My eight-year-old daughter has wanted a snake since she was three, and I was incredibly apprehensive about the idea. We visited several reptile stores on the west side and had some nice experiences, but nothing compared to the care, integrity, and heart we experienced at Scales and Tails. What truly sets this shop apart is the people who work there and how deeply they care about the animals in their care. Jason knew so much about the individual snakes and was able to tell us which ones he felt comfortable letting my daughter hold and interact with and why. He knew which snakes were more head-shy, which had been around kids more often, and which had different temperaments. He patiently let her interact with several snakes until she fell in love with a beautiful six-month-old ball python. Since then, we've come back to the shop many times and have always been greeted with so much enthusiasm for this exciting new adventure in her life. They have taught us so much about creating the right enclosure, including the warm and cool sides, humidity, using moss, the importance of proper hides, heating, and so much more. John even gave us the sweet suggestion of having my daughter wear a shirt and then place it in the enclosure so her snake could begin getting used to her scent. Everyone took their time with my daughter, treated her with kindness and compassion, educated me without ever making me feel silly for asking a million questions, and gave me the space I needed to become comfortable and confident with bringing a snake into our home. We had such a wonderful experience, and when we finally brought our little dude home, we did it feeling prepared and confident instead of nervous and unsure. I would highly recommend Scales and Tails to anyone looking for a reptile, especially families who want knowledgeable, patient, honest guidance. My daughter is absolutely over the moon to finally bring home the little snake she has dreamed about for years, and I'm so thankful we found a shop that helped make that experience so special. read more

Went here for the first time tonight and the state of the reptiles and all other animals was horrible. Poor husbandry of everything. More than 75% of snakes had stuck shed on them. When asking the manager about the stuck shed, he said it was very common, which is not true with proper care. I have over 10 snakes and have never been an issue. The dart frog tanks were bone dry. It makes me enraged to see the mistreatment of these animals. This shop should not be open, a report will be filed. If I could give no or negative stars I would. read more

The best place to get my feed and have a chat with my favorite local reptile owners : ) Everyone is extremely intuitive, efficient, and hilarious! The store is extremely clean, not smelly like many other pet and reptile stores, and have an awesome variety. They know they are the best but I would want everyone to know as well! read more

Please do NOT support this shop!!! Recently, I bought my significant other a leopard gecko from this shop. The group I had included me, my S/O, and their teenage sister. When we went to check out what they had, we found out that they kept at least five geckos all together in a 10-gallon tank. For context, a single gecko (or a breeding pair) should have a MINIMUM of 40 gallons' worth of space. Having so many in a single container can lead to the spread of disease and parasites. And as it happens, after a week of having our gecko home with us, we noticed that she wasn't eating, and had concerning digestive problems, such as diarrhea and vomiting. After taking her to a vet, she was diagnosed with Trichomonas. Luckily, this is treatable, and she will be fine, but the potential for it to be much more life-threatening was high. I also want to point out that this shop has a negative reputation at the vet we visited, which indicates that this is a pattern with their animals. I also want to point out the overall lack of professionalism that I observed while we were there. While we were browsing, I was very heavily pressured into buying other reptiles and arachnids that I didn't want/need. At one point, when I said that I didn't want to buy a centipede (something I have a phobia of) the manager said "you say 'no' a lot, don't you?" in a rather condescending and sarcastic manner. I understand that this is supposed to be a joke, but I felt guilted and pressured by this interaction, as if me saying that I didn't want a centipede was somehow an indictment on my character. This same manager also made fun of my S/O's sister for playing with her hair while waiting to be checked out. Again, clearly meant to be a joke, but she was very clearly uncomfortable with the interaction, and made that clear to us afterwards. Overall, I personally, left the store feeling as though they are very unprofessional, and do a subpar job of taking care of the reptiles they are selling, leading to high risk of illnesses among them. Simply put, don' shop here. There are plenty of reputable breeders, as well as conventions, where you can find great reptiles in excellent health. You will not find that here. And frankly, in my opinion, the customer experience with the staff does not make up for that either. read more

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This is a great reptile store. The great thing is they stay open longer than any other store. So when you need to squeeze in a feeding and get busy so you don't notice the time it's ok, because they are open until 8pm.. Friendly staff. Thank you Snails and Tails read more

Scales N Tails - Phoenix Central - Ivy, my ivory ball python. - Reptile Shops Near Me - Phoenix, Arizona

Great shop, great service! Everyone in the store was very helpful and their selection is unmatched!

