Halloween is just around the corner, but unfortunately Halloween fun can pose some risks to our pets. In my house, we have to keep many of our decorations on top of tall furniture to keep them out of reach of curious creatures, although this makes it look a bit odd, like a really tall person decorated our home. Oh well, it's one of the adjustments we make to keep our pets safe! I've compiled some things you might want to think about to keep your exotic pets safe in Halloween Safety for Exotic Pets.
More Halloween Safety Advice:
Golden geckos are a bit more challenging than some of the other geckos, but can make good pets. They are not the best for handling as they have delicate skin, and they are not as docile as some other geckos (translation: will bite if stressed). However, they are beautiful animals, and as long as you give them tropical conditions they are not terribly difficult to care for compared to some other lizards. Find out more in my care sheet about Golden Geckos.
Cedar and pine shavings are a commonly available pet care product, but can be harmful to the pets for which they are intended. Certainly, it is advisable to avoid cedar shavings, and pine is thought to be a potential problem too. Fortunately, good alternatives are becoming more widely available and more reasonably priced, too.
I have mentioned Sarah Fyffe and her amazing dingoes before (see Dingoes and Cane Toads), and you can also spot one of them (Chloe) in our Dingo photo gallery in training to sniff out gun powder. Dingoes are much misunderstood in Australia but Sarah is one of many who believe that they are exceptional animals (and not untrainable pests like some believe). She has begun training dingoes to sniff out cane toads, which has a doubly good effect: it shows the potential of dingoes as well as fighting the cane toad problem (a very problematic invasive species in Australia).
Sarah recently took a purebred Dingo ("Buffy"), who is just 4.5 months old, to a toad-sniffing field trial. She had been training for 10 weeks with frozen toads and toad urine (sounds like fun?) and at the trial she amazed everyone including Sarah. Buffy ignored the distraction of the decoy native frogs, and steadfastly stuck to tracking cane toads in the grass as well as finding them in the water, managing to track them down even in tricky hiding spots. In case you were worried, canine cane toad detectors are trained to not touch the toxic toads. Buffy carefully avoided the toads and would take four steps back waiting for her rewards. She also followed a team of human toad hunters and detected many toads the humans had missed, working diligently for 3 hours straight. Buffy would seem to have a great future as a cane toad hunter. Way to go Buffy and Sarah! You can read more about Sarah's dingos, cane toad busting, and other dingo projects at the WA Dingo Association site.
If you are like me and get your pet mouse from a pet store that doesn't pay much attention to sexing their mice, you might end up with a surprise litter. Actually, back when we got our mice (years ago) we got two females, and two weeks later both had a litter (one day apart). We knew it was a risk and their rapidly growing bellies indicated we would likely be dealing with babies, so we were somewhat prepared. So what do you do in this situation? I have some advice in the answer to this question: My Mouse Had Babies - What Should I Do?
From tiny poison dart frogs to enormous African bullfrogs, there are lots of kinds of frogs to choose from if you are looking for a frog. But what should you expect from a froggy pet? A lot of that depends on the species, but some of the more common frogs are actually quite sedentary and don't really do much. That is not to say that frogs are not good pets, it is just that owners have to have the right expectations. Frogs as Pets addresses the pros and cons of frogs and list some good beginner frogs.
Some people seem to believe that exotic pets, especially reptiles, will be fine if returned to the wild when they become difficult to care for properly. However, releasing pets to the wild is cruel to the pet and potentially disastrous to the ecosystem. Find out more here.
Related news item: "Wild Parrots Settle in Suburbs" states that experts estimate the number of parrots living in the wild in UK is growing by 30% a year.
The About Dogs site has a cute collection of photos of dogs dressed for Halloween. I love looking at these pictures, but at the same time can't imagine trying to dress my pets for Halloween (although my kids are keen to try!). The range of costumes available for dogs is quite amazing, really. So, being curious if exotic pet owners ever dress up their pets, I did a little browsing. If the Ferretstore.com's collection of ferret Halloween items is any indication, ferret owners are becoming a big target for Halloween related pet products.
If you are handy, you can save yourself quite a bit of money when building terrariums or aquariums for your reptiles, amphibians, or invertebrates (crabs, scorpions, and so on). This is especially true for larger reptiles, when commercial tanks get pretty pricey and for terrariums where being completely waterproof isn't as big of a concern. The About Guides to Saltwater Aquariums, Stan and Debbie Hauter, have some advice on building glass tanks including working with glass in their article on Glass Aquarium Plans, along with lots of other Do-It-Yourself help on their site.
Gerbils are small social rodents that can make excellent pets. They are active, playful and curious so are fun to watch, and with regular handling they can become quite tame. Because they are social, they are generally happiest if kept in the company of other gerbils (although introducing adult gerbils can be very tricky). Read more...
If you are like me and get your pet mouse from a pet store that doesn't pay much attention to sexing their mice, you might end up with a surprise litter. Actually, back when we got our mice (years ago) we got two females, and two weeks later both had a litter (one day apart). We knew it was a risk and their rapidly growing bellies indicated we would likely be dealing with babies, so we were somewhat prepared. So what do you do in this situation? I have some advice in the answer to this question: 
