Expat pets

[snotface]

I love dogs and when I still lived in England I owned two Dobermanns: a soppy, adorable bitch and one of her sons, an angst-ridden delinquent. Since moving to Thailand, I have lived for more than ten years in a large condo block in Pattaya where dog-owning, quite rightly, is not an option (dogs and condos don't mix). All pets are supposedly banned, though I suspect the occasional budgie, goldfish and the like get smuggled in. A Thai boy I lived with for about a year and a half appeared one day with two terrapins. I wasn't exactly delighted but we put water and a rock in a large china bowl and placed it out on the balcony. It wasn't ideal terrapin terrain but they were both very small at that stage and had room to swim a bit and do some sunbathing. We fed them the Thai green vegetable known as morning glory which they would gulp down greedily.

I became quite fond of them. I christened the slightly larger (probable) male Terry and the slightly smaller (probable) female Terri - well, I thought it only sensible to give them separate, distinguishing names. Every day I would lift them out of the bowl for some exercise. Don't expect much excitement when terrapins are exercising. They would usually make their ponderous way in opposite directions across the balcony and stand in corners facing the wall for minutes on end like synchronised dunces in a classroom. Terri (the probable female) had a very docile temperament but Terry (the probable male) was more aggressive. Sometimes when I lifted him up he would nip playfully at my fingers and once he discharged a surprisingly forceful and prolonged jet of piss up my arm. I like to think this was a show of affection terrapin-style but am open to the possibility that it wasn't that at all. On another occasion I lifted him up when he was wet and slippery and he shot out of my hand like a bar of soap. As he hit the tiled floor with a loud crack I gave an involuntary cry of 'No!' but fortunately he wasn't seriously harmed - just a bit shell-shocked.

Terry and Terri grew in size at an alarming rate and it eventually became obvious that it was cruel keeping them in the china bowl. There was a bar owner in Sunnee at that time (some of you will probably remember the bar - I forget the name) who kept a large water tank containing fish and terrapins and he kindly agreed to take them. For weeks afterwards I would take deliberate detours to pass the bar and check up on our terrapins. I fondly (and dementedly?) imagined that I got looks of recognition from them. After a while I could no longer tell them apart from other terrapins in the tank. Meanwhile, the Thai boy, for whom life was clearly incomplete without animal company, brought home one day one of those rather puny Thai squirrels known as gra-rok. But that's another story...

[gerefan2]

I hope they didn’t end up in that bar in Sunee that had a small tank containing a huge turtle for years and years...

[Smiles]

In our house I run across a cockroach about once a month. But the poor bugger is always dead ... always turned over on it's hard-shell back with it's cute little legs poking upwards at military attention. I'm assuming that our place is fairly spotless and he'd made a lethal mistake thinking the floors would ~ naturally ~ be covered in crumbs, spilled beer, or gecko feces. Wrong!
Do you think a live cockroach would make for a loving pet?

[joe552]

Lovely story well written, snotface

[Oliver]

I was surprised years ago when my boyfriend bought a "gra-nok" from the Bangkok market....I'd never heard of squirrels being kept as pets though a grey-squirrel who lived in my garden would approach me for nuts. "Toi" became quite attached to P, welcoming him home with squeaky noises and climbing all over him as he watched TV.
Toi was eaten by the family dog

[arsenal]

Not a pet as such but there's usually a gekko or two in the hotel room. perhaps an inch long. I love them.

[frequent]

Not a pet as such but there's usually a gekko or two in the hotel room. perhaps an inch long. I love them.But do they love you? What about the age difference?

[Nirish guy]

Hey now FQ thats none of our business - as long as they're over 18 they're both consenting adults and so can do whatever takes their fancy ! That Gekko might have children to fed and so does what he has to do no matter how much ti turns him, not up to us to judge......

[christianpfc]

...where dog-owning, quite rightly, is not an option (dogs and condos don't mix).
I once had a look at rooms in a not-so wealthy area of Bangkok, but when I saw how much stuff people store in the hallway, and dogs on the hallway on second floor (either pet dogs or did stray dogs make their way up that far?), I decided against.

I have one gecko in my room, and pet the occasional cat (and rarely dog) that comes along my way, that's enough for me. I wouldn't/couldn't take responibility for a pet.

[francois]

I have a pet who I keep in my room at night and let it out to play during the day. No problem.