Mill Valley Exotic Pet Sitter
Mill Valley sits in the redwoods at the foot of Mount Tam, and the households tucked into Blithedale Canyon, Homestead Valley, and the flats of Tam Valley and Strawberry tend to share a certain character: thoughtful, outdoorsy, and busy enough to travel often. Many are families whose kids’ first pet was a guinea pig or a pair of rabbits; others keep a long-lived parrot or a carefully tuned reptile enclosure. When a trip comes up, the usual pet-care options fall short — kennels are built for dogs, and the average sitter has never handled a small mammal, let alone dialed in a bearded dragon’s basking gradient. That is exactly what our team does, now from a base right here in Marin.
House of Guineas has an exotic pet specialist living in Central Marin, a short drive from Mill Valley. We come to your home so your animals stay in their own environment, on their own schedule — and being based in the county means reaching Mill Valley does not carry the travel cost a San Francisco sitter would have to add for crossing the bridge.
Why Mill Valley Exotic Pet Owners Choose Our Team
- Based in Marin. Our specialist lives minutes away, so Mill Valley visits are easy to schedule and light on travel cost — even up a winding canyon road.
- Veterinary background. Our founder, Alexandria, is an exotic veterinary assistant who previously volunteered with the House Rabbit Society administering subcutaneous RHDV2 vaccines. Our whole team is trained under that clinical lens.
- Species specialization. Rabbits, guinea pigs, chinchillas, ferrets, reptiles, and birds are our entire focus.
- Clinical-grade care. We can syringe-feed a stasis rabbit, weigh a guinea pig on a gram scale, verify a reptile’s humidity and UVB, and catch the early signs of illness in a bird.
Exotic Species We Care For in Mill Valley
- Small mammals — rabbits (including bonded pairs and trios), guinea pigs, chinchillas, ferrets, hamsters, rats
- Birds — parrots, cockatiels, conures, budgies, lovebirds, finches
- Reptiles — bearded dragons, leopard geckos, crested geckos, ball pythons and other non-venomous snakes, turtles and tortoises
If your species is not listed, call or text us — if we have not handled it, we will tell you honestly and point you to someone who has.
Mill Valley Areas We Serve
The terrain here is all canyons and hillsides, and we cover it: downtown Mill Valley and Blithedale Canyon, Homestead Valley and Cascade Canyon, the Tamalpais Valley and Almonte flats, Strawberry out toward the bay, and the Sycamore and Alto neighborhoods. Steep driveway, redwood-shaded lane, or a house near the bike path — we can reach you.
How It Works in Mill Valley
We begin with a free meet-and-greet at your home to learn feeding routines, enclosure setup, medication schedules, and your pet’s personality. Once you book, we schedule visits around your trip, usually twice daily — morning salad and habitat check, evening lights-out check — with photo and video updates and written notes on appetite, output, and behavior from every visit.
Pricing for Mill Valley Visits
- 30-minute visits start at $85
- 60-minute visits start at $115
- Routine twice-daily care runs $140–$190/day depending on visit length and number of pets
Because our specialist is based in Central Marin, Mill Valley falls in our no-surcharge to $15/visit range — a real advantage over any sitter driving up from San Francisco. Text us your address and dates and we will confirm your rate.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you travel up the canyons and hillsides in Mill Valley?
Yes. Blithedale Canyon, Cascade Canyon, Homestead Valley, the Tam Valley flats, Strawberry — we cover all of it. Our specialist is based in Central Marin, so even a winding, redwood-shaded driveway is an easy reach. Text us your address and we will confirm.
My kids' guinea pigs have a specific routine — can you keep it exactly?
That is the whole point of in-home care. Guinea pigs thrive on consistency, so we keep their hay topped up, weigh them if you would like us to, follow their exact veggie schedule, and spot-clean their enclosure just as you do. We also send photos so the kids can see their pigs while you are away. New to guinea pigs? Our guinea pig care guide is a good primer.
How many visits a day does an exotic pet need?
Most exotics do best with twice-daily visits — a morning check with fresh food and a habitat once-over, and an evening check for reptiles' lights-out and birds' cover time. Some situations need only once a day (a tortoise with a stable setup), and some need more (a rabbit on frequent medication). We will recommend a schedule at the meet-and-greet based on your specific animals.
Can you manage a reptile's heat and UVB while I'm gone?
Yes. We check that basking and cool-side temperatures are in range, confirm UVB lamps are working, monitor humidity for species that need it, and follow your feeding intervals. Marin allows ball pythons and other non-venomous snakes, so we care for those here as well as bearded dragons, geckos, and turtles and tortoises.
Is boarding available, or only in-home visits?
In-home visits are what we recommend for most Mill Valley pets — they stay in their own space in the redwoods, and it is our most available service. We do offer a limited amount of boarding at $75 per night, hosted by our founder in San Francisco and occasionally by a Marin specialist, but space fills up quickly, so reach out early if you think you will need it.
Ready to lock in coverage for your next trip? Call or text us at 415-484-6493 and we will get a meet-and-greet on the calendar. You can also read more about our in-home exotic pet care service, explore the rest of our Marin County coverage, or browse the full FAQ page. New guinea pig or rabbit parents in Mill Valley will want our guinea pig care guide and rabbit care guide.