This is my first post, so please excuse if I’m asking this in the wrong place or making other mistakes. I’m a new BP owner of two months. I adopted a healthy adult from a local rescue. I want to support my local reptile stores for my husbandry supplies, if possible. But the two I was in (different businesses) both smelled really bad. Both sell live reptiles and some amphibians, raise and kill their own rodents for food, and have live cleanup crew critters along with the usual husbandry supplies. I didn’t see any animal that looked overtly unhealthy, but I’m a newbie. Is it normal for retail reptile shops that sell all these products to have a bad smell? It wasn’t death smell, it was just… like, very unhygienic smelling. If this is a normal smell from the live products they sell, that’s fine. But I don’t want to buy anything if this is a sign of poor hygiene in the stores. Can anyone help me learn about normal expectations when visiting a reptile retail store?
My local shop normally has no noticeable smell at all; rarely just a bit — possibly related to ambient humidity or similar factors. It is a very well kept shop, and they have their rodents and bugs separate from the main showroom.
My local pet shop has a bit of a musty odour, but it doesn’t stink.
No, that’s not normal. Neither my local specialty reptile shop nor the independent pet shop by my house where I buy most of my supplies have any sort of unpleasant odor. There’s a faint smell of dog kibble in the dog food aisle, but that’s about it. Not even their live rodent section has any noticeable smell.
I have a a large “mom and pop” pet center near me where I frequently shop. This store sells various types of birds, pocket pets, kittens, puppies, a huge variety of aquatics, various reptiles and live feeders including rodents, worms, and insects. The store is clean with NO foul smell that greets you at the door.
So no, your pet store should not present a noticeable offensive odor when you enter the store….