Mark's Ark Inc

11/08/09

We like it!

by ShootingStar63 at Citysearch

My boys and I love Mark's Ark! We are going to the store today to get a new heat lamp as a matter of fact.

The smell in the store is because of the crickets they keep for sale. We have been to the store many times and I've never seen any horrible conditions. Yes, it's crowded, it's a small building.

We got our Mali Uromastyx from Mark's Ark, and had some questions at first, and they were very helpful. Scrabbles is almost 2 years old and is doing fine.

09/21/09

Horrible pet store

by kimtall at Citysearch

Mark's Ark should be closed down. The store is filthy and the animals are in filthy overcrowded conditions. The water bowls are filthy and full of mites in the snake and lizard enclosures. It is beyond me why they have not been shut down. The smell when you walk into the store will knock you over. This is the worst pet store I have ever been in! If I could give the store a negative star rating on here I would.

• Pros: none
• Cons: Clueless staff, filthy conditions, over crowded animals

08/20/09

Clueless staff

by red12875 at Citysearch

I agree with the other posts about the state of the store and the poor living conditions of the animals. The staff was friendly but clueless.

We went to Mark's Ark to buy a tortoise. We wanted a leopard tortoise and ended up with an African spur-thigh tortoise (G. Sulcata). The sales guy said they are, basically, the same.

These are NOT the same animal.

The leopard tortoise grows slowly to its max size of ~100 lbs over 50 yrs. The Sulcata tortoise will grow to 80 lbs on 5 to 10 yrs! That is a HUGE difference!

The sales guy told us that both species of tortoise have the same diet but that was wrong. In fact, if you feed the Sulcata tortoise fruit, which is a staple of the leopard tortoise, your Sulcata will become disfigured (shell pyramiding) and die!?!

It’s a good thing I did my own research because everything the sales guy told me was wrong.

We are happy with our tortoise and would recommend this species to anyone with pet allergies (and enough space). They can roam around your house like a cat or dog.

sulcata-station dot org

• Pros: wide selection
• Cons: Poor treatment of animals, clueless staff