Reptile shop owners question ?....Read details...?

[glidergirl]

I agree 100% with Reptacular Ltd! You need to remember than it can take years to build up a good reputation and seconds to destroy it!

Finding a good member of staff is one of the major issues we find (we both STILL work full time), we've only been open almost 4 years now and the amount of staff we have got through is ridiculous (apparently I have 'unobtainable cleaning standards' - lol). Be prepared for working 7 days, no holidays, lots of out of hours telephone calls, correcting other shops mistakes, and being completely exhausted!

Ahem ... why on earth did we open a shop ??

[Cookaaaaay]

Originally Posted by Zoo-Man

I love owning a pet shop! It is a diverse job & there is always something to do. We are keeping very busy & doing very well.

Ok thanks.

Originally Posted by Mendipmonsters

It can be very very rewarding and you will meet people who will stay friends for life, you will never stop learning and there will be a fresh challenges all the time. You wont get rich. You will probably work very long hours and holidays are mearly a dream. But you are your own boss and it is what you make it. Best advise I can give you is learn to keep as many species as possible. We frequently get people in the shop asking for jobs who think they know how to keep everything because they have a couple of corns and a beardie.In reality we probably have to deal with 100 or so different species each year in the shop and answer questions on tons more for customers. I have been breeding commercialy for 20 years and I still find a new species to learn to keep every year to keep me on my toes.This year its poison arrows and dragon agama's. So learn your animals,get some good qualifications and if you can offer to do work experiance in a good reptile shop. I say a good reptile shop, as if you learn in a bad one you will only learn bad habits. Buisness courses are OK,but you will learn more in your first 2 years of buisness than in 10 years at school. Hope that helps.

Thanks. =)

Originally Posted by Reptacular Ltd

We own a reptile shop in Hornsea.

Thoroughly enjoy owning it, love working with reps, but its long hours, and does have a boring side to it.

i spend at least two hours everyday cleaning, changing water, feeding, stocking shelves, pricing, answering emails, etc, etc. Then the rest of the time you are either stock taking, ordering, dealing with customers.

The most important lesson you can learn is to be honest, make sure you only stock top quality livestock, cheaper to buy is not always better. And you never stop learning. You do have to know the basics (if not a bit more) about most species. Obviously alot of people know the majority about your more commong species, but you will always get people who have something completely strange and fairly new to you.

Not only is there the snakes, lizards, inverts, amphibs, theres also food, health, breeding,. housing, illnesses. The amount of questions that you get is unreal.

You always get people in offering to do a days work cheap, but who can you trust. At the end of the day it is your reputation at stake as well.

We try to be honest as possible, only sell 100% healthy animals, quarantine things properly, and keep the shop as clean and tidy as possible. At the end of the day happy healthy animals, mean happy customers, which mean loyal customers.

Hope this is of some help, if you want to see behind the scenes a little, pop down to the shop for a brew

Thanks very much.

Originally Posted by glidergirl

I agree 100% with Reptacular Ltd! You need to remember than it can take years to build up a good reputation and seconds to destroy it!

Finding a good member of staff is one of the major issues we find (we both STILL work full time), we've only been open almost 4 years now and the amount of staff we have got through is ridiculous (apparently I have 'unobtainable cleaning standards' - lol). Be prepared for working 7 days, no holidays, lots of out of hours telephone calls, correcting other shops mistakes, and being completely exhausted!

Ahem ... why on earth did we open a shop ??

Haha

[Paul B]

Oh my its all been said.
Its great and awful all at once.
because you are dealing with large numbers of reps you come across all sorts of issues that the majority of owners do not.
Its one of the reasons I joined this forum.

Eg. How many beardie owners have seen their baby try to blow its eyes out.

It frit the sh%t outta me when it happened and i have been keeping beardies for years.

Apparently they have the ability to expand parts of their body to aid shedding. Well eyes like balloons are no fun.

Where was i. Oh yes read my signature...just had to do it... bought a pet shop and now do all sorts including 30 or 40 types of reptile / exotic. Not massive but hopefully getting a good rep (excuse the pun).

You wont become a millionaire but its great fun and earns a few bob if you are careful.

P