I haven’t had any sort of pet since I was a child, but I’ve toyed with the idea from time to time. I thought I wanted a dog, but I don’t like the idea of leaving an animal roaming around my home while I’m gone every day. These guys are small enough that they can enjoy life in a cage while I’m away, and they will spend most of that time sleeping as they are nocturnal animals.

A potential plus or minus depending on how you look at it is that these guys live from 10 to 12 years. If it turns out that this guy isn’t for me, we get to spend the next decade giving each other cold looks. When I was a kid, my little sister had a pet cockatiel. That bird was vicious. It hated everyone except my father. He it loved. Those birds live roughly 17 years. That’s a long time to care for a pet that hates you. Some time after both my sister and I were away at college, my parents gave that bird away to another home. I’m not sure exactally how old that bird would be now, but there is a chance it is still out there somewhere hating me. That troubles me.

Given that the idea of getting a pet flying squirrel only occured to me today, I’m going to think on it a while before I make a decade changing decision. As of right now, I think I’m going to get one and name it either Franklin or Marta depending on sex.

Update (7/8/2007): What the F was I thinking? Like I was ever going to get a pet. Come on.