Create and give a gift basket for that special small pet and their pet parent.

As a nice gift for both small pet and pet parent, I would put together a gift basket with my favorite things for small pets. Find a big, natural-wood basket (not one that's been painted or glazed). Then the fun begins! Fill the basket with these great items:

• A bag of Oxbow Botanical Hay; 
• A couple of bags of Orchard Sweets Small Animal Diced Apple Treats;
• A bag of Sun Seed Fresh World Bedding;
• A Ware Manufacturing Jumbo Nature Ball (these come in different sizes, but I like to give even the smallest of pets the largest of these toys, it just gives them more to chew on); and
• A couple of packages of the Super Pet Lava Bites (they're for Chinchillas and other small pets).

Finish the basket by filling empty spots with fresh vegetables: long carrots (preferably with the green tops intact), bundles of cilantro and curly parsley and a bundle of dandelion leaves.

Happy gifting!

Pictured is Calvin, my 5-year old chinchilla, munching on his favorite treat: an unsweetened, shredded wheat square.