AUGUST 2021
pets
Table of Contents Unusual Pets
Words and Illustration by Margarita Louka
How to Train Your Dragon Words and Illustration by Zsuzsa Goodyer
Little Friends with Big Adventures Words and Illustration by Rachel Middleton
The Dog and Moon
Poem and Illustration by Indigo Branscombe
Cover and Endpapers: Amy Rose Perkins Editor: Anna Stone
By: Margarita Louka
Unusual Pets
Pet keeping is a practice done by humans for hundreds of years, although it only became ordinary for the middle classes late into the 18th century. Keeping a pet nowadays is common, but if the idea of having a cat, dog or any other conventional pet is not cutting it for you, here is a list of unusual pets you could consider! Keep in mind that the most important consideration in keeping unusual pets is conducting research to make sure you can meet their basic needs, finding a vet nearby that can take care of your pet, and finding an ethical breeder/seller. Hedgehogs The African Pygmy Hedgehog is one of the most common breeds of hedgehogs to keep as a pet, however they are considered wild animals so the owner must make sure that certain basic needs are met and do lots of research before keeping them as pets. One of my best friends kept a hedgehog as a pet. Her hedgehog, Bibi, lived in a large container with food, water and her bed, was occasionally let out to wander around the house, and had a wheel for exercise. Hedgehogs are nocturnal so my friend would tell me how she would hear Bibi walk around after she switched off the lights. They are solitary animals so keeping one lone hedgehog is perfectly fine! Fennec Fox Fennec Foxes are wild, nocturnal animals which require lots of research before being kept as a pet. These foxes are active and playful, and can even be trained to use a litter box. You would need to pay attention to their diet to keep them healthy and have a large space so they can roam around.
Pygmy Goats Owning goats is a serious consideration, but it can pay off as pygmy Goats are gentle, friendly and cute. They need the company of their own kind, so consider keeping two wethers if you do not want them to breed. They also need to be housed in a shed. Snails This pet is usually overlooked. The typical species for pet snails is Giant African Land Snails. This pet is on the low-maintenance side, but still requires the owner to have fresh fruits and vegetables at hand and a tank to keep the snail in. Keep in mind that snails are hermaphrodite so if you are keeping more than two snails in a tank you may end up with more snails than you planned! Even though keeping these snails is legal in the UK, releasing the snails or their eggs in the wild is illegal as they are considered an invasive species.
Illustration By: Margarita Louka
How To Train Your Dragon
By: Zsuzsa Goodyer
I’m a cat person. I love my rescue cat, Bowie Jones, she’s helped me through some really emotionally turbulent times. When I decided that it was time to grow our family, I was unsure what kind of pet would fit with us. I couldn’t adopt another rescue cat, it would be unfair on the new cat and Bowie. I certainly couldn’t get a dog, owing to Bo’s fear of them and with me working full-time, I wouldn’t be at home enough to give everyone the attention they deserve. Enter Urdnok Grunt, the baby bearded dragon. The first time we held the 8 week-old lizard, who was no bigger than the palm of my hand, we were entranced. It looked almost like a toy but would make tiny, jolty, robotic movements. We nicknamed him “Grunty” and he’s been known as Mr Grunty ever since. Beardies have a placid nature, Grunty especially so. He has such a peaceful and calm temperament that compliments the neurotic, scatty cat well. Although lizards are incapable of love, and other complex emotions like mammals are, beardies enjoy time with their humans. Their favourite spots are on shoulders and especially on the top of heads as most of our body heat escapes from there. They don’t need lots of stimulation like dogs, just company. As long as your set-up and diet is right, dragons are very easy to care for, you can even put a timer on their vivarium so that you never forget to switch it off at the correct time at night. Beardies have fantastically quirky characters too, so no two are ever alike! The only issue is the bugs! I don’t mind them in the tubs, it’s when they escape that they scare me, imagine meeting a dubia roach on
your curtain as you draw it, or hearing one of the crickets in your room at night! One locust stowed away in my partner’s bag and travelled to work, shame it didn’t earn us any extra money!
…All of these do make for great stories, though!
Illustration By: Zsuzsa Goodyer
Little Friends with Big Adventures By: Rachel Middleton
Animals have been a fascination of humans for a long time, understanding, discovering and interacting with them has been in our history since before cave paintings. As pets, they have become a comfort and a source of joy for us, often becoming life long friends that stay by our side. With dogs, cats, tortoises and birds and many more we’ve been able to enjoy life more by seeing through their eyes. Many who have pets will remember them more permanently as they were able to have them around for longer. Growing up, I had to move around a lot, and keeping longterm pets was sadly not an option for me. I remember seeing friends who had adopted dogs and cats and envying them, thinking they were so lucky to have animal friends that would stay with them for a long time. To give us the experience of having a pet, my parents allowed me to have much smaller animals, like hamsters, lizards, frogs and fish. Not all at the same time of course, but they became fun to care for. Frogs and lizards were the pets that we found in the wild, my brother caught many lizards, and I caught tadpoles to raise into frogs. A lot of adventures came from finding food for them to eat, there werent many petshops around where we lived so we had to catch what our lizards and frogs would eat. Mostly grasshoppers, crickets and flies, which was a tricky task, but we found ways to master the craft!
Of course one of the hardest things to deal with when having a pet is when they pass away. We often decided to release our frogs and lizards back to where we found them so they could live out the rest of their lives in nature. Something about this made letting go easier, that they live on longer. I like to think of my hamster that managed to escape the house as enjoying itself in fields of clover and shepherd’s purse (plants I used to collect for him to eat). That way he lives on in my imagination, even 16 years later! Now when I see frogs and lizards and tadpoles in the wild, I think of the ones we took care of. Seeing them is a comfort in its own, knowing that despite not being able to keep them as pets, we can see the world through their eyes.
Illustration By: Rachel Middleton
Illustration By: Indigo Branscombe
By: Indigo Branscombe
The Dog and Moon
The moon is a mysterious, fat slice of cheese sprinkling its strange light over plants and trees My dog doesn’t care for the sights All she wants, is to bark at the cat in the night
Copyright © 2021 by Amy Rose Perkins, Margarita Louka, Zsuzsa Goodyer, Rachel Middleton, Indigo Branscombe and Anna Stone. All rights reserved. This publication or any portion thereof may not be reproduced, copied, reprinted, reworked, redistributed, or used in any manner whatsoever without the explicit written permission of the copyright holders.