Wick's Water World — Local services in Crossville

As I understand it, this pet store has been in Crossville for decades and is clearly very nostalgic to the locals here. I am bewildered at how an establishment like this isn't closed down. I'm not even sure where to begin...

NONE of the small animals had access to ANY water at the time I was there. Not even an empty water bowl/bottle- nothing in their "exhibits". The Guinea Pig & Rabbit had no food or hay. Ferret was the same- no food or water (let alone a hammock/hide). The 5 Chinchillas were all overheating in aquariums in the back corner of the room (which had to be about 80+ degrees) All were laying on their sides and were clearly in distress. It was absolutely heartbreaking. (I did comment on this to the store employee who said nothing..) Gerbils were in a 5 gallon aquarium that was so overcrowded they were literally jumping all over each other. My young children even noted these atrociously overcrowded conditions...

The fish are in equally overcrowded tanks and without even knowing much about fish, I could clearly see many of them had Ich and/or were otherwise sickly. Many were dead and stuck in filters. At the far end there were 2 large turtles housed in an aquarium much too small and the water was so cloudy you couldn't see through it at all.

When you think it can't get worse, please leave the store and DO NOT ENTER the Bird Room. (Better yet, avoid this place like the plague) The bird cages are FILTHY. No clean food/water dishes in any cages. NO enrichments (with the exception of nests/breeding boxes to perpetuate this back-yard inbred breeding operation, as other reviews have also mentioned) There were birds needing obvious veterinary care, including one with a horrific injury to its foot.

After all this, I couldn't stand to go into the reptile room, but the last time I did a few years ago, I remember it being in really bad shape. Snakes in incredibly confined spaces with no water, proper humidity, things to climb, ect. Based on the reviews I've read about mites and other serious health issues, I would never advise getting a reptile here either.

Expect to be followed and watched the entire time you are in this store as well. I used to think it was because they were worried about stealing but now I'm sure it's to discourage people from taking photographs of this obvious neglect/abuse/cruelty. THIS PLACE NEEDS TO...

I have been coming here since I was a little kid. It is the only pet store in crossville that has stayed open. After the other day, I will never be back again. First of all, everything is so over priced. Her ferret food is $50 for a 4 pound bag, I can order online or go to petsmart and get TWO 4 pound bags for cheaper than that. Second, they follow you around the store and won’t let you pick out what you want. When I got fish there, Wick put ones in the bag that I didn’t even ask for. When I got hermit crabs there, the younger worker wouldn’t let me look, he just handed me some crabs. They all died within a week. The crabs I already had were still fine so I know it wasn’t my conditions. So I went back to get more and the same thing happened but it was Wick helping me this time. I was afraid of this so I told her I wanted to look for myself and pick out a crab even though I knew it would probably die anyways. Wick set out a few crabs up on the screen top then I told her I wanted smaller ones than what she picked out for me. She kept saying “these are small” so I told her I wanted to look and pick one out for myself. She then shoved one of the crabs in my face and said “this is the one you want” clearly she didn’t want me looking too much and finding all the dead crabs she had in the tank. So I told her I wasn’t getting a crab now if I couldn’t pick out the one I wanted since I am a paying customer. Very pushy, very bad conditions for the animals. She will not get my...

If I could give this place a no star review I would. We went in Wicks Water World a few days ago in years to see if anything got better and it hasn’t. Animals are kept in small, cramped cages, the fish tanks are filthy with dead fish floating around and stuck to the filters with live inhabitants inside, the reptile room alone is the saddest.. huge ball pythons in dirty/small cages and sickly looking and don’t even get me started on bird room. The bird room is filled to the brim with beyond stressed birds ripping their feathers out and some even injured, no enrichment or fresh anything. Expect to be followed as soon as you get inside by the worker and owner as they will stare you down in each room probably to make sure no one takes pictures of the horrible/disgusting environments these poor animals are enduring, this alone lets you know that they are FULLY AWARE of the situation that these animals are in and is sick to think about!! Don’t buy any fish here as well because as soon as we tried to save one, it ending up passing away a few days later like every other animal we have rescued from here because they are so sick beyond repair. Chinchillas, rabbits, guinea pigs, and hamsters are bunched up in small cages with no fresh water nor food as with the reptiles… this place is so sorry and needs to be shut down and all animal licenses taken away from the owner and they never touch or own another one again. DO NOT GO TO WICKS...