Buying an Exotic Pet for Christmas Present

Should you purchase a pet for a Christmas present? Are you prepared and have you done your research. I have and decided to share it with you. I want to talk about other pets, not your everyday cat and dog. There are tons of articles out there that will guide you in your decision there.

Suppose your child wants a pet that will live in an aquarium, a heat source, some moisture and a thermometer you may be thinking that won't be so bad, it will be confined and may even be in the child's bedroom. Some things that you need to think about before deciding to purchase these types of pets like reptiles or fish or other creepy crawler that makes your skin crawl.

When thinking about the more exotic pets like snakes or an iguana, you will want to think about how big this reptile will get. How fast it will grow out of the initial aquarium that you purchase? Can you stand feeding a snake a furry little critter and will you be able to afford to purchase more and more of the furry critters as this snake grows. A full grown boa will eat several rats or other furry creature a week. Are you ready to monitor temperature and humidity? Are you ready to pull out the shedding skin or deal with these reptile once it has become full grown? Is there a reptile veterinarian in your area to call on if the reptile gets sick? These are things that you should consider before making this purchase just because your child is begging you to buy it for him or her.

There are many types of lizard types on the market today, you can walk into just about any pet shop and buy anything from a chameleon to a full size iguana. These guys are cool looking but they took come from a tropical area and require the right temperature and humidity. You may not feel as bad feeding them bugs and crickets versus the above furry critter consumer.

So you are thinking maybe I will just purchase a few fish and a tank and be done with it, that's easy enough right? Wrong, a fish tank requires the proper filtering equipment, the proper aeration and require scheduled cleaning to keep the ph at the right balance or you will end up with some sorry looking, unhealthy fish. Once an aquarium is infected with a bug, it takes a long time to clean it up with out putting the fish in shock. Should you even think about a saltwater tank, for all their beauty they require a lot of work and the fish that live in these environments are much more expensive. So if you are testing your skills for the first time, you will want to start small, a huge tank is a big expense and to fill it with exotic fish will have a healthy toll on your wallet, especially if you fail.

I am in no way trying to discourage you in buying an exotic pet or going for the aquarium, but I think you should be aware of everything that is involved. This is not your everyday purchase and your child probably does not understand all the work that goes along with these types of pets. Have them do the research, YouTube has some great video of boa's eating furry critters, not a pleasant site, but it is there for anyone to view.

Do your research outside of the pet shop, remember they need to sale the pets so you may not get an objective point of view, especially if they are fans of the creature. Fans are different than caring if yours survives or not. They may just assume that you know and will certainly reassure you that you will be a fine owner. You need to ask if they have a return policy, just in case you buy and decide that this is not for you.