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There's never a dull moment with 16 pets

Jul 21, 2021

Melissa Trickey loves animals.

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Which is just as well because she shares her Shepparton home with 16 of them.

“I lived on a farm when I was younger so I’ve always been surrounded by pets,” Melissa said.

“I love it. I would rather be surrounded by animals than humans.”

While there's the cats and dogs you would find in many Goulburn Valley homes, Melissa also has some more unusual pets, including two sugar gliders, a python, a frog and a turtle.

“I like being different. I like unusual things,” Melissa said.

Even one of her cats is a little different, with Melissa choosing a hairless Sphynx.

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When asked if she had a favourite pet, it was the nearly five-year-old Sphynx cat that Melissa nominated.

“I love him to bits. Panchu’s very in-your-face,” she said.

“Sphynxes are very affectionate.”

As well as being cuddly, Panchu also has a bit of a naughty side, jumping on benches or cupboards and knocking things off them.

“You’ve got to be careful leaving food on the bench because he’ll pinch it.”

Priya, an eight-year-old Persian cat, has also been known to try and steal food off the family’s plates if she gets the chance, Melissa said.

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Phoebe, a 10-year-old long-haired moggy, and Priya tend to “do their own thing”, however Phoebe loves to sleep in the bed with Melissa’s daughter Nattaya Guligo.

The first of Melissa's crew of pets was Bailey, a now 13-year-old cavalier King Charles spaniel.

Despite his age Melissa said Bailey was still energetic and “full of beans”.

These days, Bailey spends most of his time in the backyard with Lucy, a seven-year-old boxer cross border collie, who Melissa describes as “boisterous and energetic”.It falls to Melissa’s partner, Brad Horton, to take Lucy for her walks as she is too strong on her lead for Melissa.

There are another two ‘inside dogs’ as well, 12-year-old Staffy cross boxer Hunee and six-year-old pug Sharnie, both of whom Melissa said were laid-back and loved attention.

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Eleven-year-old cockatoo Rhapsody is another of Melissa’s older pets.

The cockatoo is an ‘inside bird’ and is not caged at all.

Melissa got Rhapsody while she was a baby, when she was breeding birds, and hand-raised her from about six weeks old.

Since then, Rhapsody spent six years living with another of Melissa’s friends, but has been back with Melissa for the past couple of years and now has free rein of the house, sitting on a perch in the loungeroom or laundry where she sleeps.

According to Melissa, Rhapsody is quite vocal, often squawking, but is also able to say a few phrases, including ‘I love you’.

She also loves being with people.

“She hates us leaving her. She squawks every time we leave the house.”

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With cockatoos living for more than 65 years, turtles living for more than 50 years and pythons able to live for more than 20 years, Melissa said she was very careful when choosing these pets, as her children Tyrone Guligo, 16, Nattaya, 14, or Ryker Trickey, 6, may have to take them on in years to come because of their long life spans.

When Melissa got Sheldon, a turtle, two years ago, she was about the size of a 50 c coin.

“She would have only been a few weeks old,” Melissa said.

Sheldon has now grown to be a little bigger than the palm of a hand and spends her days in a tank.

“She’s very placid and she loves dinner time,” Melissa said.

Feeding once a day includes feeder fish, raw prawns, pellets or turtle food.

Also living in tanks at the house are two goldfish – named Kevin and Stewart – an eight-year-old tree frog named Lillypad and a four-year-old bredli python named Karai.

The python is Brad’s pet; Melissa bought her as a birthday present for Brad.

“I won’t touch her,” Melissa said.

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When they first got Karai as a six-week-old, she initially lived in a takeaway container.

Now more than 180 cm long, Karai has graduated to a much bigger tank.

The latest additions to the household are two sugar gliders – a one-year-old male named Gumnut and six-month-old female, Kalypso.

Being nocturnal animals, the gliders spend most of their days sleeping together in pouches in their cage, but night-time is their time to shine.

“It’s like they are on speed. They are very energetic and fast (at night),” Melissa said.

They each have an exercise wheel, which the family hears getting a workout at night-time while the rest of the house is in bed.

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The final pet in the household is a silky chicken named Cloud, 2, who lives in the front yard of their house.

While there is always a lot going on with so many pets, Melissa would not have it any other way.