An
exotic pet is a rare or unusual animal kept as a
petA pet is an animal kept for companionship and enjoyment or a household animal, as opposed to livestock, laboratory animals, working animals or sport animals, which are kept for economic reasons. The most popular pets are noted for their loyal or playful characteristics, for their attractive...
, or an animal kept as a pet which is not commonly thought of as a pet.
The definition is an evolving one; some
rodentRodentia is an order of mammals also known as rodents, characterised by two continuously growing incisors in the upper and lower jaws which must be kept short by gnawing....
s,
reptileReptiles, or members of the class Reptilia, are air-breathing, generally "cold-blooded" amniotes that generally have skin covered in scales or scutes. They are tetrapods and lay amniote eggs, whose embryos are surrounded by the amnion membrane...
s, and amphibians have become firmly enough established in the world of
animal fancyAnimal fancy is a hobby involving the appreciation, promotion, and/or breeding of pet or domestic animals.Fancy may include ownership, showing, trialling and other competitions, breeding and judging. Hobbyists may simply collect specimens of the animal in appropriate enclosures, such as aquaria...
to no longer be considered exotic. Sometimes any unique or wild-looking pet (including common domestic animals such as the
ferretThe ferret is a domestic mammal of the type Mustela putorius furo. Ferrets are sexually dimorphic predators with males being substantially larger than females...
and the domestic rat) is called an exotic pet.
An
exotic pet is a rare or unusual animal kept as a
petA pet is an animal kept for companionship and enjoyment or a household animal, as opposed to livestock, laboratory animals, working animals or sport animals, which are kept for economic reasons. The most popular pets are noted for their loyal or playful characteristics, for their attractive...
, or an animal kept as a pet which is not commonly thought of as a pet.
The definition is an evolving one; some
rodentRodentia is an order of mammals also known as rodents, characterised by two continuously growing incisors in the upper and lower jaws which must be kept short by gnawing....
s,
reptileReptiles, or members of the class Reptilia, are air-breathing, generally "cold-blooded" amniotes that generally have skin covered in scales or scutes. They are tetrapods and lay amniote eggs, whose embryos are surrounded by the amnion membrane...
s, and amphibians have become firmly enough established in the world of
animal fancyAnimal fancy is a hobby involving the appreciation, promotion, and/or breeding of pet or domestic animals.Fancy may include ownership, showing, trialling and other competitions, breeding and judging. Hobbyists may simply collect specimens of the animal in appropriate enclosures, such as aquaria...
to no longer be considered exotic. Sometimes any unique or wild-looking pet (including common domestic animals such as the
ferretThe ferret is a domestic mammal of the type Mustela putorius furo. Ferrets are sexually dimorphic predators with males being substantially larger than females...
and the domestic rat) is called an exotic pet. "Exotic" may also be used for a species which is non-indigenous to the owner's locale.
Many major pet stores and service providers (such as veterinary insurance carriers or online retailers) tend to classify any animal besides cats, dogs, small birds or fish as "exotic".
Species kept as exotic pets
- Alligator
An Alligator is a crocodilian in the genus Alligator of the family Alligatoridae. The name alligator is an anglicized form of el lagarto the Spanish term for "lizard", the name by which early Spanish explorers and settlers in Florida called the alligator...
s
- Amphibians
- Arctic Fox
The Arctic Fox , also known as the White Fox or Snow Fox, is a small fox native to cold Arctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere and is common throughout the Arctic tundra biome...
- Bear
Bears are mammals of the family Ursidae. Bears are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans, with the pinnipeds being their closest living relatives. Although there are only eight living species of bear, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Northern...
s
- Wolves
Wolves are sometimes kept as exotic pets, and in some rarer occasions, as working animals. Although closely related to dogs , wolves do not show the same tractability as dogs in living alongside humans, and generally, much more work is required in order to obtain the same amount of...
and wolf/dog hybridsA wolf-dog hybrid is a canid hybrid resulting from the mating of a wolf and a dog . The term "wolfdog" is preferred by most wolfdog proponents and breeders since the domestic dog was recently taxonomically recategorized as a subspecies of wolf...
