does anyone ever think you're weird for having newts?

[koala]

Does anyone ever think you're a weirdo because you have newts? It seems to me that a lot of people don't understand them. For an example, someone said to me yesterday (I have a 10 gallon tank), "Isn't that a big tank for just one little animal? Couldn't you put fish in there with it?". I told them that most fish and newts don't get along, but don't you think that most people don't understand or don't want to understand newts and salamanders?

 

[Kaysie]

Which is why we have this site, dedicated to education. Most people don't understand, and we aim to educate them.

That being said, my mother still refuses to accept her 'grand-newts'.

 

[t_summ]

I find that most people have no idea what a newt or salamander is. Personally, I have noticed that people think i'm weird when I explain information about them. Whatever, those people just don't understand that they are missing a great joy in their lives.

 

[MelanieK]

Does anyone ever think you're a weirdo because you have newts?

Sure they do, but I have always been a little weird... no use breaking tradition now!

 

[Otterwoman]

How can people think you're weird for having newts when they don't even know what a newt is?
But then you explain it and yeah, they think you're weird.

 

[dane_zu]

a lot of people I have talked to dont know what a newt is, so I tell them its a salamander that likes water a little more and has rough skin, lol

My parents find it kidof interesting though, all hte information I tell them

 

[coendeurloo]

Reactions are, in my case, different with different people. If I show them beautiful photos and notice me talking with such passion, they tend to understand it at some level. Some even get inspired.

 

[Jake]

Does anyone ever think you're a weirdo because you have newts?

I think the better question is does anyone ever NOT think I'm a weirdo for having newts?!

I've had a lot of people come to my house to check out my basement, and only two have actually known what an axolotl is before going into my newt room and the rest compare it to something out of the "X-Files"! I'd say almost all of them think it's weird that I have so many, but out of my whole collection everyone finds a species or an individual that they admit to find "cool" or interesting. I try to tell them as much as possible about newts/salamanders when they come here, and most leave with a better appreciation for them. They still think I'm weird though

 

[Azhael]

I think it´s something implicit with keeping amphibians and reptiles...If you keep anything different than a dog/cat/parrot/hamster you are keeping something weird. When i got my snakes half of the ppl i know thought i was a freak...the other half thought they were cool. Then when i started again with keeping newts everyone thought i was a freak....but after a few months and as my collection grew a bit some ppl started to think they were cool animals. My house mate went from "don´t let that thing ever touch me" to "if you ever raise enough babies....give me some..pleeeeeeease". Once ppl get to know what these animals are most of them get to like them a lot.
When you see half of your class mates (Biology university) confuse a Pleurodeles with a lizard during a zoology practice you start to realize that it´s not that you are weird....is that the rest of the ppl is ignorant....dangerously ignorant....

 

[peter81965]

A Russian friend said to me: 'you must be a very uncommon man to keep a salamander' which i found a lot sweeter than another friend's referral to my paddletails as 'those creepy crawlies'. Generally, yes, I find people find it a bit strange, but then again i don't walk my animals around on a rope and wipe their butts when they poo on the 'sidewalk'. Neither do they disturb people with noise! So in my opinion i'm not the weird one!

 

[Tequila Sunrise]

Lol, peter81965. You have a very good point. Next time someone says it is strange to have axolotls I will think of that.

 

[rigsby]

wierd at first maybe but once i show them around my garage and show them the 30+ different species i have , all the eggs and larvae , explain where they come from , thier different breedind behaviour, show them taking food from my hand and then spend ages answering different questions i think they go away with a better understanding of the wierd world of the caudateaholic.

 

[lims]

if everyone appreciated amphibians and critters like i do i think i wouldnt like it, kind of like my special thing, i find that cool people think its cool anyway, ignorant boring people think its silly , its mainly that people dont have the commitment needed to keep them succesfully, i think,,

 

[caudataman]

snip - "A Russian friend said to me: 'you must be a very uncommon man to keep a salamander' "

I LIKE THAT!!! Honestly I think that people who use English as a second (or third...) language come up with some very interesting expressions. I AM an uncommon man, and proud to be so. Sadly, common people are not that much fun, outside of the spectator's perspective.

 

[peter81965]

i find that cool people think its cool anyway.
Yes! we caudata fans are the really cool ones!

 

[John]

Even the Professor I work for likes to make fun of me for it. He's a good guy though and his son has a leopard gecko so it could be worse. I have to be careful when I speak to most people or introduce myself though - as Coen said, the passion tends to come out and I like to be seen as more reserved than that passion will permit! That passion makes me regress to boyhood. Any of you who have met me in real life or talk to me on the phone will have talked to that crazy child.

 

[newtron]

The majority of people i have spoken to approve of my hobby, though they tend to mistake newts for lizards.

 

[mantighoul]

When I talk about them, people are like "why a newt" or "thats weird"or "get a dog" but when they come over to see some of mine and they see the axolotls, they are amazed and cannot stop asking questions and they fall in love. Yeah cool people have salamanders, average people have dogs and cats
The more you know, and sometimes one has to see to understand.