Had a great experience with Seth at Ed's Pet World last Wednesday! I see several reviews that seem to be inconsistent, and I would like to address those reviews. First of all- the smell. Do you realize that this IS a pet store? It's GOING to smell. If it didn't smell at all, I would be concerned. Secondly--the heat. YES it's hot in there. It's hot in there for the animals purpose. If you are going in there, surely you have knowledge of reptiles and some fish. They require warmth. With as many heat lamps as these folks have, of course it's going to be fairly warm. Suck it up. Thirdly, the care of the animals. I read several talking about "subpar care" and "horrible living conditions." I would like to address this specifically-- A LOT of the animals in there are SURRENDERED in those conditions TO THE STORE. Imagine finding a rescued animal in bad shape, and you go and give it to them. It's not going to magically revive it's health and feel better. GIVE THEM A BREAK. Most of these reviews seem like they are from people who actually don't know a thing about rescue, surrender, or animals in general. Granted, there are a few things that need to change. Maybe it could be a tad cleaner, but I also try to give them grace that they are indeed trying to keep hundreds of animals alive. Seth was AWESOME. He was so genuinely kind, sweet and friendly. My son asked him several questions and the patience he showed my very inquisitive 8 year old was honestly so sweet and kind. Of course, I'll be back. read more

BLAME IT ON THE ALCOHOL!! Too funny , but yeah. After brunch, my sorority sisters and I decided to come here. I won't say who's idea it was! I might have been ME..... This store is horrible to say the least. It reeks of urine the second you walk through the doors! There weren't many pets from what I could tell. A few here and there. The fish tanks were filthy and the store as a whole! Many random objects. A giant Spider-Man was in the middle of the floor. So , so random. There also were some novelty, collectible type things present. Perhaps, they are transitioning away from being a pet store. I just didn't understand the overall theme of the store. Definitely unique. We did meet a cute parrot that had lots of personality! I think it's safe to say , we won't be back! read more

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The place is extremely dirty, hot, and a little sketchy. The people seem nice-ish but there is grime everywhere and they have put way too many animals in one cage. The storefront is very rundown as well. Overall it's not a horrible place but I do worry about the sanitation and the quality of life for the animals... read more

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We came this visit in hopes to purchase a couple red ear slider turtles for our lake. We feed the fish and turtles almost every evening, and we noticed this year that the number of red ear sliders has diminished. Anyway, they didn't have any mature turtles this visit. The store seems to be transitioning to an action figure store. There are not as many animals and reptiles as I have seen here in the past. read more

Ed's Pet World - Pet Stores Near Me - Birmingham, Alabama

Just dont. :( animals are NOT taken care of at all. I learned that the animals they have do not come from reputable breaders. Instead they purchase from mills or even Craigslist then jack up their prices while NOT maintaining adequate care for these animals. Lighting not available for reptile that NEED them for survival, soiled bedding and caked on feces for the furry 4 legged friends and birds left to eat their own droppings. Tanks are awful. The filth is just terrible. Tanks have poor filtration- most are totally green. 1 star is a compliment .... read more

Ed's Pet World - Pet Stores Near Me - Birmingham, Alabama

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If you need mice/ rats for your snake or something else you cannot find for your exotic I understand why you shop here. I was a customer in the 199'0s and while it was never clean, my trip in last weekend was disgusting! It was ungodly hot and while they had box fans running, the stench was unbearable, the place filthy and I bee lined straight home for a shower. I would try and find whatever I beed elsewhere if I was you! read more

After trying Petco, PetSmart, etc. This is by far the most reliable pet store. Cleanliness isn't the goal with a pet store, good health is and Ed's accomplishes that! All of the fish I got from other stores didn't make it a week until I came here thanks to Seth's advice and knowledge on the subject! read more

I simply cannot stay away. The team here goes above and beyond. Unfortunately the only name I caught was Seth, the owner. But man, Seth and his sidekicks are great. I'm establishing a new tank with a Betta and companions. I'm only familiar with Betta themselves, yet, they helped me every step of the way. They didn't have everything I needed, but informed me when it would come. Until then, he gave me what I needed, and he gave me a deal on the replacement plants I needed to use in the meantime. They've helped me with every silly question I have, without thinking it was silly. They gave me every tip they could think of, they told me everything I needed to do, because they cared about my fish. They went above and beyond for a baby I didn't even purchase from them, because they care about my fish. Plain as day, they care. Support local, support Ed's. read more

This is was the worst pet store you could go to. These animals are keep in horrible condition. And they tried to gilt trip me into buying a rat by saying that that rat was going be eating if no one buys it. I am very disappointed and I will not be returning to the horrible shop. read more

