A wide range of pets, including aquarium and terrarium species, as well as associated organisms, are available via numerous formal, informal, poorly-regulated, or even illegal outlets. Once present in a country, escapes and even deliberate releases are likely to occur. If freed pets become established in the area, they frequently turn invasive. In the Caribbean, internet trade easily eludes proper procedures, and the sheer volume of exotic pets kept, traded, or released in Florida represents a threatening source for invasive alien species (IAS) for the Wider Caribbean Region (WCR). The negative impact can be via prédation, competition, habitat alteration, hybridization, vectoring of animal pathogens or parasites (aggravated by shared facilities in trade hubs), zoonoses, and interference with human activity or infrastructure. These mechanisms have led to extinctions of previously rare endemic species in the WCR and continue to threaten others. Examples of IAS originating from the pet trade span across terrestrial, marine, and freshwater species, including plants and live feed for the aquarium trade, as well as bird seeds. Aquatic organisms and increasing outbreaks of zoonoses are particularly problematic. Only a few international standards address risks of invasions associated with the pet trade and only for specific taxa, that is, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC), and the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE). This gap is now being addressed by an ad hoc Technical Expert Group under the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD). Existing and incipient preventative tools include pre-importation measures (i.e., importation bans and post-importation measures) that focus on the prevention of release/escape or reproduction of IAS. Their successful deployment invariably involves close collaboration between the government and the private sector, coupled with public involvement and broad-based awareness-raising.