bought a t from cold blooded in rainham or animal world in grays?

[dragon's den]

i was just wondering if people who live in london and the surrounding area are aware of cold blooded in rainham and animal world in grays? Ok cold blooded first. It is by far and away the very best lps i have ever been to. The staff are friendly and helpful despite being busy constantly. The animals are all kept brilliantly and look happy and healthy. They have lots of t's (3 balfouris at the mo!) and they are always ensuring you get the best info on whatever you are buying or own etc. They also do great deals on things and arent a money grabbing shop that doesnt care about the customer and i highly reccomend them! Now onto animal world in grays.....oh deary me! You look at the list of t's and website and think its going to be awesome, but it is the polar opposite. Im not knocking them for how they keep anything, snakes, beardies etc, apart from the t's. They had a king baboon in for 70 quid! Which is outrageous, now, the person we asked for a look at the t's was a young girl. The enclosures had no names or prices on apart from the bab and an irminia (which was 90!) they were all kept on good old bark chip too, which is always the best substrate selection for a t. She was calling almost every t' that she brought out a king baboon, apart from 1, that was clearly a h. Minax, she said she doesnt know what it is (i think she will find out its not a grammostola when she rehouses it) aside from the prices, lack of knowledge and neglectful keeping, i really wanted the chaco they had! So i said we want to buy it please, to which she replied 'has it got a price on?' 'no' then she said......'i cant sell you it then'!!.....errr....ok then, any particular reason? Then just something about she doesnt know the price or something, so for arguments sake we said ok then it doesnt matter. Then she said 'shall i put it on hold for you?' erm, no thanks, we kinda wanted to buy it while were here. It was like an insult, why would you be unaware of what you are selling and how much it costs? The organ grinder was clearly away and left her to it, who knows not of what they are and hasnt bothered to put a price or name on them. She also shook the tubs harshly to get them to walk around, and couple that up with the bark chips, youve got a recipe for a ruptured abdomen. They may be great with other things but i feel the t's arent looked after properly and the staff dont even know what they are. Im sorry, but it narked me seeing that level of knowledge about what they keep and 'sell' (apparently). Anyone else with reviews of these or any other pet shops?

[Stelios]

I have used cold blooded for live food through the post before and I have never heard any thing but good comments about them.
Not heard of the other.

[Ryanrs]

I have been in animal world about 4 times over the past 6 months and never seen this girl in there? Its usually two blokes, the owner and the reptile expert. The reptile guy was quite helpful and showed a genuine interest in T's, he said he used to keep quite a few but eventually had to get rid of them for some reason or another. I have a feeling you might have visited the shop on the one occasion that the normal staff wasn't there and they got a rookie in to cover!

A very good shop to check out is Lost world reptiles in Teynham, sittingbourne. They have been there for a couple of years apparently but i only discovered them recently. they are very nice people, have a lot of stock and are very willing to help out

[dragon's den]

i agree that we may have visited on a day that the boss etc wasnt there, but if i cared about the animals i sold, i would at least ensure everything was sorted and the person that was running it for me while im away was knowledgable. Otherwise, who knows what problems could occur e.g: a water bowl dries up and the t goes into death curl, i cant see her making an i.c.u to be honest. And however you look at it, t's should not be kept on bark chippings, anyone who knows anything about t's knows its a huge no no. All the other reps and stuff looked well and healthy and im sure theyre doing a great job with them, i just feel that they are keeping the t's in a potentially dangerous environment. I dont want to bang on about it tho, i have seen numerous pet shops keeping them in awful conditions. I bought dehydrated t's just cus i wanted to save them, i diddnt want to point it out to the owner (they know best after all) my little genic was walking on her second leg segments when i bought her, they were keeping her bone dry with no water dish, she would be dead now if i diddnt buy her, like their singapore blue was next time we went in actually and they diddnt even realise it was dead until i pointed it out to them. They are awesome with snakes and the likes but i dont know much about them, thats why i wouldnt open a shop to sell them.

[dragon's den]

ah weve been to lost world reptiles too, they were good, they had lots of t's and they were very happy and well housed/looked after, but they were seriously overpriced, they wanted 125 for a cyaneopubescens! And the same wedge for an unsexed T. blondi. We got our emp from there and hes doing great but we bought a leopard gecko too, and he has enigma syndrome, they didnt tell us that! Hes hard work but we love him and give him all the extra care he needs.

[Dave-Flames]

As said above the reptile guy/owner was away around this time being off sick so wouldnt have had time to get someone to cover that easy. The young girl does have a good knowledge of reptiles just not that up on T's. I've found a lot of places are the same with T's in having one person that know about them and the other not so sure.

The website hasn't been updated in a year, the shop post a stocklist on here pretty often so the new stocks on that or a call to check usually helps.

Also please use the ENTER key every now and again so that it makes your post readable.









Before anyone says anything i no longer work for them and haven't for a year. I left on pretty bad terms so replying to this i have nothing to gain.

[GRB]

Please refer to the FAQ regarding naming/shaming of shops.

We welcome you to talk about your experiences when visiting a reptile shop, however we ask that you be constructive and only post about fact not personal opinions or perceptions. We dont allow threads that name and shame shops or other reptile related business, often people's personal opinions can be unfounded and very damaging to the business when they are posted on such an active site. The business also usually finds out quite quickly and subsequently RFUK could be open to threats of legal action.
The best course of action is usually to firstly talk to the shop, voice your concerns and see if any problems can be sorted out directly. If you feel you need to name the shop in question we ask that you do not post the business name, instead confirm something like "A reptile shop in [city/county]".

I'll have to close this now.