I have been thinking about this a lot and just can't come to an answer. Is it wrong to keep exotic animals as pets, given it is legal in your state or country? Seeing as at one point they were taken from the wild, require a lot of care above and beyond what a cat or dog would require, and it might not be easy to find them quality pet care, are they a bad choice?
It also seems like some exotics don't even have the personality to be pets. Our guinea pigs are very easy going, but I have heard lots of comments that rabbits, on the other hand, don't always have the best traits to be kept as pets and can be mean. I might be mean too if I had these big legs for jumping and had to wait until my owner came home from work to give me a little exercise.
It really depends on what your definition of exotic is.
If you mean any unusual pets beyond the most popular, then I do not see anything wrong with it. All pets were taken from the wild at some point.
It might not be as easy to get quality pet care for unusual pets. It is really about supply and demand. Since so many people are having dogs and cats, most vets only take care of dogs and cats. Beyond the quality of vet, I really do not see any downside of it.
If your definition of exotic means endangered species, it can be a whole different meaning. I believe endangered species should be left alone, except for the ones who had been domesticated for generations. Trade newly caught wild endangered species for pets is not right.
My rule of thumb when it comes to pets is if they can live a "meaningful" and "fulfilled" life in our house setting. This is the reason why I don't even keep birds as pets. It seems cruel since you take them out of a habitat that they were made to be in and in no way could one provide companionship, exercise or other "fun" activities for them. I always think, if someone got me from my natural habitat, put me in a box and just fed me whenever I need it would I be happy? This is why I only have dogs and cats. My dogs I regularly walk and have "social sessions" with other dogs daily. My cats on the otherhand walk around freely in the garden and socialize with the other cats here in the compound as well.
I think if the exotics we're taken from the wild it could be wrong, but a lot of them nowadays are being bred to be pets. If you don't 'adopt' them, someone else will and if you're the type to make sure that you give that animal the very best you can, it's likely you're better for it than some of the other people buying them.
Also, the rabbit for example. The big ones don't tend to make as good of pets because they are typically bred for food or in some cases taken from the wild. But if you go out and buy a dwarf rabbit, who are bred to be pets, the 3 I've had were really sweet and had a entire room for themselves to roam around.
If you we're to let a pet exotic go back to the wild, it would likely die. Because it's used to being fed and living a different way.
It really depends on the pet. As Jpix above me mentioned, there are bigger, wilder rabbits who would be very unhappy as pets, and small, dwarf rabbits who make good pets. That's a really good example. I never thought that birds are very happy as pets. Even if you ensure they have company, nice food and decent flight space, they are still in the wrong climate and aren't as free as they could be. It's similar for pets like snakes, spiders, big lizards, they belong in a different environment and it's very hard to give them good living conditions. Now, while these can still make good pets as long as you work really hard for them, wilder animals seem to be becoming popular pets, and I think that it's really wrong. I've heard some statistics about how there are more tigers who are kept as pets then there are in the wild.
