QuiGGs
New member
Greetings from Hokkaido, Japan!
I moved to one of the coldest cities in Japan this past August... 5+ feet of snow on the ground and no car had me a little bit depressed, so I figured it was time for a pet to keep me company.
I love unconventional pets. As a kid, I had a hedgehog and a gecko terrarium. In high school, I had discus and angels breeding in a slightly overstocked (and all live-planted) 100 gal community tank in my basement, as well as a snakehead and gar tank alongside 2 polypterus setups in my bedroom... and an albino pacman frog. I even smuggled corn snakes into my college dorm room (one escaped and was never found).
Now, I'm working full time on the other side of the globe. My apartment felt empty without some kind of critter residing in it. I was going to opt for a tortoise, but they are just insanely overpriced out here... And I would be devastated if I had to come back to America without it. While perusing the Homac pet department (think Japanese Walmart, but no rednecks, and a pet section that rivals some of the nicest pet stores back home as far as super-exotic and wide variety), I came across some very scary giant beetles that I considered... then I saw the polypterus section, but was deterred by the price tag and lack of a large aquarium. I passed by a microchipped $6,000 red-gold arowana (wishing that I could win big at pachinko or the Japanese lottery), then came across assorted frogs and newts... I would have completely missed the axie, had he not been eyeballing me from the front of the tank. The front of his modest setup was completely covered in Japanese writing, which translated as: "THE DARLING OF OUR PET DEPARTMENT..." I couldn't help myself, although I know absolutely nothing about them. But, being impulsive as I am, I decided to buy first and research later. He gave me the puppy dog eyes...
Allegedly, axolotls were made famous way back in 1980 by UFO brand cup noodles... I saw the commercial on YouTube, as I imagine all of you have already. My Japanese girlfriend helped me understand the bizarre, high pitched Japanese babble, something along the lines of "U-pa-ru-pa! They come from outer space!" Surely, they are weird enough looking for the naive pre-bubble burst Japanese to actually believe this... (just kidding, Japanese people).
So here I am, with a tiny little 8cm aquatic creature staring back at me. This should be the start of an interesting companionship...
Cheers (or, kampai, as they say here),
J.T.
I moved to one of the coldest cities in Japan this past August... 5+ feet of snow on the ground and no car had me a little bit depressed, so I figured it was time for a pet to keep me company.
I love unconventional pets. As a kid, I had a hedgehog and a gecko terrarium. In high school, I had discus and angels breeding in a slightly overstocked (and all live-planted) 100 gal community tank in my basement, as well as a snakehead and gar tank alongside 2 polypterus setups in my bedroom... and an albino pacman frog. I even smuggled corn snakes into my college dorm room (one escaped and was never found).
Now, I'm working full time on the other side of the globe. My apartment felt empty without some kind of critter residing in it. I was going to opt for a tortoise, but they are just insanely overpriced out here... And I would be devastated if I had to come back to America without it. While perusing the Homac pet department (think Japanese Walmart, but no rednecks, and a pet section that rivals some of the nicest pet stores back home as far as super-exotic and wide variety), I came across some very scary giant beetles that I considered... then I saw the polypterus section, but was deterred by the price tag and lack of a large aquarium. I passed by a microchipped $6,000 red-gold arowana (wishing that I could win big at pachinko or the Japanese lottery), then came across assorted frogs and newts... I would have completely missed the axie, had he not been eyeballing me from the front of the tank. The front of his modest setup was completely covered in Japanese writing, which translated as: "THE DARLING OF OUR PET DEPARTMENT..." I couldn't help myself, although I know absolutely nothing about them. But, being impulsive as I am, I decided to buy first and research later. He gave me the puppy dog eyes...
Allegedly, axolotls were made famous way back in 1980 by UFO brand cup noodles... I saw the commercial on YouTube, as I imagine all of you have already. My Japanese girlfriend helped me understand the bizarre, high pitched Japanese babble, something along the lines of "U-pa-ru-pa! They come from outer space!" Surely, they are weird enough looking for the naive pre-bubble burst Japanese to actually believe this... (just kidding, Japanese people).
So here I am, with a tiny little 8cm aquatic creature staring back at me. This should be the start of an interesting companionship...
Cheers (or, kampai, as they say here),
J.T.
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