Veterinary medicine in general is not a lucrative field, exotics even less so, however that isn’t why exotic appointments cost more. Vet students learn about cats, dogs, and livestock as part of the curriculum while in school. Any other species requires taking electives or learning on your own. So in order to know how to properly treat birds it takes lots of extra time and money on the vet’s part. Being a board certified avian vet requires even more time and intensive study.
Learning about exotics means learning entirely new anatomy, physiology, handling techniques and more. Even medication dosages and diseases differ from one bird species to another. Many exotics need specialized equipment in order to see and treat them as well. A hospital that sees only dogs and cats simply will not have the equipment or expertise to see a bird.
Because exotics are not very common, many diagnostics and medications cost more for them because the companies that make them don’t sell very many or they are very time intensive to run.
Many exotic issues are husbandry problems and this can be quite complex so where a dog or cat vet can see an appointment every 10-15 minutes, an avian appointment almost always takes an hour or more simply to explain everything and do the exam. So exotic vets see less patients a day for the most part.
So when you bring a bird to an experienced avian vet you are paying for their extra education and time spent learning about birds as well as their specialized equipment and testing. In the case of exotics, you usually get what you pay for and while a dog or cat vet may not charge as much as an avian vet, you aren’t getting the best care for them. In some cases that I have seen as a second opinion the other vet actually did more harm than good simply because they didn’t know about birds and treated them like they would a dog.
Ok but honestly why get a ton of pets if you can’t be bothered to give them enough space or enrichment, like, is seeing 20 ball pythons sit in plain enclosures with water and one hide really satisfying for you? really?
It’s about the collecting and not the actual animal. Which is one of the reasons I had such a poor impression of the reptile world as a whole before I joined Reptiblr here & found the reptile places I can actually enjoy. Every time I saw anything about snakes, geckos, etc., it seemed like it was about the special morph, the rare species, or trading to get something new & more exciting. It all just looked like trading Pokemon cards instead of dealing with actual animals and enjoying/admiring them for themself. And ball pythons was one of the worst. I was honestly at a loss on researching for Charis before I started talking to some people from Reptiblr. I was so upset by all of the forums & groups and the bare minimum they encouraged.
I’m really uncomfortable with how many care sheets and people say that crested geckos don’t require heat. They’re reptiles. They need specific temperatures. It can’t just be assumed that everyone keeps their room warm enough to suit a reptile.
New Caledonia’s climate (where cresties are native) rarely goes below 18 at any point of the year. Most of the year is in the 20-28 range. Maybe they wouldn’t need a heat source in a country like that with constant warm temps, or even if kept in the room of a person who enjoys constant warm temps. But I think it’s irresponsible to say they don’t need a heat source as a blanket statement.
For example, I keep my bedroom’s thermostat at 10 year round (if I’m sick it gets bumped to 15). This means my heater won’t cut in during summer months, because temperatures are frequently above 20. However, sometimes they can drop well below 15 at night. It’s not uncommon for us to have single-digit temperatures on some days in the summer either. A 10 degree room is too cold for a crested gecko. Hell, a 15 degree room is too cold for a crested gecko.
Most people I know don’t strive to keep their room 20+ degrees (”room temperature”) year round. And “room temperature” is a vague phrase that can mean different things to people depending on their own comfort level and what part of the world they live in.
Isn’t it safer for the geckos to list their required temperatures, instead of just assuming that they will be okay in every situation without a heat source? Yes, people should research! But not everyone is good at doing that and when so many care sheets and so many people who should know better are saying that cresties don’t need heat, that can make the animals suffer!
tl;dr: Cresties may or may not need a heat source depending on where you live and how warm you keep your rooms, stop cutting corners when educating people on their care.
When pet owners talk about their pets it’s guaranteed to fall under one of two categories:
Rover is the sweetest kindest force in my life, my closest ally, my best friend, the family member who molded me as a person who I would absolutely lay down my life for. Please let me show you photos of this perfection incarnate.
Socks is on double secret baby probation now and she’s gated in the living room because she wont stop sneaking out and trying to eat all the towels in the house, like the bastard idiot child she is.
I would like to clarify this is not a “which type of pet owner are you” post. There is no choosing. Pet owners are both of these, all the time, forever. It’s a matter of which one is the conversation topic of the day, and the outcome depends entirely upon how recently their pet tried to eat plastic
1. Do not keep them in pairs. Hamsters are loners – keeping them together often results in stress, fighting, injuries and death. They are very happy alone.