Stopped in since I was in the area for a rat, and they were open late! The staff were very nice and helpful ! If I lived closer I would be there often . They have great reptiles to check out!! Thank you for making my life easy. read more

Great selection of products and animals. Friendly and had good deals for Black Friday. Did not have what I was looking for but have a ton of options for reptile care products. read more

Usually I try not to leave a bad review , but this Asian water monitor is suffering, he is way to big for this tiny cage there supposed to have a a huge tub to be able to submerged under water and he was a little tiny empty water dish... this really bums me out someone plz save him read more

Scales N Tails - Phoenix Central - Asian water Mointor - Reptile Shops Near Me - Phoenix, Arizona

I was blown away with the customer service at this exotic animal store! My boyfriend and I each wanted our first tarantulas (I've been spider keeping for a while so I knew the basics) but the guy and girl working there were so helpful, communicative, caring, and generous. The girl was helping another family so I got most my help from the guy but he gave amazing recommendations, etc! This place is also extremely animal friendly and they actually take great care of their animals. Major respect! I will forever come back when I need reptile supplies. read more

Scales N Tails - Phoenix Central - This is my baby Irelia (avicularia avicularia) I purchased from them :) my boyfriend got a gorgeous avicularia purpurea! - Reptile Shops Near Me - Phoenix, Arizona

First and last time visiting this reptile store. See alot of neglect towards these animals, crawling out of their cages because they are hungry and see other food being given to others. It's sad. Both women working were extremely rude and pushy on selling their dirty low quality but expensive set-ups. Trying to sell me a $400 empty tank when the animal is being held in a tiny three times smaller enclosure makes no sense whatsoever I won't be going back that's for damn sure read more

I understand having limited space but these animals looked so stressed and sad. The owner is very pushy for sales too. Do not recommend.

Had a really great experience! All the employees were great, the manager was very kind and helpful in educating me about owning my first snake. Great place great people highly recommend this place if your looking for a new reptile friend read more

Update! The old assistant manager is gone and the peace is restored! Love the staff here and appreciate their willingness to educate and help us with our scaley family members! read more

The staff are nice enough. If you're coming for mice though, I would make sure to clarify if they have f/t or not. Several times I have been turned away saying they don't have various size mice only to discover after I left they do indeed have the f/t. Pretty frustrating being that f/t is very common. read more

The shop stinks as soon as you walk in and the tanks are disgusting. They are cohabitating all types of desert and tropical reptiles and amphibians together and they're misting the tanks with tapwater which is extremely dangerous. There's no gauges or misting systems in any of the tanks. Their prices are ranging for extremely high or extremely low for these animals. They are killing these babies. They had Bat cave roaches and there was this random huge roach in the container that the worker couldn't tell me what it was and she just left it in there. I ended up looking it up and it's just an adult bat cave roach but she couldn't tell me that. The worker could not tell us whether the golden gecko was an exotic animal or not they are a tropical animal and being kept in a desert enclosure, The same enclosure as a leopard gecko would live in. Their only leopard gecko was extremely emaciated. The list goes on and on. I wish I had taken pictures of this complete monstrosity of a reptile shop and of all the animal abuse going on in the shop. do not shop here. This place should be shut down for the amount of animal cruelty that is going on. read more

This place is a black eye on pet stores & a good example of why there is so much anti-exotic pet sentiment. SHAME on the owners & management of this prison. I went here to buy snake food on July 1, 2022. At first, it appeared to be a lovely store with great-looking, well-kept-up little habitats. Then I started looking at the animals. I saw a number of slightly thin lizards including a female Jacksons Chameleon.I understand that a retail situation is less than ideal for these animals & even a captive-bred animal with such specialized needs as a Chameleon can be quite a challenge to keep healthy in a situation such as this. But then I saw the common green iguanas. there were 3 of them. The smallest one was DEAD. If it was not dead it was on death's door. It was lifeless at the bottom of the enclosure, right up front and completely emaciated. As in literal skin on bones. It was not hidden in a corner, it was in plain sight for anyone, especially the employees to see. What kind of management allows an animal to waste away & die right in front of customers? Then I saw the other 2 iguanas who were being held prisoner in the same enclosure The smallest looked like it had not been eating well. THE LARGER OF THE 2 IGUANAS WAS OBVIOUSLY WELL INTO THE PROCESS OF STARVING TO DEATH. What kind of place allows this? Why wasn't someone making certain that these animals were eating? Why were they not giving veterinary care when nobody could get them to eat? This place needs to be shut down. I wish that I had taken photos read more

Ariana super nice, lots of happy Lizzies and Sniggies in the place. Live feeders, good place.