Unusual Pets People Keep at Home

Unusual Pets People Keep at Home. Sloths. These adorable critters sure seem like ideal pets – cuddly. Hippopotami. One South African. Axolotls. The strange but also sweet face of the axolotl is swimming into more homes. Fennec Foxes. Big-eared and bright-eyed, it's hard not to fall for a fennec fox. Finger monkey. Finger monkeys, also called "Pocket monkeys" are so tiny. Capybara. Native to South America, capybaras are the largest rodents in the world.

Unusual Pets People Keep at Home.

These adorable critters sure seem like ideal pets – cuddly, sweet playful , well, tame. And, to an extent, that’s certainly true – they’re obviously not the fastest or meanest animals around, and despite the stereotype, they’re actually quite clean. Sloths have a very strict diet that’s difficult to replicate outside of their native habitat. Their main source of food is usually only available to zookeepers.

One South African man’s death at the hands of his beloved pet hippo hit the headlines across the globe last year. The man’s death was certainly tragic, but it also serves as an important reminder of the dangers of keeping a wild animal as a pet. Another major issue is that, if hippos are raised from birth in captivity, it is very, very difficult to successfully reintroduce them into the wild.