Panhandle Exotics — Local services in Pensacola

My wife and I had a truly awful visit here. To put it plainly—the staff was rude and short. Not just to me, but more importantly, to my sweet wife. She had been SO excited to visit this place and see the animals. She walked in with joy in her heart and left with that joy totally gone.

After our visit, my wife left a fair, honest review describing how she was treated — and the owner replied by attacking her character. He called her “entitled,” used other insulting language, and spoke to and about her in a completely rude way. That kind of reply from any store owner tells you everything you need to know. If a person’s instinct is to deflect blame and tear down another — instead of taking a moment to reflect or improve — it says more about their character than any review ever could.

This “business owner” revealed exactly who he is: someone totally unwilling to accept blame for his failures in basic customer service and decency. But don’t just take my word for it. Go read the many other bad, and you’ll see a very clear pattern. So many people describe the same visit — rude, unkind staff and an unprofessional, hostile owner. Then, read his replies. You’ll notice a common thread: he constantly uses the word “entitled,” throws out insults, shifts blame, and shows zero humility or courtesy.

Even worse, in several replies — and backed up by screenshots in reviews — this owner has threatened to stalk people on Facebook, harass them through private messages, and has actually followed through on some of those threats. That kind of behavior is not only unprofessional — it’s dangerous and deeply wrong. No store should ever engage in that kind of conduct towards former customers.

While we were in the store, I even overheard the owner on the phone saying to someone, “I didn’t mean that rude, ma’am, BUT…” — and that alone tells you he knew he was being rude. I also witnessed the same dismissive behavior toward other buyers. This isn’t a one-off situation. This is the norm.

And to clarify something that matters deeply to me: my wife is not entitled. Not even close. She is one of the kindest, most humble, most beloved people you’ll ever meet. She is respected at her job, cherished by friends, and lights up every room she walks into. She wrote a sincere review about how she was treated — and this toxic owner chose to reply by smearing her publicly. That’s disgusting.

The worst part is, she had such genuine excitement going into this place, and all of it was taken from her because of how poorly the staff and owner behaved. I was at first just going to let it go. She left a review that spoke for both of us. But after seeing the owner’s reply — his childish, personal attack — I’m not staying silent.

If you’re a potential customer, I urge you: just read the reviews. Or if you’re brave enough, call the store and see for yourself. Or visit and see for yourself what MANY others have.

Frankly, the only reason this place continues to exist is because it’s in a tourist-heavy area with a constant stream of new, unaware visitors. If this store were in any town where stores actually relied on repeat business and word of mouth, it wouldn’t exist

I know you will read this Panhandle Exotics (and reply with insults and deflection) so let me be clear. You could have done what most decent stores do and just eat a well earned bad review (or in your cases many) and take blame. Now, because you didn’t, you have yet another and I now will make sure that ANY place your store is listed and has an option to review will receive this same review. Takes me a matter of minutes, but can and will, no doubt, cause you to lose business that you don’t deserve.

And one last thing — with so many reports of sick animals being sold, it’s kind of poetic. Like the old saying goes: “you are what you eat.” Except here, it’s more like: you are...

Response to PE Response:

Thank you for your quick reply. When I purchased the PD, I was told she had been started on wormer and continued treatment was needed, completely understandable. It's what prompted me to take her to the exotic vet within a few days of having her home. I was expecting worms. I was not expecting Giardia as she, like your other PD's, is showing no signs or symptoms. She plays, eats, cuddles just fine. Her stool is hard and oval as expected. I had our only other pet, a sulcata tortoise who is in a contained enclosure, tested as well as a precaution and he was negative for Giardia which leaves me to believe, she got it from her colony and likely other PD's at your establishment have it as well. I would get them tested even though they are showing no signs.

In regards to Chris, he was rude (or defensive I guess is the correct term) when I called to inquire about something (I don't even remember what it was) and I mentioned I had paid for the PD and would be by the next Wednesday to pick her up like agreed upon and arranged in store and twice more over the phone when making my purchase. He let me know there was a boarding fee if I wasn't coming to get her for another 6 days. Unfortunately, a boarding fee was not discussed with me prior to nor during my purchase when I made it very clear I wouldn't be coming to pick her up until the following Wednesday. That is not my responsibility to ask about a boarding fee. He challenged what I was told and I let him know when I called to make my purchase, I did so on my work phone which records all calls and I could pull the call, which I did.

