I have a pet salamander. His name is, surprisingly, Salamander, though he has gotten quite a few nicknames in the 6 months that we've had him living in the lap of luxury. Most of the time I call him Creature, although some less flattering nicknames have come out, including Stinky, Stink ball, Savage (when he makes a particularly ferocious snap at my food offerings), and Cutie (which I'm sure makes him feel very manly). My dad insists that he is a girl (which probably makes him feel much worse than when I call him cute) and usually calls him Sally or some variation of that. And my mother, well, she's too busy stuffing food in the poor things mouth and sending him on a long and painful road to obese-dom to give him a proper name. She insists that he's "Just a little boy!" and should get as much food as he wants. I object, and every time he decides to trek out from under his log when others are watching, I point out that he's gotten much rounder since the last time we actually saw his whole body.
One unfortunate night my cute little creature decided that he was not happy with something in his wonderfully designed storage box-turned-terrarium and decided it was time to make his disappointment known. I
looked over and saw him scaling the wall of the box. This was quite shocking since he usually doesn't even soak in his pool while the lights are turned on. We did an emergency soil-change, and all has been well ever since.
looked over and saw him scaling the wall of the box. This was quite shocking since he usually doesn't even soak in his pool while the lights are turned on. We did an emergency soil-change, and all has been well ever since. Though many people think that a salamander is probably one of the most unappealing pets out there, I have to disagree (obviously). I get great pleasure out of having him around. He's started to recognize me as one of his "feeders" (although he probably likes my mom better, because he knows she cant resist him), and every time he sees me looking for him, he stretches his neck out from under his log and gives me a cute little salamander smile. He also has a few quirks, like his obsession with chicken, his need to attack anything that moves, and his bathing ritual (in the tub, every night at 8 o'clock). I love just watching him, he's so adorable.
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I realize that a salamander can be considered an odd choice for a pet, which leads me to my question for you marvelous blog readers:
What is the strangest pet you or someone you know has had? What pet do you wish you had?
