Rat breeding adventure

@tsundancer said to @ask-drferox​: What do you think of exotic pets? Assuming they’re properly cared for, of course. For example my ultimate end goal when I’m financially stable and living in a moderately sized home is a pair of fennec foxes.

You’re not going to like it, but since you asked, I disapprove of them very strongly and feel like the keeping of very exotic pets is done just to boost humans’ egos, especially in the age of Instagram, where they are seen more as status symbols than anything else. Particularly when there are so many domesticated animals that would offer as-good, or better, companionship that we are better equipped to care for.

‘Exotic pets’ can mean two thinks in a veterinary context. It might mean weird, completely non-domesticated animals like Fennec foxes as you said above, or it might mean anything that’s not a farm animal, horse, dog or cat. That includes domestic species like rabbits, chickens and guinea pigs.

But ‘exotic’ meaning any non-domestic species as a pet? Severe disapproval.

Firstly it is extremely difficult to properly care for all but the smallest and least interactive of them. They have special needs and are not adapted to a human environment. Something small like a frog you certainly could keep in a specialized enclosure within your human environment, but a larger, more active creature? We don’t actually know how to best care for most of these species, even zoo husbandry is updating all the time, how is a pet keeper supposed to manage?

Secondly their acquisition is a concern. Where are these animals actually coming from? Where were their parents coming from? How is this going to influence wild stock, because we should be prioritizing the conservation of the wild wherever possible.

Third is that the promotion of these animals as pets, even if done decently, encourages other people to do it, and many of them will not have a clue what they’re doing.

Ultimately I feel like it’s pursing novelty on the human’s part with relatively little consideration of “should we do this” instead of “can we do this?”

We don’t need to keep non-domesticated animals in our homes. We really don’t. Not when there is already such variety in form and function in our domestic species already.

The one “guide” I’ve found about the welfare of exotic pets is this chart that could theoretically be used to classify and regulate the ownership of exotic pets. We talked about this in my exotics class so I unfortunately don’t remember the source, but it’s a really interesting concept.

Adding this ask to this reblog chain because the reply above is really useful for this discussion.

And keep in mind that when we’re talking about ‘exotic’ pets in the context of veterinary medicine, we might be talking about tigers, or we might be talking about rabbits, the third most popular mammal pet, or the ubiquitous goldfish. Context.

The categories listed above are a pretty reasonable way to define what species are reasonable to keep at pets, which are not, and which are a grey area. Because like most things in biology, there’s a spectrum.

Category A would include domestic rabbits, and domestic rats and mice. These strains are very domesticated, and easily capable of having positive interaction with careful humans.

Category B would include many of the commonly kept reptiles, and most aquarium fish. You need a special setup and a fair amount of husbandry knowledge to keep these species well, but you can do it. Only captive bred species would fall into this category.

Category C, for me, is where I would put the larger breeds of captive bred parrots. It might be theoretically possible to keep a species as a pet if you dedicate your home and life to it, but it is unattainable for most people.

Category D and E should really only be in zoos, and the crux of ‘insufficient knowledge’ is important here because someone with an hour of internet research might think they know what they’re doing, and feel confident, when they really, really don’t. Also collecting them from the wild puts most saltwater fish here.

Category A species you would expect to derive something positive from human interaction. Category B should be positive-to-neutral, or at least not negative with a little effort.

Category C takes significant effort to not drop below neutral.

And in regard to vet-and-wild’s ethical dilemma, you’re going to see animals you don’t think should be owned wherever you work as a vet. They will be out there unless you can make their ownership illegal, and this applies to exotic animals, extreme brachycephalic dogs, or even one vegan vet I knew who tried their hand at dairy medicine for a while.