Sunset District Exotic Pet Sitter

The Sunset is the kind of neighborhood that runs on its own quiet weather. San Francisco’s largest district, and reliably one of its foggiest, it stretches in long, orderly rows from the green edge of Golden Gate Park down toward the gray Pacific at Ocean Beach. The people who live here have built whole lives around that rhythm — researchers and clinicians near the UCSF Parnassus campus, families in the classic tunnel-entrance houses, students and longtime residents who do their errands along Irving, Noriega, and Taraval. And when one of those households leaves town, the question that surfaces the night before a trip is always the same: who is going to take care of the exotics? Conventional boarding kennels are built for dogs and cats, and most pet sitters have never weighed a guinea pig on a gram scale. That is the gap our team fills.

Here is what makes the Sunset different from every other neighborhood we serve: House of Guineas Pet Care is based right here in the Inner Sunset. This is our home turf. We are not driving down the Peninsula or across town to reach you — we are already in the neighborhood, a few blocks from the same Irving Street shops and the same N-Judah stop you use. That means the most local, most responsive coverage we offer is the coverage closest to home, for our own neighbors and their rabbits, reptiles, and birds.

Why Sunset District Exotic Pet Owners Choose Our Team

The Sunset is full of people who think carefully and plan ahead — engineers, clinicians, educators, and the students and faculty connected to UCSF just up the hill at Parnassus. What exotic pet owners here tell us they need is a sitter who brings the same rigor to animal care that they bring to their own work. Here is what sets us apart:

• Veterinary background. Our founder, Alexandria, is an exotic veterinary assistant who volunteers with the House Rabbit Society, administering subcutaneous RHDV2 vaccines. Every specialist on our team is trained under that same clinical lens.
• Species specialization. Exotic pets and cats are our whole focus — rabbits, rodents, reptiles, and birds. That kind of focus is genuinely hard to find anywhere in the city.
• Clinical-grade care. We can syringe-feed a GI stasis rabbit, weigh a guinea pig on a gram scale, check a reptile enclosure’s humidity, and recognize the early signs of a crop issue in a parrot. We also know the local exotic vet landscape, so if something seems off while you are in another time zone, we know where to turn — see our San Francisco Bay Area exotic veterinarians directory.
• We are right here. Because we are based in the Inner Sunset, we are exceptionally close by. Early-morning visits before a commute or a flight, evening visits after a long day, mid-day medication timing — we build the schedule around your itinerary, and being neighbors makes that easy.

Exotic Species We Care For in the Sunset

• Small mammals — rabbits (including bonded pairs and trios), guinea pigs, chinchillas, ferrets, hamsters, rats
• Reptiles — bearded dragons, leopard geckos, crested geckos, turtles and tortoises
• Birds — parrots, cockatiels, conures, budgies, lovebirds, finches

If your species is not listed, call or text us — if we have not handled it, we will tell you honestly and usually point you to someone who has.

How It Works in the Sunset

We start with a free meet-and-greet at your home — a real-time walkthrough of feeding routines, enclosure setup, medication schedules, and your pet’s quirks. For Sunset pet owners, this is about as easy as it gets, since we are right in the neighborhood and can often find a window that fits around a foggy morning or an after-work evening without anyone driving far.

Once you book, we schedule visits around your travel itinerary. Most exotic pets do well with twice-daily visits — morning and evening — so the rabbits get a fresh salad before the day starts and the reptile enclosure gets a proper lights-out check after dinner. We send photo and video updates from every visit, plus written notes on appetite, output, and behavior. If something seems off, we reach out before you land.

Sunset Areas We Serve

The Sunset’s grid is part of the charm and part of the logistics — it runs all the way from the northern blocks bordering Golden Gate Park down to the foggy stretches near Ocean Beach and the Great Highway. We cover the full district. In the Inner Sunset, that means the streets clustered around the Irving Street shops, the homes near the UCSF Parnassus campus, and the blocks closest to Golden Gate Park, all served by the N-Judah line. In the Outer Sunset, we reach the long avenues out toward the beach, the neighborhoods along the Noriega and Taraval corridors, and the rows of tunnel-entrance houses served by the L-Taraval. Whether you are a block from the park or a few sandy blocks from the ocean, we can reach you — usually quickly.

Pricing for Sunset District 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 the Sunset is within San Francisco — and is in fact where House of Guineas is based — there is no Peninsula travel surcharge here. Pricing stays simple and in-city, and we are exceptionally close by. Text us your address and dates and we will confirm your rate. You can read more about what is included on our in-home exotic pet care page.

Frequently Asked Questions

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, our boarding option at the founder’s San Francisco home, or browse the full FAQ page. For more on how we cover the whole city, see our San Francisco exotic pet sitter hub. Still getting set up with a vet? Our San Francisco Bay Area exotic veterinarians directory is a good place to start, and new guinea pig parents in the Sunset will want our guinea pig care guide.