Don't buy unless you can properly house

[Twisterdog]

This is a good post.

I can't tell the number of small animals I have taken home and properly housed when they would come into animal control or the humane society in horrible habitats.

I once built a cage for two rats that came into the shelter. These were BIG rats, mind you, probably the biggest ones I've ever personall seen. And they were living in a 5 gallon glass aquarium - two big rats, some cedar bedding, a too-small water bottle ... that was it. They could barely turn around.

I once basically forcibly took four budgies away from someone ... they were living in a little travel bird cage ... probably no more then twelve inches square. They had one perch, that they could all barely sit on together, and a food dish and a water dish ... that took up all the space.

I could on and on ....

BTW, I think this post belongs in "Pet General". It's not at all controversial, and more people would see it there, I think.

[Husky15]

I agree. But I think I know who this is aimed at.

[Kalei]

I truely do agree with this thread and I think too I know who this is aimed at and a person doesn't have to hear advice a dozen times after they've already heard it over two or three times, sometimes people can hear differently as to what a pet needs, you can look at sites and listen to what people are saying pets need for space and they are always different, no one ever says the same thing so some people may not know what the right size is, they jsut know if their animal is happy, healthy and well looked after.

[Sevaede]

I truely do agree with this thread and I think too I know who this is aimed at and a person doesn't have to hear advice a dozen times after they've already heard it over two or three times, sometimes people can hear differently as to what a pet needs, you can look at sites and listen to what people are saying pets need for space and they are always different, no one ever says the same thing so some people may not know what the right size is, they jsut know if their animal is happy, healthy and well looked after.

No. If you look on web sites where there are people experienced in whatever critter, they all usually agree on what the critter generally needs.

For instance, on the corn snake forum I frequent, most everyone is pretty much in agreement that 20 gal long or 30 gal is the *minimum* tank size requirement for a full grown corn. Heat should be kept at 80-85 on the "hot" side and 75-80 on the "cool" side. etc etc etc. People agree that you don't feed rabbits iceberg lettuce, you don't feed your dog a diet of table scraps, etc. So, yes, people do agree once in a while on things.

[Vela]

I have to agree I am always saddened to see this and the "revolving door policy" on some pets. Oh I want this! Buy it now, figure out what do to with it and the proper care it needs later. Oh dang that's a lot more work than I expected, don't want THAT one! I'll get rid of it and get something else.

What people fail to understand is that ANY animal is a whole lot more work and money to !properly! care for than they are led to beleive by pet store employees and/or unehthical breeders of whatever animal, thus the animals are the ones who suffer from lack of proper housing, proper medical care, and proper socialization for their needs. There are NO cheap pets! I paid 4.99 for a rat...I then paid 50 dollars to the vets two days later for a checkup and medication when she came home with a respiraotry infection and pneumonia. I paid 85 dollars for a cage for them, then paid another 25 when they ate the bottom off and I had to modify it to safely house them...This was a 4.99 rat, almost the cheapest pet you can buy except maybe a fish!

[Kalei]

I agree with you, alot of people do agree with the same thing, but also some don't. Some people can't help what happened, for instance when I got my fish two years ago. I got it from a petstore and it was marked as a comet and looked exactly like a comet and was a baby, certainly a 30 gallon tank was big enough for 1 comet, but then now 2 years later I find out that the pet store was wrong, my fish is a koi/comet hybred and can get to 4 feet long, I just found that out not too long ago, and that made since as to why she just doesn't stop growing, now that I coiuldn't help, I had no idea and obviously the pet stores didn't know that it wasn't just a Comet. Now that I do know, i am going to get her a much bigger tank

Like my rabbit, I knew what breed she was and I got her the proper space and everything, she has more space than she even needs because I knew how big she'd grow, but I didn't know how my fish would get that big because it was listed as a comet.

But please, don't get me wrong, I very much agree with all of you, if you know what animal you want to get, you should get the proper tank size, cage size ect before purchasing the animal.

[Vela]

Well obviously nobody meant a situation like yours, where nobody knew the fish was a mixed fish. That's not the same thing at all as intentionally buying pets with no idea how to care for them and not providing the proper environments.