Can you own sloths as a pet

There is the possibility that the pet may become ill and require highly specialized veterinary care, which could be extremely costly. This makes exotic pet insurance very advisable; it may, in fact, be a legal requirement in some places. Even if a sloth can be purchased and kept legally, many establishments, such as hotels, pet boarding facilities and apartments, will not allow them because they are considered exotic pets.

There are two main types of sloth — two-toed and three-toed — which belong to different families. Within these categories, there are four species of three-toed sloths and two species of the two-toed variety, giving six in total. The names refer to the number of toes on the forelimbs; all species have three toes on their hind legs. The three-toed forms have more specialized diets, involving particular species of plants, supplemented by bugs.

For this reason, the two-toed types are more commonly kept as pets. In the wild, these animals spend almost all of their time high in trees, suspended from branches. As pets, they will behave similarly and will enjoy climbing and hanging from anything suitable. In their natural environment, sloths descend from their trees only to defecate, which they do infrequently, typically about once a week. The answer lies in their winning evolutionary strategy — to go unnoticed.

By moving slowly and carefully around the forest canopy, sloths are able to largely go undetected. However, if sloths lived in groups, if a harpy eagle got its claws on one of them the others would not be able to escape in time. Living quiet, solitary lives is essential for their survival. Because sloths are solitary, wild animals, they prefer to be alone. They do not crave human attention like dogs or cats. Nor do they like to be petted, groomed, or bathed because these are not natural behaviors for them.

Moreover, because they are prey animals, a human hand moving towards them can be incredibly threatening and stressful. Sloths might look fluffy but they are certainly not teddy-bears — they are wild animals with big, sharp teeth. Sloth teeth grow continuously and rub against each other when they chew resulting in some impressively sharp teeth.

We have worked with hundreds of sloths over the years, both wild and human-reared and they can all inflict serious injuries if scared or irritated. We have seen a sloth bite through a human hand leaving a hole big enough that you could look through. In addition to their seriously sharp teeth, sloths are astonishingly strong.

Despite their small size, sloths are 3x stronger than the average person. Meaning that if you are up against an angry sloth who wants to bite you, chances are the sloth will be the winner of that wrestling match.

When they reach independence at the age of about 18 months , even the most gentle of hand-reared sloths just do not want to be handled any longer. Unlike many animals, sloths do not show obvious external signs of stress. Their natural response to fear or danger is to hold still, and as a result, it is difficult to tell when a sloth is scared or stressed. A pet sloth may look perfectly happy to us — but the reality is probably very different. We have absolutely no doubt that the sloth photo shoot with the baby was staged with the sole purpose of creating a viral hit.

But aside from our concerns for the safety of the baby, we are worried about the negative repercussions these images will have for sloths in general. Whether this was intentional or not, the tone of the story effectively glamorizes the concept of owning a pet sloth. And that is where the problems begin. How to obtain a permit for your sloth depends on why you are buying one in the first place. The application includes questions about the animal you are keeping as a pet in this case a sloth their size, and how you plan to cage the animal.

These questions are designed to make sure you are prepared to properly care for your sloth and to give the FWC an idea of what types of animals people are keeping as pets and where. This application includes some of the same information as the no-fee application though it does have at least one additional requirement.

The plan requires a lot of information regarding veterinary care, how you will transport your sloth, and more. However, to stay happy and healthy, pet sloths require a special diet and a unique enclosure. Due to the extensive requirements for their care and the difficulty in obtaining a sloth legally, sloths do not make good pets. Sloths are quiet, slow-moving animals and because of this, people presume that they have a relaxed temperament.

However, despite their placid appearance, the two-toed sloth in particular can be very aggressive towards perceived threat and bite very hard. Many people prefer three-toed sloths, which have a more docile personality ; however, according to National Geographic , three-toed sloths do not generally do well in captivity.

Owning a sloth requires significant space dedicated to it. Since these animals, by design, are meant to hang upside down from tall tree branches, they are incredibly clumsy on land. Consequently, any enclosure must have ample space and lots of trees, branches, or ropes for the animal to hang on.

In the wild, a sloth's diet typically consists of vegetable matter, leaves, twigs, and fruits. They may also feed on insects for nutrients. Properly feeding a captive sloth is difficult due to the specialty of the vegetables and other foods that they eat in the wild.

Their diet cannot simply come from a grocery store, because the vegetables people eat are not as high in fiber as what a sloth's body requires to function properly. In captivity, sloths are fed a primate feed, such as the Marion Leaf Eater Food , which can be purchased at a zoo or from online zoological retailers such as Mazuri. Zoo keepers and rescue groups feed their sloths an additional diet of a salad of fruit and vegetables, yogurt, dog chow, and a meat mix.

Additionally, insects like meal worms or silkworm pupae may need to be in their diet, which may not appeal to people who are squeamish. Before you take on sloth ownership, it's important to think about whether you'll be able to find a vet if your sloth gets sick, and for routine wellness check ups. Due to their exotic nature, it will be very difficult to find veterinary care for a sloth. You can search for exotic vets via LocalVets. Sloths suffer from several problems related to captivity, particularly in regard to their diet and proper climate conditions.

These include:. A retrospective study of one zoo in Brazil looked at sloth health problems over the course of 20 years and found that Another consideration is to figure out who can take care the sloth in the event you go away on vacation or need to leave town for other reasons, as it is not likely that a boarding facility will be available.