All these habitats work the same way. You buy the object, place it on your lot, then click the object to access the various options. Each habitat has a Stock interaction. Use this interaction to fill your habitat with an appropriate creature.
If you have dogs or cats in the household, you can command them to Guard the small animal habitat. This option appears as an interaction on the habitat itself. Once you’ve owned your small pet for a while, their cage will get dirty. Use the Clean interaction to clean their habitat.
If small pets are well-cared for, which means being fed, played with, and carried regularly, they live a long time. If you neglect your small pet, it will die, making a nasty mess in your terrarium.
Some small animals can be caught in the wild. And if you release a pet animal, you could possibly find it again and be reunited. But don’t count on that!
Setting Pets Free—A Cautionary Tale
The world of The Sims 3 is a significantly kinder world than our real one. In The Sims 3 , freed pets live happy lives as wild animals, and are potentially caught in the wild to become pets again. In our real world, the situation is tragically different. Pets “set free into the wild” usually die quickly and horribly. Please remember that what happens in The Sims 3: Pets is a far cry from what happens in real life, and never, ever “set free” a real pet.
Reptiles
Lizards
The Lizard Terrarium offers a secure glass-walled containter with a sandy bottom, a light for warmth and viewing, and a few sticks for your lizard to crawl around on. You can turn the light on and off, clean the cage, and fill the food dish.
When you select the Stock interaction, a window comes up showing the types of lizards you can purchase, and how much they cost.
The Stock option on the Lizard Terrarium
Available lizards are:
Iguana: §8, Gecko: §15, Anole Lizard: §30.
Choose a pet species (I picked the Gecko), and it appears in the habitat. Once you’ve stocked your habitat, the terrarium offers the following interactions:
Watch Gecko, Fill Gecko’s Food (§15), Take Gecko, Turn Light Off, Give Name to Gecko, Carry Gecko, Set Gecko Free, Play With Gecko, Show Lizard Info, Clean (if habitat is dirty), Command to Guard (if dogs or cats are present in the household).
Snakes
The snake terrarium boasts a sandy bottom, a light for warmth and viewing, a plant, and a few rocks and sticks for your snake to slither over. You can clean the cage, add food, and turn the light on and off.
Snake choices are: Garter Snake: §8, Emerald Tree Boa Snake: §15, Mini Python Snake: §30.
Once you’ve chosen a species to stock your habitat with (I chose the Mini Python Snake) you can: Watch Mini Python Snake, Fill Mini Python Snake’s food (§15), Turn Light Off, Give Name to Mini Python Snake, Carry Mini Python Snake, Set Mini Python Snake Free, Play With Mini Python Snake, Show Snake Info, Clean (if habitat is dirty), Command to Guard (if dogs or cats are present in the household).
Turtles
The Turtle Terrarium has a sandy bottom with a pond, a flat rock for sunning, a plant, a light for warmth and viewing, and a food dish. You can clean the cage, turn the light on and off, and fill the food dish.
Turtle choices are: Red Eared Slider Turtle: §8, Western Painted Turtle: §15, Eastern Box Turtle: §30
Once you’ve chosen your turtle (I chose the Western Painted Turtle), you have the following interactions available:
Watch Western Painted Turtle, Fill Western Painted Turtle’s Food, Take Western Painted Turtle, Turn Light Off, Give Name to Western Painted Turtle, Carry Western Painted Turtle, Set Western Painted Turtle Free, Play With Western Painted Turtle, Show Turtle Info, Clean (if habitat is dirty), Command to Guard (if dogs or cats are present in the household).
The turtle suns himself on the rock.
Rodents
The Rodent Terrarium has wood shavings on the bottom, a food dish and water bottle, and a wheel for the pet to run in, and other toys to play with or hide in. When you choose the Stock interaction, you can choose:
Rat: §8, Womrat: §15, Squirrel: §30
Once you’ve chosen a rodent species (I chose the Womrat, which looks suspiciously like a guinea pig), you gain access to the following interactions on the rodent habitat.
