Jo O’Brien says she knew she was different from an early age. Growing up on a farm, she developed a love and passion for all kinds of animals, including non-traditional pets.
At the farm, she would catch little lizards and keep turtles, and O’Brien recalls thinking that the colorful creatures were cute.
“I started off with turtles, and I had an iguana at home,” she explained. “I’ve always had cats, and my mom raised dogs. When I was a kid, I got ‘dogged out,’ and I said I was never going to have a dog again because cleaning all the poopy, right? But I do own a little dog now.”
O’Brien’s love for animals carried her into adulthood and one summer she met a girl at the local flea market who was selling baby turtles.
“I just fell in love with them, and I needed a summer job,” she recalled. “So she let me work for her.”
Her employer went north for the winter season and, when O’Brien’s father passed away, he left her a little bit of money.
“I ended up buying that turtle store at the flea market from my employer, and I expanded more and more into other pets and included reptiles,” she added.
What began as a small summer venture eventually grew into a full-time exotic pet shop; the Rainforest Pet Store. The shop flourished for a time, becoming one of the biggest exotic pet stores in Coco Village, Florida.
When their Coco Village location closed, O’Brien and her brother moved to their current 600-square-foot-location on Electronics Drive in Melbourne, Florida in April 2024.
Exotic Pets
Rainforest Pet Store sells spiders, turtles, scorpions, tortoises, geckos, snakes and other exotic pets. O’Brien said they only carry one snake at the store because some people “freak out” at the sight of it.
“We keep mostly reptiles and baby turtles, and we have beta fish, although I think we are going to phase them out,” she explained. “We have hermit crabs.”
O’Brien has found steady success with sales of baby turtles, which she says currently top her sales list. She believes they have become a favorite among customers because very few shops offer them. Most sales come through Rainforest’s flea market store, where foot traffic is higher despite being located located just three miles from their main brick-and-mortar store.
Bearded dragons also are quick sellers, as customers have come to appreciate them for their calm temperament and distinctive appearance.
“If you’ve never had or held one, they are the coolest pet in the world,” O’Brien explained. “They are so mellow. You take them with you pretty much everywhere. Occasionally we will sell one of the Savanah or king snakes, a scorpion or whatever we happen to have [available in the store]. We will receive special orders from people. Somebody last week wanted a baby hognose snake, so I special-ordered it. It was a good sale, and they were very keen on how to take care of it.”
Pet Care
Beyond the popularity of their top selling pets, the store’s focus remains on educating customers and ensuring each pet goes to a prepared owner. O’ Brien said they are huge on education and emphasize responsible ownership, ensuring customers understand how to care for their pet before completing a sale.
“If they are not prepared, I don’t sell it,” said O’Brien, adding that customers have the option of either purchasing a tank in-store or buying one elsewhere.
In addition to selling pets, sales of insects have also helped boost profits. O’Brien says approximately 80% of customers return to buy food suppliers for their pets. This is partly due thanks to a long-standing relationship that she’s had with Armstrong Cricket, one of the store’s biggest suppliers, for nearly two decades.
“We sell a lot of bugs, including crickets, because we have the best price in town, and everyone knows we have the healthiest bugs around.”
Space to Grow
Unlike some of their competitors, O’Brien said they do not overcrowd and undersize their enclosures. The store follows their own strict care standards, giving each reptile ample space. They also adhere to care and welfare guidelines set by organizations such as the United States Association of Reptile Keepers (USARK) and the Pet Advocacy Network-which do not enforce the rules but provide guidance to help owners properly care for their exotic pets.
Most habitats at the store start at 55 gallons with larger species like chameleons kept in enclosures of up to 120 gallons. The animals mainly come from local breeders although rare species are occasionally shipped in at excessive cost.
Space isn’t the only consideration the store has to make. To sell reptiles the store requires a special wildlife license.
To sell exotic pets in Florida, shop owners must obtain a wildlife permit based on the type of animals they keep. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission issues permit in three categories (Class I, II or III) depending on the species and the level of risk.
The Rainforest Pet Store holds a Class III wildlife permit, which costs $50 a year. The permit requires O’Brien to ensure the animals have veterinary care, maintain an off-site facility in case of a hurricane, and have an evacuation plan outlining who will care for the animals during emergencies.
“Some of them are on the endangered list and you are not allowed to sell like the diamondback terrapin. It lives all up and down from the coast of Florida all the way up to Maine and they live in the bay. They were very popular as a food item in New York and New Jersey restaurants for decades and now they are almost extinct, so the ones on the endangered list we are not allowed to sell,” explained O’ Brien.
In keeping with the stance of endangered animals the Rainforest Pet Store does not sell pets online, saying face-to face interactions help promote responsible ownership.
“If its dry food, sure, or if they order online and come and collect it from the shop, I don’t mind,” she said.
Business Strategies
O’Brien says she hopes to grow and build the business, which includes finding a “decent-sized location” for selling smaller exotic animals while adding supplies for cats and dogs.
“I don’t want to be like Petco or PetSmart,” she said. “I like having that personal touch, when you walk into my store for the most part it looks like you are walking into somebody’s home, with antique tables, picked up at the yard sell, basket, and things. You go to the big corporations, and everything is hung on pegs and shelves, I don’t like that.”
