In one large US survey of dog and cat owners, past aftercare decisions split 68% cremation; 32% burial[1]. These live polls show whether keepers of unusual species see it the same way.
Before you look
Every result below is live. Each visitor can vote once per poll, votes are anonymous, and the totals change as new votes arrive. There's no weighting, no editing and nothing pre-filled: what you see is exactly what readers chose.
That also means the results describe the people who voted here, not every exotic keeper. People reach this site when they're making a decision, so the mix leans towards keepers who are grieving or planning. If a poll has only a handful of votes, treat it as an early hint rather than a pattern.
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Context
There's almost no published research on what exotic keepers choose, so the closest benchmarks come from dog and cat owners. Those are useful as a reference point. If exotic keepers vote very differently, that difference is itself interesting.
40.4% cremation; 34.9% home burial; 1.9% aquamation[2]
Asked their preferred future after-death care, 40.4% of US owners chose traditional flame cremation and 34.9% home burial; 10.7% chose cemetery burial and 1.9% alkaline hydrolysis (aquamation).
~2/3 cremation; ~30% burial[3]
UK and US survey evidence converges on roughly two-thirds of bereaved owners choosing cremation (UK 67%; US 68% ever) and about 29-32% choosing burial.
~7%[4]
About 7% of pet owners choose taxidermy, per Astute Analytica.
Asked about future plans, US dog and cat owners split mainly between flame cremation and home burial, with water cremation still rare. Across the UK and US, roughly two-thirds of bereaved owners choose cremation. Taxidermy remains a small niche overall. Compare those figures with the "If you had to decide today" poll and the preservation poll here, where keepers of display animals may lean differently.
Reading the exotic polls
If your pet is very small, what matters most about the ashes?
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
If the results leave you unsure what ash to expect, the ashes weight estimator gives a range for your pet's weight, and the private vs communal guide for exotics explains the trade-off.
A different kind of keeper
There are good reasons to expect differences. Many exotic pets are display animals, admired as much as handled, which may make preservation feel more natural. Very small bodies leave little ash, which weakens the main reason people pay for private cremation. And keepers often manage several animals, so a necropsy can protect the rest of the group.
Exotic keepers also tend to see the end coming. Hedgehogs, for example, have short lives and a high cancer burden: 80%+[6] of reported hedgehog tumours are malignant. Anticipatory grief is common across all pet owners, reported by 75.4%[7] in one UK survey, and long illnesses give keepers time to form clear views on aftercare.
If you want to see what those differences mean for cost, the aftercare options comparison ranks each choice by the priorities you set.
The harder questions
The grief polls are shared across our network, so you can see exotic keepers' answers alongside everyone else's. Published research suggests the loss can be as heavy as losing a person: 40%[8] of owners in one industry report said their grief matched or exceeded a human loss.
Exotic keepers may find the loss harder to share, because fewer people understand the bond. If the results show that many others found the first weeks hardest, or that routine was what they missed most, you're in good company. Our grief page for exotic keepers has practical ideas.
Compared with losing a person, losing your pet felt...
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
Scaled up, our estimate is that roughly 850,000 bereaved US pet households a year may not find the grief support they need[9], applying the 56.7% figure from the RSPCA's bereavement survey to US pet cremation numbers. A 2026 PLOS ONE study of pet bereavement adds that 7.5% of people grieving a pet met the criteria for prolonged grief disorder. If your answers here point to a decision you haven't made yet, our services page and local pages are the practical next step.
From results to decisions
Poll results can reassure you that your instinct isn't unusual, or show you a path you hadn't thought about. They can't tell you what's right for your animal, your budget or your local rules. For that, you need real options and real prices.
Vote in any polls you haven't answered on the polls page, compare costs with the cremation cost calculator, or send us your pet's details and we'll email back providers near you who can help.
Reader polls
Vote anonymously and see how other readers answered. The results are live counts from people who visit this site, so they show real opinions, not a scientific sample.
Have you thought about preservation instead of, or as well as, cremation?
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
Would you want a necropsy (an animal post-mortem) before cremation?
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
If you had to decide today, which aftercare would you choose for your pet?
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
Continuously. Each new vote is added to the totals straight away, so the percentages you see can change between visits, especially on polls with fewer votes. There's no delay or editing between a vote being cast and it appearing in the results.
Exotic pet keepers are a small community, and some questions, like whether a species needed a CITES certificate, only apply to a few readers. Low-vote polls are still worth a look, but a single vote can move the percentages a lot, so read them as early signals rather than settled patterns.
Votes are anonymous and counted once per person, so they can't be edited after you submit. If your situation changes, for instance you've since chosen preservation, your original vote still reflects how you felt at the time, which is useful information for other keepers too.
No. Poll results are shown for interest and reassurance only. When you send us a request, we look for providers based on your species, size and location, not on how other readers voted.
Yes. Anyone who reaches the site can vote, wherever they live, and we don't record location with a vote. Most published aftercare research we compare against comes from the US and UK, so keep in mind that rules on keeping exotic species, and the choices open to keepers, differ a great deal from country to country.
Tell us what you need and where you are. We'll reply by email with clear options and prices so you can decide in your own time.