I'm glad you found a new manager that fits your needs. However, the inner workings of your business is not my business. I can tell you there were two people at the counter when I came to pick up my PD on Friday, 06/28 (4 days sooner than discussed because I didn't want to be charged a boarding fee because she ate her portion of hay and pellets for a week) One male, one female. The female said "you met the real Chris" while the male concurred. In an effort or preserve the integrity of your employees, I will spare the names publicly. You can look on your schedule and see who was working that day.

Chris has since reached out to me on Facebook messenger and apologized if I took him as rude, which I appreciate! He also requested the vets paperwork of which I will provide tomorrow along with the recorded phone call of my purchase. It's possible he was having a bad day or we simply didn't vibe well and had a miscommunication. I appreciate the effort and the apology, none the less.

I previously LOVED visiting this exotic Pet Store regularly for multiple reasons, but after my last experience with the Owner, Chris, I'm sad to say I will not visit or support this business going forward. His employees (plural) even said "Oh, you met the "real" Chris" when I shared our conversation, which is sad they work in those kinds of conditions. Furthermore, I purchased a Prairie Dog from them and took her to the vet within a week of having her and it was confirmed she has worms and Giardia, which is a highly contagious parasite (not life threatening and completely treatable but can be transferred to humans as well as the other animals in my house) I'm not sure what their process is for ensuring the animals they are selling are healthy, but the process doesn't work. I did call the establishment and let the nice girl that answered know about the health concerns so she could pass the message along to the owners so they can, in turn, treat their animals accordingly and not sell them in this condition. Who knows if they will. Also, Dakota was awesome to work with but was saddened to learned she no longer works there. She was awesome and...

I will start this off with some positive of my trip into this pet store because all though I'm giving it a a two star review i do think they have good intentions and hopefully this review can lead to some healthy changes. The staff is very welcoming and are there to answer any questions you may have. I was impressed by the freshwater fish/plant selection they had to offer and very pleased to see betta fish actually kept in nice size tanks with filters!. The axolotl tanks were also at cold temperatures which is nice to see for once, compared to other pet stores where they don't keep the axolotl tanks at a proper temperature. They also had a good selection of feeder insects and a large selection of reptile plants/decorations etc. A few of the animals didn't have water including several of the reptiles but i understand that it gets busy and thing's happen one thing at a time so I'm not going to be harsh about that as i understand animals get their water dirty and i could've just been in there in between the clean up. Mainly i was saddened by the conditions and care of their sugar gliders. As someone who has owned sugar gliders for several years now it was disheartening to see the way they were kept. I asked the staff about the diet they feed there and what they recommended and it happens to be exotic nutrient which if you're familiar with gliders at all you know it's probably one of the worst food brands you can give them. They specifically had the pellets in the cage which isn't really ideal for anything other then dental health but they did say they offered fruits and stuff at night which is nice. The sugar glider exotic nutrient food has been linked to many deaths amongst gliders in the glider community due to not being properly balanced. The calcium:phosphorus ratios aren't balanced out which can lead to MBD and other health issues for them. The cages were very small and the bars were covered in a sticky substance from what it looked like. I also didn't see any safe enrichment items in their cages either. There was maybe one toy per cage but even then the materials didn't look safe, they could easily get stuck on most of them. I didn't see any glider safe wheels or any other toy's to keep them mentally stimulated either which is extremely important for sugar gliders. They are very intelligent and curious animals. Lastly the fleece pouches in the cages were coming apart and one even had multiple holes in it which was definitely concerning simply due to the very likely possibility of one getting stuck which is a common occurrence with gliders and unsafe materials. They are known for self mutilation if they get stuck on any threads/unsafe materials. Overall i wasn't disappointed in my visit i just wish they'd make some improvements to the care of their sugar gliders and do more in depth research on them to improve their quality of life there at the store and also send their new owners home with the proper knowledge...