Exotic Pet Care FAQs

House of Guineas Pet Care offers specialized care for exotic animals. Our veterinary-informed team brings a wide range of backgrounds — from wildlife rehabilitation to exotic veterinary hospital work — and is trained to provide the best care for your pets. Founder Alexandria previously worked as an exotic veterinary assistant and volunteered as a medical assistant at the House Rabbit Society in Richmond, California.

We care for a wide range of exotic pets including rabbits, guinea pigs, chinchillas, ferrets, hamsters and other small mammals; reptiles such as bearded dragons, geckos, snakes, turtles and tortoises; and birds such as parrots, cockatiels, conures and budgies. An expansive list of pets we care for can be found on the about page.

House of Guineas in-home care now covers San Francisco and the Peninsula, with our team of exotic pet caretakers traveling out to pet parents across San Mateo County. Our primary service area is Inner Sunset, San Francisco. Pet parents in San Mateo County are served via our Peninsula tier (see below). For families outside the primary travel range, additional travel rates apply — rates depend on our caretakers' availability and your location. We will do our best to meet you and your pets' needs, wherever they are. Here's a breakdown of the service tiers:

• Primary Service Area (0–3 miles from Inner Sunset, San Francisco): No travel surcharge applies. Our base rates cover all visits within this area.
• Secondary Service Area (3–6 miles from Inner Sunset, San Francisco): Travel surcharge starting from $15/visit, depending on our caretakers' availability.
• Tertiary Service Area (6+ miles from Inner Sunset, San Francisco): Travel surcharge starting from $25/visit, depending on our caretakers' availability.
• Peninsula Service (San Mateo County): Our team serves Burlingame, San Mateo, Millbrae, Hillsborough, Foster City, Redwood City, and surrounding areas — all in our 6+ mile tier, so a $25/visit travel surcharge applies. Contact us to book!

Are you farther away? Text or call us and let's figure out if we're a good fit for each other!

Note: In-home visits are handled by our caretakers who travel to you. Boarding is hosted by our team in San Francisco — pet parents are welcome to drop off their little ones from anywhere in the Bay Area.

Our pet care is built around dedicated visits rather than overnight stays — and if your little ones need extra time and attention, we're more than happy to arrange extended visits. Just give us a call/text and we'll figure out a plan together.

We completely understand — letting someone into your home is a big deal. We treat your home with the same gentle care we give your pets, making sure the fort is locked down and secured during each visit. Our team will check that the doors and windows are locked, your little one is safely settled (if they're in an enclosure), and no unnecessary lights are on.

Rest assured, your pet's safety and well-being is our top priority. Our team brings hands-on clinical experience and certifications, including Pet CPR + CPCR and First Aid. House of Guineas is bonded and insured for your complete peace of mind. As a member of Pet Sitters International, the world's largest pet sitting association, we adhere to the highest industry standards. Our insurance protects you from unexpected incidents, while our bond provides financial protection against theft or property damage.

A meet and greet is a visit to you and your companion's home; this is the time for us to get to know you, your pet(s) and answer any questions you have! After covering care for your pets, this is also when we'll discuss how our team will access your home. We recommend a lockbox with a mechanical key, placed in a secure location — it's the most dependable way to make sure we can always reach your pets.

Additionally, if you'd like to move forward with care from House of Guineas, the booking deposit and signed pet care and services form is due at the end of the Meet and Greet as well.

Keycodes and digital entry systems can malfunction. If you use a keycode, please still provide a lockbox or hidden key as a backup. If a digital code/keyless entry method is the only access provided and our team is unable to access your home, House of Guineas is not responsible for any damages to your home and your pet(s). We also recommend a local, emergency contact to have at least one spare key in the event of an emergency.

We recommend a lockbox with a mechanical key, stored in a secure location — most families place one near a side door, garage, or another spot out of plain sight. Keycodes and digital entry systems can malfunction, so a physical key is the most dependable way to guarantee our team can reach your pets on every visit. We'll discuss your access method together during the meet and greet.

If you use a keycode, please still provide a lockbox or hidden key as a backup. If a keycode is the only access provided and it fails, House of Guineas is not responsible for any damages to your home and your pet(s) from being unable to enter. We also recommend leaving a spare key with a trusted, local emergency contact while you're away.

At the end of our meet and greet, a booking deposit is due. The booking deposit will include half of the total care. After the final visit, the remaining half of the care is due, along with any additional charges if applicable.

