Are pets like bicycles?

[bcr229]

I can see the parallels, but I see some issues too. Most that the difference between retail and online pricing is usually huge, with the online stores often having prices half or less compared to the retail counterpart. Now I'm all for supporting local, especially if the price is within a reasonable margin of what is available online. Even did just that with my other hobby this weekend. But where the pet industry is concerned, way too much can be had from a local building supply store that will do the job as well or better, and be a lot cheaper to boot. Examples: a halogen basking bulb from Lowe's costs me around $3-5, whereas the petstore version will cost $9-15 and likely not last nearly as long. Plastic tote from whatever store is a few bucks, verses the cost of a tank and screen lid, which then needs a ton of mods anyway to work right. Or not even having prorper equipment available from the big players in the industry, like not having one decent thermostat among them. The good ones come from smaller niche companies. Where as good quality, which I usually refer to as hobby grade, can usually only be had from the stores that specialize in it, such as good quality bike specific accessories, hobby grade radio control vehicles (my other hobby) and so on. I mean let's face it, how many petstores have you walked in where they had vision cages and herpstats in stock? Those were just the first two I thought of, insert any brands there. Unlike most hobby industries, I feel the pet reptile industry has a very long way to go on producing secondary items that are actually useful.

You're not likely to find large caging at a local retail store simply because it's fairly expensive and it takes up a lot of space; retailers have to turn over inventory - and quickly - to stay in business. They can't tie up a lot of capital and shelf space in items where they may sell one or two a year. So, they focus on consumables - food, substrate, light bulbs - because those keep people coming back to the store.

That said, my local exotic shop does have several new Boamaster melamine racks for sale, as well as a used 60" enclosure in on consignment (and I'm soooooooo tempted...)

OTOH I don't understand why stores don't stock better thermostats, even if it's just the basic mid-range quality models aren't that much more costly than the crappy ones. Yes, you can find t-stats cheaper online but usually if I need a new t-stat I need it right now, not in a week (which is why I have spares). Or, at least the stores should have some decent ones to send home with a new keeper.