Pets

As a biologist, having pets is both part of my profession and my own personal life. After I stopped doing research in the lab and field I realized that I miss observing animals and their behavior. So, some pets have found their way into my life - and house. They are shown below in no particular order.  We have one aquarium, three "dry" terraria, one which serves as grow-out for our baby dragons, and three "wet" terraria.   

Check out the pages on dart frogs and lizards.

Latest update 8 May 2025

In the summer of 2024, our neighbor found a litter of 6 Swedish baby hedgehogs. Most likely the mother had had enough of them and they were now roaming the street. We cared for them a couple of days to ensure they were healthy before we released into the forest away from our trafficked street. However, this seemed to have left a void in the missus so she purchased an African pygmy hedgehog from a breeder in Denmark, making us proud parents for yet another creature. She is called Albertin.

We have a group of tortoises consisting of  two males, Darwin  and Wallace, and five females, Jane, Dianne, Marie, Rosalin and Florence. Darwin and Wallace are separated, but the females will hang out with both at times.

Since 2021, they live permanently outdoors with a bit of grass (dandelions and clovers mostly) to wander about in and feed off. Their house is insulated and have "floor" heating to prevent them from freezing during the winter when they dig into the ground to hibernate. 

In the summer of 2023, we were lucky enough to catch Diane and Jane dig and deposit eggs that we could retrieve. Due to a incubator malfunction we ended up with only Diane's eggs surviving. But we are now happy co-parents of six little "pucks". They were sold in 2024.

The most amazing little creatures with wonderful eyes when "closed", as they turn on a + looking shape. We have one still. Enjoyable as they are rather active even during the day.

These are our 'oldest' frogs, and we still have one them. They are very variable in their looks from day to day as you can see from the photos. They are fairly active during the day and don't mind sitting out in the open, so we easily see them most of the time. 

We have a number of millipedes living together with the lizards and frogs. Hands give an idea of the size of the larger species. The others are about 5-10 cm max. We don't see them very often as they like to crawl around under the debris, but that just makes it more exciting once we do see them. The bumblebees are very prolific and they are probably in all our tanks, as well as in the house.

These are some charming critters that are about 2.5 cm long. Since they only live for a few months, but reproduce in the terrarium, the numbers change and at present there about 10 of them. They (P. sinuata) live with the baby geckos and the poison dart frogs. P. marginata has their own little house where we hope they will reproduce. They seems to do no one any harm and simply enjoy life. Eat more or less rotten fruit as adults and some old leaf and wood as larvae. Every now and then they decide to fly and pretty quickly crash into something.   

Former animals kept

Whereas we try and provide the best possible environment for our animals, some will grow old and some will die for no apparent reason or even old age.  Most of them, except maybe the tortoises, will die before we do so it is something one has to accept as part of keeping pets.  Below are some of the animals we have lost over the past 30 years.

Some may disagree, but these were simply irresistible.  They hang around mostly on the ground in the same tank as the geckos Gordon and Kate. All it took to lure them into the open part of the tank was a bit of rustling from crickets. They are not really fat, but keep a healthy amount of air in their bodies to maintain the attractive plumpness. 

We had two males of this species and they were at times very vocal. They sound like small dogs and it is fun when we had visitors asking if we also have dogs, and we can say - nah it's just our frogs!

American grey tree frog (Hyla versicolor) [Amerikansk grå lövgroda ]

We inherited a hamster from a friend when it (the hamster!) was already old. It lived for almost three years. Then we bought this guy Noctis, but he only made it a little more than a year.

We had two "mosses". You see one from behind and one from the side (the eye gives him away).  I think they perhaps more resemble a pebble with lichens on them, but since I am neither  a lichenologist nor a bryologist...  This investment was supported by funds from my dear colleagues at work as a birthday gift 😍

Below are some animals that I have had and found some photos of on an old hard drive. Many are from the 2000-2004 period.

Green cheeked conure (Pyrrhura molinae)