Meet Our Favorite Pets

In the past years of our family being missionaries, we have had many pets. Our most recent have been Puss the cat, KFC the cassowary, and Newt the common spotted cuscus. But, besides cassowaries and cuscuses, we have had many other exotic pets.

One of these pets was Yakob. He was a cockatoo. Yakob had some unique features that made him a very interesting pet to keep.

He was full grown when we got him and was quite a smart bird. He had clipped wings, so we would let him wander about our yard. When we let him out, he would play with the chickens and mimic their clucking noises. But barely had we gotten him when we found out that he wasn't all fun and games. We built a cage for him that would keep him safe for the night. But it turned out that Yakob didn't like it. He chewed and gnawed away at it with his large beak until it was destroyed.

He also found it to his liking to chew up clothespins, sometimes when we were all in the schoolroom. We couldn't make him stay put anywhere. Well, these annoyances could be dealt with. However, one day we took Yakob out to a tree where he could sit back and enjoy the view. The next thing we knew, he had gone down to my dad’s office/clinic and broken in. He chewed up a computer mouse. Then he ate up a bunch of medicine. This was the last straw. Soon after this, Yakob was set free.

A little bit before we got Yakob, we had two green tree pythons as pets. They were quite young, so they were still yellow. We kept them in a cage in our room. Their cage had an opening top, and when they were in the cage, the top was closed and sealed with two rocks. Every week or so we would go out in the yard and try to catch some skinks for them.

Other than this, the only work we had to do to keep them was occasionally take them outside so that they could sun themselves. One day, when Hudson finished feeding the snakes, he forgot to place the rocks on top of the cage. That night, the smartest of the two snakes lifted up the lid from the inside and crawled out. Well, we never saw him again. After a little while, we let his companion go also.

Besides these, we have had many, many other pets. We have housed numerous cats, dogs, and birds. Ever since we came to the tribe, our tribal friends have brought us small animals, which we have attempted to keep. Also, we have brought pets in from outside of the tribe.