Here is a few of our Top Shops. All the below shops have impressed us either for their displays, their species selection, their staff or all three. Please feel free to add your favourite shops and why they are so good or your thoughts on the shops already mentioned or share what you think makes a reptile shop a good one
In no particular order:
Pilbara Reptiles (glocestershire)... serious wow. We travelled there to pick up our giant malagasy hognose and will certainly be travelling there again. All vivs are nicely set out and clean and tidy. The shop is large and spacious and the people working there friendly.
The selection of animals available was very good ranging from basic to black mambas... I do like a shop with a few venomous snakes to gawp at and dream about... Those little eyelash vipers were the teeniest, cutest angry balls of death I have ever seen! The mainstay of the shop is clearly their morelia section. I drooled lots.
Aquasplash (Nr Reading on the A4)... Recently done up and looking lovely, we popped in there for a brief visit and left over an hour later. The guys up there are always lovely to chat to and are genuinely knowledgeable which is a breath of fresh air. The selection of animals there is eclectic which is fab. Current stock includes the usual suspects of corns and kings etc but also serious keepers species like scrub and black headed pythons. The albino bull snake they currently have in is gorgeous! And If that white lip python is still there once I've got round to robbing the local bank then it's mine... mwahahah!
The set ups are mostly quite simple but still pleasing and very clean and tidy and there are a couple of very nicely planted displays too. The new vivs look top and the shop has come on leaps and bounds in the last year or so. This is one of those shops that particularly shines when you start to get chatting to the staff. These guys are 'proper' keepers with plenty of years experience under their belts.
New World Exotics (Nottingham)... One of my favourite shops, just a crying shame it's so damn far from us. This shop is run by Jon and Lucy who are both serious keepers and clearly vastly experienced. It was pleasing to see a shop with a good selection of healthy looking mammals as well as the herps. The reptile selection was good with some lovely examples of some less seen morphs on show. The displays and clean and pretty and the staff were very welcoming when we went in.
Cold Blooded (Rainham, Essex)... Every time I go in here I come out going 'Ooooooh!' The guys in there are enthusiastic and experienced keepers and always happy to spend time with you. It's often extremely busy in here so expect queues and noisy sprogs but it's well worth the visit. Vivs range from elaborate set ups to simplistic and functional which in my eyes is a good thing and shows the many, many different ways in which one can go about keeping reptiles.
Whilst there, make sure you go and visit the reptile reserve. I don't need to describe that... just go!
Reptile Zone (Bristol)... Not the biggest of shops from the front but well worth the visit regardless. Pete has an immense amount of knowledge and despite what I've occasionally heard said about him was extremely welcoming and chatty. We popped in for a look and left three hours later full of coffee and new info... The vivs are lovely and the set ups varied again showing the various different methods of keeping very nicely. The species selection when we went was good ranging from the usual corns and beardies to sub adult clastolepis scrubs (If I'd had the money I'd have had these guys as they are pretty much top of my 'wants it' list). The venomous room is worth looking at too. The king cobra is... well, words fail me. He's huge. He's gorgeous, he's astute, he's waaaaay out of my league!
The venomous set ups were attractive and the animals on display were in obvious good health.
Emsworth Reptiles (nr Portsmouth)... I love this shop. The staff are always very busy but still make time to say hi and will chat away happily if they get a moment. The vivs are almost all laid out beautifully and many of them are bloody massive! This is the shop to go to if you like looking at a large variety of species in set ups that inspire you.
When we last went in they had a nice selection of the basic species as well as a rough neck monitor, various locales of panther chameleon, PURE Indian pythons (which I must say are growing on me), rhino iguanas, fiji iguanas and a lovely venomous section with what has to be the nicest copperhead I've ever seen (not that I've seen that many to be fair...)
Just a few of the many, many shops we've visited recently.
Kat and Matt.
In no particular order:
Pilbara Reptiles (glocestershire)... serious wow. We travelled there to pick up our giant malagasy hognose and will certainly be travelling there again. All vivs are nicely set out and clean and tidy. The shop is large and spacious and the people working there friendly.
The selection of animals available was very good ranging from basic to black mambas... I do like a shop with a few venomous snakes to gawp at and dream about... Those little eyelash vipers were the teeniest, cutest angry balls of death I have ever seen! The mainstay of the shop is clearly their morelia section. I drooled lots.
Aquasplash (Nr Reading on the A4)... Recently done up and looking lovely, we popped in there for a brief visit and left over an hour later. The guys up there are always lovely to chat to and are genuinely knowledgeable which is a breath of fresh air. The selection of animals there is eclectic which is fab. Current stock includes the usual suspects of corns and kings etc but also serious keepers species like scrub and black headed pythons. The albino bull snake they currently have in is gorgeous! And If that white lip python is still there once I've got round to robbing the local bank then it's mine... mwahahah!
The set ups are mostly quite simple but still pleasing and very clean and tidy and there are a couple of very nicely planted displays too. The new vivs look top and the shop has come on leaps and bounds in the last year or so. This is one of those shops that particularly shines when you start to get chatting to the staff. These guys are 'proper' keepers with plenty of years experience under their belts.
New World Exotics (Nottingham)... One of my favourite shops, just a crying shame it's so damn far from us. This shop is run by Jon and Lucy who are both serious keepers and clearly vastly experienced. It was pleasing to see a shop with a good selection of healthy looking mammals as well as the herps. The reptile selection was good with some lovely examples of some less seen morphs on show. The displays and clean and pretty and the staff were very welcoming when we went in.
Cold Blooded (Rainham, Essex)... Every time I go in here I come out going 'Ooooooh!' The guys in there are enthusiastic and experienced keepers and always happy to spend time with you. It's often extremely busy in here so expect queues and noisy sprogs but it's well worth the visit. Vivs range from elaborate set ups to simplistic and functional which in my eyes is a good thing and shows the many, many different ways in which one can go about keeping reptiles.
Whilst there, make sure you go and visit the reptile reserve. I don't need to describe that... just go!
Reptile Zone (Bristol)... Not the biggest of shops from the front but well worth the visit regardless. Pete has an immense amount of knowledge and despite what I've occasionally heard said about him was extremely welcoming and chatty. We popped in for a look and left three hours later full of coffee and new info... The vivs are lovely and the set ups varied again showing the various different methods of keeping very nicely. The species selection when we went was good ranging from the usual corns and beardies to sub adult clastolepis scrubs (If I'd had the money I'd have had these guys as they are pretty much top of my 'wants it' list). The venomous room is worth looking at too. The king cobra is... well, words fail me. He's huge. He's gorgeous, he's astute, he's waaaaay out of my league!
The venomous set ups were attractive and the animals on display were in obvious good health.
Emsworth Reptiles (nr Portsmouth)... I love this shop. The staff are always very busy but still make time to say hi and will chat away happily if they get a moment. The vivs are almost all laid out beautifully and many of them are bloody massive! This is the shop to go to if you like looking at a large variety of species in set ups that inspire you.
When we last went in they had a nice selection of the basic species as well as a rough neck monitor, various locales of panther chameleon, PURE Indian pythons (which I must say are growing on me), rhino iguanas, fiji iguanas and a lovely venomous section with what has to be the nicest copperhead I've ever seen (not that I've seen that many to be fair...)
Just a few of the many, many shops we've visited recently.
Kat and Matt.