Ack's Exotic Pets — Local services in Town of Cicero

UPDATE 10/18: ADDING PHOTOS •Aldabras live in a terrible setup. They're not for sale (NFS), so this is their life, I guess. •In a corner are large turtles in black tubs. No UVB lighting on them. •The snakes are still crammed into the tiny boxes, and all showed strong signs of stress. •8 red foot tortoises in awful enclosure. NFS and they've been like this for over a year. (Text limit reached)

2017 REVIEW: SERVICE I spent about 20 minutes browsing and was not acknowledged by anyone the entire time. As this is the case, I can't say much about the service, besides there wasn't any. CLEANLINESS Both the cages and store itself are absolutely filthy. The moment you walk in, you're treated to the smell of cricket bins, the sort of thing you wouldn't normal have prominently displayed. It's a pet store, though, so I let it slide. Now let's discuss the cages. Many of the animals had very dirty water, sometimes filled with feces. The bottom covering (sometimes carpet, most times paper towels) on many of the leopard gecko cages looked like it hadn't been changed in days. I'll discuss more about cages later in this review. On to the store itself. There's clutter /everywhere/ with no rhyme or apparent reason, it's reminiscent of a hoarder house. There are cages and parts of things all over (including safety hazards on the floor). I'm not even sure what of this stuff was actually for sale and what was junk (that might have also been for sale). ANIMAL CARE This was the most dismal part of my experience in this store. •There are several large (roughly 14" nose to tail) tortoises crowded into small roughly 3'x3' enclosures. •Some of the snakes (including a full size Rosy Boa) are in roughly 8"x6"x4" acrylic row cages (the ones normally used for short times at reptile shows). The ball pythons spent the entire time I was looking at them rubbing their noses on the acrylic and looked anxious. The tanks were far too small for a proper heat gradient (if there was heat). Ball pythons in many tanks obviously lacked proper humidity, they had dry wrinkly skin, and some piled into their water bowls. It's worth mentioning here that I don't remember seeing temperature or humidity gauges on any of the tanks in the store (maybe I missed them?). All ball pythons (except the ones in the acrylic cages) are housed several to each tank, even full grown ones. Ball pythons are solitary animals, they become stressed when housed together. There are not enough hides in each tank to make it even reasonably comfortable for the snakes. •The leopard gecko tanks were filthy. Some had large parts of the bottom without covering. While I recommend counter top liner for leopard gecko flooring, paper towels are fine too. At least when cleaned properly, which these tanks were not. Small geckos had entire bowls of mealworms, something which in large quantities is known to cause impaction in small geckos (why risk it?). The geckos did not have a moist hide for humidity (which is needed for shredding). •The full size poison dart frog(s?) was in a very small enclosure where I'm not even sure if it had proper temperature parameters, the glass on all sides was almost completely fogged over. •All of the (I assume feeder) mice and rats are in small overcrowded (10g?) tanks. I know they're (probably) feeders, but they should at least be kept in humane conditions (especially if they're visible on the sales floor). •I'm unsure about the conditions of the fish, birds, and furry creatures, as I admit I didn't spend much time looking at them. REFUND POLICY As you can see from my review, buying a pet here runs you the risk of getting a sick animal. There are signs posted that there are no returns or refunds. Keep this in mind before purchasing any of their livestock. NOT HANDICAP ACCESSIBLE There simply is no room for wheelchairs or walkers. IN CLOSING I sincerely hope the owner sees this review and takes steps to address these issues. I'm appalled by the conditions in this store. In the mean time, if you're looking for a companion animal, I highly recommend...

This places biggest asset is that they get many captive bred difficult to obtain reptiles. Their prices on reptiles aren't bad either I just wouldn't describe them as having good deals which is fine for a smaller local shop. I have also had one pleasant phone conversation with an employee although the second time I called I was put on hold for twenty minutes and then hung up on lol. Besides that there's a lot wrong with this place imo. Firstly, like some others mentioned the store is way too small for the amount of animals they work with. Many large animals are kept with little to no hides in very small spaces. They had a lace monitor in a very small vertical enclosure with a branch that he could barley fit on. Obviously most pet store's are not going to be able to provide long term extremely large terrariums since the animals are ideally not there for years but they are still not adequate for most of the species they keep, even temporarily. I have seen extremely fatty diets given to insectivorous that need VERY little fat in their diet which is just odd to see from a long running pet shop. Some spaces can get pretty dirty as well. The guy literally has a large fly river turtle in what I would guess to be a 125 gallon tank that's completely empty and dark and it has been there for a very long time which is just wrong. The staff is generally not very friendly either in my opinion. I overheard a staff member giving someone deadly misinformation about temperature for an animal. Luckily the owner did hear this and corrected the employee but yikes. I have also heard, someone who I think was the owner, openly and loudly roasting a customer for having "too big of an enclosure" for his animal which is the most insane thing i've ever heard. There's an old myth that many reptiles that aren't feeding great need to be in a tiny enclosure as a result which is just false. The animal needs more hides/natural material to feel secure in the space that they're in and they will eat eventually. If you put any animal in a gigantic enclosure that's basically empty they will most likely feel uncomfortable but the solution to that is improving their large enclosure with some natural safe areas instead of putting them in a tiny space. I also went there to purchase crickets and was told that I could not purchase anything less that 1,000 which is just odd as well. Overall this place gets in some amazing animals I just wish they were going to a...

Very disappointed in Acks. When I first started stopping in a couple years ago, it was always a fun little chance to get out of the car, check out some animals, and get supplies for mine at home. Over the last year or so I have been disappointed more and more every time we stop in. There has been a clear shift in the care of the animals from when I first found out about Acks. Each time we’ve gone the set ups have gotten dirtier and dirtier and I find myself feeling horrible for several of the animals there. Its gotten to the point where I go to the animal side when we are in the area or passing through hoping to see a change and to see the animals in better conditions (spoiler alert, each time is more disappointing from the last). Today was by far the worst. In the back corner was this little uro. Probably one of the most unhealthy looking animals Ive ever seen. We werent even sure he was alive at first and after watching him for a while and trying to get any sort of movement from it, it opened its eye just enough to see what was going on before closing it again. Its bad enough the enclosures are always filthy when we stop in, but to have an animal that looks that unhealthy was the last straw for us. Not to mention the yellow water full of dead crickets. It has been very clear over the last year that animal care at this facility needs to be seriously looked at and become more of a priority. I had several things I had planned to purchase today, but I couldnt stand the thought of giving them money after seeing that uro. We put everything back and went to pet supplies plus down the road instead. I would prefer to support a small business, but not if it makes me feel guilty because im disgusted by the way the animals are living...