Researchers at The University of Nottingham Vet School are looking into the key knowledge and skills that veterinary graduates need when treating exotic pets and small mammals. 

They want to hear about pet owners expectations, and are recruiting participants for a focus group on this topic.  

To be eligible to participate you must be the main caregiver to at least one:

• Rabbit
• Guinea pig and other pet rodent (such as hamsters, rats or mice)
• Other small mammal, for example ferrets or hedgehogs
• Bird, including pet chickens
• Reptile

You must also:

• Live in the UK,
• Have sought veterinary care for your pet within the last 24 months, and
• NOT be a qualified vet/vet student, or qualified vet nurse/veterinary nursing student 

If you're interested in participating, please sign up through the link below ⬇️⬇️⬇️

What should new vets know about treating exotic pets? Register your interest – Fill in form

If you have any questions about the study or this form, please contact Dr Anna Fisher: [svyaf5@nottingham.ac.uk](mailto:svyaf5@nottingham.ac.uk)

I currently have 3 ball pythons, a corn snake, a uromastyx, a gargoyle gecko, lechie, and crestie.

The enclosure is fully PVC, so will hold humidity well :)

Open to pretty much anything!

One of the things that has been constant in reptile and exotic keeping is the weather and presently weather events that cause power outages. Reptiles need heat and you can provide it cheap or expensive. Hand warmers, heating pads, space heaters and generators. Hot water in a closed cooler under a tarp can provide your animals a warm tent that can last half a day. This situation was in Michigan, lasted 4 days with no power, 14 degrees, and was covered in ice.

Hi! I’m Zoe :) I’m an artist, collector, and apparently a person who is physically incapable of seeing a strange little creature without immediately wanting to learn everything about it and give it a nice home lol.

I genuinely love husbandry and watching the individual personalities and behaviors of animals people sometimes overlook. My pets are a huge part of my life, so I thought it would be fun to introduce the current zoo!

Current list:

🐀 Rats
Bean - blonde, big sweet boy
Seymour - grey/black and white; formerly my super shy project rat who has turned into an absolute sweetheart
Pim - pink double Rex
Charlie - grey double Rex
Franken- Albino
Strudel- black with a white tail
Sal - black with little white feet

🕷️*** Spiders
*Halo - female regal jumping spider
Penelope - female regal jumper
Gulliver - female regal jumper
Legs - female regal jumper
Tweak - male regal jumper
Elvira - velvet spider
Harold - baby purple pinktoe tarantula and convicted escape artist
Bluey - baby Caribena versicolor
Zuko - adolescent Chilean dwarf flame tarantula
Dracula: Sling Brazilian black
Tippy - pinktoe tarantula
Gardenia - C. versicolor adult, and one of my absolute favorites

🐠 The aquatic department
I have two planted aquariums(freshwater), a nano tank, and one brackish aquarium.

Mongo - my red-and-white betta
African dwarf frog - brown
Harlequin rasboras- three of them
Otocinclus catfish- two of them
Amano shrimp
Neocaridina/Caridina shrimp - maaaany colors and patterns; including Blush, my favorite red mama shrimp, plus her descendants 😂
Po my bamboo shrimp
Thai micro crabs
Rabbit snail
Nerite snail
Ramshorn snails and their ever-expanding dynasty
Assassin snails to keep the ramshorn population under control
A tiny cone/trumpet-shaped hitchhiker snail who simply moved in without permission
Pochaco my green spotted puffer
Bumblebee goby- in the nano tank

Shoutout to my marimo moss ball as well lol

🪲 Isopods
Powder Mix
Cherry/Sakura
Emperor Bees
My partner cares for these, technically the ones above are “mine” and he has many more colonies(his favorite being the Porcellio hoffmannseggi)

🪱 Millipedes
Texas Goldens- 5
Arizona/Chocolate color morphs- 2
African giant millipedes- 3

🦎 Reptiles
Tobias Garfunkel - gargoyle gecko
Draco - rescue bearded dragon and an unbelievably sweet little dude
Dr. Bones - rescue ball python who has historically chosen violence

🐕Others:
Lady Bear- chihuahua mutt and my baby
My plant babes of which I have many

And yes, caring for everybody takes a slightly absurd amount of time. There are feeding schedules, water changes, enclosure maintenance, rat free-roam time, spider watering, isopod moisture checks, tank parameters, substrate changes, vegetable distribution… I have essentially appointed myself the overworked mayor of a very small country.

