Everything You Need to Know About Keeping Exotic Pets in Albury/ Wodonga

As with any pet, keeping a bird requires a commitment to care for it during its life which could be 15-75 years (cockatoos could live up to 75 years of age or longer!). The commitment requires routine feeding, cage cleaning, general care and time spent with your bird handling to keep it tame.

There are many different breeds of birds to choose from; budgies, cockatiels, cockatoos, and parrots are all very common but vastly differ only in size. You need to consider the size of the bird you are going to accommodate, as the cage must be large enough to allow the bird to extend and stretch its wings fully.

Smaller birds are more common for people with smaller living arrangements, or you could have a large outdoor aviary with several birds, and some species happily co-exist. For first-time bird owners, budgies and cockatiels are often a good choice as they are relatively easy to care for and train.

Birds are naturally much happier in a pair as most species bond with one mate for life. Similar to other animals, they often groom and preen each other. The cage requirements need to be more significant if it is housing more than one bird.

If you decide to get only one bird, you should expect the bird to bond very strongly with one person as if they are their mate, and sometimes birds can be very protective or possessive over this person. Two of the same sex can happily bond together. If buying your birds from a pet shop, you may notice that some have already paired up, and it is best not to separate them; getting two birds that have already paired would avoid fights.

A large cage with several perches (natural branches from non-poisonous trees are best), fresh water and correct food should always be available. Most cages come with suitable food and water containers that sit in the cage off the ground, and they are best not situated directly under a perch as their droppings will end up in their feed bowls. Lots of suitable toys should be available for caged birds to prevent boredom.

It is important to realise that not all birds eat the same thing. Some eat grubs, worms and other insects, e.g. Magpies; others eat nectar from flowers and fruit, e.g. Lorikeets and others eat seeds, e.g. Budgies. It is sometimes necessary to feed your bird other food items to maintain a balanced diet, giving fresh fruit, vegetables and sprouted grains depending on your choice of bird.

Your bird’s health depends mainly on the state of its cage; therefore, you must keep its cage clean, thoroughly cleaning it out weekly. The bottom of the cage can be lined with newspaper with a layer of shell grit over the top. The shell grit is for the birds to eat as they don’t have teeth; this helps to grind up their food.

If given natural perches, they should keep their nails shorter, but you may need to get them trimmed by a Vet if they get too long. Birds need to be wormed for intestinal worms. This is usually done by adding a worming solution to their water bowl as directed by your product.

Birds can get lice, but if their cage is kept clean, the chance of them getting this will be less. Daily bathing by spraying the birds with water or providing a bath encourages preening, reduces feather dust and keeps plumage in good condition. Air quality is an essential factor. Dusty conditions, smoking and fumes from cooking utensils made from Teflon should be avoided.

It’s important to give your pet a good start in life so that they start out healthy and stay that way. Guinea pig care begins with proper food; these pets eat hay, forage grasses, and pellets. They have a high fibre requirement and therefore need plenty of access to high-quality hay. Pre-prepared mixed foods should be avoided as they can lead to serious nutritional problems. The remainder of the diet needs to consist of pellets, green vegetables and herbs.

As much as your guinea pig is going to bond with you, he’ll be even happier if he has a companion. He’ll do well with a male buddy as long as there’s no female around. You can also put a baby in with an adult as long as both of them are the same sex. Keep an eye on them for a couple of hours to be certain they don’t fight.

Guinea pigs groom themselves, and sometimes they groom each other. You can join in with a brush. This helps to remove loose hair on a daily basis. And if you like, you can bathe them occasionally in shallow water using kitten shampoo.

Guinea pigs need to be housed in a large well ventilated area with frequent bedding changes. It is recommended that they be brought inside on hot and cold days as they do not thermoregulate well. Shredded paper or straw provides the ideal nest for your guinea pigs. Keep water fresh by providing multiple dripper bottles.

One of the reasons for the calcium is that guinea pigs have open-rooted teeth, which means they never stop growing. The nails also need to be trimmed about every four to six weeks. In fact, some experts recommend using a regular human nail trimmer to cut just a little every week; this causes the vein that runs in his nails-the “quick”-to recede a little. If you don’t trim his nails, they’ll develop a retro-curl that digs painfully into their pads.

Good guinea pig care includes learning about some common mistakes made by well-meaning owners. For example, they do not do well with giant wheels and exercise balls. These can cause injury. The drinking water you provide daily should not be the medium for their vitamin drops. Leave the water clear. Many guinea pigs hate the taste of the vitamins, so they’ll avoid their water and become dehydrated.