This store is horrible! Pets in horrible living conditions. They had a lizard for sale that's illegal to own. The fish were in horrible condition. Air conditioning seems to be broken but the best part...my friend was treated awful for wearing a mask. The person running the store jumped back dramatically saying my friend was dangerous for being masked. How are they still in business? This place is disgusting! read more

What a truly unique pet store. My daughter is 11 and plans to be a Herpetologist when she grows up. The staff are very knowledgeable about reptiles and amphibians and they let her hold a snake and Caiman AND it was the "coolest thing ever!" Me, I'm not so much a fan of snakes, but they were wonderful with my kid. She would totally live there if I let her. It's a unique place, and I'm glad we had the oppressed to see so many different animals. We were also told they have Birthday Party packages, where they bring some of their extra special animals and teach the kids about the animals and their natural habitats and diet. Thank You Ed's Pet World for making my kids day! read more

Ed's Pet World - Pet Stores Near Me - Birmingham, Alabama

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Easily the most disgusting store I've ever had the displeasure of entering. The smell alone is enough. Once entering and actually seeing the appalling conditions these animals are kept in, I would never purchase anything here. The city needs to get involved and either make them provide at least the minimum standards of care and husbandry for the animals, or they should be closed down. I live in FL and I know for a fact FWC would never allow anything like this, especially for as long as this place has apparently been around. Stay away at all cost. read more

This place is horrible - completely inhumane conditions for all the animals, cockroaches all over the place, broken glass on the floor, terrible smell as soon as you walk in. I felt almost as unsafe as all the animals. read more

Many of the animals in this business are living in subpar conditions for a pet store, let alone I would consider this place to be unsafe for humans to enter. There is a strong ammonia smell that starts before you step inside. Most fish tanks were dirty. There was a tank full of dead hermit crabs. I wish and hope that the owners take better care of the animals and have more pride in their business, because it reflects gross animal negligence and not a good example how any of these animals should be cared for. read more

Had an employee's kid grab my friend's ass when we came here, that alone ruined my experience, albeit SOME of the animals are slightly cared for but most are kept in terrible condition. read more

I see all the bad comments about the lack of care for animals and lack of cleanliness. I guess it's easy to judge a book by its cover nowadays. What I DO know is that this place is without a doubt the most knowledgeable and dependable pet stores in Alabama! The current owner grew up in the business and is great to do business with! They may not have you wanting to eat off the floors but if you're there for healthy fish that won't die or get all your other fish sick....you've come to the right place. They will provide dependable information and top rate knowledge on how maintain aquariums or ponds or reptile set ups, Ed's is your place! Tell 'em Daryl sent ya! read more

Ed's Pet World - Salt tank bought from Ed's! - Pet Stores Near Me - Birmingham, Alabama

best place to buy exotic pets in the South East especially Birmingham and Alabama. The owner Seth couldn't be nicer and can get you whatever animal you want by request. Support your local homegrown business and shop here. I've always loved this place and it will always be my favorite pet store! Great for curious kids to explore and hosting birthday party's as well where they bring animals for your kids to meet. Also a great selection of original unique toys like Lego, Gi Joe, Star Wars, Pop, and Funk to buy or trade. read more

I'll give this place two stars just for its uniqueness and the people that work there were nice but honestly, I would never buy anything from here. Fish tanks are filthy. I'm surprised anything can live in them. The smell in the place is horrible. Oddly, they have a lot of Star Wars collectibles which were pretty cool but the stuff is covered in cob webs and dust. They also have birds and rodents and their cages looked reasonably clean but I still wouldn't but a pet from here. If you need mice for your snake, then maybe. read more

This pet store has a lot of unique animals, but they are poorly taken care of. All of the animals' tanks were dirty and poorly kept up with. You can tell the animals here were sad and mistreated. Looks like a homeless man's pet store inside and outside. read more

Ed's Pet World - Pet Stores Near Me - Birmingham, Alabama

Amazing pet store. All the bad reviews are people who seem to wnat some kind of space age pet store. Stark white walls and the smell of bleach. Personally this store is pretty clearly the greatest pet store around. Everything I've got one them has been amazing, the fish are so cool and from personal experience very healthy. If you think there tanks are dirty or the animals badly cared for then you just need to ask the staff about them. They literally know everything's bout the animals. read more

Ed's Pet World - Proof of how good this place makes your tanks look - Pet Stores Near Me - Birmingham, Alabama

