Tucson 'scene'

[Jsnake]

Anyone out here from Tucson? I have a delivery job that sends me out there once a month for business. Last time I ran into the Reptile Ranch before it closed on my run. Is there any other herp shops out there worth checking out? If so can you supply the crossroads/address/phone # or any other info? Thanks.
-J

[reptilist]

"Tropical Kingdom" at Campbell and Prince...it used to be a pretty good reptile place with a large selection. BUT, when I was there a few days ago, I saw a shift for the worse with regard to living conditions for their animals...Very disappointing!!!

How was the "Reptile Ranch"?

[Jsnake]

Thanks,
Which corner is tropical kingdom on? NE, NW, SW, SE?

Reptile Ranch was alright. I stopped in only about 2 weeks before they closed, so most of their stuff seemingly was moved out, they had a few boas, few pythons, a monitor, beardies, etc. As far as I saw, she took good care of her animals and everyone had a clean cage and looked healthy.
-J

[reptilist]

Tropical kingdom is in a mini-mall on the NorthWest corner of said intersection. Last year they co-sponsored a reptile expo, which seemed to generate some esteem within the eyes of the herp community (mine anyway). They also had some nice exhibits/animals.

Now, they still have a lot of reptiles, but their cages were untended. Their large python cage had an old shed and a crap in a dried up water dish (ugh!); in a tank was a slider with a grossly deformed shell; and another tank had a dead lizard...
It appears to be a case of petstore apathy.

There is a petstore in Wilcox suffering the same syndrome, yet more severely...They started out good too, but now it is just horrible!

[Jsnake]

Wow, that's sad. I haven't seen that in awhile. AZ Rep Center and Pets Inc up here are where I get my feeders and both do great jobs in maintenence. I will be in Tucson tomorrow morning, and honestly I'll probably drop by and check it out, maybe cause a scene in there :p Appreciate the info!
-J

[Jsnake]

And I'm back after a long day's work and a few herp stops along the way :) Sadly the 2 reptile places I went to both were not that impressive. I visited Reptile Specialists and Tropical Kingdom.

Sad to say, but both had dried out water bowls, old sheds, lots of feces...it was a mess. Also at Reptile specialists they were selling a full grown boa for a hefty amount of cash which had huge chucks of its scales missing, almost looked like burn marks or a rat got him good. Needless to say, the herp places in Tucson I checked out were not too impressive at all.
-J

[Kestrel]

Originally posted by reptilist
Tropical kingdom is in a mini-mall on the NorthWest corner of said intersection. Last year they co-sponsored a reptile expo, which seemed to generate some esteem within the eyes of the herp community (mine anyway). They also had some nice exhibits/animals.

Now, they still have a lot of reptiles, but their cages were untended. Their large python cage had an old shed and a crap in a dried up water dish (ugh!); in a tank was a slider with a grossly deformed shell; and another tank had a dead lizard...
It appears to be a case of petstore apathy.


Is this the large store that has the huge walk in Burmese enclosure? I purchased a rather nice looking 0.1 sumatran blood from that store last year when I was down there. She's a very nice snake, but was very thin.. I have to agree that it seemed a bit run down, but had high end animals like albino retics, chondros and some nice chameleons. Kind of odd. I also didn't agree with them communally feeding their large burmese in that enclosure.. They just walked in and tossed rabbits at them. Looking for disaster.. I also witnessed a kid offer a FULL GROWN MOUSE to some hungry Rankin Dragons.. The guy watching had to bang on the glass and yell at the kid to take it away before the one who grabbed it choked to dead trying to swollow it.. *shakes head* The place is worth a look IMO, some nice animals and decent prices, but pretty iffy..

[reptilist]

I wish I had a walk in snake enclosure like that...It would look like a tropical jungle..I'll tell you what!
:bright

I've seen some cool animals there too, and my initial impressions were favorable...but now, something has turned for the worse I fear.

[SWHerper]

Same here, I only go to buy feeder mice, rats, and crickets. Won't buy any herps from that store. Hard to find decent herps these days. Sad IMO.:(
Austin