Island Pet Center

Very nice place. It has personality. It's not like a big company that just sells a product. The people there care about their animals and their service. I highly recommend them for all of your animal needs.

We love this pet store and visited it weekly to buy supplies for our various pets. We love the large selection of cat and small animal supplies, and we love supporting local businesses. However, we are very disappointed with how a recent situation was handled. We purchased a few dumbo rats and were very excited to bring our new pets home. Unfortunately, one of the rats became extremely aggressive towards us. I have about 5 scars on my hand from times where she bit deep enough to break the skin. It got to the point where we were unable to open the cage door to interact with the other rats, feed them, or clean the cage without being bitten.nnWe contacted the store asking for some advice on the situation and to see if it was possible to return the rat- as a former pet store employee, I know that many pet stores have policies where you can return pets that pass away, have severe medical issues, or have behavioral issues within a certain time period. Given that we had purchased the rats less than a month ago, we were hoping they would be able to help.nnI will say, all of the associates we spoke to on the phone were very pleasant and understanding. When we originally called, we were told to isolate the aggressive rat and try to only approach her holding food, which is something we had been trying, but decided to give her a few more days to warm up to us. When this did not work(I in fact received a very bad bite on my finger after the rat sniffed the piece of food in my hand and then decided to bite anyway), we called again and see about returning the rat. The original associate we spoke to had told us that if the advice did not work, returning was an option.nnWhen we called again, we were shut down and told that the associates at the store all have experience with rats like this, and that we just need to move slow and try to train her out of it. However, as someone who is very knowledgeable in the care and keeping of rats, I know that bites that break the skin are NOT normal, and are typically signs of hormonal issues(more common in unneutered males) or that they are genetically disposed to higher rates of aggression- something that is not typically possible to train out of rats. I feel as though our concerns were brushed off by the employees, and we were not taken seriously.nnWe were given the option to bring the rat in and have the employees look at her and give us advice on how to train her. However, we decided not to do this, as our concerns were not being heard in the first place, and like I mentioned, this issues likely indicate deeper genetic issues. I also did not feel like the employees would be able to give us information that we did not already know- like I said, I have worked in pet stores. I am currently enrolled in veterinary technician school, and have worked in the dog training business where I specialized in taking care of dogs with high aggression. Outside of my professional qualifications, I have owned almost every species of common small mammal. My partner and I both felt that the employees thought we were simply new pet owners who didn’t know how to read the behavior or how to work with rats, which like ive established, is not the case.nnOverall, I am frustrated by the response of this pet store. Like I have said, we felt like we were spoken down to and our concerns were not listened to. We simply wanted to return the aggressive rat- we did not ask for a refund, exchange, or anything. My partner and were both left with a sour taste in our mouths after this experience, and will likely shop elsewhere from now on. We will definitely not be buying live animals from here anymore- we will be only supporting private rat breeders who breed for temperament, and have the decency to take responsibility when one of their animals is problematic.

Staff made my daughter and I feel welcome, even after we said we were just looking. Great fish, and reptile selection. Lots of after pet adoption essentials and toys.

Brian is the best!! Had a major issue with my goldfish, he took the time to discuss it with me and help me with a solution! Knowledgeable, helpful, and kind! Takes time out for his customers, never seems to mind! Definitely the place to go for all your pet needs ud83dude42

Nice and friendly, supplies for everything, live animals are fish, lizards, snakes, mice, hamsters. Store cat wanders around. My son wanted mice and we couldn't find any at the big stores in Burlington, came back over to Oak Harbor to get them here. Prices all seem to be the same as bigger stores.