The Importance of Getting Established with a Reptile Vet

When considering bringing a new pet into your home, it is always super important to decide what vet you will be getting that pet established at. This is even more important when you are bringing home a reptile or any other pets that are considered exotic. Surprisingly, not very many vets are licensed or comfortable working with exotic animals.

Before bringing home exotic pets, you should make calls to the veterinarians in your area and see if any of them see reptiles. Some vet offices, even if they don’t see reptiles, will be able to refer you to a vet who does. Some areas don’t have any reptile vets at all. This is something that you need to know ahead of time so that you can decide if you are willing to travel in the event that your pet needs to see a vet. It should also be considered that if there is a medical emergency with your pet, that there may not be a reptile vet available to help your animal. It is wise to not get an exotic pet if you have no access to an exotic vet. There is no way to guarantee that you will never need a vet even if your pet is given the absolute best care.

Not only is it important to locate an exotic vet but it is very important to get your pet established at that vet. As with all animals, it is important to take your new reptile to a vet for an initial exam. This is not only to make sure that your pets don’t have any issues that you didn’t know about but also to be an established patient with that vet. It is very common for vets to turn people away if they are new patients as they need to save appointments for existing patients. For this reason, you should always have a vet that you know you can call in case of an emergency.

There are a lot of resources online that can help you find exotic vets near you. A really good resource is to get involved with people in your area that have common pets as you. There are lots of facebook groups dedicated to pet owners localized to certain areas and you may be able to find some like minded people near you. A lot of those people also have a lot of knowledge that can be helpful to first time reptile owners!