If fictional it would be a dragon. Fantasy classic, beautiful, powerful, breaths fire on your enemies, exceptionally hard to harm, rideable, just looks soo cool, and also it has ancient magic.

If real life animal it would be a white lion. It's the most epic looking animal on Earth. A majestic beast and it's also a cat :D

I'd either want a dragon, or a very big and fluffy dromaeosaur.

I always wanted a snake growing up but my mother is terrified of them. But this Christmas it finally happened, my husband surprised me with a beautiful male ball python. His name is Soren and I've been making jewelry from his shed skin. <3

assuming the proper housing and care and such wouldn't be an issue (money/land is no object, etc):

as far as real life animals go - i just love spotted hyenas. i think they're absolutely incredible animals and i love how complex their social lives are. obviously they'd need a ton of land, and probably you'd be better off keeping more than one for social reasons, so it would be quite an endeavor to keep them with good husbandry, but if that weren't an issue, i'd love to.

in fictional terms... oof this is hard. there's so much to choose from. but i am honestly leaning toward - and this is gonna seem like an odd choice - the jedd of Seussian lore. it's cute as heck and i imagine you could make a lot of things from those pompoms - maybe you could card them into wool?

Realistically, a ferret for sure!

If tigers were already domesticated and it wasn't so cruel to force them into domestication, I'd definitely choose a tiger. Giant cuddly cat in the house! And I'm a dog person...

a rusty spotted cat talk bout perma-kittens -dies-

A dragon to fly around on and burn my enemies with!

Also, a Cornish rex cat would be pretty neat, I think.

Do roombas count as pets? I want two so I can make ‘em fight

if there was no issue/problem with space and care costs, then probably a burmese python. they are absolutely precious and the well-socialized, well-acclimated ones that i've met in person were total dolls. they're probably the most chill of the giant snakes that are well-integrated in herpetoculture, too... at least opposed to rock pythons and retics which are all kinds of high-energy wired bitey that i'd rather not keep. not to say that it would be the easiest pet ever, but if i had the means to care for one and could reliably handle its needs that would be really cool. especially if i could raise it from a neonate.

if we're talking wild animals that-should-not-be-in-captivity-outside-of-zoological-facilities, a lot of birds are really fascinating to me. not even parrots, but vultures. love them, want to know more about them, would love to work with them at a zoo or something. i feel like there's a lot of untapped research to be had in their intelligence and social behaviors, they're just fascinating animals.

and if we're including fictional species then obligatory "i want to raise and breed show-class porygons" because i'm a pokemon nerd deep inside. i already pretty much do that ingame, i have a whole breeding line that goes back to an event pokemon from gen 5... they're just precious and interesting pokemon honestly.

I would love to have just a wall of tanks of different snakes, scorpions, spiders, lizards and rats. I just love all of those. I've had snakes all my life, but nothing right now.

Cockatrice.

It's got a little bit of everything and the fact that it's stare can paralyze or turn anyone to stone is just chefs kiss perfect. I love chickens and reptiles so I suppose it works out haha.

My childhood crush was Haku from spirited away. Because 2D boys are the only ones for me. Therefore, an eastern style dragon...that could shrink to the size of like a cat.

Of 100% a shark, I'm not picky on the type, but a black tip would be my first choice!

For birds: I would want a pigeon, small parrot/conure, or, I would love to raise an owl. For reptiles: I foresee myself almost always having a snake in my care. I just love them so much, and I love being able to show people how cool and just how not scary they are. As for dreamies though, I really want a Burmese python, or a false water cobra (not actually a cobra! They are near-fanged, and it's debatable whether their venom is really a danger or not. they're apparently surprisingly tame.)

I mean a centaur or a griffin would look pretty cool. Centaur would probably find it awkward I bet. Would love to mount a malticorn because they're half dog/unicorn that seem sweet. :>

Perhaps not pets, but I dream of befriending the local murder of crows in my future hobbit-style house in the deep woods. Maybe some of the deer and coyotes as well. When I take a walk into town, people will begin to whisper about he woodland witch.

ohhhh yes yes yes I would LOVE to have a python. I don't know the first thing about keeping snakes, but once I'm out on my own I think I could learn... I just love the idea of being a slithery reptile's warm tree. :) I've never heard of a false-water cobra, they sound really cool! While they don't seem terribly venomous, I'm a bit of a scaredy cat and if I got one I'd probably never stop wearing gloves, eheh.

I used to own parakeets when I was a kid. They were darling. If I had to get another pet I'd probably get a cockatiel or maybe even a Cockatoo, if I could find a stay-at-home job. The large parrots really need 24-7 care -- they're incredibly social and want to be with their "flock" constantly.

I know the original post said ANY pet, real or imaginary... but I couldn't imagine caring for most magical creatures! If I had a pet dragon I think I'd get eaten... :)

an arcanine, definitely. but more realistically, i'd love to have arachnids again. or a couple centipedes.

I would own a skunk or a raccoon since they seem so cute and fuzzy!!