Saturday, December 31, 2011

Exotic Florida

Floridians love exotic pets.  When my older son was young he had a pet fish.  It wasn't just any fish, it was an Oscar.  Oscar fish are native to South America but they're all over the place now.  My son's Oscar was big.  He kept it in an aquarium on his desk - with a piece of plywood over the top because Oscar was always trying to escape.

I was scared to death of him.  The Oscar, not my son.

Sometimes Oscar would bump up against the plywood so many times that he'd actually flip it and fling himself out onto the floor where you could hear him flopping around all over the house.  If Scott wasn't home I'd have to pick up Oscar and throw him back into the tank.  Very scary business.

What did he eat?  Anything that went into the tank.  Oscars eat mice but I don't remember Scott ever feeding him mice.  His favorite treat was raw hamburger. (That's Oscar, not Scott.)

We in Florida read all the time about folks trying to sneak exotic pets and foods into the country.  There are whole areas in South Florida where parrots and other exotic birds have been let loose.  We also have a big problem with pythons.

And speaking of pythons, this morning's paper had an article about a Brazilian trying to get through airport security in Miami with several baby pythons and tortoise hatchlings in his underpants.

I hope they let him go.  I think having baby tortoises and pythons in your underwear is punishment enough. 


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