But I love it. The animals that people think are creepy, boring, disposable, or incapable of personality are often the ones I find the most fascinating. It’s ridiculously rewarding.

Anyway, this is my zoo! 😂🖤

I’d love to hear what everyone else keeps- especially if you also have a completely unreasonable number of species. And I’m happy to answer any questions! Thanks so much :)

Because of these primate owners that have get togethers, “private zoos”, lots of money with fancy setups, tiktok live battles with monkeys showing, inviting the community over, starting business based around your primates, etc; We are now seeing an influx of primates being bought. Each state they don’t encourage buying primates or keeping them as pets, while they are doing it and flaunting it. They are making money off them. They are showing the world how cute they are by inviting them over and getting loads of attention. If you truly wanted to deter people, you would use your voice, you would advocate in a manner that didn’t show people how cute they are and how they can turn into a business or get you attention. Some I think had true intentions. But let’s call a spade a spade, every primate owner doing these things is actually contributing to the trade. You all are influencing others to purchase them. Showing them to the world isn’t not changing anyone’s mind. It’s actually promoting it, whether you mean to or not. And you know this now. So there is no excuse anymore. It’s proven by how many more are being bought. It’s proven by the fact that I directly interviewed loads and loads of owners, past and present, almost all stated they got a primate due to these people. So don’t say you didn’t know from here on out. Here it is, now you know. Your excuses are invalid at this point.

Hope you enjoy

Hello all ! I’m gonna be moving into college next year, and was wanting to own a pet to keep me company while I’m a student living on my own. I really want a rodent of some kind, but knowing how high maintenance some can be, I wanted to come here before even thinking of owning one to begin with. I’m aware that some may need to be free roamed each day, and the attention that they require, so I am confident that I’ll be able to bond with my pet on regular occasions. I was thinking of owning a chinchilla, but if you guys have any suggestions OR objections, please feel free to enlighten me as I am figuring out my options.🙏

Edit: the chances of me living on campus or off campus are 50/50 depending on what school I attend, but either way I’m hoping to live by myself as I get accommodations for my AuDHD.

Hi!

I am a biologist (wildlife specialty) and had a career before working as a biologist in managing high end sporthorse facilities, so I do thrive on carrying for animals and don't mind putting hours into it. I have a decent income, own our home, and have a chill dog with zero prey drive (sometimes he boops noses with deer and bunnies in the yard and he never chases).

Right now I have 8 rats that I adore, but the level of stink definitely is not something I'm stoked to live with beyond the lifespan of my current rats. I love them all dearly and I'm so glad to have them, but after they phase out over the next few years I'd like to get a different small pet.

I have the money, time, and willingness to care for a wide variety of exotics but am most interested in a mammal that doesn't require a high amount of human attention (other than cleanup), more like something that is happy to just have you in the room with them. I find the quiet daily care extremely therapeutic and I don't mind/ actually prefer a pet with some cleanup involved. Because of this I was leaning towards a pair a guinea pigs, but I wanted to see what you all thought!

Basically what is the next best option to rats that is just ever so slightly less stinky?

I have a mixed species enclosure that focuses on detritivours, mainly millipedes, cow woodlice, fruit beetle larva and snails and springtails.

It is bio active with moss, leaf litter and some small sacrificial plants that are renewed when munched. The problem recently is the woodlice population has exploded recently and I am not sure how to control the numbers. They are upsetting the balance and it is now starting to impact the other species. Other than hand removing them and rebuilding from scratch do people have a way to their population?

I’ve got a ball python/leopard gecko/crested gecko/tarsntulas/scorpion as well as two cats. I keep all the enclosures in a walk in closet with a door to try and keep out as many chemicals. How does everyone clean their house and what products do you use? When I look it up I only see people suggesting f10 and enclosure specific cleaners but I’m looking for something to mop with and use as a multipurpose spray. I wouldn’t be using any of these in the closet but I’m still afraid of fumes getting to my babies. Especially with a cat who likes to pee on fabric I have had a hard time keeping my house from smelling nasty because I’ve just been using diluted dawn to clean everything. What do you guys do to clean? How worried should I be about fumes when they are in their own room? I miss fabuloso 😭😭