The main employee/manager seems to be disingenuine. I asked him about whether they still sell ferrets, and he fed me a tale about how the USDA had stopped all sale of ferrets in February 2026. The PetCo down the highway had never heard of this. Neither did a Facebook group of ferret owners that I am a member of. If you aren't able to sell ferrets any longer, just say that. Don't lie straight to my face. What else would he lie about? read more

Great selection of ball pythons. Got a gorgeous pastel lesser and he is doing great. Healthy looking animals and good selection. A little bit of this and a little bit of that- they probably have what you need. Most expensive feeders in the city tho- 16$ for a sm rat + md mouse where it is less than 10$ anywhere else. read more

They sell pet supplies, Amazon returns, maybe overstocks, things like that. I went in because I had just got a young bird and was concerned he wasn't eating enough. It was the weekend, so I left a message with an avian vet. In the meantime, I decided I was going to go to all pet shops that sold exotic pets to see if I could get advice. I came across this store and had my bird with me. The shop owner was so nice and helpful. Although he doesn't sell animals he had his in the shop. That included a few baby birds he was hand feeding. Out of the kindness of his heart he is hand feeding my bird until he starts eating enough on his own. He even weighs him to make sure he isn't losing weight. He truly loves animals. Fast forward a week, I noticed his birds were gone. Some idiot, instead of just asking what was going on with the birds, called animal control and said that he had skinny birds with missing feathers. The birds were babies. Babies aren't born with adult feathers!! The birds were not skinny. They were well taken care of. He didn't get the birds taken away...because he did nothing wrong. Anyway...he is a super nice guy and didn't deserve that. People need to stop assuming they know everything. If they would have just asked, he would have told them they were babies and babies aren't fully feathered. A simple google search could have told them that instead of wasting tax dollars. read more

John is amazing! I am always able to get the specific brand and type of dog food my pups need for their sensitive tummies. We bought our gerbils, Budgie, Lenny, and Kakariki parakeets from him along with a few other small animals over the year since his first shop opened. He never acts like I'm unintelligent when we talk. He knows that I've been a small animal bird and reptile owner for most my life? Even though I am very knowledgeable, questions still pop up and he is always willing to answer then and discuss solutions. He is very caring and takes care of all his animals very well. I have never came in when he is not cleaning cages, feeding the animals or being attentive to customers present. He is also great with my son who has tons of questions about everything. He would never be rude to anyone, unless they were causing a problem in the store. read more

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We got our seven week old cockatiel baby from john and we are absolutely in love with our baby. John is super nice and helpful and very, very knowledgeable! I would recommend going to this place to any and everyone. read more

John's Exotic - Bucky our baby! - Pet Stores Near Me - Independence, Missouri

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We Went by and got out baby Python and we are in love with our new pet!! costumer service was Awesome !! i'll give an A+ i recommend this place 100% read more

This is one of the worst pet stores i have ever stepped foot in. The smell is overwhelming. The animals are not taken care of. There is a thick layer of dust on all of the merchandise. He obviously doesn't clean the enclosures well or often enough. I have personal experience in exotic animal and small animal pet care and sales. I have previously sold small animals and exotics as well as working as a vet tech for small animals and exotics. If a place smells like animals, it is because they are not being cared for properly. When you walk into a chain pet store, what does it smell like? Nothing. That's because they clean. They clean the cages more often than weekly. And then sanitize, not just dump the dirty bedding. And this place absolutely REEKS of animal urine and dirty cages. A quick look around the store confirms why: dirty cages. Particularly the feeder animals, rats and mice. Also the cricket smell is overwhelming because he obviously doesn't clean out the cricket container as often as he should. Including changing out the egg crate and sanitizing the container. The egg crates reek. Which would seriously concern me about disease that can be spread do the animal who consumes them. Today i wanted to get feeding tongs. I walked in, and he had 2 ferrets within 5 feet of the door. I squatted down with my 2 children behind me to he yelled at by the owner standing 10 feet away. "DONT TOUCH". We had not been in the store 30 seconds. Also, no one was touching anything. No one. My kids were not even close to touching anything as they were behind me. I had bent down to read the poorly handwritten sign that said "DONT TOUCH: the ferrets can get colds and RSP." We'll i don't know what RSP is, and I'm sure he means RSV. But this makes me question his actual knowledge of pet care if he can't even get a common respiratory infection correct. I decided i wasn't buying anything at that point. On top of the overwhelming smell of dirty cages and dead crickets turning my stomach, he has never been friendly to me, any time i have walked in. I have never witnessed him being particularly friendly to anyone, now that i think about it. I have witbessed him talk bad about customers after they leave the store though. Before I left, i let him know that there are much better ways to inform someone to not touch something than yelling at them before they even did anythung. He responded by yelling again, that thouching them could kill them and that kids can not read. Well, considering i was active in reading the sign when he yelled at as, I told him i could read, and my kids were behind me not touching a thing. So him yelling was way out of line and unnecessary considering we had not even been in the store 30 seconds. We literally walked in the door, i squatted down the read the sign on the ferrets, and he yelled at my kids who weren't touching anything! That is terrible customer service. If you don't want people touching things, you need to put them where they can not be touched. That is absolutely just common sense and retail 101. You don't put animals who bite where they can bite people, like his parrot he loves to yell at customers for getting to close to. You don't put animals who are sensitive to germs where the public can reach. Wtf are you even doing except setting up a situation in which you are going to just yell at People? And lose customers. I have shopped here at least 1 time a week for months to feed my reptiles and spiders, and i hated it every time. he knows i shop there, but I will never step foot in here again. Which he replied "good.x People who care about animals take better care of their animals. Period. The smell alone lets you know all you need to know. Don't shop here. Go the extra few miles to PetSmart or something. Anything but shop here. read more