- Fennec Foxes
- Tame Silver Fox
The domesticated silver fox is the result of nearly 50 years of experiments in the Soviet Union and Russia to domesticate the silver morph of the red fox. The breeding project was set up in the 1950s by the Soviet scientist Dmitri Belyaev. As a result of selective breeding, the new foxes not only...
es
- Sugar Glider
The Sugar Glider is a small marsupial originally native to eastern and northern mainland Australia, New Guinea, and the Bismarck Archipelago, and introduced to Tasmania.- Physical description :...
s
- Indian Star Tortoise
The Indian Star Tortoise is a species of tortoise found in dry areas and scrub forest in India and Sri Lanka. This species is quite popular in the exotic pet trade.-Anatomy and morphology:...
s
- Skunk
Skunks are mammals best known for their ability to secrete a liquid with a strong, foul-smelling odor. General appearance ranges from species to species, from black-and-white to brown or cream colored. Skunks belong to the family Mephitidae and to the order Carnivora...
s
- Degu
The Degu is a small caviomorph rodent that is native to Chile. It is sometimes referred to as the Brush-Tailed Rat and is also called the Common Degu, to distinguish it from the other members of the genus Octodon...
s
- Civet
The family Viverridae is made up of 35 species, including all of the genets, the Binturong, most of the civets, and the four linsangs.Viverrids are native to most of the Old World tropics, nearly all of Africa , Madagascar, and the Iberian Peninsula...
s
- Genet
Genets are Old World carnivores of the family Viverridae, related to civets and linsangs. All species are contained within the genus Genetta, although the Aquatic Genet, is sometimes housed in its own genus Osbornictis....
s
- Kinkajou
The kinkajou , also known as the honey bear , is a rainforest mammal of the family Procyonidae related to the olingo, ringtail, cacomistle, raccoon, and coati. It is the only member of the genus Potos. Kinkajous may be mistaken for ferrets or monkeys, but are not related...
s
- Raccoon
Procyon is a genus of nocturnal mammals, comprising three species commonly known as raccoons, in the family Procyonidae. The most widespread species, the Common Raccoon , is often known simply as "the" raccoon, as the two other raccoon species in the genus are native only to the tropics and are...
- Chinchilla
Chinchillas are crepuscular rodents, slightly larger than ground squirrels, native to the Andes mountains in South America. Along with their relatives, viscachas, they belong to the family Chinchillidae....
s
- Hedgehog
A hedgehog is any of the spiny mammals of the subfamily Erinaceinae and the order Erinaceomorpha. There are 17 species of hedgehog in five genera, found through parts of Europe, Asia, Africa, and New Zealand. There are no hedgehogs native to Australia, and no living species native to North America;...
s
- Wallaroo
The best-known species is Macropus robustus, which is known as the Eastern Wallaroo, Common Wallaroo or just Wallaroo on the slopes of the Great Dividing Range , and as the Euro in most of the rest of the continent...
s
- Wild feline
Felidae is the biological family of the cats; a member of this family is called a felid. Felids are the strictest carnivores of the sixteen mammal families in the order Carnivora...
cubs such as lionThe Lion is one of four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...
s, tigerThe tiger is a member of the Felidae family; the largest of the four "big cats" in the genus Panthera. Native to much of eastern and southern Asia, the tiger is an apex predator and an obligate carnivore...
s, bobcatThe Bobcat is a North American mammal of the cat family, Felidae. With twelve recognized subspecies, it ranges from southern Canada to northern Mexico, including most of the continental United States. The Bobcat is an adaptable predator that inhabits wooded areas, as well as semi-desert, urban...
s, servalThe serval , Leptailurus serval, is a medium-sized African wild cat. Modern molecular DNA analysis indicates servals descend from the same Felid ancestor as the lion. The serval maintains its own unique lineage, and appears to share common traits with the cheetah, which may have descended from...
s, and ocelotThe Ocelot , also known as the Painted Leopard, McKenney's Wildcat, Jaguarete , Tigrillo , Cunaguaro , or Manigordo is a wild cat distributed over South and Central America and Mexico, but has been reported as far north as Texas and in...
