Pets that Pee on Me

Why do I get the bad end of the stick? Somehow I find myself always getting animal excrement on me whenever I am playing with an exotic animal.

In this lens I will share some of these stories with you. And I'm not talking about puppies... everyone has been peed on by a puppy. But how many of you have been peed on by a possum?

Yes, this is a photo of the moment of a Possum peeing in my lap. Right when the camera take the picture.

The Australian Bushtail Possum

Possums in Australia are like squirrels in the USA, they are cute, have bushy tails and are everywhere.

During my orientation for a semester in Australia, we stayed at a farm in Blackbutt (I still can't say it without giggling). Max, the possum, had lost her tail in some unfortunate accident. Since he was less able to fend for himself, our host parents were caring for him.

So the 7 of us are enthralled by this tame possum. Of course we wanted to take turns feeding her! I was the last to go. When the host dad placed Max in my lap, I got ready for the photo... and I felt something warm spreading over my lap. That's right, Max peed on my lap... and we caught it on film! The picture in the introduction is from the moment of peeing, this one is from just after.

Sadly, Max's life probably ended by being eaten by a snake. Apparently Australian law won't let you have take any wild animal captive, so although they could give Max food and give her a place to sleep, they couldn't lock her in the cage at night.

At a the Koala Santuary in Queensland

In the first month I was in Australia, we visited a Koala Sanctuary. We were so excited to go on this trip, because not only were we going to have the chance to see Koalas for the first time, but we were going to get to hold one!

Now this deification story is not as exciting as the story of Max the possum. There was no big outcry caught on film. It wasn't until after we were headed to the kangaroos and emus that I discovered that the dark brown stains on my bright blue hoodie were in fact, Koala Musk!

Later on the trip, down outside of Melbourne, I saw Koalas in the wild. This topped the sanctuary experience!

The Ball Python

Within a year of these other two incidents, I was back in Boston. My new boyfriend (now fiance) had a snake in his room at his fraternity house. I got along with Shamrock Timmy, and I thought he was the best accessory. I got in the habit of walking around parties with him draped around my neck like a scarf.

Apparently Timmy got really comfortable with me... because one evening we were standing around and I felt something wet and gooey go down the front of my shirt. I have no idea if this were #1 or #2, but I never touched Timmy again!

Come on, I'm not talking about a puppy or guinea pig here!