THE WHEN AND WHY
On the day of Christmas, 2006, I decided it was time to
start making more money. I figured the most interesting
way to do this was to... start a pet store! Besides,
that's how this whole animal thing came to be; me
wanting to own a pet store. Well, now we have it up and
running, the opening date being Wednesday, February 7,
2007. Yep, two months from finding wholesalers to
advertising. By the way, go to
http://efloridacoupons.com/p_pets_repticenter.htm to print out a
10% off coupon! (This can only be used IN THE STORE, not
over the internet - sorry!)
THE BIG DIFFERENCE
One of the things that I believe separates me from the
category of other pet stores (other than my general
knowledge and level of education in the animal world) is
my passion for the animals. I don't buy the cheap crap
to make more money. Actually, I'm more into it to learn
and teach about all kinds of exotic animals rather than
making money, which it seems most pet stores only care
about. I'm the guy that stands in the pet store every
other day complaining about the way animals are housed,
or how they have the wrong scientific names on the
description, or how they can't feed dragons lettuce, or
iguanas crickets (yes, it all happens). That's my drive.
I strive to get people to understand that when they buy
from me, they are also buying my full care for the
animal and my customer service.
THE ANIMAL ROOM
I think the thing that most people would notice when
they walk into the animal room would be the amazing
reptile/rodent/bird habitats. I don't use 10 gallon
tanks on shelves on a wall. I don't really do anything
cheap when it comes to the animals. I had a company
custom design reptile "tanks" for my room. They are all
modular, there being a base (light box without the
lights) the actual tank part (a long section that can be
divided into three sections) and a light box (goes on
top) I will discuss it all at another time. Then I have
the PETTING AREA in the middle of the room. I'm from NH,
and the thing I miss most about the pet shops up north
are their trust in letting customers play with the
animals, regardless of whether they wanted to buy it or
not. So I had a petting area custom designed as well. It
has 8 sections, as pictured below. This is generally
where the fluffy stuff goes, like chinchillas, rabbits,
guinea pigs, etc.
THE CAMERAS
The store is surrounded by six state of the art
surveillance cameras, with some of the best color video
quality. As soon as it starts getting dark, the infrared
and LED lights kick on. This way, the camera can see in
complete darkness just as perfectly as in daytime. The
cameras are constantly recording, and if they are in
night mode and notice any movement, they will record for
a set time, then email it to me at my house, and keeps
repeating the process until the movement is gone.
THE PICTURES
|
Bad pic of the front |
Empty
repticages |
empty petting center |
petting center, rat and
mouse racks |
some cages with breeding
stock |
 |
| The panoramic view |
For pictures of the store's animals, please click
the Available page, then
click on "Store Reptiles"
