Before You Buy An Exotic Animal
So you just found a website or auction of exotic animals for sale and decided you want to buy that cute fennec fox or that mighty tiger for your house. Stop. That’s not how you should buy an exotic animal.
The first priority of any exotic animal owner (or animal owner in general) should be the welfare of the animal. And that means you must do a few things before even considering acquiring an exotic pet.
Unfortunately, today finding exotic animals for sale is so easy and regulations are so scarce that most of the times animals are bought on an impulse. The unsuspecting and well-intentioned person arrives home with their new pet only to find out that they don’t have the money, time or space to take care of it.
Don’t let this happen to you! Follow the next steps one by one before acquiring your animal and you will be on your way to providing excellent care.
Research into the animal’s habits. Is it nocturnal or diurnal? What does it feed on? Does it live in groups or solitarily? Does it require a lot of playtime or not really?
Find care sheets. These are not easy to come by, particularly for exotic animals. You may need to look into Zoo standards and other similar documents until you have a good idea of diet, housing and enrichment.
Prepare your house. Make sure you have appropriate housing.
Locate a supplier of food. It may simply be fruit or seeds, but you may need insects, bambu or other specific elements.
Locate a vet. Vet care of exotic animals (known as zoo medicine) is very different from farm or pet medicine. Locate a vet in your area that can treat your chosen pet.
Make sure you know the law. Some states don’t allow certain animals. Others place strict conditions. Check if your state allows you to keep that particular species. If it doesn’t you may want to check the laws of animal sanctuaries or zoos. Make sure to talk to a lawyer who is knowledgeable about animal law.
Health issues are important. You must know common diseases of the animal and ways to prevent, treat and even identify them but also public health concerns such as zoonotic diseases or probability of bites.
Learn if it is preferable to have a single animal or various. Inform yourself about breeding (the law for breeding is often different from the law for just keeping the animal) and mixed habitat. This is particularly important if you are building a collection, as opposed to getting a pet.
As you can see, there is a lot of information you must know and steps you must take before even starting to locate a breeder. I recommend you make a list of several breeders and visit and enquire them before making your choice.
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