Exotic Pets: DO YOUR RESEARCH.

[elionwyr]

Damn good reading:

http://www.aspca.org/adoption/adoption-tips/exotic-animals.html

Owning exotic pets is pretty awesome. I've done it. It's a neat experience.

Things to remember:

Domestication takes thousands of years.
Ferrets? Pets since ancient Egypt. Domesticated.
Iguanas/chinchillas/parrots/snakes/alligators/tigers/scorpions/tarantulas/lizards? Not domesticated.

Do your research.
For the love of all that's holy, DO YOUR RESEARCH.
Iguanas are relatively cheap. NOT GOOD PETS. Unless you live in a rainforest. Which I'm guessing you don't. And a healthy iguana? Can seriously mess up your day. (I've lost count of how many pics I've seen that prove mature male iguana + ovulating female human = a need for plastic surgery.)

Asking a pet store employee for information should not be your only form of research.
Pet stores want to sell you pets. Most of them are not going to care about the well being of you or your pet. (Example: We bought Hades largely because we were assured she was a he.)

Do not trust pet stores or animal dealers to do the right thing.

Being up for sale in a pet store does not make an animal a pet. I have personally seen a NURSE SHARK for sale in a pet store. Many of us have seen alligators for sale. NOT domesticated. NOT safe. NOT smart to sell or own.

You **CAN** buy animals that will flat-out kill you for less than $50. You do not need a license. You don't need to tell anyone you own this critter.

Scared yet?

Do not buy a pet just because you think it's pretty. DO YOUR RESEARCH. As an example:


Painted Glass Fish

Pretty!
Also? Evil. And I quote:
"A common method of creating "painted fish" is through injection via syringe. Generally, fish are injected multiple times.[1] Fish may also be dipped in a caustic solution to strip their outer slime coat, then dipped in dye. This method is reported to have a very high mortality rate."

So. Just because you can buy it? Doesn't mean it's safe or a good idea.


If you buy an exotic - or indeed, any pet? Do not think you can just release it into the wild (which is cruel and bad for native wildlife and there's a special hell reserved for those who do this to any pet), or that your local animal shelter or that 'crazy cat lady' down the road will be able to take in your unwanted critter. Especially not in this economical climate. Most shelters are full past capacity.

If you want to be around exotics - or indeed, critters in general? Consider volunteering at your local shelter/zoo/wildlife rehab/exotic rescue. Looking for an exotic pet? Consider adopting someone's unwanted pets. There are a terrifying number of senior citizen ferrets that need homes. Right now. I promise.

(At the zoo, we had WEEKLY offerings of unwanted iguanas and ferrets. Weekly. One of our really bad weeks? We had **SIX** different macaws offered. NO shelter/zoo/rescue can take in all the unwanted pets that are out there.)



DO YOUR RESEARCH.

Purchase carefully.

Because everyone - critters included - deserves a forever-home.

Comments

[freyas-fire.livejournal.com]

Some exotics, including ferrets, also require specific licenses to have them as pets. Ferrets might even be illegal in a few states.

If you need another topic, flip through my notes page on FB, and pull up the one on rabbits and the heat. Particularly important at this time of year. :)

[elionwyr.livejournal.com]

Good point. Hedgehogs are on that list - I believe it's now illegal to have them in PA, though at one point the rule was you could have them, but you couldn't import them.

Um. There are no native hedgehogs in North America. Erego, they're ALL imported. So WTF?

[k2rider78.livejournal.com]

To me the appeal of a pet is a new friend & family member not a fashion accessory. That's the way I think some people see their 'pets' and they shouldn't even own a pet rock let alone another living creature.

[freyas-fire.livejournal.com]

Like the people that walk around with their tiny pooches in their purse? Yeah, that annoys the hell out of me, especially since most of those really tiny "teacup" breeds are overbred to be that small. Paris Hilton tops my list as someone that shouldn't own pets of any kind, including rocks.

[elionwyr.livejournal.com]

*sad nod*

[harkalark.livejournal.com]

Yeps. I had three iguanas growing up. The only one that was a decent pet was the first one, and that's because she had scoliosis so bad that she couldn't fight me. So she seemed tame. My parents felt guilty knowing that she'd only live a year or two, so I came home from 1st grade one afternoon to find another brand new shiny baby iguana. He was never tame, not one day in his life. And so then a couple of years later, I commented on another iguana in a pet store and said it was cute, and next thing I knew they were buying it for me. (The only one I ever actually asked for was the first one. I was 5.) This one got my hopes up because she was tame for maybe a year, then all of a sudden woke up one day and was just as mean as the other one. I was stuck with them for years because I couldn't bring myself to just give them away or let them go or something. Crappy, mean things. Bit and scratched a lot, and all I could do was keep them locked up in cages for years, which I also felt shitty about.

I still, to this very day (including last night), have nightmares about lizards and other pets trying to escape from their cages and being responsible for them, feeling guilty because I don't even want them.

[elionwyr.livejournal.com]

My nightmare used to be that I'd find a room full of animals I'd forgotten to care for. They were starving and in poor health and I'd wake up frantic and depressed and..yeah. These were signs I had too many animals in my house, even though many of them were rescues or me providing a 'retirement home' for senior critters from the zoo I worked for.

[glinda-w.livejournal.com]

*shakes head* Never underestimate the stupidity and selfishness of a large portion of the human race.

Your examples? Evil. *Dyeing* a tiny fish so it's "prettier"? That's up there with purse dogs. Dogs as fashion accessory. Dogs that're overbred, inbred, etc. (I understand that chihuahuas are overwhelming the shelters in California now... their little accessory becomes something that actually, you know, needs care.)

*wanders off, still growling*

[elionwyr.livejournal.com]

Yes - there are groups shipping chihuahuas out of California to states that don't have as many in their shelters.

But it's altogether grim out there. And many people do many stoopid things..though sometimes it's because they don't know it's stoopid.

I know about the painted glass fish because I saw some in a store, thought they were pretty, and had the good sense to read about them before I made my purchase. I have however bought fish that I never should have purchased and am still mad at myself for NOT researching.

Well. In particular, I bought a rope fish, not knowing they were escape artists, could live outside a tank, and were at the time mostly wild-caught, tending to die within a week.

Lovely.

[cissa.livejournal.com]

Sigh. Sad and scary.

At least we adopted our 3 feral cats OUT of the wild, and 2 of them are pretty tame now, at least with us- and Gigi (their momcat) loves the housecat lifestyle though she's still deeply suspicious of me (but she loves my husband and her daughter-cat).

None of the ex-ferals have shown ANY interest in going back into the wild. :)

I love critters, but it's just sensible to keep to domesticated ones.