Exotic Birds & Pets

First time in. Looking for a big round fish bowl. Their shelves were pretty bare. But Kevin was soooo nice and taught me more about my Beta. Very kind. I got water neutralizer and plants.

A lady in one of my Facebook rescue groups just posted something that makes me worry about all animals at this shop… please see a screenshot in the photo section…

I’ve purchased several birds, large cages, and literally hundreds of pounds of bird seed, food, and supplies from here.
In 2009, I had to board our birds here when it was found that my wife was critically ill, in order to fly to the east coast (Baltimore, and later, Boston, Minneapolis, and Chicago) for evaluation — the year of which also happens to be most likely the last time floors were cleaned (and/​or mopped).
Both of our birds became sick after we picked them up after our week’s absence and were found to have e-​coli infections, an infection quite deadly to birds caused when human fecal material remains on store employees’ hands after using the bathroom. Both birds had to be given long-​term antibiotic and drug treatment; the vet bills for both birds were more than $ 2800 in total.
In 2010, I purchased 50 pounds of seed (cockatoo mix) in 2 25-​pound bags — and found that it was a repackaged commercial wild bird seed formulation. The seed was completely inedible for them. The dietary formula of the mix would have been catastrophic to our birds had we fed it to them. I had to throw it away.
I stopped in the store yesterday on the way home from the vet to see if they might have a bird toy for our ailing cockatoo. Their stocks are primarily cheap in quality, and are very limited. Their birdcages look as if a weak finch could bite its way through the cage bars or overcome the locks for the cage.
The business reeks of filth and has such a bad odor, I had to leave.
Sad to see what was once a great business go to hell since Jan Copper, the former owner, retired and sold the business. Granted, with companies like Petsmart and other large chain pet stores have wiped out most small pet stores, but going cheap isn’t the answer. Being filthy has no excuse.

Exotic Pets is just going downhill. I don’t know if it’s new ownership or money troubles, but it is not a good place to go anymore.
They do have a good selection of pets, and they are probably still healthier than anything you will get at a super-​chain like PetSmart or PetCo.
However, there are some major flaws which is why I am giving 2 stars.
First, the odor. A pet store should not have that type of odor. Of course all pet stores «smell» but this is bad. This smell is overpowering. I would guess that they don’t keep up with the cleaning of the rodent and bird cages too well. I used to dread going there because I couldn’t handle the smell.
Besides that, I would never take my macaw back there ever. They have a «vet» every Saturday that will do things like nail clippings and wing trimmings. We took our bird in there twice and he loved seeing all the other birds. The first time was just a nail trim, and that was fine. The second time we wanted his wings clipped (because we wanted to take him outside more) but we didn’t want his wings to be permanently clipped.
Well, it’s been over a year and his wings have not grown back and he cannot even fly down and land properly, which the «vet» said he would be able to do. Every time he loses his balance, he falls and lands on his beak. It breaks my heart because there is nothing we can do, the damage is done.
Update — 6 months ago my bird fell off our couch and because of his bad wing he could not right himself and he broke his neck and died. It was the most horrible and painful thing I have ever witnessed and my heart is completely broken. Do not ever let them trim your bird’s wings.

I go here for my feeder mice, and staff is always very kind, knowledgeable and helpful. However, EVERYTHING is over priced. I understand the need to make money, but it’s unfortunate this store is not accommodating to the economy in this time of need, because stores like this are in need. They do not keep their shelves very well stocked and it’s unfortunate, I think this place could really take off. They aren’t keeping as many snakes anymore which is unfortunate because they have a descent set up for them. I think it could use some changes but it doesn’t make the store staff any less helpful and inviting :)

Friendly and informative staff, very helpful. Also do bird boarding, cool :)