Job Discussion Forums

[Blueali13]

Hi all!

I'm due to come to Jakarta in August and was wondering what animals are kept as pets, if any. I'll be leaving Turkey where only dogs and cats are really kept, maybe the odd hamster too!!

Thanks for any info

Blue

[ls650]

I found that the idea of keeping animals in the home as pets instead of food is still a bit of a novel concept in Jakarta. About 10% of my students had some kind of pet, usually a bird, fish, or a dog. Cats weren't quite as popular but seemed to be gaining in popularity.

[gugelhupf]

I have a cat who came to me as a stray kitten who was being terrorised by a group of little kids. Posh cat breeds - especially Persians - are the height of fashion in wealthy suburban households right now although they don't respond well to the climate here and spend more time at the vets than at home. At least it gives the army of pembantu's something to do removing hair and dandruff from the plush upholstery.

The local cats are descended from a different ancestor than most domestic cats in the west. They are well-adapted to the climate and generally very savvy and streetwise. My kitty has a complete tail but this is a rarity as most of the moggies here have twisted or incomplete tails.

I plan on being here for the medium to long term but I do question the wisdom of foreigners who take on pets like cats and dogs when they only expect to be around for a year or two.

[GuruStip]

Indonesia's great for animals, you can get all sorts here, and they don't last long, which is even better!

Scabby cats are ten a penny. Who needs to take in strays, when for just a dollar you can buy a prime 'guaranteed high quality' specimen from the ojeg drivers on the corner. You might even get lucky and buy a blind one, or one with some strangely exotic and highly contagious skin disease. And it'll help you build a bond with the local community when you go back to replace Flaky Flaps, or whatever you call it, on a monthly basis.

Dogs are a little more expensive, and they need more food, but are great fun for scaring little kids on bikes, especially if you file their teeth to razor points and shave patches of hair off. If you some cats too, well that cuts down on the food bills...

If you want to go upmarket, there're plenty of 'tropical' options.

No birds fly freely here, because they've all died of bird flu. Hold on, I'm wrong... Oh yeah, they're all in cages! The bird market is really where your bargaining skills come into play: why buy just one? Just go to the guys outside the shoppping malls with bird cages and buy five - then you'll get one for free, and maybe a sweet discount on a 30cm-square cage to put them all in! For an extra few thousand rupiah, you might get them all colour co-ordinated in pink, blue, yellow or whatever other colours you can get permanent markers in.

The lower maintenance, less contagious, though less cuddly, option is the snake. Available again from the mall-front entrepeneurs, these are the masculine alternative to kittens, and will surely dazzle all visitors to your house. The best time to get one of these bad boys is on a Friday or Saturday evening in the city centre, when there are many Western Shrivelled Trouser Snakes (Buleus floppius) on the prowl, looking for some chicken. Be careful not to let it escape in a public area, as it is likely to be hammered flat by a scared pembantu, or have all of the blood sucked out of it by a Chinese man in search of extra 'oomph'.

The true connoiseur of the pet market will love to take the opportunity to raise a primate here. For less than a bag of monkey nuts, you can buy a whole monkey, nuts intact. THis season's monkey fashion essential is arguably the 'Spongebob Squarepants' babygro, though for a little more you can go upmarket and get one with an Air Supply t-shirt. The life expectancy of a pet monkey is notably short here, as they seem to be bred without an immune system, though will be able to give any children nearby a good respiratory disorder as they are humping its leg.

For the pet lover on a tight time-frame, goats are a good way to go. Prime goat-buying season is about a month or so after Ramadhan, and you won't have time to form too close a bond with it before you have to say goodbye. Soon after you have named it, had the vet remove all of its expensive yet invisible parasites and got in some good goat-style quality time, your neighbours will hop the fence in the dead of night, stealthily making as much noise as possible as they wrestle it free of its chain. If you're not up by the crack of dawn the next morning, it's too late - poor Billy (I'm sure your name will be a whole pile more imaginitive) will have been chopped up and distributed to the locals.

Not to worry about the boring old land-dwellers, though. Indonesia is surrounded by water, and that water is filled with wonderful potential pets.

First off is the easily-kept Jakartan Brown Trout (Turdinina turdina). To get hold of one of these friendly chaps, wait for some local boys to go swimming in the stream and carefully pluck one from their hair. Keep them in a well-ventilated pond or in a cup of tea in the staffroom fridge, if you want to extend their lifespan.

Once you have mastered the low-demand fish species, it's time for a step up into the world of turtles. Turtles are endangered everywhere in the world except Indonesia. How do I know that? Because I asked a man who was selling one.
"Is it OK to sell these?"
"Oh yes Mister, very OK. You want?"
And that, of course, is conclusive proof of the acceptability of buying and selling turtles. These pets will set you back a great deal, perhaps enough to feed a whole family of turtle-catchers for a month, but they will give you a free black plastic bag to carry it home in. Turtles truly are a challenge to keep alive, but don't worry - their shells make great souvenirs, and you can bulk-send stuff home for next to nothing. The perfect coffee-table ornament, next to the collection of coral.


Indonesia is truly wonderful for the pet lover.

[Chester]

Dead Pets Have Their Uses

Dalores (Your Turtle is Dead)

I'm sorry, Dalores,
your turtle is dead
You don't have to go to school
So just stay in bed.

We knew that you loved him
It's easy to tell
We want to make a belt buckle
Out of his shell

Chorus:
All the days you spent together
all the dreams you dreamt together
eating worms through stormy weather
like two birds of a feather

So tell us the answer
A yes or a no
Can we use him as a belt buckle
Or should we just go?

He's useless to you now
So give us the stiff
We'll let you wear him now and then
He'll never be missed.

Chorus:
All his little life and splendor
Stretched and varnished on our leather
Perhaps a ring or broach is better
Because your turtle could not be deader

I'm sorry, Dalores,
Your turtle is spent
But we've got proof and evidence
That we're innocent

AMEN! AMEN!

[happy_me]

monkeys are a top pet here but a frend has a tiger well two and many Chinese have dogs and it a good way to keek the dark skin type out too me i have 2 cats, a wife, maid and a small monkey (who hates the wife!)
if you want one let me know and i`ll send it over

[TEAM_PAPUA]

You'll send your wife???