As with any pet, keeping a rabbit requires a commitment to care for it during its life which could be 5-10 years or longer. The commitment required includes routine feeding, general care and time spent with the rabbit. Although proper care will go a long way to ensuring that any rabbit remains happy and healthy, there may still be times when prompt veterinary treatment is needed, and once a rabbit is ill it can deteriorate quickly.

Rabbits are generally much happier in pairs. After all wouldn’t you like to have someone to talk to? They not only groom each other, keeping hard-to-reach places clean, but they also tend to take it in turns to looking out for any dangers. Often one will be the sentry while the other takes a nap.

Having said that, it can be difficult to bond two rabbits. It is not rare that they fight when first introduced until one rabbit is deemed to be the dominant rabbit of the pair.

As you can imagine, this can be quite a problem with two headstrong, bossy rabbits. Some rabbit owners are lucky as their rabbit is very accepting of a new friend. It’s, therefore a good idea to get two rabbits from the same litter as they will be less likely to fight.

Grass, basil, alfalfa, radish, clover, beet greens, dandelions, dill, tops of dutch carrots, broccoli (leaves and stems), brussel sprouts, carrots (treat only), celery, apples (without core and seeds), chicory, endive, parsley, pea pods, cos lettuce, spinach, watercress, wheatgrass, unlimited amounts of hay. Wild rabbits eat mainly grass. So letting your rabbit out into the backyard to nibble grass is a great idea.

A rabbit requires constant access to water, and this is best provided by using a water bottle attached to the hutch or cage at a height that the rabbit can comfortably reach. Water bottles with ball-bearings in the tube are fantastic and keep the water clean and fresh. A heavy ceramic food dish is best, as this is not easily knocked over or thrown about by the rabbit.

You can grow your own vegies and grass for your rabbit. Even if you don’t have a backyard, bunny greens can be grown in pots. Rabbits love green carrot tops. Try planting the tops from dutch carrots. Silverbeet, parsley and endives can also be grown very easily. Most bunnies cannot resist parsley.

There are various items of equipment that will be needed for a rabbit. It is best to buy the essential items such as a cage or hutch, floor covering, nesting material, water bottle, food dish and food before getting a rabbit so that these are ready for the rabbit’s arrival.

Rabbits can be kept outside or indoors as they make good house pets, being easily litter trained. The decision as to where the rabbit is to be kept will affect the type of cage or hutch required for the rabbit.

Female rabbits should be desexed to prevent the development of uterine cancer as there is a high chance of female rabbits contracting cancer if they are not bred from it. If you want to have more than one rabbit, then you will need to desex your rabbits. Two entire male rabbits living together will tend to fight, and two entire female rabbits can often fight just as viciously. An entire male and a desexed female can live together, but the male rabbit may become obsessive about marking his territory (spraying his semen/urine about and very much dirtying his surroundings). He also may annoy the female rabbit by continually mounting her.

Many people find that after their rabbit reaches 4 months of age, their rabbit has started urinating everywhere, mounting objects and has become aggressive towards them, actually lunging and biting.

Desexing rabbits tend to reduce, if not eradicate, this behaviour.

Although rabbits and guinea pigs will “accept” each other as companions, there are some points to consider before keeping rabbits and guinea pigs together:

The habit of a rabbit is to playfully jump when happy means that its powerful hind legs can cause serious internal injury by mistake to a guinea pig companion, which could result in death. This is the case with even the smallest of rabbit breeds.

Rabbits and guinea pigs also have different dietary requirements (Guinea pigs require higher vitamin content, especially vitamin C, provided by guinea pig pellets), and they also have different means of communication.

Therefore rabbits should not be housed with guinea pigs, and the best and most natural companion for any pet rabbit is always another rabbit.

Vaccinations 

In Australia, we vaccinate rabbits against the Calicivirus annually. Australian authorities have found that insects, including fleas and flies, can carry this virus. It can also live on clothing for over 100 days. It usually causes death within only 72 hours.

Unfortunately, there is no vaccine available for Myxomatosis in Australia, so in summer, make sure your rabbit is not exposed to mosquitoes. Covering your cage or hutch with mosquito-proof fly screens is the best way to prevent this.

Another Interesting Fact

Rabbits should never be fasted for surgery. Rabbits cannot throw up, so there is no reason to starve your rabbit. Rabbits have sensitive digestive systems that can be easily upset by a lack of food.

Cleaning Ears

You should regularly check inside your rabbit’s ears to make sure there isn’t any build-up of wax or other debris. If there is, it is advisable to take your rabbit to the vet. Rabbits can get ear mites (canker), which cause itching and a build-up of very waxy material, which is often very painful. The ears will then need to be carefully cleaned, and treatment for the mites and inflammation will start.

