Herp Hobby Shop Reptile Breeding Center — Local services in Oldsmar

I got my leopard gecko here 5 years ago I love her to death, the place back then was fine and what you expect from a reptile store. Unfortunately I am saddened to say this place is extremely depressing now. I have been about a dozen times since then and it only got worse each time. I thought initially it could have been just a few things and that they would fix it, I try to be understanding but I regret dismissing it now. First, I wanted to say I definitely know what I am talking about in terms of husbandry and medical. I am a certified vet assistant, and I have owned a wide range of animals over the years. I will only speak on the animals I have thorough knowledge about so there is no mistakes or misunderstandings. Now to the details. I walk in the store and I am immediately hit with the strong smell of animal waste. It’s normal for it to have a certain amount of odor obviously it’s a pet store, but this was pungent. I immediately notice when I walk in supplies and stuff, but past that on the back wall are lizards but the beardies and skinks caught my eye of having the worst care. None of the beardies had proper UVB and heat. There is a lot more to reasons these are important but the main concerns- UVB-crucial for bone health. WILL develop metabolic bone disease rapidly in young UVB dependent reptiles, and in adults will affect bone density leading to osteoporosis over prolonged periods. Will develop MBD as well but takes longer. Most of the beardies were babies or juveniles making this exceptionally important. They were being fed iceberg lettuce which has almost no nutritional value. Water had light film on it. The blue tongue skink was being fed cat food, appeared to be meow mix, and had old tiny cups of liquid food. Cat food should not be the main food source let alone being fed at all. And really, meow mix? That’s not even good for CATS. Again dirty water+improper lighting. Pac-Man frogs in TINY containers with water bowls they can’t even fit into. Photo speaks for itself. Pac-Mans like to soak in water and I know they are pretty lazy, but this is INSANE. Lastly the invertebrates. The Goliath bird eater made me cringe the most. They can be somewhat active but this poor tarantula couldent even have a place to properly roam. Water bowl too big for it and cage too small. They only need a small bowl to drink from they don’t soak. Here are photos I took while I was there. There is a lot more but you...

Okay so I was really excited because all of these reviews were so positive. And honestly it’s a huge disappointment and hurts me inside to see how bad this place was! The only good thing about this place was the staff. I’m sorry I didn’t take more pictures I just wanted out of there as soon as possible.

Here’s my first impressions I walk in and all I smell is horrible animal poop. Like so bad I wanted to leave instantly idk why I even decided to go in there but I still wanted to see what they had. I look around and some of the habitats are decent sizes and they have hides which are good but they’re covered in poop like the flooring is so disgusting the news paper looks like it’s never been changed ever! You’re supposed to change it often every time the animal poops or if it’s babies at least every few poops you know. The worst one in there were the baby blue tongue skinks I thought they had diarrhea or something which confused me but it was cat food that was soaking in water and it looked so gross and they were just sleeping in that!

I look around and see pretty much every single habitat has the poop problem and one of the tanks had way too many baby chameleons they were walking all over each other. And then the leopard gecko tanks were 10 gallons with multiple in there and not one hide to hide. And then I see a python that I assume was around 4 feet in a pretty small tank and it was trying really hard to get out and I just wanted to take it home and give it all the space it could ever need it took up half of it’s tank just by being curled up in a ball. I also saw this beardie in a 10 gallon freaking out cause it wanted to get out so badly and I felt terrible that’s no spot for a beardie I hope this was only temporary or something cause god I felt so bad for the poor thing. They also had their bearded dragons and a couple other animals on like wood shaving things like in the picture and f they accidentally swallow that that could lead to big issues.

If I could I would rate 0 stars I hope one day I come back and see some MAJOR improvements bevaude I see that other stores seem pretty good this one is absolutely awful sorry I don’t have...

This is an honest unbiased review from someone who has owned reptiles for years. I came here a few months ago.

Anyways, at first glance, the store is horrible. At the entrance there are stacks of vision tanks and a bunch of piled up old junk; all were sort of abandon and really dirty. However, at closer examination, I saw there were snakes in some of the tanks, but the conditions were horrible. One of the big snakes in the vision tank was not only having obvious horrible shedding issues due to it being placed in outside conditions, but also had horribly messy newspaper (lots of poop and the water looked like it was growing mold). The snake looked miserable.

I then saw some other colubrids (corn snakes, etc) that were full grown and placed in tanks smaller than what you see in a rack system. The water bowl was just filled with god knows what (looks like old wood sheddings that had been left for a while) and the snake was forced to just coil itself up in this muck.

Once you go inside, it is very different. It actually looks decent and they have a variety of species, but some of the housing isn't suitable for some and sometimes there is too little room. You would expect better from a reptile store.

The supplies they have available are basically worthless to someone looking for professional gear and not the best prices. It is the same stuff you can get in any regular petstore, and not the best variety of tanks.

The animals don't all have the best conditions (I just think they have too many than they can handle, but overall its okay conditions. I just think petsmart provides better cages, which is pretty pathetic.) for and bad quality. I held some of the ball python babies and they felt dead in my hands (compared to others). It was also underweight.

Not worth going to. I mean, sure, they have good feeders, but I just overall would recommend avoiding it.

Plus, the back of the store where they keep/breed their own snakes is pretty messy and unorganized for a...