• The Assman@sh.itjust.works
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    3 months ago

    I’ll never forgive my great-great-great-grandfather for getting my great-great-grandfather that greenland shark

  • pedz@lemmy.ca
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    3 months ago

    Back in the middle of the 90ies, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were a big thing and my mother thought it would be a good idea to gift my sister and I, a pair of red-eared sliders. I kept mine for years and eventually my sister gave hers to me. So I kept two turtles for decades. I have been known as “the guy with turtles” since I’m a teenager now.

    One of them just passed away this spring, after more than 27 years, and she was not that old for her species, in captivity. The other one is still alive behind me, basking under the UV light, and it could be alive for another decade. And I like Mittens (his name) but he’s taking a lot of space in my apartment. It’s obvious both of them would have had a better life outside, in nature, rather than in my sometimes depressive care.

    Don’t gift animals.

    • Baguette@lemm.ee
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      3 months ago

      I agree with not gifting animals, but it sounds like your turtles had a good life. 27 years is a long time and way longer than the life expectancy of a wild one

    • SanndyTheManndy@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      How would their lives be better in nature, exactly? Most animals live longer in captivity, and if they were capable of answering questions, I bet they’d pick having a human butler waiting on them all the time instead of running from alligators and munching on rotten algae.

      Sure, nature would be better for it, but not the animal.

      • pedz@lemmy.ca
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        3 months ago

        You’re right that their lives may not have been that bad compared to being in nature, but in the end, they probably should not have existed in the first place. They were not meant to be in nature from the start. They were meant as temporary living toys, for profit. At least they were not stuck in a key chain or something like that.

        Seeing how one would probably not have survived in nature, it’s probably best he ended up with me. But the one that died this spring was fierce, energetic and inquisitive. Frankly, she was a jerk and I could picture her being “happier” chasing fish in a lake rather than pellets in a small tank.

        Maybe it’s a very human and pretentious judgment to make for them, but I can’t help but try to put myself in the place of another living thing. You can live safely in a small container with unlimited protein cakes but nothing else to do for all of your life, or you can go explore the world to your own risk and excitement. I know what I’d choose, for my physical and mental health. And I know some animals can get bored and depressed, but I’m not a turtle.

      • Shard@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        The problem with buying pets on a whim is twofold.

        1. The animal gets abandoned. They never pick up the necessary skills to survive on their own in the wild, they die miserably by starvation or exposure.
        2. The breeders see the high demand (especially after something like ninja turtles or finding nemo) and breed animals excessively, when demand dies off thousands of excess pets that no longer sell are abandoned or euthanized.
      • Steak@lemmy.ca
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        3 months ago

        Idk man idk. Would you rather be coddled to or be allowed to live your own life, downfalls included.

        • SanndyTheManndy@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          The rise in young adults living with their parents rather than struggle against an increasingly harsher environment is a pretty good hint

  • slickgoat@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    Never in my six decades on this earth, as an Australian, have I ever heard of a lung fish Christmas gift. It is about as likely as giving someone a giraffe.

  • Dorkyd68@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    Same goes for a Greenland shark. We’re talking about multi family generational commitment. You don’t know if your grandkids, grandkids can handle that kinda responsibility

    • saltesc@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Especially.

      Worst time of year for dog shelters. COVID puppies was such a bad time.

      • FiveMacs@lemmy.ca
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        3 months ago

        The amount of people that have to walk on the street to go around me and my dog is absurd. Nobody was thinking when they got COVID dogs, then sheltered away from all other humans and their dogs.

        It’s an entire generation of antisocial dogs with high anxiety and seperation issues. Fucked up .

          • boogetyboo@aussie.zone
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            3 months ago

            Sooo many antisocial Weiner dogs.

            My big mix breed is a gentle giant who loves little dogs the most. I always have to let him down when he gets excited seeing one of these coming ‘no buddy, they bite’.

        • ReplicantBatty@lemmy.one
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          3 months ago

          We got our doggo about a month before Covid as a tiny puppy. She’s a sweetheart but she is codependent as hell with my wife and she doesn’t really like other animals except our two cats. I’d feel so much worse if we had gotten her after already starting quarantine.

  • umbraroze@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    One of my favourite tragicomical video game achievements was in Firewatch:

    Adopted a turtle as a pet. The average lifespan of a box turtle is fifty years. It will outlive you.

    And this is why I will not get a pet. I’m by definition incapable of taking care of them because they might outlive me.

  • 𝓔𝓶𝓶𝓲𝓮@lemm.ee
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    3 months ago

    I mean you can always make bbq

    That’s the beauty of fish as pets, not only they are fun but also very nutritious