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

[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.