Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Exotic Pets Gaining Popularity


October 29-Dogs, cats, and the goldfish that has a lifespan of what seems like two weeks are yesterday's news. According to the National Pet Ownership Survey, the percentage of households that own dogs, cats, and freshwater fish is down.

Snakes, parrots, and hedgehogs are among the most popular exotic animals people are increasingly turning to for companionship.


The appeal of exotic pets comes simply from how different they are from the normal pet.

"It’s actually nice when people own snakes because it takes people out of their element and it almost makes them interested," says corn snake owner Nikki Carlson.

Carl Ackerbauer, owner of Ack's Exotic Pets, says the popularity of snakes is increasing, but they aren't the most popular exotic animal.

" Birds are number one, birds are our number one seller," says Ackerbauer, "They don't need shots, they don’t need a yearly checkup, I do recommend it though just as a precaution."

Ackerbauer says across the board his business has been booming because people want different pets and he's got all kinds of animals from big to small, well known to unknown.

Ackerbauer says Central New Yorkers have requested from gigantic pythons to ferrets and cockatoos to kinkajous and coatimundis. But before you look into buying an exotic pet, Ackerbauer says do you research, "Look up animals on the internet or talk to someone who handles an exotic pet before buying."

Ackerbauer says this helps prevent the purchase of unwanted pets since many will be released to the wild when the owner no longer wants the pet.






1 comment:

Gino Wang said...

I love how you have Carl's Myspace page as a hyperlink.

And that money shot is classic.