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China, Just for fun

Who says chipmunks don’t make nice pets?

It’s traveling-pet-store time of the year in Beijing. Most evenings, as the various food carts come out, so does this one:

While I don’t want a pet, I can’t help stopping to ooh and ahh over the animals (there are fish too, as you clearly can see!). Usually there are guinea pigs, bunnies, birds and turtles. Sometimes there hamsters or kittens. And more often than you’d think, there are chipmunks.

Since seeing my first caged chipmunk four years ago, I check to see if the seller (and it’s not always the same cart) has them. A good 1/3 of the time the answer is yes. This begs many questions!

  • Where did they come from? Clearly the other animals entered the world through “normal pet means.”
  • Do people actually buy and bring chipmunks into their homes?
  • What do you feed chipmunks other than peanuts?
  • Do they bite?
  • Are they scared?

I could go on, but you get the point! Based on not-very-official internet research, there are at least 1,250,000 identified species of animals with around 475 of then domesticated (that includes animals, freshwater and marine species). First let’s just pause and slowly say the number.

One million, two hundred, and fifty thousand animal species.

Wow. This doesn’t include all of the variety within species. The immensity of it is just too much to fully grasp! The creator God has certainly done that — been creative. If that number isn’t big enough for you, there is an estimated 10-30 million unidentified species, mostly in the rainforest. So, while we know a lot, what we’ve identified is a pittance. I love numbers, and it’s even a bit overwhelming for me.

However, I’m pretty sure we don’t need to add “domesitcated chipmunks” to the list!

What’s a strange pet you’ve heard of (or had!)? Do share!

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11 Comments June 8, 2012

About Amy

My name is Amy and I live in the messy middle of life. I have been Redeemed from permanent muck and live with the tension of the Already and Not Yet.

Comments

  1. Erin says

    June 8, 2012 at 8:26 pm

    I have had guinea pigs and gerbils as pets, and chipmunks are right in between those in the size department, so why not? They are awfully cute. People ask me why I have rodents, and besides being good company, they are fun to watch, like fish. Studies have been done and found the heart rate of fish-watchers goes down. God knew what he was doing when he created all those species, but how did we figure out that domesticating some of them was a good idea?

    Reply
    • Amy says

      June 8, 2012 at 10:05 pm

      I do love guinea pigs — they are far more personable than people realize!

      Reply
  2. Jesse says

    June 8, 2012 at 10:11 pm

    We had a domesticated cockroach in our apartment last year. He liked to do things like crawl on my head while we were sleeping (which was against the rules, so we put up a bug net). Most of the time he was a good little roach and remained confined to the bathroom. But because he occasionally made his way to the kitchen we had to ‘put him down’ (using borax; or maybe it was the bottom of my shoe…).

    Reply
    • Amy says

      June 8, 2012 at 10:13 pm

      Ah, yes, the mice in Chengdu. I was only woken up a few times when they ran across my head. THAT really was going too far :). Pets are the best when they stay out of the kitchen and let one sleep!

      Reply
  3. Gayle Wilson says

    June 8, 2012 at 11:05 pm

    If on a hike we see a chipmunk and a waterfall, my day is complete.

    Once we saw someone with a hedgehog on a leash – we followed them around for a while. I have a toy hedgehog on my desk – so cute!

    Check this out: http://images.google.com/imgres?q=baby+hedgehog&hl=en&biw=1366&bih=705&gbv=2&tbm=isch&tbnid=gM7jdZSJVKOikM:&imgrefurl=http://gotsmile.net/143947/baby-hedgehog&docid=NmI2t-WhsaZV0M&imgurl=http://s1.static.gotsmile.net/images/2011/11/02/baby-hedgehog_132022359169.png&w=499&h=387&ei=ohTST5D1G4ig2AX3hJyLDw&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=430&sig=117332587417860680310&page=1&tbnh=147&tbnw=188&start=0&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0,i:127&tx=102&ty=45 (or images.google.com and look for baby hedgehod :)

    Reply
    • Amy says

      June 9, 2012 at 5:50 am

      That links to the cutest picture ever! I want a baby hedgehog in my hand! I would probably follow someone with a hedgehog on a leash too :)

      Reply
  4. JoDee says

    June 8, 2012 at 11:10 pm

    Met some people a couple of weeks ago who have taken a squirrel into their home. It was injured and they nursed it back…had an owl too!

    Reply
  5. Loren Pinilis says

    June 9, 2012 at 5:20 am

    I guess if people like gerbils, why not chipmunks?
    I’ve heard of people who have had tigers, sloths, or crazy animals like that as pets. There’s an ostrich farm down here – that’s about the wildest thing I’ve seen in person :)

    Reply
  6. Sharon says

    June 9, 2012 at 8:30 pm

    When I stayed in Beijing I saw a woman going up to her apartment with a ferret on a leash.

    Reply
  7. Deb Wolf says

    June 10, 2012 at 3:10 am

    We have tons of chipmunks outside and I think that is where I would like to keep them. :) We have had dogs, cats, guinea pigs, rabbits, and birds. Currently we are a pet free house, although I would love to get a dog again soon.

    Last year, I traveled to Bolivia with a team from World Vision and discovered that there they raise guinea pigs for food. The teens told us they would come to America and eat our pets. LOL

    You’ll have to let us know if you ever decide to try the pet chipmunk thing. Blessings!

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Preschools in China agree with me: Chipmunks make great pets // The Messy Middle says:
    November 8, 2014 at 6:33 am

    […] out during spring and summer in China, without fail I’d check to see if there were chipmunks. I’ve written about it, complete with stats and photos, thus beginning the start of my chipmunk pet […]

    Reply

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