Haven't dare to try it yet, but was told that you can actually pause a regular quest, to do another one ( pottery lottery quest for example, or just another regular quest.

My question is: If there are two or three quests which both/all feature one or a couple of the same critters - is it possible that you have several quests activated (and paused), and with the same setup do the requirements for the first quest, then pause it, start another quest, then pause it, reactivate the first quest, do the attracting, then pause it, reactivate the second quest etc.

ty

Yes, you can absolutely do that.  It's perfectly safe to pause; just remember to activate the quest when you want to go back to it, don't reset it (that removes all of your progress for that quest).