I just wanted to share a very positive experience I had today. I was in Lodi and decided to check out Great Valley Serpentarium , who I'd heard good things about.
I did not purchase anything, from them, but I did spend a few hours in the store. The store is setup basically as a Serpentarium, with nice displays of many animals not necessarily up for sale, as well as the sale stuff. The place was absolutely spotless, both the public areas and the back areas (actually, the only part of the store marked "employees only" was open to full view of the public anyway). The staff was very outgoing, friendly, and knowledgeable on the animals they had. I got to handle (was encouraged to, actually) quite a few of their adult boids and one of their indigos, and all of the snakes were clean and healthy. The boas were very irridescent, which I'd say is a good sign of health. The beardies, iguana, spiney tailed iguana, and uromasytx were fed while we were there, and their salad was a mix of good greens (no lettuce here, and no leftovers from the restaurant down the street, both of which I've seen in a lot of stores), and all had appropriate lighting and heat. They had small sulcatta tortoises, and in their cage, the UVB tube was put very low to the ground so that the little guys could catch plenty of rays, which I thought was a smart move.
Finally, and most importantly after good maintenance and cleanliness, I had a chance to hear them deal with several other customers and browsers, and I never heard them utter a single falsehood in regards to the sizes of the animals, level of complexity of care, or any of the other BS you generally hear bandied about pet stores. They entheusiastically showed adult animals to customers, to give them an idea of their size, and were very clear about the care requirements for the animals being discussed. They were even quick to point out which of their animals, both specifically and in general were nippy or had foul tempers. (That'd be the nile monitor, tiger rats and anaconds, lol)
All in all a good trip, and one worth taking if you have a non-herper in your midst that you think might like a bit of hands-on herp education. These guys seem to be very committed to quality and to educating their customers or anyone who walks through their door for that matter.
BTW: The only reason that I didn't buy anything today was because the only thing I could afford that I needed were super worms and they raise their own, so I didn't feel it'd be a nice thing to have them dig a couple hundred out of their bin by hand. =)
I did not purchase anything, from them, but I did spend a few hours in the store. The store is setup basically as a Serpentarium, with nice displays of many animals not necessarily up for sale, as well as the sale stuff. The place was absolutely spotless, both the public areas and the back areas (actually, the only part of the store marked "employees only" was open to full view of the public anyway). The staff was very outgoing, friendly, and knowledgeable on the animals they had. I got to handle (was encouraged to, actually) quite a few of their adult boids and one of their indigos, and all of the snakes were clean and healthy. The boas were very irridescent, which I'd say is a good sign of health. The beardies, iguana, spiney tailed iguana, and uromasytx were fed while we were there, and their salad was a mix of good greens (no lettuce here, and no leftovers from the restaurant down the street, both of which I've seen in a lot of stores), and all had appropriate lighting and heat. They had small sulcatta tortoises, and in their cage, the UVB tube was put very low to the ground so that the little guys could catch plenty of rays, which I thought was a smart move.
Finally, and most importantly after good maintenance and cleanliness, I had a chance to hear them deal with several other customers and browsers, and I never heard them utter a single falsehood in regards to the sizes of the animals, level of complexity of care, or any of the other BS you generally hear bandied about pet stores. They entheusiastically showed adult animals to customers, to give them an idea of their size, and were very clear about the care requirements for the animals being discussed. They were even quick to point out which of their animals, both specifically and in general were nippy or had foul tempers. (That'd be the nile monitor, tiger rats and anaconds, lol)
All in all a good trip, and one worth taking if you have a non-herper in your midst that you think might like a bit of hands-on herp education. These guys seem to be very committed to quality and to educating their customers or anyone who walks through their door for that matter.
BTW: The only reason that I didn't buy anything today was because the only thing I could afford that I needed were super worms and they raise their own, so I didn't feel it'd be a nice thing to have them dig a couple hundred out of their bin by hand. =)