There seems to be a scare on the Internet caused by uninformed bloggers and forum goes in relation to exotic pets (all) being carriers for rabies. Owners of exotic mammals or those considering the acquisition of exotic mammals should keep this in mind. I will address some of the prejudices and how to properly care for an exotic mammal.

To start off, rabies has an incubation period like many other diseases, so when people assume that any and every domestic or farm animal has rabies, they are completely wrong. The only times to have concern are when a pet has come into contact with wild, stray, or feral, mammals through bodily fluids. Any dealers who would sell pets that carry rabies would quickly have their licenses revoked.

Many domestic mammals, aside from rodents, can be vaccinated for rabies. The only problem is that governments are not quick to act at approving those vaccinations as 100% safe. For domestic animals, vaccinations are only approved for dogs, cats, and ferrets. Thus, be wary of exposing your exotic pets to people who may provoke them to bite, which is a good idea with any pet, anyways.

If you have an exotic pet such as a fox, skunk, raccoon, etc., vaccines exist that vets will say are completely safe and can be tested as effective through blood titration before and after the administration of the vaccine. Yet, animal control and state wildlife departments ignore that because those vaccines have not been approved at national levels by various agencies.

One of two things will happen if someone reports a bite from your exotic mammal: The worst case is that your pet will be taken from you and euthanized (i.e. killed) so that the inner brain can be disected and tested for rabies. The best case is that your pet will simply be quarantined for a period of at least 10 days. Of course the human victim can also receive rabies shots, and the former scenario can be easily avoided.

There are other actions that can be taken to give a little better protection to your pet in the case of a bite, but they will not always be effective. The vet can perform blood titration before the vaccination to prove that no rabies antibodies exist then perform it again some period afterwards to show that antibodies do exist. You can also have anyone who gets near your exotic pet sign a waiver. The former is probably more favorable to friends than the latter, but both are still not fool-proof in the court system.

When it comes down to the facts, you don't have an exotic pet to keep it hidden from the public. Exotic pets will interest people and be great to show off in public (with the proper permits, of course). Just be careful with the way you present the pet(s) to other people. Maybe have a "look but don't touch rule" or restrain the head while people pet the back. Whatever you do, be careful because there are countless ignorant people and governmet officials who want nothing more than to squelch their fears by doing harm to your family member.

For more information on rabies, there is a good article available here.