Non-Combat Pets - Go buy the rest

This is the last installment of the non-combat pet guides. There are purchasable pets at or near each of the major cities in Azeroth (but not Outland). Even Booty Bay has a pet vendor, so each faction can buy pets from five places. The quick break-down is like this:

1. (Booty Bay) There are two purchasable parrots.
2. (Dun Murogh) There is one purchasable rabbit.
3. (Elwynn Forest) There are four purchasable cats.
4. (Eversong Woods) There are three purchasable dragonhawks.
5. (Exodar) There are four purchasable moths.
6. (Orgrimmar) There are three purchasable snakes.
7. (Teldrassil) There are two purchasable owls.
8. (Thunder Bluff) There is one purchasable prairie dog.
9. (Undercity) There is one purchasable cockroach.

There is also a white kitten inside Stormwind itself (from Timmy). He can be a paid to find sometimes. Additionally, there is an Ancona Chicken for sale at the racetrack in Thousand Needles.

Not to be outdone by "inland" competitors, the ethereals in Stormspire (Netherstorm) sell a dragonhawk, a rabbit, a mana wyrmling and a cat.

The Darkmoon Faire also gets in on the pet market by selling two frogs.

Lastly, there are two factions that sell pets at exalted. The Sporeggar sell a tiny sporebat (for 30 glowcaps) and the Sha'tari Skyguard sells a Nether Ray Fry for 40g (which at exalted is 32G).

That's a whopping thirty pets that are available to be purchased. For getting the cross-faction pets, the neutral auction houses (Booty Bay, Gadgetzan, and Everlook) can be your best friend.

I've listed a grand total of 64 non-combat pets. There are more. I for instance, haven't listed any pet acquired through the collectible card game or some of the pets available only in Asia (through iCoke giveaway). Additionally, I didn't mention any of the pets that came with collector's edition of the base game (3 pets) or The Burning Crusade (1 pet).

Also, I'm sure I've missed a few here and there. However, if your goal is 50 pets (for the highest achievement thus publicized) you should be able to make that mark soon. Good luck and happy hunting!

(Much research for this article done at Warcraft Pets. Look for Breanni in the Wrath of the Lich King in Dalaran)

(Non Combat) Pet Quest Rewards

Time for the second installment in non-combat pets. While the first one was the (usually) ultra-rare drops that sell for bajillions on the auction house, these are the pets that just about anyone can get because they are quest rewards. There are a couple that are Alliance only, sorry Horde.

Here they are, again in alphabetical order

1. Blood Parrot - This is (shockingly) a parrot. It's a quest reward from "Avast, ye Admiral" This quest is the culmination of grinding reputation with the Bloodsail Buccaneers by killing Booty Bay folks. If you choose to do this one, you'll be unwelcome in any of the Steamwheedle towns (Booty Bay, Ratchet, Gadgetzan or Everlook) and won't be able to use the neutral auction houses. Make sure you know what you're doing before you go after this one.
2. Baby Crocolisks - There are four that can drop in the reward from the fishing quest "Crocolisks in the City".
3. Jubling - Tree frog reward from "Spawn of Jubjub." This quest is associated with the Darkmoon Faire.
4. Mechanical Chicken - You'll never believe it but this is a mechanical chicken. It's the follow-on reward from escorting all three of the homing chickens. These quests start with dropped distress beacons in Tanaris, Hinterlands and Feralas. If you've never done these quests, it's a nice chuck of XP as you're leveling. The reward, also, isn't soulbound and can be sold on the auction house.
5. Miniwing - This white bird is a quest reward from escorting Skywing in Terrokar Forest at the eastern edge of the Bone Wastes.
6. The Orphanage Quests - During Children's Week, there are quests either in Stormwind or Orgrimmar AND Shattrath. The "old world" rewards are Whiskers (a rat), Mr. Wiggles (a piglet) or Speedy (a turtle). The Shattrath rewards are Peanut (a baby elekk), Egbert (a baby hawkstrider) or Willy (a baby eye monster). You can get two of these each year during Children's Week. And hopefully next year there'll be quests in Dalaran.
7. Peddlefeet - Another holiday pet, this one rewarded from the Love Is In The Air event during Valentine's.
8. Prairie Chicken - The first Alliance only quest. And actually, once the Alliance player finishes the quest "Cluck" any one can loot the egg and the pet.
9. Smolderweb Hatchling - "En-Ay-Es-Te-Why" rewards this tiny spider pet. The quest, like the Worg Pup, is completed in (Lower) Blackrock Spire.
10. Sprite Darter - a tiny colorful dragon (more of the faerie dragon variety) that comes from a LONG questline in Feralas. This one really is a badge of honor.
11. Wolpertinger - The final quest associated with a holiday, this one Brewfest. Pretty easy to get and invisible unless it's yours, you are drunk or are in the party with someone who has it out.