Brushing

Rabbits moult several times a year. If kept indoors, they do not adapt as well to the season changes so it does pay to help by brushing them when needed. A soft brush can be used to brush out excess hair.

Do I Wash My Rabbit?

NO! Never wash a rabbit unless it is very dirty or has soiled itself.

Rabbits can go into shock when you immerse them in water. Rabbits do a very good job of keeping themselves clean and only need help when they are very sick.

Nail Trimming

Rabbits need their claws trimmed every 4-6 weeks (especially older rabbits need this done regularly). The claws are like fingernails and never stop growing. Most indoor rabbits don’t wear their nails down enough, so they will need to be clipped. 

You can do this yourself using nail clippers, or you can take your rabbit to a vet. If you are doing it yourself, it helps to shine a light from underneath the claw so you can ensure that you don’t clip the blood vessel (the pink bit).

Eyes

Sometimes rabbits get to sleep in their eyes. Just wipe this away for them. Cold tea bags to wipe eyes can be used if there is the very mild inflammation of the eyes present. It acts as a mild natural anti-inflammatory. If there is excess discharge or the eyes are very teary, your bunny may have a problem. It might need a veterinary check-up.

Interesting facts – rabbits have a third eyelid and don’t need to blink very often. This is how they can sleep with their eyes open.

Cleaning the Hutch 

Your rabbit’s health depends a great deal on its environment, and a daily cleaning regime is really important. You will soon get to know where your rabbits like to toilet, and this area can be padded well with newspaper to provide not only more absorbency but also make cleaning easier. Some rabbits use litter trays (these should be large enough for the rabbit to get its whole body into. Daily removal of any faeces and wet or soiled bedding is important. Any underlying newspaper should be replaced.

How much time your rabbits spend in their hutch will dictate how often you should give it a total clean but try to salvage a little of their unsoiled bedding to replace afterwards so that the place still smells of home! Spilled food or uneaten fruit or vegetables should be removed daily, but any uneaten food in your rabbit’s bowl should be mixed in with fresh food unless it is contaminated with bedding and faeces. Rabbits kept in dirty hutches are susceptible to respiratory illness, sore feet, urine scalding and most importantly, dirty bottoms – which can easily result in fly-strike.

Fleas

If your rabbit is scratching itself a lot, there might be fleas involved. Fleas aren’t easy to find in all that rabbit fur, but you can see small black specs of flea poop that have been left behind. Fleas need to be treated ASAP as the fleas will lay larvae on rabbits, rugs, carpets and anything hair-like.

The best flea treatment for rabbits is Revolution. Rabbits should be separated after treatment to ensure they do not lick the flea treatment from each other’s fur. The revolution treatment lasts a month, but rabbits may need further treatment if more fleas have hatched from the eggs.

The two most important factors for choosing appropriate living quarters for your pet mouse or rat is ventilation and ease of cleaning.

Enclosures must allow good ventilation. Open cages with wire sides allowing constant air flow are ideal as opposed to solid-sided cages or enclosures. Appropriate rat and mouse enclosures can be readily obtained from any reputable pet shop.

Rats and mice require absorbent material such as shredded newspaper or cat litter (best one for rodents is kitty litter made from recycled newspaper), and so an ample amount of material should be laid at the bottom of the cage to serve two functions; 1. Absorbency and 2. Nesting

The enclosure should be cleaned every 1 – 2 days and be in a cool place out of direct sunlight, especially in the warmer summer months as these little critters are prone to heat stress!

Rats are best housed in groups or pairs and fighting seldom develops provided there is ample room, food and water and the cage is kept clean and ventilated. It is not recommended, however, to introduce two adult males together as fighting can develop.

With mice, on the other hand, it is not recommended to have adult males together, especially in the presence of females.

A good quality rat or mouse pellet is recommended, with a fresh supply of fruit and vegetables readily accessible. Rats and mice are omnivores meaning they can eat both plant material and meat.

Fresh water must be on hand at all times and is supplied via a sipper bottle which can also be obtained from a pet shop and often comes with the purchase of a cage. When filling the sipper bottle, it is important to get rid of air bubbles as they can stop the flow of water.

These little guys are prone to obesity, so treats should be avoided and cared for with seed mixes as they will pick out their favourite seeds (usually the fattening ones) and leave the rest.

Food and water should be changed fresh on a day-to-day basis.

It’s important with these little guys to handle them as much as possible when young as this will minimise the chance of bites down the track and get your rat (or mouse) used to being handled.

