Petacular Exotics in Antioch, CA

[arachnoid]

I love this place. Of all the local pet shops (a 35 mile yellowpages.com search from Vallejo, CA), this place by far has the greatest selection of inverts. Egyptian Dung Beetles anyone?
The employees aren't exactly experts on the inverts though. And there appears to be some housing issues. But still, for me its either this place or the internet.
I recommend this place if you're from the area and you don't shop online.

[ScientificSarah]

I could not disagree with this reviewer more adamantly. Perhaps things have changed since April of last year, or perhaps the reviewer was somehow associated with the store, but consider this first hand account of a visit there this week:

Asked to see the pet rats, " he took me to a small corner that reaked of ammonia and had filthy bare wire cages, no plastic coating, just wire which we know is a health hazard. There were about 20 rats per cage, cage size 12 inch by 24 inch. They were pee soaked, i was offended by the appearance and smell at that point. The guy opens a cage with hairless, siamese, suede,
etc. and just grabs them by the tails and tosses them to the other side of the cage, actually tossing! :eek: The poor little ratties had to have been dazed! and probably injured. To stop the rat tossing fiasco i quickly tell him just to let me hold the one he was about to toss into the other corner. The poor girl was skinny and scared to death.

I commented on the rough handling to the cashier, and he replied, "We treat the pets the same as our feeders (which is to say, everyone equally badly :mad: )because there are so many of them".

This is just abusive, untrained, and inadequate :shame: . It implies that all the living creatures there are badly handled, and poorly maintained. A sick "feeder" animal is toxic to the animal that eats it. An abused animal (be it spider, snake, rodent, beetle, cat or dog) is usually afraid, often injured and in pain, and is difficult to win over by its future loving owner. It is easy to teach proper handling to willing employees, and difficult to teach it to fearful or disinterested ones. I for one will not shop here again.

[NeitherSparky]

(Btw there is one more review for this store in another thread, here (http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=95778). Just to try and keep everything together.)

I just got back from this store - it's not local to me but since we were already in Antioch for other business I thought we'd pop by. I walked out with a nice little common pinktoe (and a KK, cork bark, and water dish). I liked the store, thought the animals looked relatively well-housed, and the people were nice and helpful. I can't speak for the pet rats mentioned in an earlier review - I didn't even know they had any, I looked over the whole store a couple of times and did not see any. Either I missed them or they no longer have them, I don't know. They do keep their smaller t's (and scorps) in deli cups, but the larger ones are all in tanks. I didn't find anything to complain about, and the t prices were all perfectly fair and reasonable for the species and sizes. The t's I looked at appeared healthy, no shrived abdomens, crix running around with an obviously freshly-molted spider, etc. That kind of thing annoys me. The little guy I brought home appears in perfect condition, but if he turns out to be sick or something I'll post an update. ;)

[KenTheBugGuy]

Have to say this is one of the best shops around. They really take care of thier animals and care about each one. They also has some of the best crested geckos around. I picked up a male from him last weekend and he is healthy and strong. Has already bread with my female a couple of times I have seen. They carry a decent amount of inverts too. I recommend anyone that wants healthy well cared for animals visit this shop. Its not often you find shops this good.

[Gracilis]

POSITIVE

this is my local pet store.. i bought my first 3 emps from there and they have always provided great service and more than happy to share knowledge of what ever it is that your buying.. They even helped me figure out if my desert hairy (which wasnt purchased there) was male or female... my girlfriend has bought 3 T's from there and all have been doing great and were very well priced...