Good pet stores

[hallenhe]

We all know about the bad pet stores - dirty cages, dying animals, misguided or outright wrong husbandry recommendations. But what about the good ones? There are plenty of good pet stores out there. Who and where are they? What do they do that makes them good?

In mid-Michigan (Lansing, to be precise) we have Preuss Pets. Locally owned by fish enthusiast Rick Preuss. What makes them a good store?
- Division of labor: By and large, the reptile department isn't cleaning fish tanks, and the fish people aren't selling you parakeets. The reptile staff are probably most diversified, covering reptiles, amphibians, invertebrates (mostly tarantulas) and small mammals; fish and birds each have their own dedicated staff, with some degree of specialization (freshwater, saltwater, they have one person who primarily does aquatic plants).
- Staff: I know many long-term employees in their respective departments who can reasonably be considered experts. Shorter term employees are usually recruited from Michigan State University, and are often pre-vet, zoology, fisheries and wildlife or related fields.
- Knowledgeable: they seem pretty much up on their areas of expertise, because they're allowed to develop areas of expertise. Importantly, they check for customers' knowledge, experience and preparedness: any time I buy a fish, I'm asked the size of my tank, temperature, how many and what kind of occupants. They will actively discourage sales if the potential customer does not seem prepared.
- Helpfulness: free water testing at any time for any reason. Fish vet on staff, and they're willing to house and treat your Preuss-purchased fish. The fish is rereleased to the owner once healthy, and upon a good water parameter test result from the home tank. They will trim claws of various beasties needing claw trims.
- Off-display-floor quarantine and treatment areas, and close association with a good reptile vet and (presumably) other veterinary staff.
- The sheer quantity and variety they have: Feeder insects include true pins, 10 day pinheads, small, med, large and extra large crickets; waxworms; mealworms; superworms; hornworms; nightcrawlers and panfish worms (also various fresh and frozen rodents for the snake folk)

Enough (or far too much) about my pet store; what makes your favorite pet store great?

 

[pssh]

A pet store called Pets To Go is a pretty good pet store in my opinion. Located in Elk Grove, CA.

They specialize in reptiles and occasionally have a panther or veiled in the store. They are knowledgeable about the animals they sell and keep them in pretty good conditions from what I can tell. They keep their chameleons in screen cages with uvb and heat lamps with live ficus'. They also keep them way above eye level to keep them comfy. They also sell supplements and correct lighting.

They are also the only pet store that I can trust to buy crickets from. The crickets I buy from them have about a 2% death rate max.

All the animals that I have bought from them were is good health and have never had any problems. They all have lived/are living long and healthy lives.