I've been thinking of getting a scorpion, myself. probably Parabuthus spp., P.transvaalicus being the ore interesting of the genus, as either it alone, or the genus alone, among scorpions, are capable of firing their venom defensively. Not that I'd deliberately piss it off just to see it scared, wouldn't be right.
Or, alternatively, the israeli deathstalker, Leiurus quinquestriatus, not so much for the creature itself, but for the potential money due to the fact deathstalker scorpions produce a peptide in their venom, named chlorotoxin, that is highly selective in binding to certain types of brain tumor cells (malignant glioma, one of the nastiest and hardest to treat) I've had the idea for a long time, but you can just see the potential in that without being a medicinal chemist, radiolabeled chlorotoxin could be used both to image the cancer, with I should think, an extremely high resolution if one of the non-critical hydrogens were to be replaced by a fluorine-18, a as fluorine can often behave as a bioisostere of hydrogens, although non-labile to metabolism, hence frequent use in enzyme inhibitors. such as organofluorophosphate nerve agents, and fluoroacetate/aka the nasty as hell pesticide 10-80, as the fluorine makes the molecule often LOOK similar, from a steric and electrostatic point of view, so can often bind in a similar way to what a hydrogen substituted molecule with the hydrogen/fluorine position being the same, but it can't easily be chewed off metabolically, save for a very very few exceptions.
Bingo, ligand for either accurately imaging (18F is a radioactive isotope of fluorine, synthetic, short half live, around 100 hours, and decays via positron emission) which would make it ideal for PET scanning malignant glioma, or potentially, given the right radioisotope, nuke the bastard, not with a baseball bat like modern chemotherapy, but more akin to an IR laser-guided airstrike, surgical precision to deliver radiotherapy)
I've never been a dog person, rescued one once because she needed to be rescued from her bastard 'owners' but usually it's been either cats or rescue critters.
Brown recluse bites? confirmed? Hey at least it's likely as not to have been the commonest of the rescluses (recleese? recleeses?
), Sicariid venom is nasty stuff. Apparently their bigger, far, FAR more dangerous relatives, Sicarius (recluses are in the same family, Sicariid spiders, the word meaning 'assassin' in latin.) Loxosceles are at least small, but their Sicarius relatives are actually ending up in the exotic pet trade....jesus H. Apparently not very aggressive, and people have had very few envenomations, as the natural habitat is deep in the deserts, where they bury themselves in sand, to ambush prey, but are lightening fast, and think 'same kind of venom, just uploaded into a massively more powerul delivery vehicle, only ever read of two bites, but of the two, one of them died, the other lost the arm he was bitten on. Heard the bite compared to that of a gaboon viper in effect, and most likely, outclassing either australian funnelwebs, either Atrax or Hadronyche, as well as the brazillian wandering spider. Its just good luck they don't live near people, and the only people that live near them, KNOW they are there, and exactly what they are capable of (a recluse bite can cause nasty nectrotizing wounds, as you doubtless know, but Sicariius are another matter entirely, expect to end up dead, slowly and nastily, and that's if you are lucky. Although IF I had to choose any of the three as a pet, it'd probably be a Sicariid, or Atrax, as at least they don't actively go for people, I've heard things from people with Phoneutria as pets, that would make your skin crawl, like their running headlong towards the tank and trying to fling themselves over the top, and even accidental imports on fruit, people trying to squash Phoneutria (brazillian wandering spiders) with a broom, only to find the spider legging it up towards them ready to throw down. Real berserkir little bastards from every account I've ever heard.
