Darian Barr, 12, Lawrence, shows her pet teddy bear hamster, Skittles, to the judge Saturday at the 4-H Pet Show. The show was part of the Douglas County Fair, which brought in a small collection of hand pets of different kinds.

Nikki-Lee Aguilar, a 14-year-old member of the Clinton Eagles 4-H club, has cats, dogs and cows at her Lecompton home.

But she has a lot more fun spending time with her box turtle, Stewette.

“They just sleep all day,” said Nikki-Lee of her other animals.

Not Stewette.

“She has a lot of energy,” said Nikki-Lee, explaining that until Stewette laid eggs, the presumably male turtle went by “Stewie.” “I like how playful she is.”

Nikki-Lee was one of several area 4-H members showing off their favorite animals Saturday at the Douglas County Fairgrounds as part of the pet show, which also included cat and dog shows.

But over at the “hand pet” show, these 4-H kids enjoyed displaying their somewhat offbeat pets.

“He’s different,” said Kate McCurdy, 14, of Tango, her fat-tailed leopard gecko, who was joined in the show by Skittles the teddy bear hamster and Joey the rabbit.

The owners took turns meeting with the judge, who spent 10 minutes or so quizzing the pet owners on their animals.

The winner is selected on how well the animal is cared for, how much knowledge the owner has about the pet, and on the owner’s composure and speaking skills.

All of the owners had a lot of stories to tell about their pets, detailing the uniqueness of the animals and why they love them.

Kaden Lee, the 9-year-old owner of Joey the rabbit, said his pet is a real character around his Lawrence home.

Joey is perfectly content sitting on laps, loves to climb on everything, and occasionally models the doll clothes Kaden’s little sister dresses Joey up in.

Kaden will show some of his other rabbits during the upcoming Douglas County Fair 4-H competitions, and the rabbits are a lot more fun than the pigs Kaden used to show.

“They’re cute and cuddly and floppy,” said Kaden, about his rabbits.

The pigs?

“Not really,” he said.