologist/veterinarian).

And Rusty, I have sincere admiration for you - the work you do with the herps and the family you have made for yourself. Kudos.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Smynx

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JLC

Kids are awesome...but oh so hard to raise! They start out so "simple" as tiny newborns, who just need lots of love and milk and sleep and diapers. Then they start to grow up.....LOL

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I have to agree with Judy. Everyone complains about newborns and never getting any sleep or the terribles twos, but that's the easy part. Smulkin and I have 3 boys ages 11, 12, and 14. Each is awesome in his own way, but, man, somedays you just want to tear your hair out - or theirs, either way.

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Speaking as a mom of 11 and 13 year old girls, I don't think there's really a net change in difficulty level, just what types of challenges you face. My 13 year old slept for 20 minutes at a clip and still has trouble sleeping all the way through the night (though now she just reads instead of needing Mom); the 11 year old, on the other hand, slept through the night literally from day 1 (though there was an ugly phase of getting up at 1 AM for months at a time). On the one hand, I don't have to dress them or carry a diaper bag everywhere I go or worry about holding two little hands all the way through the store, but on the other hand I didn't have to worry about their friends, peer pressure, or hormones at the younger ages. It's easier to me now to parent them than when they were little, but this age definitely has its own challenges.

Yes...the challenges definitely change. I guess it depends a lot on the parent and on the kid as to whether those new challenges are harder than the earlier ones or not. To me...it's very tiring to have a baby/toddler for the very reasons you stated...lugging around diapers, having to constantly be alert to everything they do, holding hands and keeping them in check wherever they go.....etc etc. But that's easier than dealing with some of the issues we're facing now....learning difficulties, peer pressure, hormones, idiotic decisions due to severe lack of judgement...etc etc. But some of my current exhaustion could be based on a particularly traumatic weekend we just had that I haven't yet recovered from. :( Still....I wouldn't trade the kids for anything in the world...even if I do want to pull my hair out (or theirs, as Smynx so aptly stated!)!

ball pythons: 3.6 (2 normal males and 1 het for albino male, 6 normal females)

boas: 1.1 (1 male hypo and 1 bci female)

corn snakes: 1.1 reverse okeetee
1.1 candy cane
1.1 yellow creamsicle
0.2 albino
1.1 striped anrey
0.1 striped albino
0.1anrey het for pastel
1.0 anrey motley het for pastel
1.2 anrey
1.0 snow
0.1 sunglow
0.2 normal
1.0 ghost

bearded dragons: 5.3 normal and red gold

blue tongued skink: 0.1

leopard geckos: 26 i can't how many of each sex, normals, hi yellows,patternless, albinos, jungles and double het for patternless albino

labs: 0.2 1 black and 1 yellow

Ferrit: 1.0

timor monitor: 1.1

horse: 0.1 Quarter horse

wife: 0.1

i think that is it.

i own the world.

Will don't make me come over there..lol :twisted:

I wanted to thank you guys for your kind words.
I hope that I wasn't a downer with my last post, the experiences that my family and I have had have been dealt with and of course are emotional but we live it everyday. So I guess I don't really think of how others will perceive it when first hearing it. It is a very tragic situation, but we have done our best with it, and all three of us live very happy lives. Griffin has really taught me so much about life and how to be a mom, and Winslow has been teaching me how to survive and be "me" for the past ten years. We love it.
Of course when Griff turns thirteen, well thats a whole different story...lol
If he turns out to be like his dad (which he is already a minature version of) my hands are going to be very very full..lol
But I wouldn't trade it for the world.
Live your life to the fullest, and never take anything for grantid.
Sincerely
Rusty

1.2 ball python
0.1.1 red tail boa
0.0.1 snow corn snake
1.2 tokay gecko
1.3.15 mice (and more coming soon)
1.2 pet rats (2 hairless)
0.1 english bulldog
0.1 kitten
4 oscars, 2 perch, 1 pelco, 1 striped raphael, 1.1 betta fish, 1 tiger barb