Ecospheres? (from another thread)

[SeatClutcher]

Hi! And welcome!

I'm Kristen, and I live in upstate NY (until after Ian finishes training with AirNet, when we'll move who-knows-where).

I'm a freelance/fiction writer, no kids, three cats, and two ecosphere shrimp.

I very much passionately love pasta.

[Kristie]

Originally Posted by SeatClutcher

Hi! And welcome!

I'm Kristen, and I live in upstate NY (until after Ian finishes training with AirNet, when we'll move who-knows-where).

I'm a freelance/fiction writer, no kids, three cats, and two ecosphere shrimp.

I very much passionately love pasta.

Kristen, you have two ecosphere's?! how long have they lasted so far?! i've been thinking of getting one to perk my office up (either that or some fish)...

[SeatClutcher]

Originally Posted by Kristie

Kristen, you have two ecosphere's?! how long have they lasted so far?! i've been thinking of getting one to perk my office up (either that or some fish)...

I have one ecosphere that began with four shrimp (two are left). I got it about two years ago. The manual that comes with it says it's normal for a shrimp or two to die, and that they can last anywhere from one to five years (I think).

I don't like having fish because I feel bad for them (I always fear they feel trapped and bored to death), but I like the ecosphere because that world is their WHOLE world. They eat the algae, they have their own air...and the sphere is more than big enough for them (unlike a lot of fish bowls).

[Kristie]

yea.. i always feel bad for.. what are those fish.. gamma's or gobe's or somehting? the ones in the little cups that are blue/purple in color...they never go anywhere in those tiny little cups. how sad

i thought about hermit crabs but i don't think the office would like something like that walking around in a tank... one of my ex-work buds caught a scorpion one day and kept it in a tank in his office.. it was weird, but cool to watch! haha

[Brenda]

Originally Posted by Kristie

yea.. i always feel bad for.. what are those fish.. gamma's or gobe's or somehting? the ones in the little cups that are blue/purple in color...they never go anywhere in those tiny little cups. how sad

i thought about hermit crabs but i don't think the office would like something like that walking around in a tank... one of my ex-work buds caught a scorpion one day and kept it in a tank in his office.. it was weird, but cool to watch! haha

Oh my gosh, speaking of hermit crabs...
One night I was flying back from an overnight with Eric and happened to look down the aisle. There were two crabs just walking along in their colorful shells. I guess they got out of some kids bag and decided to try and make a run for it! They didn't get far once the f/a got hold of them and made an announcement for the owners to claim them! lol

[SeatClutcher]

Originally Posted by Kristie

yea.. i always feel bad for.. what are those fish.. gamma's or gobe's or somehting? the ones in the little cups that are blue/purple in color...they never go anywhere in those tiny little cups. how sad

i thought about hermit crabs but i don't think the office would like something like that walking around in a tank... one of my ex-work buds caught a scorpion one day and kept it in a tank in his office.. it was weird, but cool to watch! haha

Ugh. See, that's the kind of thing I think is cruel. Someone takes a crab from an environment where it has absolute free reign and sticks it in a glass case to "watch" it.

Or they take a turtle, a natural wanderer, and stick it in an aquarium.

Or stick a snake in a glass box.

Or stick an iguana in a glass box.

Or stick a parrot (or any other bird) in a ridiculously confining cage.

There's just something inherently egotistical about that. MUST we rule over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth to such a degree?

The further something naturally roams, the more confined it ends up being. Cats and dogs? They get to roam the apartment. BIRDS? They get their wings clipped and are stuffed into a teeny cage so some human can listen to the poor things twitter, bored to death on those little wood perches.

I'm getting sad, now.

(This isn't a rant at you, Kristie - your post just prompted mine.)

[Chi829]

Kristen- I feel the same way,,,,,, Ever since I saw Finding Nemo (is that the name) I refuse to have a fish tank. I dont go to zoos and I dont support the circus either. All that is very cruel, IMO anyway.

[Kristie]

I'm a big proponent of the zoo... not that i give them money or anything (yet) but if we didn't have zoo's, there would be a lot of extinct species in today's age because of some of the tribal hunting that still goes on, human abuse and just straight out endangerment. that along with the need to have children understand the animals, how big they are, how fierce they can be... you just can't get that same type of element from watching a PBS wild show or national geographic.. to see them in person can make the biggest difference to a child's perception.

Knowing that zoo keepers are always zoologists who actually study and learn how to treat the animals with care and with the right types of food/lifestyle, keeping them alive and procreative (for our future environment) is what i support (take the wild wolves in the rockies/colorado/montana). I don't support the those who like to keep tigers or others as pets, i don't support the circus, i don't support regular people that want to exploit certain animals for particular gain... but the zoo and environmentally friendly breeding grounds (like where the wolves came from for repopulation), i think, IMO, is a good thing.

yes, they might be in "captivity" but it's really for their own benefit considering there are other captive carnivores that wouldn't mind having them for lunch! haha

zoo's are always not for profit or state funded (?) and the cost you might have to pay to get in goes straight into the cost of running the zoo and taking care of the animals properly.

figured i'd chime in on just what good the zoo and zoo keepers do for our mother earth

[mcmuffinpilot]

My roomate desperatly wants a Hedgehog to have at home and take to work, he works at petmart in I.T. and they allow him to have small pets in cages at their desks. I guess we found out that Hedgehogs are illegal in AZ , so he can't get one, but he has contacts in CO to get one.
Can't see how they are illegal to have, don't think I've ever seen a hedgehog running around in AZ on the trails?? Do anyone know why?

[SeatClutcher]

Originally Posted by mcmuffinpilot

My roomate desperatly wants a Hedgehog to have at home and take to work, he works at petmart in I.T. and they allow him to have small pets in cages at their desks. I guess we found out that Hedgehogs are illegal in AZ , so he can't get one, but he has contacts in CO to get one.
Can't see how they are illegal to have, don't think I've ever seen a hedgehog running around in AZ on the trails?? Do anyone know why?

People are snatching them up and caging them for their personal amusement?