Pet Owners Seek Large, Natural Setups for Herps

Terrarium, vivarium and paludarium sales are heating up as customers are looking for herp pets, and new materials are gaining traction in the category, retailers reported.

"I see growth in the herp category," said Fred Boseman, owner of Jurassic Aquatics & Pets, a retailer in Cleveland. "It's slow and steady right now. In our new location, we’ve had more people ask about reptiles."

Successful retailers are focusing on customer service and building their reputation to stay on top in the category.

"We do really well, but we have the luxury of over three decades in business, and word-of-mouth is really strong for us," said Andrew Potts, owner of Herp Hobby Shop Reptile Breeding Center in Oldsmar, Fla. "We hardly ever advertise. I don't do any print advertisement. I have a little web page, but the vast majority of our business is word-of-mouth."

Although glass and acrylic enclosures have been the standard in the herp industry—and are still strong sellers according to insiders—PVC and melamine enclosures are quickly gaining ground.

"I’ve been noticing a lot of changes with the approach a lot of [manufacturers] are taking," said Frank Zucker, manager at Arizona Reptile Center, a pet store in Mesa, Ariz. "Instead of using glass terrariums, people are doing a lot of plastic enclosures, a lot of PVC setups. In the past, a lot of people used glass, but probably because of the cost of glass and also just the weight of glass, we’re going to see a lot more front-opening enclosures that are made primarily from plastics, like animal grid plastics and stuff like that. It is more of a custom kind of thing, but we usually provide melamine enclosures, which are basically a [plastic-coated] wooden version of a front-opening enclosure."

In terms of size, many customers are sticking with enclosures in the volume range of 20 gallons to 40 gallons, retailers reported, but some are starting to move toward larger setups.

"Habitats continue to grow, and consumers continue to purchase a range of items," said Melissa Kelly, Zilla brand manager for Central Garden & Pet in Franklin, Wis. "There is a trend toward larger sizes."

It depends on what species are popular in a given area, but larger setups are moving better than they have been in the recent past, retailers confirmed.

"The more popular sizes are still going to carry over to PVC enclosures, so most enclosures are in the 20-to-40-gallon volume range, with a few larger 65s, 75s and 100s," Zucker said. "I have seen more extremes where people are going nano, where they’re keeping an arboreal spider, for example; you don't want something too big so that the spider is stressed out or whatever. On the other extreme, I’m seeing people with gigantic enclosures that are built piece by piece, and then they build it into a room."

The hobby is focused on providing high-quality environments to herp pets, industry experts stated, and the trend is away from smaller enclosures or those that aren't as suitable for species’ care requirements.

"As we learn more about animal care and environmental enrichment, keepers in the United States are second-guessing small enclosure sizes," said Steve Sotelo, Exo Terra division manager for the Hagen Group, a manufacturer in Mansfield, Mass. "The use of natural terrariums with front-opening doors and ventilation systems allows for greater terrascaping—the terrarium version of aquascaping—opportunities."

Sales trends in the exotics category are being driven by well-informed hobbyists who are looking to recreate a slice of nature in their homes.

"We continue to see retailers catch up to the pace of the knowledgeable consumer," Sotelo said. "This care-savvy hobbyist is in search of providing their pets with elements of natural environments that are compatible with products they can buy on-shelf."

Brands such as Exo Terra are meeting those consumer demands with a range of products designed to help hobbyists achieve that goal.

"Bioactive habitats—environments with live plants, metabolizing substrates, and clean-up crews of microorganisms and invertebrates—and terrascaping have been a piece of Exo Terra product development for decades," Sotelo said. "Additionally, there has been a push for environmental enrichment, and how that applies to brain development and longevity. In order to provide the best life possible for your reptile or amphibian, recreating a naturalistic habitat is crucial."

According to Potts, hobbyists are following the "European lead."

"They’re doing the vivarium with the bioactive substrate, so they don't have to do as much maintenance," Pott said. "They’re putting the isopods in there and the spring tails and making it into a real living environment."

As herp hobbyists become more attuned to the needs of their pets, the desire to provide animals with enriching environments, which is becoming increasingly common, is the impetus behind the push to assemble more natural setups for pets.

"We are noticing more customers looking for more naturalistic, bioactive enclosures that mimic their animals’ natural environment, which inspired the release of products like our Leaf Litter varieties and our Bioactive Tropical Kit," said Samantha West, aquatics specialist for Zoo Med Laboratories, a manufacturer in San Luis Obispo, Calif. "In the aquarium segment, nano setups are becoming trendy these days, but in the terrarium and paludarium segments, we’re seeing a movement towards larger enclosures that are more accessible to keepers, allowing pet owners to be more active and provide more enrichment to their animals."

Manufacturers of glass- and acrylic-sided enclosures are bringing new SKUs to store shelves, and many types and styles are popular.

Exo Terra's BioActive Deluxe Starter Kit is designed to tap into the growing demand for naturalistic setups.

