I get sick of people calling me sick and cruel because my pets are a little unusual. People assume because you have sugar gliders and hedgehogs or even more exotic animals like fennecs (no I dont have fennecs), rather than rabbits and guinea pigs that you are cruel, and that you have an imprisoned wild animal that hates living in your home. These people have never met me or my animals, they usually have no idea about the animals in question or the species in question, or even how long their own pets have been domesticated, its really aggravating.
It could be argued the only truly domestic pet is the dog, POSSIBLY the cat. I have news for some people. A pet rabbit or small rodent like a hamster is NOT domesticated like a dog. Some of these species animals have been domesticated for just a hundred years, maybe a LITTLE more, and many come from bloodlines more recently caught in the wild. That does NOT make your pet domesticated, in fact pet SKUNKS have been domesticated as long as some small rodents (skunk fur farming began in the early 1800’s and people have been keeping skunks as pets since that time). There are reports of people keeping sugar gliders back in the early 1900’s, and parrots have been being kept as pets since ancient civilisations. There is a reason animals like rabbits and hamsters need a lot of handling to become friendly, and why a lot of rabbits hate being picked up…because it is their wild INSTINCT, just like my sugar gliders wild instinct is to glide to safety (and by the way, they consider ME the safest tree in the forest). Even cats, if a pet cat becomes stray and her kittens arent used to human contact within a certain point, it is likely those kittens are never going to make good pets.
Sorry for the rant people. But I just want to alert people to the fact that although you think your bunny is domestic just because it has lop ears and a short face and fancy colour, unlike the wild bunnies out there, doesnt mean its any tamer than my pet sugar gliders. Rabbits have been domesticated in the western nations since the 1800s, the same amount of time as skunks. Its not exactly a huge amount of time, now is it?
And lastly, what is considered exotic now will be normal in ten years time, and people will be picking on other people for owning something ELSE. Think about it, 30 years ago a snake keeper would have gotten very funny looks and a lot of comments about craziness and cruelty, now snake keeping is common, snakes are barely considered exotic any more. The same has happened with pet chinchillas and degus, and I’m betting in 20 years sugar gliders and hedgehogs will be completely normal pets to have.
I think we should all learn to have a little more tolerance for peoples choices, in everything not just pet keeping. As long as the owner can provide the space, the time, the money and the pet CAN be socialised into becoming a happy pet (and I am of the opinion that there are animals that cannot be tamed, such as most of the apes and monkeys, and very large cats, and for some odd reason, a lot of squirrels), wheres the problem?
Rant over. What are your thoughts on exotic pets?
LOL, oops I didnt realise how long that post was/
Eileen, interesting point. I am not against the keeping of monkeys, but I have yet to see a case where adult monkeys are fully tamed…generally you get a lot of aggression with monkeys its just the way they behave. You certainly have your right to have them, and its great that you have more than one, I just hate these people that treat them as children and dress them in human clothes. Apes…well, I’ve yet to hear of any private individual who could provide for a chimp who wasnt a millionaire with tonnes of primate experience.
I agree with you, but I think ALL exotic pets should be treated the same as so called domestic ones. Unless all pet owners support each other, the animal rights groups will make it so no one may own any pet. They start with banning the large cats and the pit bull type dog breeds, then gradually ban other types of pets. Now they are trying to pass HR699, the Nonnative Wildlife Invasion Prevention Act, that would ban just about any pet other than a domestic dog, cat or goldfish. When they are done banning the big cats, wolves, bears and primates, they will come after the rest of the pet owners. Don’t believe me? Just look at the mandatory spay/neuter laws they are passing everywhere. These are animal rights backed bills to help eliminate pet dogs.
Why should someone with a skunk or hedgehog have any more right to keep the pet they choose then those that keep a serval or a monkey? African serval cats have been kept in captivity by the ancient Egyptians, long before most exotic pets generally accepted today as being domesticated were. They were brought to this country before 1904.
If someone has the resources and knowledge to properly care for an animal, they should be allowed to own any animal they wish. I know people that spend a ton of money developing nice enclosures with running water and even waterfalls and high tech security systems to protect their pets from intruders. Owners of large exotics have established husbandry courses to teach fellow owners how to properly care for their animals. They also help each other out by helping to build secure cages.
Animal rights groups use the excuse that these large exotics are a threat to public safety and health. If you look at the statistics, about 20% of all attacks by big cats were at AZA zoos, with about another 38% at USDA facilities. When you look at escapes by primates, 49% were at AZA zoos. Large exotic owners have a much better track record of keeping these animals than so called experts.
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