Pocket popular pets

When Elise Gregory was a little girl, she and her younger sisters longed for a furry, tail-wagging, tennis-ball-chasing, four-legged friend.

“Every single Christmas, every single birthday I would ask for a dog and my sisters followed,” said Gregory, now of Spokane.

But her parents just weren’t up for it.

“We’d always get another kind of pet,” she said. “We had mice and hamsters and chameleons and hermit crabs and a hedgehog.”

Anita Raddatz, 4-H Program Coordinator in Spokane County, would classify these animals as “pocket pets.”

“Anything little,” she said, “that could fit in your pocket.”

Raddatz said the size of these animals is great for families living in apartments.

“The thing that’s so nice about pocket pets is that the animals can live in an aquarium that doesn’t take up much space,” she said. “Another good thing about pocket pets is that they don’t make noise.”

Small critters like hamsters are nice for beginning pet owners, said Marilyn Omlor, licensed veterinary technician at Ponti Veterinary Clinic.

“They are easy to take care of and fun to watch daytime creatures,” she said. “They are very inexpensive to buy, but like any animal, you should have a physical exam soon after you get it home.”

Raddatz believes the responsibility of caring for a pet, regardless of its size, benefits children. So does Sue McCoury, leader of Country Clovers 4-H Club.

“I’ve had pocket pets since I was a kid, since I was 9 years old,” said McCoury. “My parents were 4-H leaders.”

Today McCoury teaches 4-Hers to show their pocket pets. And sometimes, costumes are involved.

“What kids are judged on is fitting and showing, their appearance, the condition of the animal,” she said. “And, on how well they know the parts of their animal and about the species.”

But that’s not all.

“Kids should know about the breeding habitat, if their pet is nocturnal and what vet care it needs,” she said. “They learn public speaking and poise and presence. They learn that having an animal is not free – somebody pays for it, and for the food.”

Over the course of the year, students keep a record book to track animal costs.

“They record everything they feed their animal,” she said, “and if they bought shampoo to wash it with. At the end of their record book they add it all up and decide how they are going to pay for their animal. ‘Will I do babysitting?’ ‘Will my premium money that I win at fairs, will that money go back into the projects?’”

All animals are vet checked before they come into the fairs, she added. But people should always use proper hand-washing skills and proper habitat management when dealing with their animals.

“Salmonella is more prevalent in aquatics,” McCoury said, “because the animals excrete waste in the water. So if you don’t wash your hands after you handle them, there’s a risk.”

McCoury’s daughter, Amanda, 14, shows her ferrets PJ, Uncle Cracker and Poker at pocket pet events.

“I thought they were weird and different,” said Amanda. “Everybody said they smelled bad, but if you clean their cage they don’t. They like canned chicken for treats.”

McCoury’s children aren’t alone in their love of pocket pets.

“We’ve had anywhere from 20 to 30 students show up to show their pets,” she said. “Each kid is into a different animal. We’ve had mice and rats, hamsters, gerbils, guinea pigs, sugar gliders, chinchillas, ferrets, hedge hogs, hermit crabs – those are big now.”

She’s also seen frogs, salamanders, lizards, aquatic turtles and snakes.

“Only non-poisonous,” she said, “and in 4-H we don’t allow big boas. No snake over 3-feet-long.”

Students may join 4-H at any point of the calendar year. There are several pocket pet shows planned for the summer and fall, so it’s not too late to get in on the action.

“You can purchase a pocket pet for anywhere from $2 to $2,000,” said McCoury. But price doesn’t make a difference in the child’s chances at winning a prize at a show.

“A child can win with a hermit crab or a mouse,” she said.

One reason children love pocket pets is for their eccentric personalities.

McCoury’s son, Tyler, 12, adores Fireball, his turtle.

“Fireball is a red-eared slider,” he said. “He has red on him so we named him Fireball. He likes to eat a lot of things. Anything you put in front of him he’ll start chewing.”

Gregory said her lovebird, Romeo, still likes to ride around on the ceiling fan “if it’s turned on low.”