I have to admit, I have not always been a faithful pet owner. The easiest experience I had owning pets was taking care of my fishes. I just had to feed them flakes and dried blood worms from Big Al's and watch them swim around in their tank. Even when I didn't feed them for a couple of days they would be okay. They weren't needy and they never called for food or anything. I was so interested in fish at the time that I did one of my Science Fair projects on the schooling of neon tetra fish and won third place.
My first experience with pets to hold were my first two degus (which are small rodents), Speedy and Porsha. To be honest, I didn't even know their genders, I just named them based on their personalities. Speedy was a quick degu, not easy to hold and bigger than Porsha. Porsha was an angel, quiet, sweet, and easy to pick up without wriggling. Both degus were energetic, but my brother and I didn't know that at first. When my dad first brought them home, I was sick in bed and I remember my dad holding them (one on each hand) and I said, "What is that?" Afterward, he let me hold one (I think it was Speedy) and I subsequently dropped the one he gave me, because the degu started wriggling. We originally put them in the glass aquarium for the fish (the fish were long gone by them) but we realized they needed more room to roam and my dad made two big (one bigger than the other) cages which we could connect to each other. My brother and I had fun playing with the degus in my brother's bedroom and the basement but they were fast and Speedy was always the hardest to catch. I was a very immature (in age) pet owner at the time and my brother left the cages out one time and Porsha (the sweet one) escaped. For my birthday, I got another baby female degu to replace Porsha, Porsha Junior or P.J. But due to my negligence, I left their cage outside and they died because of the heavy rain.
I also had a dog at some point, an adopted whippet-cocker, a fast and young puppy that my dad really liked. I named him Bob, but he would occasionally nip at my brother and I. I once took Bob to my elementary school once and all the students that saw him loved him. However, we couldn't keep Bob because my mom had allergies.
My current pet is a cute guinea pig named Trixie. We adopted her from my mom's co-worker. And Trixie, like all of my pets, has a personality. She is very curious, but also a little shy. She doesn't like venturing to far away from familiar people or objects. She loves vegetables but she hates oranges. She loves sitting on your lap and eating from your fingers. She hates baths. I like Trixie and as an older owner I can take better care of her. I take her outside and she doesn't run away. I give her food. I clean her cage. I'm really the only one taking care of her, and I like that I'm more accountable now rather then when I didn't do anything but feed and play with my pets. I give her baths and cut her nails. Owning a pet does boost your mood and self-esteem, but it's nice caring for an animal and seeing them happy.