s
- Reptile
Reptiles, or members of the class Reptilia, are air-breathing, generally "cold-blooded" amniotes that generally have skin covered in scales or scutes. They are tetrapods and lay amniote eggs, whose embryos are surrounded by the amnion membrane...
s such as snakeSnakes are elongate legless carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears. Like all squamates, snakes are ectothermic amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales...
s, tortoiseTortoises or land turtles are land-dwelling reptiles of the family of Testudinidae, order Testudines. Like their marine cousins, the sea turtles, tortoises are shielded from predators by a shell. The top part of the shell is the carapace, the underside is the plastron, and the two are connected by...
s, and lizardLizards are a very large and widespread group of squamate reptiles, with nearly 5,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica as well as most oceanic island chains...
s
- Arthropod
An arthropod is an invertebrate that has an exoskeleton , a segmented body, and jointed attachments called appendages. Arthropods are animals belonging to the Phylum Arthropoda , and include the insects, arachnids, crustaceans, and others...
s like spiderSpiders are air-breathing chelicerate arthropods that have eight legs, and chelicerae modified into fangs that inject venom. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species diversity among all other groups of organisms...
s, praying mantises, and scorpionScorpions are predatory arthropod animals of the order Scorpiones within the class Arachnida. There are about 2,000 species of scorpions, found widely distributed south of about 49° N, except New Zealand and Antarctica...
s
- Rare bird
Birds are winged, bipedal, endothermic , vertebrate animals that lay eggs. There are around 10,000 living species, making them the most numerous tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Birds range in size from the Bee Hummingbird to the ...
s
- Hyena
The Hyaenidae is a mammalian family of order Carnivora. The Hyaenidae family, native to both African and Asian continents, consists of four living species, the Striped Hyena and Brown Hyena , the Spotted Hyena , and the Aardwolf .-Evolution:Hyenas seem to have originated 26 million years ago from...
s
- Non-human primates (see below)
Non-human primates
It has been estimated that as many as 15,000 non-human primates are kept by private individuals as pets in the United States. Nine states ban the keeping of non-human primates, but no federal law regulates ownership. In 1975, the
Center for Disease ControlThe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is a United States federal agency under the Department of Health and Human Services based in Atlanta, Georgia. It works to protect public health and safety by providing information to enhance health decisions, and it promotes health through...
prohibited their import into the US for use as pets. The breeding industry uses descendants of animals imported before 1975. Non-human primates of various species, including those listed as
endangeredAn endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters. Also it could mean that due to deforestation there may be a lack of food and/or water...
, such as
cottontop tamarinThe Cottontop Tamarin , also known as the Pinché Tamarin, is a small New World monkey weighing less than 1lb...
s,
baboonBaboons are African and Asian Old World monkeys belonging to the genus Papio, part of the subfamily Cercopithecinae. There are five species, which are some of the largest non-hominid members of the primate order; only the Mandrill and the Drill are larger...
s,
chimpanzeeChimpanzee, sometimes colloquially chimp, is the common name for the two extant species of ape in the genus Pan. The Congo River forms the boundary between the native habitat of the two species:...
s,
Diana monkeysThe Diana Monkey is an Old World monkey found in West Africa, from Sierra Leone to Côte d'Ivoire.-Description:The Diana Monkey ranges from 40 to 55 cm in length, excluding its tail, which is of a uniform 3–4 cm diameter and 50–75 cm long. Adults weigh between 4–7 kg...
,
lemurA lemur is a member of the biological infraorder Lemuriformes, a prosimian and strepsirrhine primate that is endemic to the island of Madagascar. The term "lemur" is derived from the Latin word lemures, meaning "spirits of the night" or "haunter". This likely refers to their large, reflective eyes...
s and
gibbonGibbons are apes in the family Hylobatidae . The family is divided into four genera based on their diploid chromosome number: Hylobates , Hoolock , Nomascus , and Symphalangus . The extinct Bunopithecus sericus is a gibbon or gibbon-like ape which, until recently, was thought to be closely related...
s are still available for purchase in the US.
Many professionals, including veterinarians, zoologists, humane societies and others, strongly discourage the keeping of non-human primates as pets, as their complex emotional and social needs and other highly specialized requirements may be difficult to meet by the average owner.
