An exotic pet is a rare or unusual animal that is kept as a pet. It is also refers to animals that are unusual to keep within human households or are generally thought of as a wild species than a pet.
Today, we are going to share about exotic pets. Throughout this presentation, we will share about types of exotic pets, ways to care about exotic pets and some illegal and legal exotic pets. First, we will outline the types of exotic pets and an example for each type.
Types of Exotic pets
There are many types of exotic pets. It can be categories into reptiles, birds, rodents, omnivore, herbivore and carnivore.
Amazonian Royal Flycatcher
It can be found in forests at Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia and Venezuela. They are 15-17.5cm long and their nests are large and built on branches near river. Their nest hangs over the water which it is hard for the predators to reach. It can be overlooked easily and always found in low densities, but it is still widespread.
Veiled Chameleon
It is the biggest living rodents on the earth now. A reptile found at Arabian Peninsula in Yemen and Saudi Arabia. Also called as cone head chameleon or Yemen Chameleon. Body is heavy, in barrel-shaped, short head, upper part of body covered with reddish-brown fur that turns yellowish-brown underneath. Male:43-61 cm long from the snout to the tail. Female: shorter, not more than 35 cm, but their body are thicker. Adult capybaras can grow until 134cm, 66kg. Females are heavier than males. The highest records are 91 kg for a female and 73.5 kg for a male capybaras.
Has a casque on the head which keeps on growing as it matures, reaching about 5cm. Herbivores, feed with grasses, aquatic plants, fruits and tree bark. They favour warmer temperature: 24-35°C Can live up to 10 years, but it can just live less than 4 years in the wild. This is because they are the prey that jaguar, puma eagle and anaconda favours.
Blue-tongued skinks
Generally named as blue-tongued lizards in Australia.
Reptiles
They are quite shy compared to other lizards and also move slower due to their short legs. However, they are relatively large in size (up to 45 cm of total length).
- Have a light body
- Short-limbed
- Dull teeth
Sticks out its blue tongue when feeling they are threatened to scare away their enemies. Can live up to 20 years or longer if it is kept properly. Omnivores, can feed with a combination of proteins, fruits and vegetables if is kept as a pet. Adult should be fed twice or thrice a week while young blue tongues should be fed daily.
Adopting any pets is a big responsibility, what more when it’s an exotic pet. The details of care for exotic pets are different from those of others pets.
Caring for exotic pets
- Nutrition
- Housing
When it comes to exotic pets, it is necessary to learn the ways of taking care of exotic pets especially proper feeding and handling before engaging in an exotic pet. The details of care for exotic pets are different from those of other pets, but with the education and commitment of the owner, we can provide the best life for these wonderful animals.
- In several cases, the recommended diet, even if it is slightly different, can have a negative impact on the pet.
- The enclosures should be large enough to allow movement and should be sufficiently safe to prevent escape.
- Some exotic pets also need to be supplemented to meet their dietary needs.
- Proper lighting, temperature, and humidity are necessary for several types of reptiles.
- The supplemented nutrition for reptiles is Vitamin D3 as the vitamin provides reptiles to grow or maintain strong bones.
- Rodents such as hamsters and rabbits need to change their bedding every week.
Sensitive organ system of exotic pets
For example, guinea pigs work better in pairs, they eager to accompany other pigs as they are the social animals. Most exotic pets, especially birds, have very sensitive respiratory systems. Birds like to start their days bright and early while rats and hamsters are more active at night. Odours and aerosols can irritate them and can cause serious illness or even death, so make sure that all atomized cleaning products are kept away from pets to avoid accidents happen.
Exotic pets need mental and physical enrichment every day like regular pets. Be careful when cleaning the kitchen, flue gas from self-cleaning ovens or Teflon pots can be dangerous as Teflon-coated cookware and other non-stick pans heated to high temperatures will be highly toxic to birds. For enclosure pets, this may mean providing a tube, exercise wheel or climbing platform to them.
Keep it well ventilated and choose a product that does not contain odour when possible. Many exotic pets like to interact with humans and look forward to playing with them outside the cage every day. As the weather gets warmer, you may want to open the window and let the spring breeze blow your house. However, before doing this, make sure your pets, especially birds and small mammals are secured so that they are not allowed to go out or attack by other animals that enter through the window.
Although exotic pets can be kept within households but not all exotic pets can be legally owned.
CONCLUSION
Above we talked about 6 types of exotic pets, 5 types of caring for exotic pets, and legal and illegal exotic pets in United States.
In a nutshell, pets are like our family and friends who accompany around us, but because of their short lifespan, they can’t stay with us for our lifetime, so we must treat them well. They are not our punching bags or dustbin, we should not abuse them. Therefore, please consider carefully before adopting a pet. Because for us, pets are only a small part of our lifetime, but for pets, we are their whole lifetime.
References
- https://www.maywoodvet.com/blog/exotic-pet-care/
- https://www.maywoodvet.com/blog/82-2/#more-82
- https://www.ewg.org/research/pfcs-global-contaminants/teflon-and-other-non-stick-pans-kill-birds
- https://www.exotic-pets.co.uk/
- https://www.thesprucepets.com/list-of-exotic-pets-1237277
- https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/66081869/66082853
- https://www.cheatsheet.com/culture/exotic-pets-that-are-illegal-in-the-us.html/
- https://www.wideopenpets.com/10-exotic-pets-and-where-they-are-legal-to-own/
- https://aces.illinois.edu/news/pet-reptiles-need-vitamin-d-and-calcium-bone-health
- http://hssv.convio.net/site/DocServer/Guinea_Pig_Pairs.pdf?docID=3209
- https://pethelpful.com/exotic-pets/Where-are-Exotic-Pets-Legal