
As part of the "pet trade" I am sure my views are biased. There needs to be a centralised licensing department and specific rules for pet shop exotics, as currently exotics are not specifically catered for under pet shop licenses. Pet shops should be monitored for things such as heating, UVB lighting, feeding regime., mixing of species, water availability, etc... at the moment all that seems to be monitored is stocking densities, and even those numbers are usually a bit of a joke.
Reptile buyers need to be more open minded and understand the costs involved with opening a shop - and understand that without pet shops selling reptiles a lot of new keepers would not be able to learn about the hobby, see reptiles, get information... and increase the hobby for all of us. You might be able to get it half price from a breeder, but Joe Bloggs and his wife and 2 kids want to be able to see things in their cages, want to be able to hold things, think about it, and come back.. they don't want to have to research online and then find a private breeder and drive 200 miles to save them £50 on the price. Support a local shop that you think is treating animals correctly... and you will be supporting the hobby.
Also, information. People do not agree. People do not agree on here... if you do not agree with a pet shops advice it does not mean the advice was WRONG. A lot of things are "opinion" and not wrong or right. Some things are clearly wrong, if you're told, do not use a UVB with a beardie.. that is wrong. If you are told... you can house 2 adult corn snakes together, it is an opinion.
People need to stop badmouthing shops that are expensive. What happened to QUALITY? If a shop sucks and it is expensive, okay... but some shops actually feed daily, spend fortune on livefood, mice, and fresh vegetables.. some shops do run UVB in all their tanks. Some believe in producing high quality animals and passing that on to the customer... but Mr Importer down the road who doesn't even bother to use a vet or worm his animals, can save a small fortune. Of course the animal might die but you saved £10 on the price so... you buy from him, and slag off the other shop
Anyway.. that is my rant over.. tougher policies on pet shop licenses, and more understanding from the "hobbyists", would go a long way between bridging the misunderstandings between private keepers and the pet trade.