Wildside

This is a little different, because I'm not telling you about a breeder but a pet store. Wildside Pets in Oakwood, Georgia is one of the best pet stores I've ever been in, at least with regard to reptiles. I used to love to go to Reptile Warehouse, but it turned into an internet-only business many months ago, leaving a pretty big hole for reptile specialty shops around Atlanta. I've mentioned Animal House Pets in Loganville before, which is another great store but quite a drive for most Atlantans. Wildside isn't exactly convenient, but at least it's close to an interstate highway.

Anyway, Tom and Silke's store is in a small building that looks like it was originally a house. They specialize in reptiles, small animals, and birds. They had a few rescue critters available, including an aging parakeet and a half-blind chinchilla.

They had a pretty good selection of reptiles available, including golden geckos, baby beardies, cali kings (babies and an adult, including a couple of albinos), a sonoran milksnake, a Dumeril's Boa, an ETB, several red-tails, a herd of uromastyx (gaggle? flock?), a whitelip, a couple of bloods, a chameleon, a couple of leopard geckos, a few different monitors, and the requisite iguanas.

Their small animals included guinea pigs, long-haired and teddy bear hamsters, black gerbils, and naked mole rats (weird things!), There was a smaller selection of birds, including a few parrots, a pair of lovebirds, a flock of finches, and a few dozen parakeets. They also had several frogs and some scorpions and hairy spiders (including a bird-eating spider with a large bald patch on his butt).

it's not a huge store and if you already have a great reptile shop in your area it may not be worth your while, but for anyone else who's in the area, it's definitely worth a look. Aside from the aforementioned spider and chinchilla and one parakeet that was getting harassed, all the animals looked healthy and happy.