There is some serious cleaning needed to be done here... If you want to look for fish, go to Aquarium Imports... If you want exotic birds and others, you may find something here. But then, you will have to do the cleaning. FYI, they close at 6pm instead of 7 on weekdays. read more

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Staff was so rude. Will never come back here again. They where moving food around and wouldn't move or stop for me and my boyfriend to leave or walk around, we where actually interested in buying but decided to take our business else where. So rude and made rude comments. Yuck. read more

THIS PLACE IS HORRIBLE! Rabbits in tanks, DISGUSTING smell, tanks were all so crappy and HORRIBLY dirty! I cannot believe how disgusting this was. These pets are being abused to say the least. The place is a hot mess, never ever will be going there again. Once I left I felt horrible for all the abused animals there. The tanks were filled with disgusting stuff. Poop stains on the glass. This was a scary place! read more

poor customer service please is truly awful condition for the animals. unprofessional, with orders and customers

If I could give this place a negative I would. First of the store was dirty and the employees were not wearing masks. The animals looked stressed(ex the birds) and the fish tanks were dirty(not from tannins or anything just pure gross). The reptiles appeared to be unhealthy as well and they had a poor large tortillas walking round with hurt joints(possibly MBD) and a broke shell. This place literally needs to be shut down read more

The staff is really nice and helpful, good selection of animals anything from turtles to birds, and good prices. They also gave us a free water testing for our fish tank and gave us tips on how to get rid of the ammonia our tank had. Highly recommend! read more

This place needs to be shut down not only for health violations but for animal cruelty. The animals are kept in unclean cages or tanks, little to no food or water, and look to be used for over breeding. They look sickly and sad. The air conditioner is broken so the furry animals are over heating and laying around in their own filth. DON'T BUY FROM THEM OR YOU ARE FUNDING THEIR CRUEL BUSINESS! The place stinks of algae since they don't appear to ever clean the tanks either. I hope by a miracle that they get shut down soon. read more

Ed's Pet World - One of the sad birds. - Pet Stores Near Me - Birmingham, Alabama

Great place to check out while I was visiting Birmingham. Feels very local. Neat to the area

Great staff and the place is full of amazing toys and animals....You can tell the guys care about them etc...Not really sure of why all the past negative reviews but it seems this place has shaped up and is doing great...I could spend hours in there looking at just the toys lol. read more

Walked in to exposed flooring, horrific smell, and a very rude staff. They did have some unique animals but environment was so nasty and dirty I was literally tripping over myself from uneven boards on the floor, or just random junk in the floors. I feared I'd catch something if I touched anything. The fish tanks were filled with algae where you almost couldn't see any of the fish. They are over priced but knowledgable if you talked to Jeremiah who was the only person that was doing anything bc the guy behind the counter just liked to sit on his butt and act like he ignored everyone. I am surprised that place is still open. I do not recommend. read more

I went to Ed's in search of a blue dwarf gourami. I have kept fish for a few years and reptiles all my life. All I can say is that this store's care of these animals is horrifying and disgusting. Right when you walk in, they have what appears to be a 20 gallon tank that contains two emaciated leopard geckos, one of which will probably be dead soon. Leopard geckos are supposed to have fat tails... this one's tail is the width of a pencil at best and it is skin and bones. And they're trying to sell this animal as a "proven breeder." Most of the other reptiles look like they are doing OK, but many don't have proper hides and didn't have access to clean water. That being said, I did find the gourami I wanted. However, it was in a tank with malnourished, stressed, dead, and dying fish. One fish had been dead for so long that it had turned white and was decaying on the bottom of the tank, the other fish nibbling on it. In a nearby tank, there was one neon tetra absolutely covered in ich (just the one... all the others probably either died or some unfortunate person bought them). Needless to say I left without buying anything. I don't know much about small animal or bird care, but I imagine it's not the best either judging by how the poor reptiles and fish are fairing. read more

Went here to look around. I enjoyed it at first except the staff was very unfriendly unless you knew him. All his products were dusty or not for sale. Will not be returning. He was very rude. read more

This place definitely needs an inspection. At least for heath and safety reasons. I can tell that this place is falling apart and definitely needs some work. Maybe they are overwhelmed and need more staff. All I can say is the place looks a lot bigger on the outside than the inside. I got this weird vibe about this place. I feel like something else is going on other than selling pets in this place if you know what I mean ..... read more