So, that's 11 quest rewards and a total of 19 pets you could get. Keep building those pet collections.

Non Combat Pets - Drops

I threatened to write about non-combat pets in the near future, and here we go. Once the expansion is out, these little gems won't take up space in your bags anymore as they'll be turned into something akin to spells. With that said, it makes it much more attractive to start collecting them. There is supposedly even an achievement for collecting fifty (Fifty! Yep!) that gives you an additional pet.

There are several sources for non combat pets: they can be purchased, they can be tied to holidays, they can be reputation based rewards, they can be quest rewards, and they can be dropped by slain mobs. 

Today, I'm going to talk about the hardest kind to obtain - those dropped from killing a mob. Generally these pets have an insanely low drop rate (usually less than 1%) so you'll be killing the mobs that drop them potentially by the hundreds if you want a particular pet. I consulted Warcraft Pets for a lot of my research. They have a wonderful site which you should check out as a companion to my postings.

In alphabetical order, here are the drops:

1. Azure Whelping - a tiny blue dragon dropped from level 50-54 dragon mobs in Azshara.
2. Black Tabby - a black cat dropped by Dalaran mages in Alterac Mountains (it appears that they are killable only by the Horde)
3. Crimson Whelpling - a tiny red dragon dropped from level 24-27 red dragons in the Wetlands
4. Dark Whelpling - a tiny black dragon dropped from level 41-43 dragons in Dustwallow Marsh
5. Disgusting Oozling - a tiny ooze that applies a debuff to all in range. It's dropped by level 50 and higher slimes and oozes all over Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor (Felwood, Un'Goro Crater, Eastern & Western Plaguelands, etc.)
6. Emerald Whelpling - a tiny green dragon dropped from level 35 & 36 dragons in Swamp of Sorrows.
7. Firefly - a firefly, dropped by Bogflare Needlers in Zangarmarsh
8. Green Wing Macaw - a parrot dropped from 19-20 Defias mobs in the Dead Mines.
9. Hyacinth Macaw - a parrot dropped from level 40-44 Bloodsail Pirates in Stranglethorn Vale.
10. Magical Crawdad - a crustacean dropped by Mr. Pinchy who can be fished out of 430+ fishing nodes in Outland
11. Mojo - a "magical" frog who can be released by using Hex Sticks in Zul'Aman
12. Phoenix Hatchling - dropped by Kael'thas Sunstrider in Magister's Terrace (both normal and heroic)
13. Scorchling - dropped from Ahune in the Slave Pens during Summer Fire Festival
14. Siamese - a Siamese cat dropped from Cookie in Dead Mines.
15. Sinister Squashling - a gourd dropped from the Headless Horseman in Scarlet Monastery durign Hallow's End.

These are probably the fifteen hardest non-combat pets to get in the game. Luckily, many of these are drops that do not bind on pickup and can sell for hundreds of gold on the Auction House. The price is only likely to go up once the achievement is implemented. Good Hunting!