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December 2023 by Dqlly
All reptiles were not being taken care of properly. Many looked deathly sick and they were not being provided with any enrichment, basking or burrowing opportunities. Anyone who has done proper and recent research would realize just how horrific the conditions of these animals are. No UVB, no (non-colored) heating bulb, scars everywhere, fed live, crammed, improper humidity, improper enclosure measurements, lacked knowledge about the animals they "care so much" for. Beyond horrific.
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December 2023 by IlaMarie Deliyannis
John and Jason are very knowledgeable about snakes/reptiles and are very friendly. They tend to have a good assortment of reptiles in there and always have plenty of feeders for your reptile babies.
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November 2023 by Amanda Rushton
Location is Barnyard Flea Market, Row I (i) - at the back. My suggestion: park and walk, or go around back and park where no one's selling. I've been talking to and buying from John (the owner) since I was around 17 or 18 years old. I am 34. (About sixteen or seventeen years). I feel I have experience with him and his business, enough to write a solid review.The reptiles, arachnids, and other animals he has are always well-kept and healthy. I'm not sure where the other reviews are stating the animals are "stressed" and "sickly," it seems people are more self-proclaimed animal 'lovers' and 'activists' that have no clue how animals act when they're put together on display to sell in a business when they're kept solitary all week. You'd be active and curious, too, if you lived one way and someone stuck you in a smaller room with a bunch of others, right? Right.The shop is kept around 90 degrees, even in the dead of winter. This eliminates the need for each tank to have a light or heating pad on it, which anyone who has actually kept a reptile (or is educated on them) would know. Almost every tank has a substrate of newspaper because the animals inside are ultimately on display, not the decoration of the tank, and newspaper is perfectly fine for them to be on for a few hours. It can be easily changed if soiled (which is done immediately following it being soiled), and if a provided water bowl gets knocked over. Almost every reptile you see is eating fine, and is docile as can be.There are a NO photograph sign for the shop, as well as a NO handling without permission sign that should be respected by all customers. Yes, that includes you. Proper husbandry after buying your animal is crucial from the second you leave the shop. If it is too cold out when you buy a reptile (around Christmas, perhaps?) - it will NOT thrive. It will likely catch a nasty respiratory infection and pass away. This is YOU asking for it when you didn't pay attention when you bought the animal. YOU have to be ready to bring these creatures home and keep them safe and warm during the transportation, too.None of the animals I have ever bought from John have ever gone home with me "sick" or "sickly." I unfortunately had the displeasure of a rampant respiratory virus going through all of my three snakes the last time I had them, and John himself attempted so hard to save them and help me, it was unreal. He met me where he could to treat my snakes during the week when he did NOT have to. He has a business, and that business runs 24/7. He treated me like family when he didn't have to. That man is amazing, and deserves the world. He knows more about reptiles than people who claim to be experts seem to anymore. Ask him questions! He has answers, and jokes in between. He is the most straightforward and honest person I have ever dealt with.Remember, his store is in a *flea market,* and therefore is not some beautiful, gilded palace made of marble. It's going to be a little dirty on a concrete floor because a lot of dirty, disgusting people with their dirty, disgusting feet walk all over it all day on weekends. Snakes don't vocally warn you when they have to go, either, and sometimes it goes on the floor. There are no professional cleaners to make it sparkle, so you really can't expect it to be perfect, as no one else's store in the market is perfect, either. It's ridiculous to expect that in a flea market.The prices are always fair. Do some research if you're worried about that. If your animal does die within a week, he usually will work with you if it wasn't any fault of your own. (However, you probably shouldn't be handling your animal within a week anyway - as they are still getting acclimated in 7-14 days, just saying.) The people are always unapologetically themselves.If you want a no-frills experience with an honest person who truly cares about all the animals he sells, this is who you go to.
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July 2023 by Jesse Bro
Store was dirty not organized in the slightest animals are not taken care of properly, went a couple of months ago to see if anything changed saw a bearded dragon that passed away sitting in plastic tubs with the other bearded dragons. Staff barely knew what they were talking about. Didn’t feel clean or sanitary in the slightest. Just don’t recommend
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May 2023 by Isaac Opoku
Hello pls do you buy snakes from Ghana Africa?I can send you pictures of what I got for you to see.
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April 2023 by Kym Seelye
John and his team help us out big time with our snake star, and he has really good prices. Very friendly environment ment. Although, at times, it is crowded due to a small space. But that doesn't stop john and them at all
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March 2023 by Steve Reindl
Like walking back in time. The decor is set up for some time in the '50s and '60s. It's old time music playing and an old fashioned soda bar. Food was very good and prices were fair.
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February 2023 by Heather McCullough
Great for a flea market store. Good variety, always there rain shine or holiday. And treat you like family.
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January 2023 by Sam Skeen
I went in to buy some frozen pinkies and all of them were frozen together in the same bag and two of them were so rotten, you couldn’t even tell they were mice. The problem was addressed, and I was given a full refund. But they were seen by two employees before they were sold to me. It seems like they were purposely sold knowing that were rotten, frozen together and essentially unusable. They have 5 hamsters in the same cage and hamsters are very much solitary animals who cannot be kept together or they will fight/kill eachother. Like 5 ball pythons in the same enclosure one of them looking to have neurological issues as it kept flipping its head upside down. On a separate occurrence I was recommended a tall narrow enclosure for a ball python when they are terrestrial and need more ground space than anything. Then was argued with that ball pythons enjoy climbing. But no they are terrestrial just because they can climb doesn’t mean they enjoy it or even should as it could injure them because they aren’t good climbers. Leaving this here for other people to see and make their own call. Not for conflict this is simply my personal experience.
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September 2022 by Chris Columbus, MI
Very knowledgeable about reptiles, helped us with our baby snake.
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September 2022 by larry wurtz
Bought a baby beardy first day it ate then next day ate nothing went a week without eating died brought it to their attention and they gave me a replacement who is chilling with me now happy and healthy
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August 2022 by Hunter Vines
Very nice staff and very big selection of reptiles
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June 2022 by Jason Joyner
Just got a new baby Bearded Dragon and a baby Savannah Monitor. They are absolutely gorgeous. Best guy for your new exotic purchase hands down.
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June 2022 by Jonathan Hynson
Great people with tons of info on anything in the shop, very helpful with information with all animals ,tanks etc will be coming back
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May 2022 by Emma Dennis
Pretty much all of the reptiles were being kept with multiple others. There were even 4-5 juvenile ball pythons in one tank and not a single hide. The leopard geckos I saw were also pretty skinny and it seemed like none of them had any UVB (and they didn't have any natural sunlight on them to substitute it) The snakes seemed very stressed (attempting to climb up the walls and escape) while others looked fatigued. It was sad to see them like this, and even if these were just temporary enclosures, it doesn't seem safe for the animals at all.