The womrat looks suspiciously like a guinea pig.
Watch Womrat, Fill Womrat’s food (§15), Take Womrat, Give Name to Womrat, Carry Womrat, Set Womrat Free, Play With Womrat, Show Rodent Info, Clean (if habitat is dirty), Command to Guard (if dogs or cats are present in the household).
Birds
Pet birds are a little different from other small pets. For one thing, you can teach large birds to talk! Start out the same way, by buying either a Bird Cage or a Bird Tree perch.
When you select the Stock interaction on either bird habitat, you get a choice between small birds and large birds.
Large birds are: Cockatoo: §22, African Gray: §38, Blue-Gold Macaw: §55
Small birds are: Parakeet: §8, Goldfinch: §15, Pidgeon: §30.
If you stocked your cage with a large bird (I chose the Blue-Gold Macaw), you gain the following interactions: Watch Blue-Gold Macaw, Fill Blue-Gold Macaw’s Food (§15), Take Blue-Gold Macaw, Give Name to Blue-Gold Macaw, Carry Blue-Gold Macaw, Set Blue-Gold Macaw Free, Play With Blue-Gold Macaw, Show Large Bird Info, Teach to Talk, Open Cage Door, Clean (if habitat is dirty), Command to Guard (if dogs or cats are present in the household).
Teach to Talk
Your Sims can train their large birds to talk. Clicking the Teach to Talk interaction opens a window of possible speech patterns you can teach your bird. You’ll see a progress meter over the bird’s head as it learns.
Bird Speech Types
Angry, Doorbell, Greetings, Happy, Love, Phone, Scared, Songs.
Large birds don’t just parrot back what they’ve learned. They actually use learned speech types in response to what’s going on around them. For example, a trained bird may use Scared speech types in response to a fire, a Burglar, or while being watched by a dog or cat. If a bird is making Angry speech patterns, it might be hungry or have a dirty cage. If your Sims play instruments, your trained bird may break into Song, and the Romance channel on TV might spark your bird to use Love speech types!
For more on building the Charisma skill, see the Skill section in the Simology chapter of The Sims 3 guide.
Once you’ve taught a bird to talk, you have access to the Talk with Bird interaction. This builds both Social need and long-term relationship.
Cats may try to hunt your bird. This is reinforceable behavior, so if you plan for your cat and bird to co-exist, you may wish to train your cat not to hunt the bird. While this activity is great fun for your cat, it might literally scare your bird to death.
And if the bird is on a bird tree, cats, especially cats with the Hunter trait, have a pretty good chance of swiping the bird right off its perch! While this fills the cat’s Hunger and Fun needs, it’s curtains for your pet bird.
Pet Stones
Remember the pet rock? Well now your Sims can have pet stones! Three varieties of pet stone are available in Buy Mode.
From left to right: Essence of Pure Love Rock, Sir Bricks-a-Lot Jr., and Gonk Rock.
While pet stones are mostly silly, they do have some useful features. For one thing, they never die, although you can drop and shatter them if you’re clumsy. They never need to be fed. They never need their cage cleaned. They can’t be eaten by cats. They never bark, mess the carpet, shed, or bite anyone.
So that’s what pet stones don’t do. What do they do then? They provide a lot of Fun! Playing with a pet stone is surprisingly amusing.
Pet stones have only a few interactions: Pick Up Watch and Play With Name.
Ooooh, I love my pet stone!
If you want to Watch your pet stone, be my guest. I have some drying paint over here that might also interest you.... But the Play With interaction builds Fun at a decent rate, and you can carry a pet stone in your pocket for a quick Fun boost wherever you are.
Subterranean Simulation Device
The Subterranean Simulation Device (ant farm) is another non-pet pet. At least the ants are alive!
The captive myrmidons happily tunnel in their sand until they’ve built an extensive network of tunnels. Your Sims can watch this behavior.
These ants have barely begun, but given enough time, they’ll construct quite a subterranean simulation.