To preface:
This is the thread where the video seems to have come to prominence (the footage seems to be from BTS at a zoo, either officially or otherwise). "Kangaroos don't need to be taught how to hop."
That said, yes, I have had a kangaroo joey in my house for several days. (Ex was a zookeeper, the little man had been attacked by raccoons and lost a couple of fingers and the end of his tail and got rejected by his mother, needed bottle feeding and medication, and it was her turn in the care rotation.)
The animal shown here is smaller than the one I helped care for, but the basics are:
- Kangaroos are basically what you get if you cross a rabbit with a deer. They're cute (at that age) but not very bright.
- A cloth tote bag is absolutely a surrogate pouch, into which joeys will dive head-first without any real provocation beyond "it's within reach." His was yellow and white horizontal stripes, so the running joke was that someone in a seersucker outfit in those colors was apt to have a very surprising visit if he noticed.
- Most of the time, they will creep around on all fours, which only emphasizes that they're very rabbit-like, just about two times bigger. They absolutely look like cat-sized grazing animals at this stage of life.
- Our four cats see "prey animal my size" and Start Getting Ideas.
- Until the joey Stands Up (h/t to @gallusrostromegalus' "night hares") at which point the cats are Wait Whoah What The Fuck and lose any kind of predatory interest.
- As you might expect, there aren't a lot of hardwood, tile, or laminate floors in the Outback. Marsupials' foot pads are not well-adapted to these surfaces.
- Creeping around? Totally cool.
- Hopping on carpet? Also totally cool.
- Hopping on smoother surfaces? Have you ever tried bowling if the ball was 60% legs? It was like Katamari Damacy when you hit a pile of brooms.
- "Let's take him into the (fenced, secured) back yard."
- Even at that age, a joey is Much Faster Than You Are (as we found out).
- A six foot wooden fence is a curiosity, not an impediment (as we also found out. Oh, Fuck.).
- Asphalt is also not native to the Outback, but their foot pads work EXTREMELY WELL on it just the same. (OH, FUCK.)
- Fortunately, after an exhilirating 90 seconds of freedom (on my very, very un-trafficked side street), he saw us approaching with the aforementioned tote bag, and bounded over and dove in as if he hadn't just caused two heart attacks.
You do not want kangaroos as pets. They're essentially toddler-sized assholes on pogo sticks at this age (and this is without getting into the fact that the medication he was getting meant he had loose stool, so he was doing all of this while wearing an improvised diaper).
All of which is a much funnier story than the time a Florida Panther cub climbed me like a tree while stalking my three year old niece, who was notably bigger than the cat was.
The aforesaid cub instead taking a bite out of crime the ex.
Yes, she was adorable. Yes, their eyes are that amazing shade of lilac when they're young.
