Monday, March 26, 2012

What You Need To Know About Exotic Pets

By Perry Gouche


Exotic pets are fast making their way into the average American's home, especially when the usual dog or cat wouldn't do. These pets include monkeys or other primates, lizards and other reptiles, and other non-traditional pets usually found in the wild. These are tips you should keep in mind when shopping around for the best exotic pet for you.

Exotic pets, as the name implies, are for the most part, wild animals. They rely on instinct to make decisions, and are not familiar with human interaction and needs. You can take an exotic pet out of the wilderness but you will have a hard time taking the wilderness out of the exotic pet. This means they can be close to impossible to house train, or to have them do the tricks dogs and cats are wont to do.

The exotic pet's new home is another chief concern - would it be best to keep it caged inside your house, or can you find a place for it outside the house? You may have to build a special enclosure of an appropriate size so the pet does not escape, and it should replicate its natural habitat in some way if possible. Another useful tip is to find out how your pet functions in normal, non-domesticated situations. Monkeys, for instance, live in large groups and are used to being social animals. Therefore, if you own a pet monkey and lock it up in a cage, that will make it prone to fits of anger and possibly violence.

Feeding exotic pets is much different from feeding conventional pets. We're not talking about dog or cat food you can find at any local store, but special food that might be hard to find and costly. Find out about the availability of food before you buy the pet - you don't want to be shipping expensive food from another state for twenty years.

Pet owners with children need to be wary of the potential dangers their new pets could pose on their kids. As you may well know, children are a curious lot, so if they are left free and accidentally let out your pet python, they could be in grave danger. The fact that a good number of exotic pets are brought to America by illegal means could also spell trouble, due to the increased risk of them carrying deadly and rare diseases.

Owning exotic pets gives pet owners an opportunity to experience something new and different. There is much debate about whether it is appropriate to take a wild animal out of its natural habitat and force it to become domesticated in a foreign and unfamiliar place. In any case, you should do your research and choose wisely when buying an exotic pet.




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