Care guides
Ordered the way the process actually runs, from “should I get one” to “it's sick, now what”. If this is your first exotic, read them in order — most of it exists to help you decide before you spend anything.
20 guides, ordered the way you will actually need them.
Start here
- 1 What Exotic Pet Should a Beginner Get? Answer These 5 Questions First Not “which one looks best”, but working backwards from your space, your time and what you can actually live with. Includes a side-by-side comparison of six common species. Updated 2026-09-08
- 2 Exotic Pet Pre-Purchase Checklist: 8 Things to Settle First From legality checks and equipment budget to finding a vet — everything that belongs before you spend money, in one list. Working through it avoids roughly 80% of beginner problems. Updated 2026-09-08
- 3 Quarantine and the First Week: Doing Nothing Is the Right Answer Transport stress, how to set up quarantine properly, what to watch in week one, and why leaving the animal alone is the single most useful thing you can do. Updated 2026-09-08
- 4 Which Exotic Pets Are Legal? How to Read CITES and Protected Species Lists Why the scientific name matters more than the common name, what the three CITES appendices actually mean, how national protection lists work, and what paperwork to demand before you buy. Updated 2026-09-08
- 5 What Does an Exotic Pet Actually Cost? An Honest Budget The animal is usually the cheapest line item. Setup costs, recurring monthly spend, and the veterinary budget almost nobody prepares for — worked out separately. Updated 2026-09-08
Setup
- 6 Exotic Pet Enclosure Setup: Heating, Humidity and Substrate Thermal gradients, wiring a thermostat correctly, holding humidity, choosing substrate and the mistakes that cause most losses. The reasoning behind the numbers, not just the numbers. Updated 2026-09-08
- 7 Choosing Heating Equipment: Mats, Lamps and Thermostats Which heat source suits which setup, exactly where the thermostat probe belongs, and why this is the one part of reptile keeping you must not economise on. Updated 2026-09-08
- 8 The Complete UVB Guide: Who Needs It, How to Choose, When to Replace How UVB and vitamin D3 connect, picking the right output and distance, why a lit tube may be emitting nothing, and why shining it through glass makes it useless. Updated 2026-09-08
- 9 How to Choose Exotic Pet Substrate: Ten Options Compared Paper towel, coco coir, wood shavings, reptile sand and paper bedding side by side — the two risks that actually kill (impaction and volatile phenols), and why beginners should use the ugliest option. Updated 2026-09-08
- 10 Bioactive Vivarium Basics: Layers, Cleanup Crew and Plants Drainage layer, substrate barrier and soil mix, what springtails and isopods are actually doing, choosing plants, and which species a bioactive build genuinely suits. Updated 2026-09-08
Feeding
- 11 The Complete Feeder Insect Guide: Crickets, Dubia and Fruit Flies Six common feeders compared on nutrition and practicality, what gut-loading is and why it matters, and why mealworms should never be a staple. Updated 2026-09-08
- 12 Calcium and Vitamin Supplementation: With or Without D3 Why the calcium-to-phosphorus ratio matters, when to use each type of calcium powder, what vitamin A deficiency and excess look like, and why oversupplementing causes its own problems. Updated 2026-09-08
- 13 Feeding Herbivorous Small Pets: Hay, Vitamin C and Forbidden Foods Why hay is the staple rather than a side dish, why guinea pigs need vitamin C daily, why tortoises must not have fruit, and a cross-species list of foods to avoid. Updated 2026-09-08
Daily care
- 14 Handling and Taming: Which Species to Touch, and Which Not To From “never handle” to “start as early as possible”, the difference between species is enormous. Includes a general progression and how to read stress signals. Updated 2026-09-08
- 15 Summer Cooling and Winter Heating: The Changeover Is the Dangerous Part Which species overheat and which get too cold, choosing between air conditioning and a chiller, power-cut contingencies, and why most incidents cluster in the two weeks when seasons turn. Updated 2026-09-08
- 16 Travelling and Being Away: Pet Sitters and Transport Which species can be left alone and for how long, how to brief whoever is covering for you, and what matters when the animal has to travel with you. Updated 2026-09-08
Health
- 17 Where to Take a Sick Exotic Pet: What to Know Before You Need To Most cat-and-dog clinics cannot treat reptiles or amphibians. How to find a vet in advance, which symptoms mean go now, and how to transport an animal safely. Updated 2026-09-08
- 18 Early Warning Signs of Illness: Catching It Before It Shows Ectotherms decline slowly and birds actively hide illness, so by the time something looks obviously wrong it usually isn't early. How to spot it sooner. Updated 2026-09-08
- 19 Weight Records and Routine Tracking: Two Minutes a Week How to weigh, what to record, how often, and why a few months of weight data beats any subjective impression. Updated 2026-09-08
Advanced
What's coming
Feeding and nutrition, breeding basics, bioactive setups and species-specific advanced topics are in progress. Everything is written on the assumption that safe, legal, evidence-based husbandry comes first — nothing here will encourage illegal collection, illegal breeding or dangerous shortcuts.