Mark's Ark Inc

TL;DR: highly negligent to their animals (pics attached) Went in thinking it was going to be fun thing to drop by. I was dead wrong, this store is highly negligent to their animals. I understand that these cages are “temporary” but they arent even giving the bare minimum. A lot of animals cages/containers are far too small, most of the animals do not have adequate setups of their enclosures sometimes with some having multiple animals, it lacks enrichment as well, notably the snakes who dont have hides or even any semblance of what makes a good temporary cage. I saw lizards jumping to the top of the cage, trying to get to a crack. The floors, walls and lights were bright white. Little to no enrichment as well as dirty cages. I didnt look for long because i didnt wanna see it, but then i saw the snakes Some snakes seemingly were looking for ways out, multiple rubbing their faces along the sides of the glass doors and others looking at the top of their extremely small container. The face rubbing could also be that they are sheding but theres nothing to help them get that shed off. Then there was the smaller snakes wall. These are the worst in my opinion, these containers are meant as a VERY temporary container, like for a vet trip, not one they sit in until they get bought. Theres only bedding and a water bowls in these containers, only few have branches. Theres also the bright white light behind them as well. There were milk snakes as well as ball pythons in these transport , a majority of which cant even lay out their full length, even if theyre smaller. The iguana’s enclosure was WAAYYYY too small, the tank has only a water bowl with very little bedding/substrate (looks like wood chips). Again, no enrichment. The fish outside in front are ,again, crammed and lacking enrichment, they sit in a cement box with algae filled water outside. The fish inside are also crammed and lacking enrichment, in fact, many of the fake plants were tipped over, and the gravel and sand was moved around, exposing the bottom of the tanks. Betas are near the other fish but they dont even have light, theyre also in basically cups, no heater or water filter, akin to the ones at petco/petsmart. Their spiders are kept in small plastic containers in a fridge like display that emits a bright white light that shines directly into their VERY small cups with multiple cups stacked on top of eachother. A good amount of spiders took up about 1/2 to 2/3s of their containers per spider. The only thing in the majority of cages was a a water bowl, which many were empty or nearly empty. There were a few animals that also had food, but not many. The lighting in the containers were inconsistent, many getting bright white lights and a few having no light at all. The birds are in the back, im assuming because of the bird flu. Regardless, their cages were also small and cramped, from the glimpse i saw they looked super dirty. Im unsure how the birds would be put back on the floor however, because the store is cramped. There was much more but writing this makes my heart break. Please do not go here 🙏

The staff here are friendly. One of their employees has Excellent Customer Service skills. The redhead gentleman. His knowledge & helpfulness about the animals is exceptional. Their price on toys & food is competitive some even less than the big box stores. Will return here. They have the food I’ve been going 20 miles further to get for only $2 more (would spend that in gas to get to the farther away store). Found some unique foods, vitamins, dishes & toys hadn’t seen elsewhere. This place is exactly the same as I remembered when I came here with my Dad decades ago. My Dad came here to buy fish & fish tank toys. They do have a vast selection of fish & fish aquarium supplies. Their Fish seem healthier looking than their relatives at Petco & Petsmart. They also had a nice selection of reptiles & rodents as well (if that’s your thing). I find the other reviews about bad customer service somewhat hard to believe. You do get what you give. Having worked retail & phone customer service myself I know it can be a tough job. One nice & appreciative customer can make for a great rest of your workday. So I’m always nice to retail & customer service workers. One of their workers was a bit brusque. But it was close to closing so he probably just wanted me to leave so he could go home. The birds were chipper & chatty until they started sweeping before closing. The birds are in the back with the UV lights they need. Not sure why they’re in the back though. Could have them in a area where the cages are. But maybe it’s because of the noise level. About only things noticed that could use improvement are they should dust off the shelves & inventory. Was going to buy some food dishes but they were all very dusty. Consider changing or at least mopping the floor. The flooring tiles are possibly older than I & quite worn. If buying foods & vitamins make sure to check expiration dates. I noticed some are past date by a couple months to a few years (in Mark’s defense these are products probably hard to sell being niches that they keep in the very back of the store where most people probably don’t wander or easily overlook).

Ive been going to marks every week for years. Every animal i have ever purchased from them has immediately seen a vet and come back with a clean bill of health. The staff is always friendly , and beyond knowledgeable. I even play ignorant at times just to see how far the toes stretch. I'm not understanding the negative reviews. I mean I get that let's say a leopard gecko for example is only half the price at pets mart or other bigbox stores , now calculate the cost of crickets for the next 15 -20 years. Your gecko and it's supply is cheaper at marks if you are in for the long run.

I really wanted to love Mark's Ark, but I can't. I was so excited to check out a small independent pet store, as those are the types of businesses where I prefer to spend my money. The staff were reasonably helpful and friendly the three times I've been there (twice for isopods, once for fish, got various supplies as well) and it is certainly interesting to see all the different unusual animals and spiders they have. However, the bad things definitely outweigh the interest of seeing different animals for sale. The animals are kept in enclosures that are very small, with multiple smaller animals crammed together and large animals (like a huge retic they had) in tanks that are much too small for them. There was also a bengal kitten in a tank! I understand it is a pet store and the animals aren't meant to live in these tanks and cages forever, but there is a line and from what I've seen, that line has been crossed way over. I was there for some small fish at my last visit, and I was very sad to see the way their tetras were being kept. There were 3 little neons in a tank with other larger fish, and they had 2 glowlight tetras, each of them all by itself in a tank with other larger fish, one of which was a tank full of angelfish! Tetras are schooling fish and are pretty stressed if they are kept alone, not to mention the fact that angels are aggressive and like to nip fins and eat smaller fish. Just really surprising and bad choices for a business that is supposed to be a leader in exotic animal care in the area. I took all 5 tetras home because I couldn't bear to leave them there, but I won't be visiting Mark's Ark again.

Came here for some spider stuff because it was the only place I knew about in the area and I needed new, clean habitat stuff ASAP. The store itself, I found to be a bit cramped and stinky, and the animals seemed unhappy in their temporary habitats. I get there's only so much you can do on a commercial level to temporarily house your animals, but they could easily do better to take care of the live products that they are selling to people. Neglecting husbandry in-store leads to less healthy animals sold to the customer base. Not a great practice. While I was there, I noticed there was no way to distinguish employees from customers, which was confusing and a bit off-putting. I was helped by two people. The first was a guy working the floor who asked me if I needed help after I swept past him a few different times, and he was able to point out the products I was looking for and gave some solid recommendations. I thought he was a customer at first but he was helpful and I appreciated our interaction. The products from what I could see were pretty good selections but overpriced. It seemed like the animals and feeder animals were also priced higher than necessary. A business has to make a product but considering the money that must be saved by lack of effort in maintaining the animals, it's an egregious inflation. The other person who assisted me in the store was the guy who rang up my order. I bought some isopods from the counter along with the stuff I'd gathered in the store. I don't have particularly high standards for cashiering stuff, but I disliked our interaction. He didn't offer me much effort or knowledge with my isopod purchase and had a strange attitude that was sort of a combination of superiority and can't-be-bothered? I left with (and overpaid for) what I was looking for, but I'll be checking out any and every other exotic animal shop in the area for what I might need in the future before I return... if I really must.