Answer:
They can be harbored, but few hold water. You can nurse them, but only by holding them against someone else. You can carry them, but not with your arms. You can bury them, but not in the earth.
When it is alive we sing, when it is dead we clap our hands. What is it?
Stealthy as a shadow in the dead of night, cunning but affectionate if given a bite. Never owned but often loved. At my sport considered cruel, but that's because you never know me at all.
Thousands of these come together to make a digital image. What is it?
Only two backbones and thousands of ribs.
A leathery snake, with a stinging bite. I'll stay coiled up, unless I must fight.