THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 14, 1996 TAG: 9607110194
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 47 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JEWEL BOND
CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: NAGS HEAD LENGTH: 122 lines
INSIDE A GLASS cage, burrowed beneath a six-inch pile of wood shavings, five of the cutest four-legged furry critters you're likely to see show nothing but their plump backsides.
Prairie dogs live wild in the high plains from Kansas to Montana.
On the Outer Banks, more than 1,000 miles from their native homes, they live in a beach road pet store - and several residents' houses.
Iris and Norman Silverthorne, who opened a beach road shop nearly five years ago, sell these little doggies in their Nature's Exotics and Pet Supply store in Nags Head.
``Of all the pets we carry, they really are a crowd favorite,'' said Iris Silverthorne as she lifted the top of a cage to display a particularly pudgy prairie dog.
All five of the animals stood on hind legs, tumbling over each other to be the chosen one.
These are really affectionate animals. And though they are known to bite, the young ones can be tamed by holding and petting them often.
``As soon as they realize you are a friendly foe, they just want to sit in your lap for hours, just to be near you,'' Silverthorne said.
Nature's Exotics have sold about 25 of these 8-to 10-inch fur-balls each year to customers who come from as far away as Tennessee.
And the Silverthornes feel it's important to educate each prospective owner as to what their new pets eat: hay, seeds and occasionally raisins and grapes for treats. The pet shop proprietors also teach prairie dog parents how to care for the doggies: The animals use a litter box. They groom themselves.
Restaurant owners Cindy and Mark Dough of Kitty Hawk added a prairie dog to their pet menagerie this year.
``These are great, fun pets for adults,'' says Cindy Dough. ``We named ours Chester. He has already learned his name, comes when I call him, and follows me everywhere I go.''
But, Norman Silverthorne said, you wouldn't want to leave these little creatures unsupervised. ``If you take them home and just turn them loose, they will eat the legs off your furniture,'' he warned.
And though the Silverthornes have heard a few negative comments about keeping the wild animals in ``captivity,'' the pet shop owners feel they are giving the doggies a chance at life - to be loved and appreciated.
``We have saved them from the coyotes, rattlesnakes, being shot and being poisoned,'' said Norman Silverthorne.
Ranchers out West regard the prairie dogs as competitors for grazing land. Horses break legs from stepping in holes the doggies dig. The little critters are not looked upon favorably.
``Out West, it's always open-season on the prairie dog,'' Norman Silverthorne said.
But here on the Outer Banks, the little fellows are coveted and happy - although kept in captivity.
``When I pick Chester up, he smiles,'' says Cindy Dough. ``Really, he opens his mouth and I know he is smiling.''
Dough says she and her husband both love to play with their pint-sized pet - and he loves the attention.
The Silverthornes stress the importance of lots of petting.
``My first concern is for the animal,'' says Iris Silverthorne. ``If you only have 20 minutes a day to give it attention, you don't need a prairie dog. You need a fish tank.''
There must be a lot of folks with little time to spare, because Nature's Exotics has fish tanks galore - with an entire room devoted entirely to aquatics. Exotic fish lovers easily could spend an hour just gazing at the colorful gliding marine life.
And if you don't happen to see anything you want in his store, Norman Silverthorne will find it for you - fish or fowl.
``We will find you anything that's legal,'' he says.
He once found four Egyptian fruit bats for a customer. The bats, about the size of a medium rat with a two-foot wing span, sold for $279 each.
The rarity of certain species keeps the bat cages mostly empty. But there are plenty of other birds, all bred by the owners, at Nature's Exotics. Some even talk. And there are plenty of jumping, crawling, slithering creatures of every description on display - from a two-inch red-eyed tree frog, slime-green in color, with eyes like lady bugs and suction cup feet, to Czar and Czarina, a breeding pair of boa constrictors that have produced 70 offspring in the past four years.
A Colombian red tail boa constrictor about two feet long is on special this month. The snake has been marked down from $159.99 to $99. But the albino bullfrog that looks like a plucked-clean chicken was probably the better buy. It had already been sold for an undisclosed price.
There are lots of frogs, fancy lizards, minature dragons with thorny tails, and hairless rats at the shop - enough to keep children as well as adults entranced.
``There's nothing I hate worse than to go into a shop that advertises exotics and there's nothing unusual there,'' says Norman Silverthorne. ``So I try to have as many different pets as I can find.''
He says people often ask where the dogs are. But the only dogs you'll find in this shop are the prairie dogs: They bark. They can be housebroken. They can be leash-trained. And best of all, they play all day and sleep all night. They cost only $150 each.
Nature's Exotics just may have man's ``new'' best friend. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by DREW C. WILSON
This little doggie, Baby, isn't for sale. But Iris Silverthorne, who
owns Nature's Exotics and Pet Supply, has other prairie dogs for
sale.
PET SHOPS
Charlotte's Web Exotic Pets & Supplies
Seagate North Mall, Kill Devil Hills, 480-1799
Tropical birds and fish, reptiles
Special Attraction: Arnold the Iguana, 4 1/2 feet long; and Elvis
the poodle.
His Pets
Dare Centre, Kill Devil Hills, 441-0600
Birds, dogs, cats, self-serve pet wash
Special Attraction: Do-it-yourself Hermit Crab Haven
Nature's Exotics and Pet Supply
The beach road, milepost 10 1/2, Nags Head, 480-1999
Talking birds, exotic fish and lizards, prairie dogs
The Pet Gallery
U.S. 158 Bypass, Milepost 9 1/4, Kill Devil Hills, 441-1852
Marine and tropical fish, reptiles, marmoset monkeys, small pets
and talking birds
Special Attraction: 18-foot python by CNB