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2. Minimum cage size
dwarf hamsters: 30 x 20 x 20 inches (80x50x50cm);
bigger hamsters: 40 x 20 x 20inches (100x50x50cm)!
NOT like this:
Living in cages like this for them is like a human living in an elevator – a lot too small and even dangerous!
For them it feels like this:
Behavior like this is a signal for stress because the cage is too small or that they need more bedding:
Better:
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3. Your hamster (always!) needs a hamster wheel – and it must be a lot bigger than you might think!
Hamster must be able to run with a completely straight back
on a closed surface
with a closed back wall!
NOT like this:
Results of those wheels are: spine problems, backache, stress, injuries!
Minimum wheel size for dwarf hamsters: 9-10 inches.
Minimum wheel size for bigger hamsters: 12 inches!
Better:
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4. Do not buy them plastic tubes (at all):
Those tubes are not suitable at all: Hamsters get stuck or suffocate in them easily.
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5. Your hamster needs enough bedding to dig and build tunnels.
NOT like this:
Better:
Your hamster will be extremely happy and dig around and build tunnels all day (night).
Plastic gets swallowed, splinters, can injure or even kill your hamster.
Better:
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7. Hamsters ALWAYS need a sand bath.
Hamsters love rolling around in the sand, for them it’s like showering. How would you feel without a shower?
You can use those little baths as toilets, but you still need a bigger sand bath!
Better:
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8. Hamsters need a house with at least 2 or more chambers to store food, sleep etc. Also make sure that your hamster does have enough hiding places like coconuts, small houses, toilet rolls!
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9. Do use unperfumed toilet paper for nesting material, don’t use “hamster wool” -> it can tangle around a limb and seriously hurt and even kill your hamster!
NOT like this:
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10. Never ever ever put your hamster or any animal in a hamster ball.
They can’t get out, might suffocate or panic, might run against furniture and seriously injure themselves. The ventilation is terrible, your hamster can’t see/smell/hear enough or use any of their senses properly.
In some countries they even discuss about banning those by law!
Even if you think that “your hamster has fun in it” – please don’t use them!
Pet stores often are very misinformed and sell terrible cages and have little to no idea how to keep a happy hamster – please be careful when trusting them. In the end they often just want to make money – and the hamsters suffer.
Please adopt, not buy hamsters – there are too many hamsters in this world that we need any more breeding.
(Sorry for the spelling errors – I made this post in a rush.)
i literally had no idea, so i feel like this really needs to be stressed
Much like with bettas, there’s a lot of companies out there making a huge profit on habitats that are completely unsuitable for your pets, and counting on consumer ignorance.
How do I get my mom to understand the urgency of getting my cat to the vet
Please I know she desperately needs to go to the vet but my mom doesn’t get the urgency and I really really don’t want anything to happen to her
I know she has to talk to my grandma about paying for it but I really don’t think that matters in the face of her potentially dying because nobody else understands the urgency
She said she’d call the vet so that’s something I guess
How do I get my mom to understand the urgency of getting my cat to the vet
Please I know she desperately needs to go to the vet but my mom doesn’t get the urgency and I really really don’t want anything to happen to her
I know she has to talk to my grandma about paying for it but I really don’t think that matters in the face of her potentially dying because nobody else understands the urgency
Guppies are colorful, personable, and wonderful fish to keep that thrive in the hard, alkaline tap water most people have. I firmly believe they are a better alternative to domestic betta, who are severely inbred and do better in softer, acidic waters which most people don’t get for them. Plus, guppies are social, and you could easily have a single sex shoal (provided enough cover, line of sight breakage, and tank size is given) to prevent copious overbreeding. Guppies make amazing beginner fish, better than bettas and goldfish, but are often ignored because they’re smaller fish and considered common and that somehow makes them lesser value pets. In this essay I will
Which is one of the reasons I had such a poor impression of the reptile world as a whole before I joined Reptiblr here & found the reptile places I can actually enjoy. Every time I saw anything about snakes, geckos, etc., it seemed like it was about the special morph, the rare species, or trading to get something new & more exciting. It all just looked like trading Pokemon cards instead of dealing with actual animals and enjoying/admiring them for themself. And ball pythons was one of the worst. I was honestly at a loss on researching for Charis before I started talking to some people from Reptiblr. I was so upset by all of the forums & groups and the bare minimum they encouraged.
ifesbob 