We accept Zelle, Venmo, checks and cash. For memo areas, please make them payable to: House of Guineas LLC.

Don't you worry — you'll receive pictures of your pet's adventures while you're away! Along with the photos, our team sends high-level updates on their health, any changes in their behavior or feeding, and any relevant updates around the home (like received mail or packages).

Their pet caretaker is trained to spot the subtle signs exotic pets hide, and will contact you right away — guided by the preferred veterinary hospital, emergency preferences, and medical authorization limit you set with us at your meet and greet. If it's urgent, we get your pet to an exotic-savvy vet ourselves — handling safe, temperature-controlled transport and staying by their side; in a life-threatening situation we get them admitted and stabilizing first, then reach you immediately after.

Vet bills are passed along at cost — never marked up — and our care time and transport are itemized clearly, with any additional charges due, latest, by the last service. See exactly how vet visits and emergencies work →

No problem, these things happen. Please be aware that any sits scheduled within 7 days of their first visit will include a non-refundable, $100 surcharge; $150 if care is over any holidays.

Because last-minute, emergency care can overlap with the routine visits already on our schedule, please contact us as soon as possible to make sure your pet(s) has the care they need.

Because of higher volume of care during peak periods such as holidays and special occasions, pet care over a holiday will be 1.5x the regular rate. Please be aware that for any sits scheduled within 7 days of the needed care over a holiday, a non-refundable, $150 holiday surcharge is due, in addition to applicable service fees.

Care over the holidays is often booked months in advance, so please contact us as soon as possible to make sure your little ones have the care they need.

Yes! Guinea pig boarding is $75/night and includes unlimited fresh hay, species-appropriate pellets and vegetables, daily enclosure cleaning, and health monitoring. Our veterinary-informed team watches for early signs of GI stasis, respiratory distress, bumblefoot, and dental issues. Your guinea pig gets their private room with soothing music. Please bring their enclosure, bedding (or try our Clinical Series fleece liners), food, and supplies.

Congratulations! Guinea pigs are wonderful companions. We recommend starting with our Complete Guinea Pig Care Guide which covers housing, diet, health, and bedding. For bedding specifically, check out our Clinical Series fleece cage liners — the healthiest, most cost-effective bedding option. You can also browse our Small Pet Resources page for recommended cages, hay, and supplies. And if you ever need a guinea pig sitter in San Francisco or the Peninsula, that's what we do best!

Yes — birds are a core part of our service, not a stretch. Our team is trained to handle cockatiels, parakeets, conures, parrotlets, lovebirds, finches, and most companion parrots, and founder Alexandria previously worked as an exotic veterinary assistant at Bay Area Bird and Exotics Hospital. We do daily fresh chop preparation, pellet measurement, full cage cleaning, and out-of-cage time for birds with established free-flight routines. See our bird care guide and bird sitter page for more.

Yes — cats are part of our regular service. Many of the households we care for have a cat alongside their exotics, and we welcome cat-only households too. Our specialty is exotics, and the same vet-grade hygiene and medication skills carry straight over to cats. See our cat and exotic pet sitting in San Francisco page for details.

Changing your pet's environment, especially if they are a prey animal, can cause discomfort and stress. With that said, we understand that there are cases where their home may not be the best place to stay while you are away.

House of Guineas offers boarding for most reptiles, birds, amphibians and small mammals — including rabbits, guinea pigs, chinchillas, ferrets, hamsters, bearded dragons, geckos, snakes, turtles, tortoises, parrots, cockatiels, conures and budgies. Boarding is hosted personally by members of our team in their San Francisco homes, and families from across the Bay Area and Peninsula are welcome to drop off their pets. To ensure the safety and well-being of the exotic animals in the home, House of Guineas does not offer boarding for dogs and cats.

• Exotic pet boarding is $75 per night. We'll discuss a plan with you to make sure your pet(s) feel as safe and comfortable as possible. They will have their private room, with soothing music played as they become acclimated during their stay.
• Please bring any medication (if needed), enclosures, bedding, food and supplies your pet needs to feel at home when you drop them off. Additional charges will apply if House of Guineas picks-up and drops-off your pet(s), including any additional supplies needed during their stay.
• A meet and greet is required for families new to House of Guineas, and your pet must be up-to-date with all of their vaccinations by the first visit. Because every stay is hosted personally by our team, boarding space is limited and often fills up — especially around holidays and travel season. Please contact us as early as you possibly can. If boarding is already full for your dates, our in-home care team has more availability and can usually still cover you.