Our pet care guides are built for people who want to do right by their animals from day one. Whether you just brought home your first jumping spider or you are setting up a bioactive vivarium for dart frogs, every guide on ItsyBitsyPets is written to give you practical, experience-based advice without the fluff. We pull from keeper communities on Reddit, species-specific forums like Arachnoboards and Dendroboard, veterinary resources, and the collective wisdom of hobbyists who have been doing this for years.
What Makes a Good Care Guide
The internet is full of pet care information, and a lot of it is outdated or flat-out wrong. Care sheets that recommend sand substrate for leopard geckos, tiny wire cages for hamsters, or seed-only diets for parrots are still circulating on major websites. Our guides are written to reflect current best practices as understood by experienced keepers and exotic veterinarians, not whatever a generic content farm published five years ago.
Each guide covers the essentials: enclosure size and setup, temperature and humidity requirements, diet and nutrition, handling and socialization, common health issues, and where to find help when something goes wrong. We also include links to the specific communities and resources where keepers of that species actually hang out, because the best ongoing support comes from people who keep the same animals you do.
Care Guides by Category
Jumping Spiders — Enclosure setup, feeding schedules, molting care, and handling tips for the hobby’s most charismatic micro-pet. Whether you are keeping a Phidippus regius or a bold jumper, our guides walk you through every stage of care.
Invertebrates — From tarantula housing and feeding to isopod colony management and praying mantis care, our invertebrate guides cover the essentials for one of the fastest-growing segments of the exotic pet hobby.
Reptiles — Leopard geckos, bearded dragons, ball pythons, corn snakes, and more. Our reptile care guides cover habitat setup, heating and lighting, feeding, and the transition toward bioactive enclosures that the community has embraced.
Amphibians — Axolotl water parameters, dart frog vivarium construction, tree frog humidity management, and everything else you need to keep your amphibians thriving. These guides emphasize the critical importance of water quality and habitat design.
Mammals — Hamster enclosure guides, guinea pig nutrition, rat socialization, hedgehog temperature requirements, and chinchilla dust baths. Our mammal guides reflect the modern enrichment-focused approach to small pet keeping.
Birds — From budgie and cockatiel basics to the specialized needs of conures, African greys, and larger parrots. Covers diet, cage setup, training foundations, and the mental health considerations that make bird keeping unique.
Aquatic Pets — Freshwater and saltwater tank setup, fish compatibility, shrimp care, coral placement, and the fundamentals of water chemistry. Whether you are cycling your first betta tank or building a reef, we have you covered.
How to Use Our Guides
We recommend reading the full care guide for your species before purchasing anything. Make a checklist of supplies, set up the habitat, let it stabilize (especially important for aquariums and bioactive setups), and only then bring the animal home. This approach, sometimes called “setup first, animal second” in the keeper community, prevents the most common beginner mistakes and gives your new pet the best possible start.
If you are still deciding which pet is right for you, start with our species profiles to compare different animals based on care difficulty, space requirements, lifespan, and handling tolerance. And if you ever have questions our guides do not cover, the Reddit communities and specialty forums linked in each guide are full of experienced keepers happy to help.