The World Of Exotic Pets

As some of you may know my other half recently acquired a new pet, Gibbs the Bearded Dragon, who has taken up residence in our front room. And as some of you may know I have some history with "exotic" pets: 2 Horsfield's Tortoises, an American bullfrog and some Carausius morosus ("Indian Stick Insects") (plus of course all the other pets my Mum owned, just imagine a petting zoo. In a council house. With extra goats.)

This recent addition to our family has spurred my interest in all things "pet" and so I've been hanging around exotic pet forums. There are a lot of brilliant people on them, with some amazing pets. But I'm really truly shocked by the sort of people sometimes buying these animals.

When Jim wanted to buy a Bearded Dragon (following a casual visit to Pets At Home), he did his research. He read up on them, he bought the vivarium in advance and even when he was purchasing Gibbs (not from Pets At Home, in case you were getting worried!) he asked as many questions as he could of the helpful chaps in our local reptile specialist store. So when I see someone on the forums saying they've owned their Bearded Dragon for two years and want to know why it sometimes puffs up it's chin, I start to worry. These question

It gets worse: people finding common lizards and thinking their exotics (if you live in the south of this country and have never encountered a common lizard, I feel very sorry for you), people catching a rainbow trout and taking them home as pets (WITHOUT OWNING AN AQUARIUM, let alone one big enough and let alone the morality of wild caught pets), and simple and sensible questions like "Can I take my lizard on the Eurostar?" being answered with a bunch of speculation when a five second Google search can reveal the answer.

Thankfully there are sane people in the community but I never even considered the idea that someone over the age of 18 could purchase a pet without properly researching it. Do these people have no sense of responsibility? I shouldn't be surprised. I know, I know. But it's depressing. So very depressing. No wonder we need organisations like the RSPCA and the SSPCA.

Anyway, back to poking Gibbs with a big stick in the hopes he'll beard up again (joke people... joke... except this guy used a snake to get his Frilled Dragon to frill! SICK! These people are out there, God save their poor pets)

This blogger works for nothing but the joy of writing but always appreciates things bought from his wishlist