Revamping a local pet store

I'm currently attending SUNY Plattsburgh as a Biology major with a pre-vet focus and I recently grabbed a part-time job at a local pet store, Northern Puppies. The owner, Tammy Staley, has been breeding and selling puppipes for year but within the last year started her pet store. Now she is also doing a lot with exotics, like reptiles, sugar gliders, hedgies, chins, parrots, etc. I am actually in charge of the reptile portion of the store. It's nothing huge now, about 18 tanks of reptiles, though we will be doubling that when we move in February. I just wanted to put it out there that I am trying to make this a great place to buy healthy reptiles with great customer service. I am in the process of getting a wholesale account set up with Ben Siegel Reptiles.

If you guys have any suggestions as to what you would like to see when you walk into a petstore with reptiles or exotics, as far as supplies, the species available or just any comment you have, please let me know. I just started and have been contiuouly making changes, but all suggestions are welcome. Also if anyone is the the area feel free to stop by!

Sounds exciting!

I would like to NOT see heat rocks: they seem too risky and I always hear horror stories about them.

I would like to see dimmers/thermostats, GOOD tank clips (I have had no luck with those weird little skinny ones that petstores have: the best ones and the only ones I will use are the Four Paws brand clips and I recommend them to anyone keeping animals in tanks!), smaller species of boas other than normal Colombians since I hear a lot of beginner snake people wanting a boa but not the huge size that comes with it, a larger variety of feeders besides just mice and larger rats (I'd like to see somewhere that has F/T rat fuzzies and pups!), and individual caging for each snake. Maybe even tubs that people can buy in addition to tanks?

Those are the only things I can think of right now, hopefully more can chime in with good feedback!

None of the local pet stores I've found do insect feeders other than crickets and superworms. I'd love to see more variety there! I'd also love to be able to buy the water crystals dehydrated in bulk rather than the pre-bottled stuff everyone sells. I know you can get it online, but I like instant gratification and no shipping fees. XD And inexpensive/simple hides would be welcome too! That's all I have off the top of my head. XD

Thanks for the feedback! I'll definitely take those into consideration. Im trying to get roaches in for people with the larger lizard species. As far as the smaller boa species I'll definitely try to get those in. I never even thought about that! And the simple hides idea is a good one. Maybe I'll try to get some in from RBI or somewhere for people that want some useful and functional hides. Again thanks and keep them coming. I want to make this place a great exotic store that people can recommend to others!

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Originally Posted by redstormlax12

Thanks for the feedback! I'll definitely take those into consideration. Im trying to get roaches in for people with the larger lizard species. As far as the smaller boa species I'll definitely try to get those in. I never even thought about that! And the simple hides idea is a good one. Maybe I'll try to get some in from RBI or somewhere for people that want some useful and functional hides. Again thanks and keep them coming. I want to make this place a great exotic store that people can recommend to others!

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Let me start by saying that I live in Plattsburgh and have been in Northern Puppies. I am glad to hear that someone is in charge of revamping her setup. For starters let me address a few things I have seen in this store. Balls and Boas kept together. Rats, mice, and gerbils all kept together. Rodents with water bottles that were not working. Having said all that I don't think Tammy knew about the water bottles or the issues with keeping different species together. The store is generally clean and has a great selection for such a new small store.

I would love to see a store that took more care to provide a low stress environment for their snakes while still allowing customers to see the snakes. This is easier said than done if you have a small inventory but for instance if you have more than one of a given species you could keep all but one in a rack in the back and rotate the snakes that get put on display. I would love to see care sheets that are accurate. Instead pushing new owners toward a heat lamp, half log hide, dial thermometer and hygrometer I would love to see them encouraged to get a UTH, thermostat, digital thermometer/hygrometer, correctly sized non porous hides, non heating light, and digital timer for that light. There is already a pretty good selection of supplies but I think its just wrong that most pet shops I go into don't sell thermostats so make sure you have those.

I am a big fan of "Showcase Cages" and "Boaphile Plastics." Had I been able to pick up a plastic 3x2 cage locally I would have. Same goes for small racks. I love the RhinoRaXX "Ball Room Rack" and would buy one tomorrow on impulse if I saw one in a store for a reasonable price.

I breed my own rodents but I have gotten mice from Tammy in the past. I would carry a selection of frozen rodents if you don't already.

I'd love to see a store that sold Flexwatt by the foot and the appropriate connectors. Like Egapal said, nice racks or caging would be awesome.

Another thing I'd love to see in a store is some lower to mid end morphs, and no only cornsnakes or albino burms.

What I would not like to see in a pet store is green iguanas, nile monitors, burms, tegus, and retics. They're all great animals and many of them are bought by first time owners who get them on impulse and have no concept of what it's going to be like to handle a 15 foot snake or a 5 foot lizard with a pissy attitude. Someone who is really into reptiles and willing to put the time, effort, and money into taking good care of these animals is almost certainly not going to be buying them from a pet shop at pet shop prices.

A beginner who isn't on a tight budget can give a leo, ackie, or a bearded dragon a good home, particularly if you happen can offer to sell him housing a step above a fish tank with a hot rock. A ball python morph or a leo morph or a beardie morph isn't going to demand care above and beyond that of a normal. I've seen folks drop 500 bucks + for pet shop dogs. It wold be cool to see someone offered some choices that are a little higher end than Ghana balls and hateful little nile monitors.

id like to see pretty much everything that someone would use to set up a rack system. flexwatt w/ connectors, t-stats, tubs, decent hides, decent bowls, decent substrate other then the repti-bark, and maybe even a rack or two. this way you draw in not just first time buyers but hobbyists and keepers that dont like waiting 3-5 days to get stuff in or just need something in a pinch. different morphs of different species would be nice and i agree with keeping monitors and other more difficult lizards and snakes out of there unless you have a faithful following of hobbyists/breeders who can handle such animals. thats just what i would like to see but i dont really see anything like that coming to my area. if it did then i would probably never leave and end up working or volunteering there but thats just a pipe dream lol.

X2 on the appropriate caresheets thing. The only thing I can think of to add that no one else has is a reference sheet of all of the vets in the city that you know of that are qualified and have experience with that particular animal species. Many new owners won't know who to take their new pet to if something happens, and it can be hard to find a good vet when you're in a hurry. Including with the caresheet a list of vets and contact information would help a lot.

Provent-a-Mite. Any pet store that sells reptiles should carry it.

And I second (or third) the notion about proper caresheets for any species of animals you sell.

I've got some really nice BP.net brochures that include our Ball Python Caresheet on them. I'd be happy to send out a stack if you want to give them out with BP purchases.

i would love to see "spoiled pets" i would be way more likely to be a
"usual" at a store that has very happy and healthy pets also have "fair" prices
and to have fair prices on food for all animals .. some petstores want like 3$ for a feeder mouse and thats crazy .. i found a place that will give me mice 1$ each if i buy all my mice there .. mabe you can have a mouse card or cricket card that says buy 10 get ine free or something .. that encourages returning customers !