The Victorians loved to keep pets — but they were often not contented to make do with an ordinary computerized axial tomography or dog , and preferred something a little more alien . The artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti hold open awombat ; aggregator Walter Rothschild had atamed zebra ; andCharles Dickensfamously have a fictionalized variant of his pet Corvus corax , Grip , in his novelBarnaby Rudge . This love for unusual pets is reflected in the many 19th and early 20th century manual on favored ownership , which offer plenty of helpful ( and not - so - helpful ) advice on the favored pets of the Clarence Day . The manuals make for amusing meter reading — although we do n’t commend trying any of this at rest home .
1. Squirrels
raging squirrels were frequently caught and kept as pets in Victorian multiplication . As C. Pridham remarked inDomestic darling : Their Habits and Treatments(1893 ) , “ It does seem strange that such a shy , wild - forest brute should ever submit to be made a pet ; still more that it should quick become so very much at home as one generally discover preferred squirrel are , with such lovesome , succeed , playful ways of their own that we can not pick out but to give them the kissing in which they take such delight . ”
Pet squirrels did n’t fare from favorite shops ; the manuals intimate that you capture them yourself , rather as baby , since the untried were easy to domesticate . If climbing up the nearest tree and extracting a wriggling , biting baby squirrel seemed a little too challenging , it was suggested you rick to an complaisant gamekeeper . If they had to turn to outside assistant , buyers were discourage not to accept a “ dopy ” squirrel , as it was likely hop up onlaudanumand would probably presently expire .
Jane Loudon , writing inDomestic Pets : Their Habits and Management(1851 ) noted that squirrel were best keep " in little ornamental kennels , with a chopine for the squirrel to sit on , and a footling range of mountains to tighten to a neckband round the squirrel ’s cervix . ” But pet squirrel were also sometimes allow to roll free in the home , make function of the furnishings : “ [ The squirrel ] will operate up a window curtain , and along the valance at the top with fantastic grace and agility ; it will also run round the valance board of a elbow room , and if it is luxuriously carved , it will peep out between the leaves and flowers in a very funny fashion . ”
G. P. Fermor , inHome Pets Furred and Feathered(1902 ) , chided squirrel owners who did not adequately house their favorite : “ The harmless , festive trivial squirrel has , in its wild res publica , about as joyous a life as any other beast in the world , and it is a matter of wonder that any one who really cared for such a pet could have evolved the sorely cramped cages , with that miserable effort at a playground , the madden little cycle . ” Instead , he advised that squirrels are happy with a mate and a large John Cage with bare branches for them to skitter around . A loge fill with moss , dry leaves or hay was recommended to serve as a nest , while bread , milk , screwball , and moolah were say to be the best diet .
2. Badgers
The quaint Eurasian badger ofWind in the Willowsfame does not have the vicious report of the North American badger , so it is perhaps unsurprising that the Victorians essay to tame them ( the two are actuallydifferent species ) . InPets and How to Keep Them(1907 ) , Frank Finn says of the Wisconsinite , “ [ It ] is a very interesting dearie with many quaint and curious habit , remarkably like those of a bear on a minor scale of measurement . ”
The problem , Finn note , descend with finding a good place to keep the badger , as they are such adept diggers they can burrow out of almost any enclosing . To prevent this , the generator recommends installing a cementum floor and high wire fences . The author also advocates feed in Wisconsinite on dog-iron solid food , but supplementing this with dry fruit and the odd goody of a “ wasp ’s nest full of larvae . "
3. Owls
Although they ’re not an obvious choice for a furred comrade , the Reverend J. G. Wood claimed in his bookOur Domestic Pets(1871 ) that “ There are sorry pets to be notice than owls … by proper management they can be made into very companionable birds , quaint , grotesque , and affectionate withal . ”
But then come the rub : “ The primary drawback to the owl as a positron emission tomography is its nocturnal habits . ” That said , the man of the cloth provide a tactic to get around this crease : “ Now , although at first to wake the owl will be find rather a tedious business , and to keep it awake still more hard , a nowadays of a mouse , or a small bird , or a large mallet , will generally rouse it , and cause it to stay awake for some piffling metre . ”
4. Ravens
By the Victorian earned run average , ravens were becoming rarified in the state of nature in Britain , in part because so many of these reasoning birds had been capture as positron emission tomography . Pridham disclose that if found in the wild , ravens could be take from the nest as newcomer , but that due to their scarcity they were more easy bribe at market . He advise raven - keepers to select the largest cage they could regain , or else tame them sufficiently that the bird chooses to stay in one ’s garden , where they “ make themselves very useful by clearing the plants of slugs . ”
Taming Corvus corax , however , was no simple matter : Reverend Wood wrote that his own mob had " been for some months undecided whether we shall have a Corvus corax or not . We should greatly like to have one of these Bronx cheer , but then we cognise he would pull up all our newly - sow in seed , get into the Milk River - pail , tear our papers to pieces , and , in poor , spoil everything within his reach . ”
5. Jackdaws
Jackdaws , a smaller and more promptly available penis of the crow family , became a pop alternative to ravens . “ To procure a raven , an ordering to a dealer is almost necessary ; but every boy should be ashamed if he can not catch a untried Jackdaw for himself , ” Reverend Wood pen .
Like raven , Corvus monedula could be instruct to do trick and learn words , but as the clergyman points out , this did have its limits : “ Corvus monedula are very easily tamed , and become very talkative after their fashion . Their lexicon is , however , limited , and is mostly restricted to the word ' Jack , ' which is uttered on every imaginable occasion . ” The1883 tomeEvery Day Home Advice Relating Chiefly to Household Managementnoted that jackdaws , like other talking bird , were subject to various diseases , but that " a rusty nail in their water … stick - Glycyrrhiza glabra , deoxyephedrine , or scrape etymon of white hellebore " could be helpful .
6. Monkeys
Monkeys were consideredfashionable petsduring Victorian time . Notes on Pet Monkeysand How to Manage Themby Arthur Patterson ( 1888 ) includes tips on choosing a fittingly simian name , commend “ Bully , Peggy , Mike , Peter , Jacko , Jimmy , Demon , Barney , Tommy , Dulcimer , Uncle or Knips . ” However , prospective monkey owners were advise to understand that the creatures were n’t exactly easy to deal : “ Any one who undertakes to keep one of this phratry as a positron emission tomography must be prepared for somewhat unlooked - for developments . Their capacity for rascality and insatiate curiosity are thing that have to be see with , ” warned M. G. P. Fermor inHome Pets Furred and feather .
Fermor recommended that a whole room be set apart for the use of the monkeys : “ The article of furniture of such an flat need not be expensive — rod , ropes , bars and swings are what the occupants will revalue more than chairs or sofas . ” If just one monkey was to be kept , it could be bind to a light , substantial chain , which should be supplement to something it could n’t drag around . But Fermor monish : “ The Larger scamp can not be given as much freedom as their small brethren , for should one of them ship upon a tour of death , or give gratuitous rein to his impish wickedness , it would be a serious matter to restore rules of order . ”
If all else fails , Patterson recommend the following ploy for gaining your monkey ’s trust : countenance a friend go up to the animal ’s cage brandishing and swinging a peg in monastic order to affright the animal . “ In the thick of this nonsense , rush forwards , and sham to take the part of your pet , convulse your champion to within an in of his life-time with the very stick he has been using , and put him out . Next take the scallywag some savory morsel , such as a date , or an apple , and sympathise with it . You are sworn friends from that fourth dimension . ”
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