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For more information on exotic
animals check out these websites:

• Rainforest Reptile Refuge

• HSUS 

Exotic Animals

What makes an animal exotic?

Are they wild animals?

Are they animals that don’t naturally live in your area?

What kinds of animals should we keep as pets? 

Why do we want animals as pets that aren’t domesticated (bred for 1000's of years to live comfortably with humans and depends on humans for their well being)? 

Is it fair to keep animals that aren’t domesticated as pets?

These are questions you should ask yourself before you decide to adopt a pet.  You have to decide if you can properly care for the animal so that all its needs are met and that the animal will have a good life.  Just because certain animals are sold in a pet store does not mean that they make good pets or should be pets at all.  People often buy pets for the wrong reasons.  They may want to have an animal that no one they know has so it will be unique or think the animal is cool but is that good for the animal? 

With any pet it is REALLY important to do some research on the animal so you know what to expect for cost, behaviour, habitat.  Animals should not be purchased/adopted just because they are cute or you think it would be neat to have a pet.  An animal is a living, feeling being that as a pet needs a human to make sure it has a good life.  

A pet animal cannot survive in the wild so NEVER set a pet “free”.  Setting your pet “free” is actually abandoning your pet and is illegal.  Animals that have not grown up in the wild do not know how to survive on their own in the wild.

If you already have an exotic pet do your best to care for it for its entire life.  Read all the information you can so you know exactly how to care for this animal and take it to a veterinarian who works with exotics so you can keep your pet healthy.

• For more information on exotic animals click here.