"Using some of the cornerstones of our popular Frogs & Co. series, Exo Terra's new [kit] focuses on providing all the components necessary to create a functioning rainforest environment," Sotelo said. "The advanced kit includes a fully adjustable plant-growth LED fixture and multiple bioactive substrates and drainage layers. The terrarium itself is equipped with a humidity-promoting hinged top, and internal plumbing for easy water changes or elaborate flowing-water features."

Terrariums and kits created with bioactive setups in mind are in greater demand as manufacturers strive to make these setups easier for customers to establish.

"Zoo Med recently released our Naturalistic Terrarium Bioactive Tropical Kit, our Double Door ReptiBreeze screen enclosure, and a Silicon Terrarium Cover for humidity management," West said. "New products that are coming from Zoo Med include a 32-gallon model of our Double Door Naturalistic Terrariums; a 28-gallon model breeder flat for our line of Low Boy tanks; and a foldable Tortoise Yard to allow your critters some safe outdoor time."

Customers are also looking for monitoring solutions, West said, as they seek to automate lighting and control environmental parameters in their systems.

Ease of setup and use is important to hobbyists, and many manufacturers are working to make enclosures that can be assembled by end users. Zilla has launched its new line of Quick Build Terrariums.

"The line comes in four sizes: 48 by 18 by 18 inches, 36 by 18 by 18 inches, 30 by 12 by 12 inches, and 20 by 12 by 12 inches," Kelly said. "These terrariums offer a modern, sleek glass design that's sturdy and easy to assemble."

Each enclosure features a locking front-opening glass door, a double-hinged locking top screen that can be opened from either side, and a feeding port located on the top, which is designed to help keep pets in their home, Kelly noted. The units are also stackable, which is an increasingly popular feature many new enclosures include.

Enclosure sales are deeply tied to sales of live pets, retailers reported, especially because herps require specific environmental conditions and customers are obligated to take care of their new pets right after purchase.

"Livestock is part of a symbiotic relationship for us," Zucker said. "Customers are buying an animal from an establishment, and they know the animal also needs to have an enclosure. It's an expected part of getting the pet. That's why I would like to have like a lot of variation within each enclosure. I would definitely love to provide every single variable, from sizes to types of enclosures. That way, when customers are buying an animal, they can basically pick the perfect cage already built for them."

Carefully curating displays with live animals also helps drive sales, retailers reported.

"We’re not selling objects; we’re selling pets," Potts said. "The building we’re in used to be a gas station with a little lobby. We have an area where the garage used to be, which is now all insulated and everything. We’ve got all our enclosures lined up there, and that's why they sell so [well]. The store just flows really well."

Lighting is key to creating a positive customer experience as well, Potts noted.

"I go into some pet stores and it's kind of dark and I don't understand that," Potts said. "You have to keep everything really clean because everything looks bright. If you have the labor to do it, it makes the animals and the dry goods all look really good."

While large portions of the pet industry struggle with tight competition between independent pet retailers and big-box or online retailers, the herp category enjoys some insulation as retailers focus on building bonds with customers who rely on these stores for advice and support.

"Husbandry education goes hand-in-hand with enclosure sales," Zucker said. "Our ability to offer support is definitely an advantage. We offer an in-person experience. It's a hands-on experience for the customer. Having that dimension of customer service makes a difference."

The current hobby is built up on longstanding relationships with customers, retailers reported, and this foundation has left the entire industry stronger as a result. Still, retailers have to keep a close eye on the market and evolving trends.

"Listen to your customers," Exo Terra's Sotelo said. "Trends don't pop up overnight. When consumers walk through the doors looking for bioactive substrates every week, it's probably time to include bioactive segments to the retail space. Focus on services, and keep the fluidity of the industry in mind."

Maintaining a range of products, from smaller setups to enclosures for larger species, is essential to capture more of the market.

"Focus on service and product selection that matches up with what consumers are seeking," Kelly said. "Having a breadth of larger-size terrariums available to be on trend with consumer needs as well as providing education and expertise on reptile care will really help [independent retailers] to differentiate and stand out in the market."

Some customers are reluctant to shop online for live pets, and big-box stores don't have the variety—or the knowledge—to promote their sale.

"Having livestock in-store is absolutely an advantage," Potts said. "I have so many customers who’ve been referred to us by the big-box stores. The employees of those big-box stores, they don't shop there. They come to our store or they go to [a] reptile specialty store, if that's what they’re into, and that's where they buy their stuff. Also, we don't look at our livestock as objects."

Having a well-educated, knowledgeable sales staff is also essential to independent retailer success, industry experts reported.

"For any store, we recommend having employees who are educated on reptile keeping so they can help customers realize what wonderful pets reptiles can make," West said. "Zoo Med has developed Zoo Med University specifically to address this. It's a free program for pet store employees to educate themselves on all aspects of reptile keeping, with specialty segments on the most popular pet species."

Focusing on the customer experience is a winning strategy in a marketplace that can often be impersonal and devoid of interaction between customers and retailers.

"We have to focus on service mainly, and having livestock in the store," Boseman said. "We need to carry the hard goods, but we also have to provide information and training for customers. That way, they can come in and build a kit with us and know they’re getting the right thing. We have to educate our customers. That's our job."

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