Minimum Requirements one of the most important things, if not the most important thing when caring for an animal. It also takes a lot of responsibility to follow requirements and control impulse behaviour, this is often seen in children and pet tubers who love to show off their riches such as sports cars on social media instead of their ‘’well-beloved’’ pets; it can also be seen in adults sometimes with kids of their own. Which is just one of the many reasons why animal management should be taught in all schools as a non-optional subject.
SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE Minimum requirements are usually known as enclosure, pond and tank sizes, but depending on the species of animal, and sometimes gender, minimum requirements will vary. Scientific experiments on animals and fish are the reason these minimum requirements exist. Scientists recorded the changes and patterns of cortisol, the stress chemical in the brain, in different enclosure sizes. Often, blood tests were conducted as well. Animals such as small mammals get stressed and exhibit unnatural and often dangerous behaviours. Some animals will even self-harm if the requirements are not met, or even if they are and the animal is still exhibiting stress behaviours, then you may want to look into upgrading the enrichment and enclosure of your animal. All individual animals are different and want different things, even if they’re the same species. Just like humans, some claim to be claustrophobic and some don’t.
MEASUREMENTS
There are different ways to work out a space requirement for your animal. It requires a lot of math but thankfully, you don’t need to be a genius to work it out, you just need your measuring tape and calculator. Some requirements will go by foot, cm, inches, square inches and more! Some animals might have more than one way. With fish, some go by the capacity of water, some go by length, width, height or even both. Different countries use different words to ‘measure’ water capacity. For example, America goes by US gallons/imperial gallons; here in the UK, we use litres.
SHAPE
The shape of the enclosure, pond or tank should also be considered. With some animals, levels (more than one floor) count as enrichment, not space, so they need unbroken floor space of how much space needed. Certain animals will require vertical space or horizontal space; some animals may require both. Some cages are high with levels to climb on, this type of cage would be best suited for a climbing animal and long cages with deep bases are best for foraging and burrowing animals. However, square, rectangular or a bow fish tank is suitable for all fish. Whereas shapes such as a polyhedron, hexagonal prisms, cylinder or any other irregular shaped tanks are not suitable for any fish. One reason being lack of oxygen in the water to the fish or interfere with the fish’s eyesight.
PRODUCTS Various animals, such as rodents will need a minimum requirement for wheel size to prevent severe arching of the spine which can cause pain and health issues. Or maybe your animal is a burrower and will need a minimum requirement for the amount of substrate/bedding to allow the animal to exhibit their natural burrowing behaviour. This prevents boredom and stress.
Examples of minimum requirement misconceptions:
There should also be something to consider, enclosures and tanks are always measured at the biggest part. For example, cages such as the Alaska cage and the Hamster Heaven cage only just meets the minimum requirements for hamsters in the UK when measured at the top of the base; when measured at the bottom of the base, they, unfortunately, fall below the minimum requirements for hamsters in the UK as they curve inwards. However, if the base of the cages is filled to the top with bedding, the owner has met the minimum requirements for bedding and space. BUT this may have consequences like not being able to fit a 12’’ inch wheel or maybe even an 11’’ inch. OR maybe you buy a 20l tank which is minimum for a Betta fish (also known as Siamese Fighting fish) here in the UK. Then you put an internal filter inside, decorations and substrate. Some people don’t fill the tank up to the line marked inside or they can’t because then the filter won't fit or be at the surface to create oxygen in the water. These issues can cause growth stunting, lack of oxygen or even ammonia build-up which will most likely kill the fish. This is why it is recommended to go above the minimum requirements.
In any fish tank, no matter how small or how big, a tank should be filtered a minimum of 3 times the water capacity an hour, however, it is recommended to filter your tank water capacity 6 times an hour. There is never too much filtration when it comes to fish keeping.
This is why going above the minimum requirements is recommended. Not only because the bare minimum usually isn’t enough for the animal, but because it can be easier for you too. Believe it or not, for any animal, the bigger the enclosure, tank or pond will be easier and cheaper to maintain. Pet shops don’t want you to know this though. They want you to go back and buy more products. Often, pet shops will advise products that aren’t even necessary! These pet shops are usually the big named ones, the shop’s everyone knows about. Thankfully, there are educative pet shops out there who dearly care about their animals, though they can be hard to find. Shauna’s Pet Shop is a very informative pet shop in Ireland.
NOTE: Researching YOUR country's laws, rights and minimum requirements should be your first priority before researching other country requirements.
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