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Just call 'Dr. C'
By ANDREW MEACHAM © St. Petersburg Times, published May 6, 2001 ST. PETERSBURG -- Mr. Sniffles, a sugar glider, squirmed as the veterinarian examined a bump on his forehead. The bug-eyed marsupial sounded an array of clicks, growls and trills as Janine Cianciolo determined that the antibiotics administered for an abscess were working. Cianciolo, known as "Dr. C" to clients, does house calls on unusual or exotic pets, whose numbers appear to be on the rise. Debbie Weiler breeds 415 sugar gliders, including Mr. Sniffles, out of her St. Petersburg properties. Native to Indonesia and Australia, the nocturnal sugar gliders normally live out their life spans of 12 to 15 years nesting in a single tree.
Before she left, Dr. C fitted Holly, a cockatiel, with a temporary plastic collar to prevent the bird from picking at her feathers. She examined Bon-Bon, a 3-year-old Himalayan cat belonging to Weiler and housemate Lisa Bordelon, then loaded two boxes of supplies into her Jeep Cherokee and was off to Pinellas Park. Cianciolo, 40, is often on the move, whether in her practice, teaching scuba diving or taking high school students to Nicaragua to study endangered sea turtles. The daughter of two Cincinnati pharmacists, she was introduced to animals through her best friend's father, a park ranger. "I got my first red-tailed hawk at age 10," she said. "From that point on, we always had squirrels, we had raccoons, we had dogs and cats in our house." Doing house calls allows her to see how the animals are being kept and fed, Cianciolo said. It is also less stressful for the animals. Mary Lou Pendland, who breeds exotic pets out of her Pinellas Park home, was Dr. C's second client on a recent Tuesday. The Pendland back yard resembles a small zoo. Garth and Reba, ring-tailed lemurs named after Mary Lou Pendland's favorite country singers, have their climbing poles, a dark tree house and toys. A fallow deer and two muntjac, a species of small horned deer, roamed the yard and accepted handouts of dried food from visitors. Other large cages house fennec foxes, a blue and gold macaw and raccoons of various shades. Cianciolo was there to check on Cassie, a wallaby (a sort of minikangaroo) with a young charge still in her pouch, and a pair of pot-bellied pigs. All received a clean bill of health, though the pigs will need to have their hooves trimmed in a few months. Kayla, a 7-month-old wallaby, sleeps in a spare bedroom in a covered crib. Pendland takes her along if she goes out of the house, carrying the three-pound animal in a pouchlike pillowcase with one end sewn shut. "People think I'm carrying a purse," said Pendland, 44. "They have no clue there's a wallaby in there." Pendland tends to the animals during the week. On weekends, her husband, Ronald, a professional bass fisherman, takes over while Mary Lou works as a respiratory therapist. Wallabies range in price from $1,800 to $3,500, depending on color and gender, she said. Lemurs cost $1,000 to $1,500; foxes and muntjac will set you back $500 to $1,000.
The once-fashionable Vietnamese pot-bellied pig now sells for next to nothing, a casualty of cross-breeding and a fickle public. Someone dropped off one such animal with a prolapsed uterus at Tampa Bay Veterinary Emergency Services, where Cianciolo works on weekends. Sadly, Cianciolo said, owners often abandon their unusual pets after the novelty wears off. Some of these animals starve to death. Others, such as wild parakeets, have upset the balance of nature by driving native birds away from their territory, Cianciolo said. "When you keep an exotic animal, it's not like keeping a dog or a cat," she said. "They have totally different requirements -- and very specific requirements. How you keep a corn snake may be different from how you keep an Indian rock python." Owning wildlife requires a license from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Wolves and wolf hybrids, cougars and some primates are typical Class II animals, inspector Linda Harrison said. The commission grants Class II licenses to owners who can document 1,000 hours of experience caring for that kind of animal, or who can show 100 hours of experience and pass a test. Commercial breeders face more stringent licensing requirements. Class I animals such as lions, tigers and bears are not permitted except by a grandfather clause. "I don't recommend big cats," Cianciolo said, a warning that extends to cougars, mountain lions and even the diminutive ocelot. "You are dealing with an animal that's a natural predator. They are not going to be tamed. There is always that unpredictability." Animals bred in captivity make the best exotic pets, she said. Potential owners should learn each animal's specific nutrition thoroughly and understand risks to themselves. Monkeys, for example, can carry tuberculosis and become aggressive at mating cycles.
Cianciolo is accepting applications for high school students who would like to participate in a summer research project she will lead. A group of eight to 10 students will head to Pearl Lagoon, Nicaragua, in July for about two weeks. They will monitor populations of green turtles and hawksbill turtles, both endangered species, and interact with the villagers who sometimes depend on the green turtle for food. They also sometimes eat the eggs of both turtle species. Data will be funneled back to a pair of University of Florida researchers. "The issues are not black and white," Cianciolo said. "It's real easy to sit back and say, "You shouldn't do that.' But we can run to McDonald's." It's a realism she tries to take into her everyday practice. "In a perfect world, I'd like to see only dogs and cats as pets," she said. Summer research projectJanine Cianciolo is accepting applications from high school students for a summer research project. Eight to 10 students will go to Pearl Lagoon, Nicaragua, in July for about two weeks to monitor green turtle and hawksbill turtle populations. Interested students can call her at 328-1825.
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