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Moose_18
03-01-04, 07:35 PM
I go to a certain unmentionable pet store where i get all my pinkies cages etc. The price for a small lamp was about 12 bucks :(. I then got a tip from a friend who said he saw the same size lamp at Lowes /w a clamp on the end for only 5 bucks!:eek: I figured this out only after i bought over 250$ in reptiles and equiptment. I just want to know if you guys have experienced the same frustration and if u haven't i want to warn you.

foman
03-01-04, 07:45 PM
No, but I have seen alot of people get suckered into to pay petshop prices. Most equipment in a petstore can be purchased somewhere else at half the price.
Man they must make a ton of loot off that stuff.

scalawag
03-01-04, 07:46 PM
I try to get all my hardware, supplies, decorations at hardware stores, wal mart, etc.

C.m.pyrrhus
03-01-04, 07:50 PM
Pet Stores have a lot of overhead to deal with also. Most of their income come from purchases of the smaller items like this, not the animals, so that is the reason for the higher prices. To sell a lamp for $12 increases the income ever so slightly over the $5....helps pay for the shop more over time. Same reason for all them silly gadgets folks think they need, like the lizard hamocks, shed sprays and Iguana Pellets. None of it is needed, but folks buy it up becuase they think they must need that crap. You can easily buy anything cheaper at another store....

Siretsap
03-01-04, 07:52 PM
We also buy most of our equipment from hardware stores or wal-marts or even dollar stores.

But just make sure your lamp you buy at the hardware store can support a good amount of heat if you are going to use heat lamps in it... Usually the ones in petstores are made of ceramic while the local hardware ones aren't since they are used for lighting and not heating.

As for the rest, well if you like the look of your rocky water bowl, then buy it at the pet store, I buy mine at a dollar store and come in many sizes...

Pontus
03-01-04, 08:04 PM
i buy all from hardware stores
onlything i buy from a pet store is the animal and usualy not even then

Invictus
03-01-04, 08:21 PM
You think the price on clamp lamps is heinous, just look at what they charge for flourescent canopies... like $120 and up!! I can wire up a flourescent fixture and build a canopy for no more than $30. So yeah, you could say I always look at the hardware store first.

As a sidenote, also look at heat bulbs... $28 for 100W at the pet store... $5 at the 'Depot. :)

mykee
03-01-04, 09:43 PM
It's too bad only a select few know about the hardware store vs. pet store prices. Who should be made aware are the poor parents who bend and buy their kid the gecko/corn/beardie/hamster/kingsnake they've always wanted and end up shelling out $400 when the trip is through.

sapphire_moon
03-01-04, 11:36 PM
Yup, think about it though, do you really think mechanics and such go buy their clamp lights at pet stores? lol, I doubt it! The ONLY thing (reptile related) I buy from pet store is aspen. I bought hides for the corn snake at a pet shop, but that was like 4 months ago, and just about as long for the aspen (yes it lasts that long!)

Bighead
03-02-04, 12:03 AM
I work at a pet store and I find myself refering people to walmart or home depot all the time (as long as the boss isn't listening). Some of my favorites are the $10 spray bottles and $3 cardboard tubes for hamsters (toilet paper rolls). How about all the crap you can shell out on your crickets? It's amazing what people will pay for useless stuff.

mykee
03-02-04, 01:37 AM
However, ignorance is bliss.

jay76
03-02-04, 10:38 AM
Don't forget that name factors into price. That 24.99 Exoterra lamp may only cost 9.99 at Walmart, but it won't say Exoterra. Not that that makes it right.

rwg
03-02-04, 12:24 PM
People who dont know better might think that the pet store stuff is different somehow. They'll pay more just to be safe. They might be justified in doing so. For example, most of the lamps I've seen at Canadian Tire are plastic and aluminum. If you have a basking bulb in it you'll probably want a ceramic fixture. I'm not saying you cant get it cheaper elsewhere, but you have to know a bit more about what you want. The guy buying a leo for his kid's first reptile might be better off paying a bit more and getting the right stuff when it comes to heating/lighting and enclosures. Hides and dishes are another matter.

rg

sapphire_moon
03-02-04, 02:01 PM
true, but the clamp light I bought at wal-mart has a warning on it that says not to put anything over 150 watts in it. I think that would do for alot of herps. I've had 100 watt bulbs in it, and the bulbs put off alot of heat. When I had my digi thermometer under the light, and only the light it read like 98 degrees F.

Edit:
it was like 3-3.5 ft away from the probe, on a wooden desk. So it's not something like glass that just warmed up.

rwg
03-02-04, 02:10 PM
I agree. I have a 60 watt incandescent in my pet store grade ceramic fixture for my bull snake and it's plenty warm. Just saying people dont know, and when they dont know they buy from the pet store to be safe.

drewlowe
03-02-04, 02:56 PM
I was going to say the same as rwg about the heat lamps.

