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'Exotic' pet owners, what are some things about your pets you wish more people knew about? (beehaw.org)

submitted 1 year ago by ericbomb@beehaw.org to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

65 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I own red eared slider turtles, while not exactly exotic it's funny that the three things they are known for by owners are things normal folks would not expect.

Turtles are escape artists. Because they need so much water to swim in and need basking areas, you'll generally want to fill your tank up as high as you can, and then have a basking platform up there. They will use those and filters to try to escape. They may succeed. There are a ton of questions/guides online to address this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHbV5nsDCb8&ab_channel=TheTurtleGirl
They are destructive. You will want to have a filter for them, and they will attack the filter with the fury of a bored creature attacking the thing making a noise. Many filters will fall to their wrath. If you google it you'll find ton of stories of turtles destroying filters/water heaters. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnD3cKuFOa0&ab_channel=HMoore
They smell. How can such a small creature smell so powerfully? Magic.

Any other pet owners have secrets about their type of pet?

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[–] hsl@wayfarershaven.eu 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

In how far are rats considered exotic? Is it hard to find a vet who knows how to help them?

[–] DJDarren@beehaw.org 2 points 1 year ago

I think it's more that the majority of people just don't consider rats as pets. They have this unfair reputation for being dirty disease vectors, which simply isn't true of well cared for pet rats. They're no more dirty than a hamster, but hamsters are bitey pricks that are, for some reason, seen as a perfect small pet for kids. Rats are way more fun. You can teach them tricks.

[–] valen@beehaw.org 2 points 1 year ago

It's unusual to have pet rats. Most vets do cats and dogs, and anything else is an afterthought. While there are many vets within 5 miles of me (suburbia), we have to travel over 30 miles to get to a good rat vet. Vets for farmers know more animals, but I wouldn't expect them to know rats very well.

One time when one of ours got an X-ray, the doctor was comparing to a photo in a large book of X-rays for various animals. I expect that's an expensive book to buy.