Setting up for a Pet Store

[nita]

LOL, i'm not exactly old but the boy in the pet store was maybe 14 yrs old!! We have a lot of 'kids' in our reptile society that are smart and very knowledgable about their animals. I didn't mean it to sound that just because he was young he didnt' know what he was doing, he just happened to be young, I know adults that are just as bad one lady tried telling me that I was overfeeding my BP's cause I give them more than 2 adult mice per week.

[sapphire_moon]

Oh thats funny! 109 gals for a corn!

Thats ok, when I got my first bp and we purchased our first f/t mice wanna know what my mother asked the guy...

and I DO quote!

"if we defrost them, will they come back to life?"

The guys face got red from holding in laughter, and I myself was laughing as the guy was explaining, no they have been sitting in a deep freeze, there is no way they are going to come back to life.

lol..

As for "kids" knowing things, there are more than a few "kids" on here that would blow me outta the water. Don't be fooled by age.

[jwsporty]

Creating Caresheets is a great idea..the tough part is making sure your "staff" follow it. And the other side of the coin, how far is your petstore prepared to go to deal with illness and housing issues. Everything they do will affect the "bottomline". That is just business..

Best of luck with your setups though, and check with your local authorities to find out what you can and can not carry. Myself, I would love to see a spot with nothing but Kings, but then again, I am a little partial to them..

Cheers
Jim

[Cruciform]

If the store will let you, it might be a good idea to put a note card on the front of each species tanks, with the average adult size and weight of the animals, and the temps they are kept at to survive.

Maybe something that says "Hi, I'm a ____________. I can be quite a handful when I'm grown. I get to be _______ long and weigh as much as _____. I may not need the attention a puppy does, but I do need the care. I should have a cool area to rest in of ___ degrees, and a basking spot of ___ degrees. I eat ________ and like my water (still/moving/dripping). My favorite books on _______ care are __________ and ________. You can find them in the book section of the store."

Just a thought.

[xdiversichicx]

Originally posted by rwg
Another good idea is to have care sheets around for everything you sell. Not only for your customers, but for your staff.

this is a really good idea. be as informative as you can be on them too. dont just list the basics and give tips too. both about the animals history and how to care for it.
the shop i use 99% of the time does this for all of their animals. the ones for reptiles and other exotics are very descriptive down to every detail from diseases and or illnesses/housing/feeding/handling/exercise/and even what the normal color of poo it should have.
for the iguanas it even had a bi-weekly calendar that shifted every four days of a balanced iguana salad.
they have been extremely helpful to us and several friends.

another good idea would be.. (i think someone might have mentioned this before but i couldnt find it to quote.).. to have "beginner kits" that comes with like calcium, watering/feeding dish, 18" uvb lights (just to make sure that they actually use one, and they are the cheapest from what ive seen), 10gallon tank, etc etc at a reduced price from what they would be separate. this set up comes in handy for "spur of the moment" buys. just make sure that the customer knows that they will have to purchase a larger enclosure and change lights often in the future.

not sure if thats the kind of ideas that you are looking for, but thats what our shop does.