Most, not all of the ones sold in pet stores are the ceramic ones, where i have never seen a ceramic heat lamp sold at home depot or lowes they are all plastic. I have used both, and i personally prefer the ceramic ones. Yeah i pay more but they also last longer. For example i've had my ceramic heat lamps for 4 years now and they all are still working like the day i brought them home. On the other hand the plastic ones never last over a year (with me at least). so i will buck up and pay a higher price for better quality.

But as far as anything else i will try to find it cheaper elsewhere. I like feed stores a lot along with home depot. I can get the huge bricks of bed a beast (eco earth) for 8 bucks at a feed store where if i bought that at a pet store i'd be spending 25. along with a 50 lbs bag of wheat bran for 7, if you got that at a grocery store you'd be lucky to walk out with 1 lb for under 4. So many great deals you just have to look for them.

nita
03-04-04, 07:45 PM
I also buy most of my stuff from non-petstores. And when my brother started with geckos he quickly went the same way. Since I get 15% off at a local pet store though for club membership if I need something from a pet store I buy there. I do like the fake drift wood and usually buy it there.

jathoma
03-05-04, 07:16 AM
OK, fine...I admit it....I bought from a pet store too when I got my ball...in fact, I got him at the same store on sale for $39.99. The glass cage and snake starter kit I bought with him cost around $100!!

Then, after reading on this site about enclosures and getting opinions from other herpers, I went to Wal-mart and got a 92qt rubbermaid, under counter flourescent fixture w/hardware to attach and s-hooks to clamp lid down all for $23!!

With the difference in price there, I could have gotten an entire 2nd set-up and another ball at the same time!!

Pet store purchases for accesories?? Never again!

:D :D :D :D

Lisa
03-09-04, 10:30 PM
Originally posted by Bighead
I work at a pet store and I find myself refering people to walmart or home depot all the time (as long as the boss isn't listening). Some of my favorites are the $10 spray bottles and $3 cardboard tubes for hamsters (toilet paper rolls). How about all the crap you can shell out on your crickets? It's amazing what people will pay for useless stuff.

one day your boss may not be able to pay you... if you were my employee and i caught you doing this your hours would be cut to 0.



Some stuff at the pet store you are not going to find at the hardware store, such as uv bulbs and sometimes knowledge. not every petstore is like the big chains that hire some kid who knows nothing about the animals.


And as others have said, sometimes the hardware store equivelents aren't up to snuff.

snakeylesnake
03-09-04, 10:59 PM
well said lisa, petstores arent out to rip you off (well most of them arent) they have so many over heads to pay for that the dry goods are how they can make any money. regardless of what the charge for an animal, if they sell one at 50% profit you can bet that there are more that when sold will be in the minus profit. thats why the dry goods are a bit more pricey. light bulbs and fixtures dont need to be fed, cleaned etc like the $90 beardy does. by the time they sell that beardie to someone that already has all the kit they are lucky to break even. they make their money from the tank, lights etc. im not saying that we should only buy from petstores for that reason, but all im asking is that you understand that petstores are not out to rip us all of by charging higher than "chain store" prices
cheers
paul

Cas
03-10-04, 11:37 PM
Keep in mind, the petstore usually isn't the one making the big bucks because the product says "reptiles" on it - it's the manufacturer that makes the killing. The manufacturer buys no-name components for the same price as the people that put them together for hardware stores, stamps 'for reptiles' on it, and then markets it for more. The petstore then buys the "specially for reptiles lamp, with pretty pictures on the package!" for the increased price, and then the consumer pays more too. If the petstore bought no-name lamps, it'd cost a lot less for everyone involved. But.... packaging sells.....

Also, I've found ceramic fixtures with hoods and clips (rated at 250 watts I believe) at Home Depot for like $10 (that's Canadian dollars). The same size fixture at a petstore generally runs $20 or so. The <i>real</i> savings are in things like the difference between "funky-colored 'reptile' sand" and washed playsand from the hardware store. Lessee.... 50 lbs for $4.... or 10 lbs for $20..... :D

Dawn

Cas
03-10-04, 11:39 PM
Oh, and, many many petstores actually mark-up live animals between 200 and 300% - which <i>usually</i> pays for that animal's overhead... assuimg it doesn't sit at the store for months and months.

Dawn

daver676
03-11-04, 04:21 PM
I'll admit. My trip to the exotic pet store to get my ball was a VERY uninformed one. I overpaid then, but I know better now.

I agree though that people need to be educated about heat sources and such before going to a non pet store to buy that cheap heat light they saw there.