Exotic pet care guides and Bay Area pet care articles, written or curated by Alexandria — a San Francisco exotic veterinary assistant who’s worked at Bay Area Bird and Exotics Hospital and volunteers with the House Rabbit Society.

Start here if you’re new to a species, or if you want a Bay Area–specific reference for a pet you already have:

  • Bird Care Guide — cockatiels, parakeets, conures, parrotlets, lovebirds, and finches in San Francisco apartments. Diet, cage setup, social and intellectual needs, and the patterns I’ve seen most often as a vet assistant working with birds.
  • Reptile & Amphibian Care Guide — bearded dragons, snakes, geckos, turtles, axolotls. Husbandry, temperature, humidity, and handling for the species I’ve cared for hands-on and through clinical training.
  • Complete Guinea Pig Care Guide — housing, diet, health signs, bedding, and socialization. The starting point if you’re new to guinea pigs.
  • Rabbit Care Essentials — diet, housing, health signs, and RHDV vaccinations for Bay Area rabbits.

Health & Emergency Resources

What to watch for, and when to act:

Choosing & Comparing Pets

Help making decisions before you bring an exotic home:

For Bay Area exotic veterinarians, see our San Francisco & Bay Area exotic vet directory and Peninsula exotic vet directory.

All Posts

Exotic Pet Sitting Cost (SF & Peninsula)

If you have ever searched for an exotic pet sitter and felt sticker shock, you are not imagining it. Exotic pet care is not priced like dog walking, and it should not be. So rather than make you dig …

SFO Travelers: Peninsula Exotic Pet Care

If you live near SFO, you already know the drill. The boarding pass is loaded, the Uber is scheduled, the suitcase is by the door — and at 11 p.m. the night before, you are standing in your kitchen …

Guinea Pig Care Guide

If you’d told me a few years ago that my entire life would revolve around four tiny potatoes with legs, I would have laughed — and then immediately asked to hold one. I’m Alexandria, exotic veterinary …

Guinea Pig Adoption Guide

I still remember spotting Milo and Luca on the SFACC website and immediately deciding they were coming home with me. I started buying supplies before I even adopted them — and I called the shelter …

Guinea Pig Cage Setup

Setting up a guinea pig cage seems straightforward — buy a cage, add some bedding, done. But as an exotic veterinary assistant in San Francisco, I’ve seen how much of a difference proper housing makes …

Guinea Pig Diet & Nutrition

“What do I actually feed this thing?” — it’s the first question every new guinea pig owner asks me, and I get it. Pet stores are full of brightly colored bags promising “gourmet guinea pig food” with …

Guinea Pig vs Rabbit vs Hamster

So you’re thinking about getting a small pet and you’ve narrowed it down to the big three: guinea pigs, rabbits, or hamsters. I get it — they’re all adorable, they all fit in an apartment, and they …

Signs Your Guinea Pig Needs a Vet

Guinea pigs are prey animals — which means they instinctively hide signs of illness until they can’t anymore. By the time a guinea pig looks visibly sick, the problem may already be serious. As an …

Bearded Dragon Temperature Guide

If you’re keeping a bearded dragon in San Francisco, I need you to hear this: getting the temperature and humidity right is the single most important thing you can do for your beardie. Our cool, foggy …

Exotic Pet Emergency Signs

Working at Bay Area Bird & Exotics Hospital taught me something that still shapes how I care for animals today: exotic pets don’t tell you they’re sick until they really can’t hide it anymore. By the …