For one thing, owls will only eat fresh food, meaning you have to maintain a constant supply of mice, gerbils, rabbits, and other small mammals; for another, the beaks and talons of owls are very sharp, so you'll also have to keep a ready stock of band-aids; and as if all that weren't enough, an owl can live for more than 30 years, so you'll be donning your industrial-strength gloves and flinging gerbils into its cage well into late middle age.