[TrissMarigold]

Never had a hamster but I was a proud owner of a mouse (the small, black and white kind - they don't live long so I didn't get very attached to it). That was my first pet. Now I’ve got a cat.

And on my 18th birthday from my friends I got a ...um that insect that looks like a stick. It lasted a week in my apartment. It was in a plastic box (with holes for air circulation) with an opening (lid) on the top. After a day or two it took one particular position and wouldn't budge. Unfortunately it situated itself partly on the lid and partly on the wall. So if I opened the box I would seriously hurt it. I couldn't really feed it that way, so... it didn't last long ... after a while I saw it finally on the floor of the box with legs up and in different color (brown as opposed to the normal green).

I really prefer bigger animals - those at least can communicate in some ways when they want to eat or play. Much more resilient too.

[HamsterofDOOM]

I didn't think those walking sticks could be pets!! I mean.... who wants a bug to take care of?? That reminds me of this one time there was this preying mantice on our porch just sitting there incredibly still. So I'm staring at it then I poked it and like a tree it fell over! Then I ran away, thinking it would come and attack me...l

[SpaceWeavil]

My biology teacher in high school kept stick insects in the open plan science lab, until they got out. I remember him telling us all calmly that if we saw a stick wandering about, not to panic, whereupon one of the chemistry teachers screeched. She'd just found one. In her lunch box.

How we larfed...

[HamsterofDOOM]

The attack of... sticks? Lol, at my school we had an attack of baby preying mantices. So in science we had a little pouch of like a thousand of these things and they hatched, and being so small they escaped through the tiny holes in this glass case we had them in. Though some didn't make it being trapped in a glob of peanut butter (we thought that would be good food for them). And students were actually taking them home and putting them in there pockets! It was a mess!

[Texasgirl]

In an act of cruelty, in fifth grade, I rememebr some of boys pulling the legs off a centipede with tweezers.

I felt sorry for it.

[Shanalir]

I know what you mean, TG. I actually broke off a few friendships (including one close friendship) in Second grade because a few of my "friends" thought pulling the wings off of ladybugs was fun. When I said it was cruel and was hurting the bugs, their whole reaction was "So? it's just a bug." I figured I was better of without cruel people in my inner circle. Thinking about it still makes me .........ummmmmm, upset.

[Silvae]

A very very very belated WELCOME, HoD! Sorry...

****

We had a grasshopper 'farm' in Science class. Three of the class idiots decided it would be funny to open all the cage doors (hey, well, unkindly, it was funny, actually. Screaming teachers ) They had to call in an 'anti-pest' service or something and we didn't have science for about a week - the classes were overrun. And in a surprising show of solidarity, no-one tattled! One of my fond memories...
Silvae

[HamsterofDOOM]

*Shudder* grasshoppers freak me out. We were on vacation in I think Nevada or one of those desert states, and we were hiking along a trail and these flying-like grasshoppers jumped all over us! And they made this really weird clicking sound, I was screaming.
Then when we were in Montana we were on a trail, and moths attacked us we couldn't open our mouths in fear of eating one!! lol

[NeumeIndil]

I was actually attacked by a moth twice last summer. Big ugly black and brown S.O.A.G. decided to tap-dance on my eyelids in the middle of the night while I was sound asleep. Then in my panic I turned on the light over my head, so it came back for round two. Three weeks later I found the thing: it had decided to take up residence in my room and lurked in the back of my closet until I was cleaning and dive-bombed my face again.

[HamsterofDOOM]

That was one angry moth! Or it just liked you.. I've been attacked by moths, flies, grasshoppers, regular ants (they made a nest in my sleeping bag) red ants! Now spiders they mind there own business. I have been caught in a corner with one, having a stare-down, but none ever jumped on me.
Though my mom was caught between the wall and the door, in South Dakota, with a snake in her path, she says she made the greatest leap ever! And once she got out my brothers said that there was a tralantula (that can't be spelled right!) in the guys bathroom!!

[Silvae]

Yeah, when I lived in Aussieland we used to have lots of tarantulas hangin' about. Literally. Like just over your bed or behind the toilet door. Scream time .

[TrissMarigold]

[Robbie]

[NeumeIndil]

LMBO at Robby! Luckily where I live spiders don't get huge and hairy. They stay under about 3 inches/7 centimeters and get hairy. Bugs do seem strangely attracted to me, though, too. Maybe it's something to do with lack of reading material. After all it's not like they have thumbs for turning pages. Or perhaps... Perhaps I am the child of the Moth Man!!! (Checks for big hairy antenae and an extra set of appendages) No, guess not. Whew!

[Shanalir]