Although the breeding population has been largely isolated from wild populations outside the US, they still have the potential to transmit
zoonotic diseaseA zoonosis or zoonose is any infectious disease that can be transmitted from non-human animals, both wild and domestic, to humans or from humans to non-human animals...
. There is a considerable risk of Monkey B virus from rhesus macaques. Research workers have died from this disease contracted from non-human primate research subjects. Additionally, there is considerable risk to the non-human primate pet through transmission of human disease. One such example is
herpes simplex virusHerpes simplex virus 1 and 2 are two species of the herpes virus family, Herpesviridae, which cause infections in humans...
, which can be deadly to certain smaller monkeys.
Legal
The Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna, or CITES, moderates the trade of some exotic pets around the world, to prevent any threats to their survival and ecological damage. Certain animals may be strictly regulated or restricted outright due to both their
conservation statusThe conservation status of a species is an indicator of the likelihood of that species remaining extant either in the present day or the near future...
, as well as the possibility of the animal becoming an
invasive species'Invasive species' is a phrase with several definitions. The first definition expresses the phrase in terms of non-indigenous species that adversely affect the habitats they invade economically, environmentally or ecologically...
.
In some cases laws are circumvented by breeding the animals in captivity. The
USDAThe United States Department of Agriculture is the United States federal executive department responsible for developing and executing U.S. federal government policy on farming, agriculture, and food...
issues permits for keeping and breeding certain exotic species, whether captured from the wild or bred. In the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, for example, it is illegal to import non-human primates for the pet trade, but a flourishing breeding industry exists, using animals descended from those brought in legally before the ban was enacted.
In 2003, the US Captive Wild Animal Safety Act became law and in September 2007 the US Fish and Wildlife Service enacted rules to enforce the CWASA. The law now bans the sale or transport of big cats, which includes lions, tigers, leopards, jaguars, cougars, snow leopards, clouded leopards, cheetahs and their hybrids across state lines for the pet trade.
Health
Veterinary costs for treatment of exotic animals may be significantly higher than for a more conventional pet due to the increased specialization.
Some animals are known to carry diseases that can affect humans, such as
salmonellosisSalmonellosis is an infection with Salmonella bacteria. Most persons infected with Salmonella develop diarrhea, fever, vomiting, and abdominal cramps, 12 to 72 hours after infection. In most cases, the illness lasts 3 to 7 days; most affected persons recover without treatment...
and
rabiesRabies is a viral neuroinvasive disease that causes acute encephalitis in warm-blooded animals. It is zoonotic , most commonly by a bite from an infected animal but occasionally by other forms of contact...
. Similarly, some human diseases can be dangerous for certain animals (like
strep throatStreptococcal pharyngitis or streptococcal sore throat is a form of group A streptococcal infection that affects the pharynx and possibly the larynx and tonsils.- Signs and symptoms :...
). Many animals have
zoonoticA zoonosis or zoonose is any infectious disease that can be transmitted from non-human animals, both wild and domestic, to humans or from humans to non-human animals...
potential. Some of the most lethal viruses, the hemorrhagic fevers, are spread through contact with exotic pets, resulting in high death rates and disabilities for those who survive. The American Veterinary Medical Association, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the National Animal Control Association, the American Zoo and Aquarium Association and the CDC all discourage the private ownership of certain exotic animals.
Husbandry
Providing appropriate environmental conditions, housing and diet for an exotic animal may be difficult for several reasons:
- insufficient information may be available on caring for such animals in captivity
- adequate housing may be difficult and/or expensive to procure or build
- it may be difficult to provide the correct environment (such as temperature or amount of sunlight)
- feeding the correct diet may be difficult or impossible
- providing the right social environment for highly social species may be impossible in a home setting
However, captive care and husbandry information for many commonly kept amphibians, reptiles, birds, and small exotic mammals are widely available through literature, animal enthusiast groups, and Internet websites and discussion forms.
Domestication
Unlike cats and dogs, exotic animals have not been domesticated and remain wild. Even if they are bred for the pet trade and raised by humans, they may be unpredictable, largely untrainable, and in some cases, dangerous, especially as full-grown adults.