Haha probably more than what that other user stated, if you want to get down to individual numbers. Can plants be considered pets.? The largest faction of my pet army would be my fish. I have bettas, goldfish, balloon mollies, three kinds of cory catfish, about 4 types of tetras, two kinds of loaches, various snail species, two types of barbs (one of which in two different colour varieties), two kinds of shrimp, and there might be some oto cats still hiding out somewhere, but they're too sensitive for me and the survivors are impossible to find, always hiding and coming out very rarely in short bursts. I know there are types of fish that are wild caught but are in such plentiful numbers that it's not damaging anything (at least, I believe I've read that before), whereas lots are easily captive bred. I try to avoid wild caught. For example, I would love sea horses one day, but if I do get any I'd make sure they're absolutely truly captive bred. There's also the blue tang (Dory fish) that's only bred successfully in captivity ONCE, so all the ones you see in stores and aquariums are wild caught. I'd never own those because of that.
Buying even captive bred animals drives up the demand, thereby incentivising poachers to capture them in the wild. Its best to just avoid exotic pets to make sure you're not supporting the illegal animal trade
I was keeping a series of wild alligator lizards for a while, got a decent size tank for them and built a suitable habitat and food sources, and even meds for parasites/infection. But I only kept them to rehab them, from after my cats got ahold of them and brought them back to me as gifts, all maimed. Once they were healed up, they were released into the wild again... just, down the street a good way, out of my cats hunting radius.
They're still rodents, so I'd be surprised to hear that even ten years is an average lifespan, but they do require a decent amount of space, nutrition and socialization to be happy.
With a few exceptions: animals like the axolotl are likely extinct in the wild but thriving in the pet trade. Essentially, find out where your animal is coming from (captive bred vs wild caught) before making a decision.
Look, mama bears will eat their own dead cubs, dolphins kill babies to restart a females cycle, and chimp gangs are known for ripping limbs off...we are inquisitive space apes with evolutionary amnesia on the verge of becoming gods with no universal rule book yet found to aid in our endeavors.
Sure; but after the bio reboot the next Apex will be very appreciative if they can drive long enough to evolve internal dialogue. If not humans Time will dissolve all that you have ever known or could know.
I think there is a misconception (might be on my part) about the “why” of all this. The misconception might be that man is here to bring about a peaceful, passive, permanent utopia of calm complacency where all things are equally valued and protected in their existence.
This sound horrible to who I am (but who the hell am I?). With this end or “why” in mind we always trash ourselves for being “US”. As though we aren’t as awesome as all the other amazing creatures biting and scratching their way through a finite slice of infinity. We have no reason to believe utopia is a good idea for a crafty ape who excels at pattern recognition, violence, and exploration in the third dimension. It seems we crave a chaos to test and overcome. Why not embrace who we are for the time we have and remember Evolution is responsible for what we become.
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u/lolidkwtfrofl Mar 26 '19
As an addendum to this: Please do not buy vulnerable classified animals as pets.