I should have known better. I should have not done it and trusted my instinct. I'm an avid animal keeper with 2 bearded dragons, 2 cornsnakes, multiple fish tanks, a cat, a dog. Many others in the past like birds, rabbits, hampsters. I was looking for some unique African cichlids. Aquarium Imports had just closed and Eds was opened. had never been there before. But I was excited to stock my new 55 gallon tank. While looking at the fish I noticed a TERRIBLE outbreak of ick. One fish literally being COVERED in ick. I pointed it out. He treated the tank. I pointed out another fish. He treated that tank. Multiple tanks later. I was told it was from a shipment of fish they had just gotten it. Which isn't hard to believe. The tanks were dimly lit so it was hard to see. From what I could tell the fish in the tanks I was looking at looked clear. I got home after spending over $200 on fish and rocks. 10 African Cichlids and 2 red bristlenose pleco. I noticed after putting them into my tank that they had ick. Early stages and didn't appear to be too severe. I treated the tank. In less then 24 hours 3 dead African Cichlids and 2 dead bristlenose. The 5 fish that were $15-$20 each. I have froze them and will be bringing them back along with the 7 fish that are still alive and all of the rocks. I plan on getting my money back. Coming home and tearing down my tank to sterilize everything and starting over again. They pulled us in by telling us stories of a girl who made them look bad. (From the reviews here I now know it was for a documentary). Trying to act like friends. The animal cages were filthy. Some of the animals looked awful. I should NOT have spent my money there. Even if the fish had been fully healthy. I should not have put my money into somewhere that was that filthy and had such a poor quality of care for their animals. read more

filthy, smelly store. any animals we saw looked sick and dirty. i've never been in a more disappointing, disturbing and disgusting pet/pet supplies shop. i'm puzzled by any positive reviews as well as the great things we've always heard about the place. my son was so looking forward to browsing, particularly lizards he's interested in. we kept looking through the store, hoping for something positive from the visit. he was so upset after we made it throughout the store, we had to leave. employees were talking to one another, uninterested in customers (or their jobs, apparently; as it was completely gross and sickly everywhere.) this is a terribly sad place for children who actually love and know about animals. read more

I love eds pet world. the staff is very helpful and tell you what kind of fish they have. All around great place with great handshakes. thanks for being so helpful and good. read more

When warning someone against buying at Ed's Pet World, I usually don't know where to begin. This place really has no redeeming qualities. The building looks like a post-apocalyptic garage covered in kudzu. The rabbits, cats and guinea pigs are kept in a separate room from all the other animals. You are required to put $1 in the box in order to be allowed to enter said room. This was the first thing that struck me as odd: paying to look at pets? Once entering said room, I was horrified. This room has no air conditioning unit. It faces the sunlight. Anyone who has ever cared for a rabbit knows that it is detrimental to their health if they overheat. All the rabbits were sitting in tiny cages together, flopped down (obviously out of crowding/heat exhaustion). I stupidly purchased a dwarf bunny from there a few years ago. We had him for about a day and a half before we realized that we could not get him to eat any of his food. I called Ed's, they suggested another type of food. He would not eat that food either. I proceeded to take the animal to the vet; they told me that the animal was fine (I later found out that this particular vet was friends with Ed). The rabbit died the next day. I brought the dead rabbit to Ed in a box; he gave me another rabbit for free and apologized, saying "this breed of rabbit just isn't very hearty." Um... ok. The other rabbit he gave me died in two hours, on the way to a vet. It literally had a spasm in my hand and just died in the car. It was traumatic and horrifying to have lost two baby rabbits in one day. I had another bunny for a very long time, before he died of old age. I was later approached by a young woman to be in a documentary about cruelty in pet shops. The documentary was primarily about Ed's: he has had two other pet shops in areas around Birmingham/Tuscaloosa, and they have both been shut down because they are unsanitary, filthy death holes. I have heard so many horror stories about animals that people buy from him that die almost immediately. I don't see how anyone in good conscience could purchase an animal from him, knowing how he operates his business. It will be a godsend when this "establishment" is finally shut down. read more

They tend to have unusual finds here, the prettiest shrimp I've found anywhere, the only place with Discus (not that I'd buy one, but they're so pretty to look at). I bought baby chickens from them once! It's not the cleanest pet store out there, but they actually know their products better than the competition, and they and Petco are the only ones that really have plants growing in the water for your to purchase (vs in the plastic cups that basically completely melt when you move them to your tank at home). They've also been here forever, and are sort of a landmark. read more

Some of the staff were very nice but some were borderline creepy. One of the employees just stared. It was strange to say the least. The animals need to be better cared for. I feel sorry for them. read more

Most of the pets didn't have water. Lethargic rabbits. Very sad place! They need more room, better care, more stimulation. I won't be back! Hope these babies find homes or get better care. read more