Slashdot Mirror
Household Pets for the Common Geek?
batobin asks: "I just moved into my first apartment that allows pets, and am looking forward to finally getting some sort of animal companion. My question to the Slashdot community is this: are there any pets out there that are especially conducive to a nerdish personality/lifestyle? I was looking into hedgehogs before I found out they're illegal in my state, but ferrets are starting to look fun too. Which pets are especially trainable? Which will be entertained by (yet not intrusive upon) a typist with a flashing screen in front of them? Is cable-gnawing an issue? Something tells me I can do better than simply a dog or a cat."
If you are looking to make a commitment I would recommend a few sugar gliders. They are very fun, but they do bond to their owners and live for many years, so they aren't a good choice if you're just dabbling with the idea of pets. They are also communal, so you should get at least two.
As always, a simple web seearch will turn up lots more information.
-- MarkusQ
Aibo. Obviously!
-WolfWithoutAClause
"Gravity is only a theory, not a fact!"if you're just looking for a fixture around the apartment, go with something like a guinea pig or a fish... ferrets stink. literally. i mean, given that you're on slashdot, your chances of getting a girl to voluntarily come over are already halved, but if you do by some miracle score one for the home team, ferret-stink is a big turn-off.
if you're really looking for a companion with some personality, go with a cat, or to a lesser extent, a dog... personally, i'm a dog kinda guy, but its hard to find a good sedate breed of dog that won't get in your way while coding. if you do opt for a dog, definitely get obedience training. its indispensible for any dog owner, coder or not.
- Keep small pets. Pets like cats, and anything smaller, are good for this. The reason is cost. Food for a large dog will cost you a ton compared to a half-tin of cat food a day and a bag of dry food every two weeks.
- Keep low-maintenance pets. Cats are reasonably good for this, as long as you remember to let them in and out (if applicable), and remember to change their litter and feed them. They'll mostly stay out of your way if they're loners, and if they're sucky (friendly, suck-up, lovey) cats, they'll gladly sit in your lap, where you can pet them with one hand and browse slashdot with the other.
- In a ground floor apartment, you can have any pet you want. In anything above the 1 1/2th floor, or anything above the 3rd floor that doesn't have a huge tree just outside the patio/window, you need an indoor pet, or a 'companion' pet. Cats are bad for this (unless you have the tree), since once you get outside, they'll take off, and you'll have to wait for hours for them to come back so you can open the door. Dogs are better for this, since you walk them and then go home with them. Problem is, you have to walk them, it's not an option.
- Don't go exotic. It might seem 'cool' or 'geeky' to have an exotic pet, but when it gets sick and the vets are clueless, when the only petstore around that carries food for it closes up, when you move to a no-pets apartment and have to get rid of it, it can be a pain in the ass.
- Don't get a bird. Either you let it fly around the apartment and crap on everything, or you lock it up in a cage, which is cruel. The best case you could hope for is one that's happy in a cage, in which case it'll sing and whistle at you, which can make concentrating or sleeping somewhat difficult.
I'm a cat person myself, I've almost never not had a cat, but I'm also aware of how much work it takes to care for a cat, and a lot of pets take more work to manage. Be very careful. Ask your local petstore, or as many local petstores as you can find. Ask friends, family, coworkers what kinds of pets they have or have had, and what it takes to take care of them. Get as much info as you can, not just from slashdot. No one here knows enough about your personal habits to give you proper information, only suggestions.And lastly, once you decide on a pet, go to the SPCA or the local animal shelter. Don't buy from a petstore when there are poor things sitting locked in cages for who knows how long, up until they have to be killed to put them out of everyone's misery.
--Dan
Something tells me I can do better than simply a dog or a cat.
[This sounds like a sickly competitive statement.]
Dogs and cats have millenia of domestication backing them up. If you want a trainable animal, this seems like a no brainer. My dog knows all sorts of things.
- "Let's take a nap" and Belle runs up stairs.
- "MOVE!" and Belle avoids being kicked and gets out of my way.
- "Treat!" and she pays more attention to me.
- "Truck", "Clancy", "go", and she gets excited to go in the truck to Mom and Dad's to play with Clancy.
- "Get in the truck" and she jumps into the back of the truck.
- all of the standards, "sit", "down", "paw", "rollover", "stay"
- "other paw" and she'll shake with the other paw...
= "Outside?" and she'll go to the door if she wants out, otherwise she'll just stair at you.
- When let in from outside, Belle used to check out the living room for visitors, not she checks out the high chair for dropped food.
Dogs are only fun when well trained. Training is a physical activity. There is no negotiating with a dog. The dog has to know that it is at the bottom of the pack (below children) and may at times need reminders.
Mixed breed dogs are more robust and smarter. I'd look for a young dog at the pound.
Dogs are also a 20 year commitment, but can be well worth it.
Joe
Joe Batt Solid Design
More exotic pets, partucularly rodents, can get expensive: My daughter begged and begged for a "pet of her own" and we thought it would help teach her some responsibility. We ended up getting her a guinea pig. BIG mistake: the cage requires daily cleaning; the litter and food and expensive. The damn little rodent costs WAY more in food and litter than our cat. And a guinea pig isn't exactly exotic.
I mentioned a cat earlier. Now, I grew up with a dog -- a rather likable English Setter that lived to the ripe old age of around 18. I like dogs. But dogs need to be walked (some small species can be trained to do their business on newspaper in the garage, but the smell remains long after the excrement has been removed), and I've always thought it cruel to have a dog and not live somewhere where they can run and play in big open places. Cats are quite happy to live indoors, and some species can be trained to not roam. Persians are good for this, but you will have to deal with their long hair, shedding, and trips to the groomer 2-4 times a year to have them shaved (yeah, the hair gets that long, and perioding shaving is necessary). I've had a long-haired Persian cat for almost 10 years now. No regrets. It even adapted well to three moves in that time (apartment to house, to house, to house)
You could've hired me.
Yes, because a pet is a status symbol. All your friends will think you are uber-leet for having a marmoset.
What a moronic Ask Slashdot question.
- A.P.
"Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
An optical mouse! It always lives with you, very low maintainance and get along well with computer...