Who’s at home
Rabbits, guinea pigs, birds, reptiles, and other small animals are easy to buy and easy to keep badly.
Short notes behind this hub — not a substitute for the ranking cards above.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warns that reptiles and amphibians commonly carry Salmonella. Handwashing, keeping these animals out of kitchens, and keeping them away from young children are public-health rules, not optional lifestyle tips. Any future ranking of enclosures or stores has to sit next to that, not instead of it.
Source: CDC Healthy Pets, Healthy People — reptiles
House Rabbit Society and AVMA-aligned exotic care treat rabbits as prey animals with specific hay-based diets, dental wear, and housing needs. “Small pet” marketing often undersells space and veterinary cost. We will not rank a cage as appropriate if it matches the pet-store footprint rather than the animal.
Source: AVMA and companion-rabbit care consensus
AVMA’s small-mammal and exotic guidance is blunt: many general practices are not set up for birds, reptiles, or rabbits. A ranking of “vets” that ignores species capability would be dishonest. Until we can verify exotic access, we will not publish a clinic table on this hub.
Source: AVMA exotic companion animal care
