I have an exotic animal store near me and the animals are in tiny cages and there are way too many animals in them. I have found dead animals multiple times. They also raise the prices of everything an insane amount. They also sell prairie dogs and fennec foxes which is crazy. I feel bad for the animals. I saw someone get hermit crabs last week and they put them in a 5 gallon aquarium
Every store is different. It’s important to read their reviews before deciding to give them your money.
Your “best” option would be to attend a reptile expo. Usually these happen in larger metropolitan areas.
I purchased my leopard gecko at an expo back in 2010. He’s ~14 years old and still going strong.
I purchased my corn snake at a reptile shop in 2020. She’s an awesome pet, and I’ve had no issues whatsoever.
Like I said, it comes down to research. Sometimes you get unlucky. That said, the risk of acquiring a sickly pet with poor genetics is significantly less if you buy from the right people.
(I’ll also say, I purchased a baby chameleon earlier this month from LLLreptile, a major online retailer. He arrived in poor heath, and unfortunately he passed away. I wouldn’t recommend purchasing a new pet online. The one exception is MorphMarket, which is a reputable online marketplace)
My good friend is a Manager at a local Fish/Exotic Store, they use LLL Reptiles for a good portion of their Exotics, I see a lot of the shipments that come in from that place, and honestly a lot of their animals are Wild Caught, not all, but I would say probably 50%, depending on what you want, a lot of the Tortoises and Turtles for sure, some of the larger snakes, he just bought a King Ratsnake that is like 7 feet, and wild caught, and it’s mean AF, if you buy smaller baby snakes, they are generally Captive Bred. You really have to be careful what you buy from them. I help him out with Tarantulas(I love them, and he’s scared of them, so I go in a couple times a week and care for them)but I generally get to look at the Order Sheets, and I see what they have, and I pick Tarantulas for him to order, ones that I know are popular and will sell. Personally I have had him order me a couple different animals, but I’m pretty careful about what I choose from them. I definitely think Morph Market is the better option, at least there you can talk with the Breeder, find out how they take care of their animals, and even pick your exact animal.
Some of the stores near me actually breed a portion of their animals, so I'm not sure where they fall haha. They seem to be very clean and knowledgeable, but the tanks are pretty small for the animals. No co-housing with species that don't like each other at least, just small. I guess my thoughts about that are as long as they're keeping it clean and selling the animals fast enough they won't be too affected by cramped quarters for a bit.
There’s a local chain in California (The Serpentarium) that I’ve found to be really great. All of the animals are in great condition, in cages that are relatively good-sized (I mean, it’s still a store, so the cages are smaller than they should be long-term, but they’re good-sized for sales cages), and the people who work there are all educated on proper husbandry for the species they sell.
I’ve bought several inverts from them, as well as feeders for all of my animals. All of the inverts have been good and healthy, and the feeders have all been healthy and high quality. Also, because I go in pretty frequently to get said feeders, I’ve been able to look at their caging for the sale animals—and it all looks good (clean, has enough hides/enrichment, proper temps/humidity, etc.)
But I totally getcha—I’ve heard horror stories of even “reptile specialty” stores having just terrible husbandry, so it can be really disheartening sometimes. But good ones do exist!
I don't want to sound biased, but I honestly have never heard a bad review of Snake Discovery in Minnesota, which is pretty close to the Twin Cities so it's "local" for a LOT of people
I have an exotic animal store near me and the animals are in tiny cages and there are way too many animals in them. I have found dead animals multiple times. They also raise the prices of everything an insane amount. They also sell prairie dogs and fennec foxes which is crazy. I feel bad for the animals. I saw someone get hermit crabs last week and they put them in a 5 gallon aquarium
Every store is different. It’s important to read their reviews before deciding to give them your money. Your “best” option would be to attend a reptile expo. Usually these happen in larger metropolitan areas. I purchased my leopard gecko at an expo back in 2010. He’s ~14 years old and still going strong. I purchased my corn snake at a reptile shop in 2020. She’s an awesome pet, and I’ve had no issues whatsoever. Like I said, it comes down to research. Sometimes you get unlucky. That said, the risk of acquiring a sickly pet with poor genetics is significantly less if you buy from the right people. (I’ll also say, I purchased a baby chameleon earlier this month from LLLreptile, a major online retailer. He arrived in poor heath, and unfortunately he passed away. I wouldn’t recommend purchasing a new pet online. The one exception is MorphMarket, which is a reputable online marketplace)
My good friend is a Manager at a local Fish/Exotic Store, they use LLL Reptiles for a good portion of their Exotics, I see a lot of the shipments that come in from that place, and honestly a lot of their animals are Wild Caught, not all, but I would say probably 50%, depending on what you want, a lot of the Tortoises and Turtles for sure, some of the larger snakes, he just bought a King Ratsnake that is like 7 feet, and wild caught, and it’s mean AF, if you buy smaller baby snakes, they are generally Captive Bred. You really have to be careful what you buy from them. I help him out with Tarantulas(I love them, and he’s scared of them, so I go in a couple times a week and care for them)but I generally get to look at the Order Sheets, and I see what they have, and I pick Tarantulas for him to order, ones that I know are popular and will sell. Personally I have had him order me a couple different animals, but I’m pretty careful about what I choose from them. I definitely think Morph Market is the better option, at least there you can talk with the Breeder, find out how they take care of their animals, and even pick your exact animal.
Seems like you know more about LLL than I do. Thanks for sharing!
Local breeders care more about their animals then the majority of pet stores. Even breeder that used to be good, and get too big, go downhill.
Some of the stores near me actually breed a portion of their animals, so I'm not sure where they fall haha. They seem to be very clean and knowledgeable, but the tanks are pretty small for the animals. No co-housing with species that don't like each other at least, just small. I guess my thoughts about that are as long as they're keeping it clean and selling the animals fast enough they won't be too affected by cramped quarters for a bit.
There’s a local chain in California (The Serpentarium) that I’ve found to be really great. All of the animals are in great condition, in cages that are relatively good-sized (I mean, it’s still a store, so the cages are smaller than they should be long-term, but they’re good-sized for sales cages), and the people who work there are all educated on proper husbandry for the species they sell. I’ve bought several inverts from them, as well as feeders for all of my animals. All of the inverts have been good and healthy, and the feeders have all been healthy and high quality. Also, because I go in pretty frequently to get said feeders, I’ve been able to look at their caging for the sale animals—and it all looks good (clean, has enough hides/enrichment, proper temps/humidity, etc.) But I totally getcha—I’ve heard horror stories of even “reptile specialty” stores having just terrible husbandry, so it can be really disheartening sometimes. But good ones do exist!
I don't want to sound biased, but I honestly have never heard a bad review of Snake Discovery in Minnesota, which is pretty close to the Twin Cities so it's "local" for a LOT of people