From 1990-2021, there were 91 incidents of death by exotic pets, and over 1,300 reports of such exotic pets escaping captivity. 

Many of these incidents were born from the fact that many people get exotic pets without a proper understanding of what owning such exotic animals entails. Take Florida, for example, where people started releasing their Burmese pythons into the wild in mass, thus making the snake an invasive species, and putting other animals and humans at risk in the process.

Apart from pythons and other formidable exotic pets, however, even something as small as a chinchilla can do harm. They may be small, but a chinchilla’s sharp and strong teeth can cause a very painful bite which just like any other injury, can become infected if not treated properly. Chinchillas are often very friendly and cuddly animals but they are easily startled and can also become aggressive. 

For instance, chinchilla owner Kelly Walker said that “There are 3 things [chinchillas] can die from: stress, getting wet and a poor diet. [The sellers] told us these are social creatures, so we bought two and didn’t give us much information on the animals at all. So we bought a huge three story ferret cage so they’d have room. They’d love to parkour and play during the night. All we really knew was that we had to keep them cool. We ended up giving one a bath and it grew mold, they’re like gremlins! Don’t get them wet at all!” Walker got her chinchillas from Petsmart, which she heavily advises against doing since those animals are treated poorly and most employees know little to nothing about what the animals really need which, more often than not ends up with the animal dead.

All of this makes it clear that exotic pets should not be sold in big markets such as Petsmart because of how horribly they are treated. Furthermore, exotic pets can often become aggressive due to mistreatment or lack of space. “They bit..us. When you first get chinchillas, especially from Petsmart or any big market like that, they don’t know how to socialize so they don’t know what to do except die. So you need to give them time to get used to the new space and people,” Walker added.