I hate having to write this Review ... But, I want to save the Reader a Trip to Raytown - I had read a few Good Reviews on John's Exotic's when doing a Google Search for Hand Tamed Parrots ... They don't have a Web Site, but I thought what the Heck ... I am looking for a Cockatiel or Caique Parrot ... so, I drove 30 minutes to Raytown. The Place is VERY HARD to find - even in the Parking Lot you have to strain to see it. About 20 feet from the Door I am thinking - doesn't look like a Pet Store, But I went in anyway. Wow .... Complete Dump .... Dirty ... they had a hand full of Birds and honestly, I felt sorry for them. The Topper is in the back they had a McCaw that looked like he had not been cared for. The Worst Part ? The McCaw is on a Stand - I see Dog Sxxx everywhere and the smell is terrible. Turns out the Bird Stand is in the Middle of a Makeshift Pen with Beagle Puppies running around. So here is Majestic McCaw - with Beagle Puppies stressing it out and living in the Stinch f Dog Sxxx Save the Drive - it's a Dump read more

John's Exotic - McCaw - Pet Stores Near Me - Independence, Missouri

Dear John h You said getting sugar gliders and monkeys are illegal with out permits and I already have permits you employee quickly jump up and thought I said I want to buy Ape illegally Thank you for reading bud Don't be a ass mate read more

My son had been saving for a ball python and eventually got enough from his birthday to buy his own. John was very attentive and took his time answering all of our million questions. He let us hold any snake he felt was safe. Keep in mind it is a mom and pop pet store, so there are going to be smells. But it wasn't bad and I felt like all the animals were clean and healthy. We had no intention of buying a snake that day but ended up walking out with one and everything we needed for it at a reasonable price. Support your local shops, we will be back here again. read more

very rude guy, and rather than make it right he'd rather argue about it in the google reviews. I felt as if I was prejudiced/stereotyped in some way, as he only catered to a particular crowd. I went in the store Oct30th 2022 to buy my daughter a bird. He was very smug and short with his answers to me. I tried breaking the ice by asking about the bird in the photo and he rudely yells to me and my daughter "he will bite you!" We were not close to the bird, nor going to the cage;just asking if the cage was open. Well if he will bite why the heck is his cage open? I didn't say anymore though. We left and I had to explain to my daughter why he was "so mean!" read more

John's Exotic - He swears this is His picture, so I was sure to screenshot my own pic so that the date would be visible to this guy. He's very rude/mean - Pet Stores Near Me - Independence, Missouri

Awesome pet shop for healthy, well taken care of animals. John is always very kind, informative and helpful. His prices are slightly different than big stores but it's because he's a personally owned business. We like to support him as much as we can. read more

Got a ball python from him at first it was hard to get him to eat with the environment change John gave us 1 free rat because we couldn't feed our snake the first one love this place guy does his best to upkeep it for a mom and pop place with just him running it read more

Going in, I didn't know much. I sat there talking to the owner about some birds for a little while and he helped me out a lot. Birds are definitely expensive but really cool animals. If you plan on buying one, go to them. read more

Amazing amount of birds and small animals. You can tell they're well cared for... food and other items for the animals too.

Very helpful with birds. He answered all of my questions and follow up questions after I purchased my bird.