The Pet Insurance Article brought back some memories. As a teenager I and a bunch of friends from school, were into ‘exotic animals’. For Richard this was a serious subject, and he went on to study Zoology, before becoming an intellectual property lawyer. For me I think I rather liked the kudos of having strange pets, and the others (Lee and Matthew from memory) were probably somewhere in between.
A couple of green anole lizards were first. Then a praying mantis, garter snake, axolotl (an albino at that – looked something like this (I called him Borris), then stick insects and finally a pink toed tarantula (looks like this ) called Henning.
Now on the first night I got it, its tank was placed next to my bed (I’m about 14 at the time). I was very excited by such a dangerous pet. After a couple of hours my horrified elder sister Debbie (aged 16 at the time) came into my room saying “ha ha, you put a fake spider on the wall to scare me”.
I laughed at her, believing she’d done the same. But no. It was the real thing. A half inch gap at the back of the tank meant it’d snuck through and there it was, legs splayed so it was as big as my hand…. sitting on the wall. Debbie screamed and ran out. I (not as brave with it out of the tank) moved up to it and managed to slam its carry box over it and slide the lid under to catch it.
If you’re wondering, sadly no I’ve none of them left any more. My house is pet free.
