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I grew up with a father who loves animals. He was always bringing home unusual animals for my brother and I to look at. Naturally we had some weird pets in our lifetimes. What strange pets have you had?

Probably the strangest pet we ever brought home was a Hognose Snake.

This animal has all kinds of adaptations to help it survive in spite of its utter helplessness. It has no real defense mechanisms and it's jaws are useless for warding off predators, so it relies on bluff. First of all it just looks dangerous. Its patterns and markings make it look similar to a poisonous species. If that bluff doesn't work, it will stretch out its neck like a cobra to look bigger and more intimidating. If all else fails, it will play dead.

I used to love it when ours would get scared and play dead. It would lie there lifeless on its back with its mouth open hoping we would go away. And the real beauty of it was, the snake seemed convinced that a dead snake is always on its back. So if you flipped it over right side up, it would immediately flip back upside down. No matter how much you did this, it would just keep flipping over because obviously that's what dead snakes do.   

Another weird pet I had was a baby soft shell turtle. These turtles are some of the strangest looking animals I have ever seen. They don't really look like anything you would expect from a turtle.

I kept mine in a fish bowl and I really liked him. He wasn't the most cuddly pet. I'm glad we didn't keep him until he grew to an adult. Adult softshells have an extremely nasty disposition and some species can grow up to 6 feet in length (With their neck extended).

     My dad used to have pet hellbenders. A hellbender is basically a really big, really ugly salamander that can bite really hard. Don't ask me what my dad saw in them.

I also heard those things can get up to three feet long. I'm not sure I would want a pet salamander that could take my hand right off if it wanted to. It might be fun just to see how big it could get. But finding food for it would be a lot of work. What a cuddly cute pet.

A few years ago my mom got prairie dogs, which are little rodents that are super cute. Unfortunately you can't purchase them anymore in your local pet store because people are afraid that they carry the Monkey Pox virus. Anyways, I think these are pretty exotic and cute. There is Princess Leah and Chewbacca.. we call them Leah and Chewy for short. :)  For the most part they are good tempered... excluding Leah... she's special... :/

I also have a Mali Uromastyx!  Her name is Betty.. she's pretty much the sweetest lizard EVER! She's dating Godzilla, and let me tell you... he might have a fiery radioactive temper, but he's a sweetie when he wants to be. ;)

She's so purdy! 

Supposedly  they are a delicacy in some countries too... yum... betty? :(