Snakes: Where I grew up, if you saw a snake you killed it. Therefore, they were very scarce and if one ever entered someone's yard there would be a serious witch hunt to try figure out who sent it. So it goes without saying that a person who would dare have a snake as a pet was considered to have some sort of witchery. Now that I no longer stay in a village, I think differently, yet I still am not willing to house a snake. I am not ready to be a python's snack.
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| This must be a "cheese boy tortoise" |
Tortoise: Lol, we generally avoided these things. We never bothered them and they didn't seem to notice us. What I knew as a child was it was the slowest animal in the world according to folk's tales. SO when my one suburban aunt came to stay with us and she made a shelter and then fetched 3 tortoises to come dwell in the shelter, you can guess how us kids thought she was a displaced witch. We had never thought of such, she even fed them grass. We had no idea those things ate.
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| Those who own them, love them! |
Chickens: *sigh*. Poultry has been a part of my life growing up, but it never had names. They were all collectively referred to as chickens and were all being bred for days when we had visitors so one can be slaughtered. One day when I came to visit Jozi I was introduced to "Spike". To my amazement, Spike was as big as my brother's size 7 shoes. Moreover, Spike was a Chicken. I couldn't wait to tell people when I got back to the village and of course everyone thought I told fabulous tales. I was scolded for upsetting my non-black "new friend" by asking if we are gonna have him for supper since he was the only chicken I saw in the yard so I had figured he was food.
Hamsters: A hamster is a rodent. Rodents to me are all the same (ignorant yes, but heeeeey) and I don't see me babying a rat. Even going as far as buying it toys. TOYS!!!! FOR A RAT???? No, man. Miss me on that Ntashi.
Not only are these pets unusual to have in the house, they are also costly. For example, if you are to have a pet snake you will need to have a specialised aquarium, heating equipment and most probably its own "room or wing" in the house. There is also the food. Unfortunately unlike some pets (I won't mention, SPCA might be in these streets), you cannot simply just feed these pets last night's leftovers.
The medical costs are also not cheap. When I had a cat, I was told it will cost me at least R900.00 just to have to have it spayed. I am not even gonna start with the amount I had to spend on toys. Toys that she would hide after being bored with them and I would have to find more creative items for her to play with. Now imagine said pet is a snake, what toys do snakes even get to play with?
These are just a few of what I find unusual pets based on what I grew up seeing. I won't even touch on the exotic creatures.
by Queen Troll