They can be scooped up in hand or mice can also be picked up by the base of the tail. A rat shouldn’t be lifted by the tail due to their larger size.

Be gentle with them as they readily take fright and are easily hurt if dropped.

It’s best to have your pet mice and rats genders determined by a veterinarian. It can save unwanted surprises down the track and will also enable people wishing to breed to develop appropriate breeding plans.

Female mice become sexually mature at 50 days of age and cycle every 5 days, they are very fertile. Pregnancy lasts 3 weeks and litters are large with each female mouse capable of giving birth to up to 12 young. Wean at 3 weeks of age.

Rat cycles are very similar, although sexual maturity isn’t until 65 days of age and litter sizes are generally smaller (6 – 8).

Important Information

Do not disturb the mother and young in the first 4 – 5 days after birth as this can result in stress to the mother and either abandonment or destruction of the litter.

Male rats must be separated prior to birth as they can become aggressive towards the young.

Rats and mice can fall pregnant as early as 24 – 48 hours after giving birth

Rats and mice are very susceptible to stress and so readily become ill if conditions are not favourable.

Possible Stressors Include:

• Temperature fluctuations – too hot or too cold, cage in direct sunlight. Heat is a big stressor.
• New cage mates
• Male interactions
• Food – warm drinking water, stale food, lack of variety of food offered.
• Cage – changed location, unclean, near excessive noise.
• Presence of other animals e.g. cats and dogs, in the house or in the vicinity of the cage.
• Disease

Common Health Considerations:

• Mammary tumours – most common tumour type. They appear as lumps that can appear anywhere on the body as well as around the nipples.
• Obesity – Common nutritional problem. More common on seed mixes and in rats or mice fed treats or snacks. A good quality diet is recommended to reduce the chance of obesity which can drastically reduce life expectancy by up to a half.
• Skin parasites – Fur mites are common and can result in severe skin irritation and self-trauma. Veterinary treatment is curative.
• Dental disease – Incisor overgrowth is common and can result in problems eating and therefore, malnutrition.
• Respiratory Disease – Very common, sneezing and respiratory noise as well as nasal discharge is common, however signs can vary between animals. Lifelong treatment is often required.
• Diarrhoea – Common and usually secondary to stress.
• Barbering – Rat and mice bullying. It’s the removal of whiskers and hairs of submissive individuals by more dominant cage mates. Barbered animals should be separated from the main group.
• ‘Crying’ Blood – Often we see rats that owners report are crying tears of blood. When rats or mice are stressed a red pigment is secreted in the tears and may be seen coming from either the eyes or the nose. It isn’t a problem in itself, rather a sign that the individual is stressed. A veterinary exam should be performed to help identify underlying problems or diseases.

1) Annual vaccination and worming aren’t required for mice and rats. However we advise six monthly health checks for the ongoing monitoring of their health.

2) Life expectancy of a rat is 2 – 3 years, while mice can be expected to live for 1 – 2 years.

At Petfocus Vetcare, we see and treat a wide variety of health complaints in mice and rats and are always available for advice on owning these pets.

If you have any other queries or seek further information on any aspect of owning and caring for pet mice and rats, please don’t hesitate to contact us at the clinic

Although reptiles are non demanding pets it is still important to keep in mind their life span which can be from 15 (lizards) up to 75 years (carpet pythons) in captivity as they have no predators. The commitment level required includes feeding, upkeep of enclosures and regular handling to keep reptiles tame.

How many pet reptiles you should keep depends on the size of the enclosure and your commitment to care. Usually housing lizards in pairs or more, is common however, you should expect that they will breed if males and females are housed together. Snakes can be kept singularly. If you do decide to have two they would need to be separated into two enclosures if keeping a male and a female and only put together for breeding season (this is best left to the breeders only).

Snakes and lizards can play host to some parasites including mites, ticks and some types of worms however feeding laboratory-raised food sources and keeping housing clean can minimise the introduction of at least some of them to your animal. Other problems that may occur could include bacterial diseases, respiratory infections and possible scale rot, however, setting up your reptiles' housing correctly and keeping it clean should prevent any of these from happening.

Some other interesting facts about snakes and lizards is that they shed their skin as they grow. They shed or slough the outer layer of their skin following the production of a new one beneath it. Snake skin usually comes off in one piece starting at the head coming off inside out like pulling off a sock from the top. Lizards' skin comes off in large pieces.

Some snakes can go up to 12 months without food as long as they have access to fresh drinking water, it is because of this that snakes are a good option for people that have to go away regularly with work etc.

To learn more a very informative Australian book is available: “Care of Australian Reptiles in Captivity” by John Weigel.