Exotic Pets: Why are they kept?

Makayla Bell

An exotic pet owner usually has a rare or uncommon pet living with them. In America today more than 13% of people are known to own exotic pets in their households. With most common house pets it can be a problem with being allergic to fur or pet dander. Owning an exotic animal, however, is more common to allergenic people since many are non-allergenic. The top two exotic pets people owned are the hedgehog and the ferret. 

The top exotic pet owned is the hedgehog. The hedgehogs are native to East Africa, West Africa, and Central Africa. Even though they may seem like the perfect housepet they have sharp spikes lined all over their back. However, discarding the fact they have points, hedgehogs are very friendly and playful animals. Hedgehogs have many reasons to be the perfect exotic pet. They are quite playful animals that mainly sleep during the day. With sleeping most of the day they require less maintenance and emit little odor. 

The second top exotic pet owned is the ferret. The ferret descended from the European polecat. With their curious and playful nature, ferrets are very active animals. Even with all the energy they have, however, sleep for 18 hours a day, more than half the day. With all of their charmful and playful characteristics, the ferrets bond easily with their owner. Even though it may seem like they are good with other animals, they are predatory animals and may not be suitable to share a cage. With articles on ferrets, many say how well they are as support animals. As support animals, they move around a lot keeping u entertained, and don’t mind staying inside rather than outside.