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Do your homework first
Care guides, free tools and plain advice, for anyone still deciding. No account needed, and nothing here is for sale.
Not sure where to start?
- Which pet suits me?Answer a few questions about your home, time and budget, and see which animals fit.Take the quiz
- Staying safeHow to spot a scam, what a careful seller does, and how to pay without being caught out.Read the guide
- Check a contractPaste a sale contract and see what it covers, what's missing and what to ask about.Check one
Care guides
What an animal needs day to day, what it costs in time and space, and what to ask before you bring one home.
- Caring for a pet birdBirds are social, intelligent and long-lived. Before you bring one home, make sure you can offer daily company, a safe home, a varied diet and care from an avian vet for many years.
Birds
31 more guides for birds
- Black-headed caique care
- Blue-and-gold macaw care
- Blue-fronted Amazon care
- Budgerigar care
- Canary care
- Cockatiel care
- Congo African grey care
- Diamond dove care
- Double yellow-headed Amazon care
- Eclectus parrot care
- Fischer's lovebird care
- Galah care
- Goffin's cockatoo care
- Gouldian finch care
- Green-cheeked conure care
- Green-winged macaw care
- Hyacinth macaw care
- Indian ringneck care
- Masked lovebird care
- Moluccan cockatoo care
- Pacific parrotlet care
- Peach-faced lovebird care
- Quaker parrot care
- Scarlet macaw care
- Society finch care
- Sun conure care
- Timneh African grey care
- Umbrella cockatoo care
- White-bellied caique care
- Yellow-naped Amazon care
- Zebra finch care
- Caring for aquarium fish, shrimp and snailsHealthy aquatic animals start with healthy water. Set up and cycle the tank before anything arrives, match the water the seller keeps them in, and change part of the water every week.
Aquatics
18 more guides for aquatics
- Caring for barbs, danios and rasboras
- Caring for bettas and gouramis
- Caring for cichlids
- Caring for corydoras and plecos
- Caring for freshwater shrimp
- Caring for freshwater snails
- Caring for goldfish and koi
- Caring for killifish
- Caring for livebearers
- Caring for loaches
- Caring for rainbowfish
- Caring for tetras
- Caring for a betta
- Caring for Amano shrimp
- Caring for bristlenose plecos
- Caring for cherry shrimp
- Caring for guppies
- Caring for neon tetras
- Caring for reef coralsCorals do best in a stable, established saltwater tank. Match the light and flow the seller kept the frag in, acclimate it slowly, and keep the water steady rather than chasing perfect numbers.
Corals
- Caring for a dogDogs live 10 to 15 years or more and need daily exercise, training, company and veterinary care. Here's what to have in place before your puppy comes home, and how to look after them through their life.
Dogs
- Caring for a catCats often live 15 years or more. They need a safe home, good food, places to climb and hide, daily play and regular vet care. Here's what to have ready and how to care for them through their life.
Cats
- Caring for small animalsSmall pets still have big needs: the right companions (or none), a roomy and safe enclosure, the right diet, daily attention and a vet who knows their species. Here's what they all share.
Small animals
- Caring for reptiles and amphibiansReptiles and amphibians depend on you for their heat, light, humidity and food every day, and many live for decades. Set up and test the enclosure before your pet arrives, and find a reptile vet.
Reptiles and amphibians
- Caring for saltwater fish and invertebratesA saltwater tank is a small ocean you look after every day: stable salinity, temperature and water quality matter more than anything. Cycle the tank, add animals slowly, and quarantine new fish.
Saltwater fish and invertebrates
10 more guides for saltwater fish and invertebrates
Free tools
Free to use. No account, and nothing you enter is saved.
- Which kind of pet suits me?Haven't chosen an animal yet? Twelve questions, and the kinds of pet that fit your home, time and budget.
- Which pet suits me?Questions about your home, time and budget, and the animals that fit.
- What will it cost?What it costs to set up, each year and over a lifetime, for each kind of animal.
- How much room does it need?The smallest tank, cage or enclosure a species should live in, and what to get right about it.
- Questions to ask a sellerA checklist to print and take with you, for each kind of animal.
- Breeding date calculatorWhen to expect young and when they'll be ready, from the date breeding starts.
- Colour genetics calculatorThe young two parents can have, and the odds, from their colours and the genes they carry.