What is a nontraditional pet?

Your exactly right. Its just a pet that is uncommon for most people to have as a pet. We don't often have friends and relatives that own, monkeys, foxes, wolves, and etc, but some people do have them as pets, whether we agree with keeping those animals as pets or not.

I wouldn't refer to ferrets, chinchillas, pot bellied pigs, budgies and rabbits as nontraditional pets, because there are getting quite common for some families to keep as pets, it just depends on where you live. People in smaller towns don't keep those as pets, but there are a lot of people that I know that live in cities that keep pets like that. :)

Well, it depends on where you live. Traditional pets for city folk are usually dog, cat, fish, bird, and guinea pig. In the country traditional pets would be dog, cat, horse, rabbit, chicken, or goat. Regional specific pets may be turtles in the south, lizards, or snakes. Some countries have other traditional pets such as parrots, mongoose, goats, or llamas but all those except the birds are also kept for a purpose and are not really pets but loved still the same.

So, if you want a nontraditional pet, look at what is traditional and get something else.

I like rabbits, geckos or other lizard, chickens, quail, snake, skunk, hedgehog, bird of prey (need to apprentice and obtain liscence), alpaca, and goats, and perhaps certain bugs or aracnids. Also, if you like something a little "different" try looking at rare breeds of more traditional animals.

Hope that gets your brain juices going. :)

Camelids, South American: Llamas, Alpacas, Guanacos, and Vicunas

http://awic.nal.usda.gov/nal_display/index.php?inf...

That is correct and its not a good idea. Like monkeys, tigers, alligators etc....I knew a girl who had a prarie dog as a pet and she picked it up to show me and it almost bit her finger off. There was blood everywhere.

Even traditional pets like cats and dogs can be unpredictable....so to get an exotic pet is just crazy and its cruel to the animal also.

I think you are on track. Cats and dogs are traditional pets. Now if you had a house rabbit, that would be nontraditional. I knew someone that took in baby kangaroos to foster when their mothers were killed on the highway. That's definitely nontraditional. She carried them around in one of those front baby pouches. It was neat to see her around town with one.

My friend has a farret and hes the only person I have ever met with that kind of pet. Also:

1.Turtles (aquatic and land)

2.Snakes

3.Spiders

4.Exotic bugs

5.Fish

Just make sure you take good care of them!

there are lots -- i just ran into spiney mice at one pet shop -- 2 for 10 dollars -- you can have exotic pets and they don't even have to be expensive.

i would think traditional would be more like dog, cat, mouse, rat, guinea pig, hamster, gerbil, bunny, fish, etc.

nontraditional pets are more like those that aren't available everywhere -- usually the selling of them is illegal -- like ferrets, chinchillas, sugar gliders, hedgehogs.

also things that are generally illegal to sell that you can catch in your own back yard like a squirrel or raccoon.

Duckbilledplatipus

A snow leopard and a White tiger

Sugarflyer