Tarantulas

Tarantulas are unique, quiet, and need little space. Keeping tarantulas as pets can make a fascinating hobby. However, if you want to handle your pet a lot they aren’t the best choice.

Tarantulas can bite and their bites are venomous. However, for most species, the toxicity of their venom is much like that of a bee or wasp. It is most likely to cause a nasty local reaction including pain, redness, and swelling.

A large enclosure isn’t necessary but if you have an arboreal species of tarantula you will need a tall cage and a burrowing type will need appropriate substrate or hiding places. Generally, spiders should be housed one to a cage as they are not social. For burrowing or terrestrial spiders, a general rule of thumb is that the cage should be approximately 3 times the leg span long and 2 times the leg span wide. You will need to have a place to hide for your tarantula like a flower pot or a hollow log.

 

A shallow water dish can be provided. It needs to be very shallow to prevent drowning and if there is any doubt some pebbles can be placed in the dish to give the spider something to climb out on if necessary.

Tarantulas do not need bright lights but rather should be kept in a darker area of a room where direct sunlight will not fall on the cage. Incandescent lights should not be used for heating as they could potentially dry out the tarantula. Appropriate temperatures and humidity must be maintained, but this is where the various species have different requirements.

A diet of crickets, supplemented with other insects, is fine for pet tarantulas and adults only need to eat about once a week. Some owners may try to mimic how a spider would eat in the wild and offer meals at random (maybe a couple of crickets then one cricket several days later, then a few crickets a week after that, and so on). Adults may also fast for extended periods (a month or two is not unusual), particularly before a molt.

Ferrets

Ferret are cute, playful and inquisitive pets but they do have highly specialised needs. They require a large amount of time and training in order to handle them and to keep them out of mischief.

 

Generally speaking, ferrets and very young children do not mix well, as ferrets have a tendency to bite if they are not handled gently. That being said, ferrets can make great pets for families with older children provided they are supervised and shown how to correctly handle them.

Ferrets will see any open door as a way to escape. They love to get under your feet which often causes them to be crushed or sat on. Ferrets can’t really be trusted with smaller pets such as mice, rats and even rabbits, if these pets are already part of your family then a ferret is probably not ideal. Also, cats and dogs probably can’t be trusted around a ferret, particularly unsupervised, even ‘friendly’ cats and dogs can risk hurting a ferret during rough play due to their size advantage.

 

Ferrets, are obligate carnivores (meat eaters). However, although fresh raw meat is part of the ferret’s natural diet, it may contain harmful parasites and micro-organisms that create risks unacceptable to pet owners. Meat is only part of a natural diet: predators eat not only the muscle meat of their prey, they also eat the liver, kidneys, and intestinal tract, and crunch up bones as well. A diet limited to meat alone would cause harmful nutritional imbalances.

Kitten food works well for ferrets, as long as you give your ferret fatty acid supplements. Kitten food has a higher protein content than adult cat food and is therefore more suitable for a ferret.

Mini pigs

Mini pigs, also called miniature, nano, teacup, pixie or potbelly pigs, make an ideal pet and a great addition to the family. They are fun loving animals that will give you back the love you give to them. They get along with other pets and children and they are hypo-allergenic so they make the perfect pet if you have allergies. They do however require some work and training and lots of patience so you should make your home ready for their arrival.

 

Micro pigs are very smart, these loving pets can be trained to do many tricks in the same way you would teach a dog, with attention, love and treats! Not only can you teach them cool exciting tricks to show off to your friends and family, but they can be litter trained like a cat or to go outside like a dog.

Mini pigs need room to roam, graze and dig. They need a nice big garden with digging areas separated from grazing areas. Micro pigs are clean animals but sometimes they do get a little messy after they have been digging so be sure to clean them up before you take them back into the house.

Teacup pigs put on weight very easily so should be kept at a healthy weight by providing them with the nutrition they need and not too many treats. It is easy to treat your pig from the scraps on your table but this will make them put on weight and grow bigger than you expected. Once they put on this weight it is very hard for them to lose it, almost impossible, so make sure from the start, you keep the treats to a minimum as habits are hard to break.