S&S Exotics in Houston, TX and on Kingsnake - Possibly graphic bird image.

[reptileexperts]

Ok guys,

This is a very VERY open minded and fair review of this company, you have been far warned once you have read this, and if you have had a different experience with them feel free to add to the discussion about it.

This is a very small organization that tries to specialize in exotic animals. While their assortmant can be quite overwhelming, and the animals cool to look at, what I looked at when I was visiting yesterday was the quality of conditions, and the quality of the animals themselves, and let me tell you now, it was horrifying.

The snakes looked good to the naked eye, and seemed content. No cages contained any kind of heating eliments, and the displays were mainly consistent of 10 gallon tanks, and some slightly larger 20 gallons for snakes that were over 4ft in length. Snakes were housed together for the most part, and the conditions were pretty nasty. Most cages had fecal matter that had not been spot cleaned, and most of the substrate looked to be old and dusty. The room with the reptiles is offlimits to the public, but you can see through their glass wall. They suggest the room they are in is temperature controlled, and tha'ts fine for mantaining proper conditions for the same speices, but we're talking about a TON of different animals piled on top of eachother.

Their chondro selection was nice, and the young were not bitey at all. Most seemed to be fed frequently, so that was a positive. . . however, most were kept in a plastic bin 4"(H) x 6" (L) x 3"(W). They had one PVC perch drilled into them, and they also contained a water bottom. This mantained humidity at 100%and the animals OVERALL seemed healthy . . . but they were selling them in this condition as a "home ready" animal - meaning you bought the cage for an additional $10.

Most of the snakes had vetebrate showing pretty heavily, especially in the animals that should have some weight to them. Showing signs of malnutrition. This was especially true with the monitor lizards, the lizard cages contained small worms that resembeled roundworms I studied in college. I'm not sure what was going on there, but I assume they were heavily parasited Wild collected animals. A few of the snakes contained mites, and they were easy to see just from a brief glimpse.

The worst of the worst. . . .

Their parrot cages were horrible . . . small, cramped, no toys to help entertain them. None of the larger birds were banded, and MANY of the birds had extreme molting issues showing large amounts of stress going on, and signs of a bird who has given up on life . . . don't let these people lie to you and say their birds come from a reputable breeder, or that they are simply "in molt" I have raised birds nearly my entire life, and this is one of the images I managed to sneakingly take while I was there . . .



These are beautiful birds that are being abused. It breaks my heart to see business like this lasting. I bought a parrot from them a couple years ago, and things were pretty good there. I'm not sure what has happened recently, but this is just my attempt to get a warning out there to people considering them on kingsnake.com or locally in the greater Houston TX Area. If you are local, go give Pets-a-Plenty a try, its further out of the way, but the staff is educated, and the animals are kept in humane and healthy conditions.

I am 100% against the parrot trade, and I know that WC reptiles is a common thing and OK for the most part to get new genetics into our breeding lines, but passing animals off as "captive born" or not listing the proper genetics (they had a jaguar sibling possibly, labeled as a "discounted jaguar carpet python".

Spread the word.

[Evenstar]

Awww...... That's feather plucking. Parrots are intelligent animals and a parrot may start to pluck its feathers out if it is bored, stressed, sick, lacking attention, or otherwise unhappy in its home. But the feather plucking, while sometimes initially caused by illness, is a behavioral problem and not a medical issue in and of itself. Once a bird starts, it becomes an obsessive compulsive habitual behavior and almost impossible to correct even when the husbandry, stress, health, and/or mental stimulation has been fixed.

This is a terrible situation and it angers me that beautiful animals are treated this way....

Sorry - I just noticed your comment that you've raised parrots most of your life so I know you're aware of plucking and its causes. But I'll post anyhow just so someone else reading can be further educated too.

[reptileexperts]

Yep . . . its further implications of wild caught animals when you see this kind of behavior arising from them. Captive bred animals are less likely to have this situation occur unless proper stimulation is not given. It is extremely sad, and every unbanded parrot contained this problem, the company sells it as "molting" . . . terrible terrible company.

[JaGv]

i been to s&s exotics also and i wouldnt do bussiness with them their snakes have no hides or any type of heating.. their rats looked like they were ready to die any moment.