WHY OTTERS AREN'T PETS

Every single day I receive questions like: “Where can I buy an otter?” or "Do you breed otters so I can have one as a pet?"

I can go on for hours about telling you the reasons why otters aren't pets. I'll try to give an explanation up here that will be make things clear.

This list will never be completed, because of the many reasons why.

FAMILY ANIMALS

Otters are animals that live in family groups.
It's totally sad to keep an otter that’s raised by other otters without some of their own species.

LOTS OF WATER

Asian small clawed otters are semi-aquatic, which means they spend a lot of time in the water, but they also come onto land. That's not only for fun, for the health of their body's and because they have a very fast metabolism and need to drink a lot during the day, but also for hunt! Otters are predatory animals. That means that they eat other animals.

Animals that live in captivity, most of the time only get their 'meat food' already dead.

Otters do have lots of energy, and need their hunt moments to make work off that energy.
Otherwise they are going to get bored soon.
So that means, you have to give them also living animals to eat.

MASTER OF DISASTER

Except for their own room in our home we created for them, there is no other space I let her hang around on her own.
Without nobody around who keeps an eye on her, the whole room is a mess and disaster when I'll return.

POOOOP

It's not easy to potty train them, and believe me their shit is dirty. And even when they're potty trained like Pip, they very often feel the need to do their business on a spot which is not the litter box.

Next to that, otters have a very fast metabolism. They poop a lot during the day, which means we need to clean up every litter box in and around our home twice a day.

Oyea, the stuff that comes out their butt to mark their territory, is 'lovely' too. You can smell it on yourself, or on your furniture sometimes.

DESTROY

Otters are very destructive, there’s not much in a human's home that is otter proof. We changed a lot in our home for her and need to do that in the future too. Otters are very smart, if you block their way, they will find an other way to get what they want!
If you like it or not.

BREAKS YOU UP

Otters are social animals, they want and need much attention. Next to the cute and adorable part, when they cuddle and groom, there is also a much more annoying way they scream for your attention.

And that happens on the moments you don't want it to happen. Like when you're watching TV, chilling around or doing something else to relax.

You can teach an otter what is right and wha't wrong. But otters are able to use the things they learn from you, against you.

So at those 'relaxing' moments.. they are braking things, climb on things and destroy things you've teached them NOT to do! Just to get you negative attention. But hey, negative attention is also attention! Mission accomplished.

TERRITORIAL

They can be very territorial (there aren't much people that visited us in the past that aren’t bitten by Pip).

And that means lots of trouble around having some friends and family visiting us.

Otters are very close to their family, but do not tollerate other's in their territory.

So that's also a natural behavior that we always need to keep in mind when we do have visitors around.
She desides all by herself who she likes or who she doesn't. The only one who can show her that she is wrong and needs to tollerate the one she is acting aggressive to, is me. And yes... that do cost a lot of energy and isn't always going well as planned.

AS I SAID BEFORE, THERE ARE MANY MORE REASONS WHY OTTERS AREN'T PETS. WILD ANIMALS / EXOTICS LIKE OTTERS AREN'T FOR EVERYONE AND YOU CAN NOT COMPARE THE LIFE WITH A CAT OR A DOG. OUR LIFE IS PROVIDED BY PIP.