# Big big pet shop in Leeds?



## Joshuashaw

Last time I visited it had closed down the hole pond and outdoor part of it where they use to sell all the water features, has a big big on the wall there, use to have a few caimens I think, anyone know the one I'm talking about?


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## GlasgowGecko

Living world in bradford. Or as its affectionately know 'dying world'. They lost their license to sell all but fish I believe, due to the horrendous conditions they kept the animals in.

I think the place is still there though.


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## Joshuashaw

LOL, just googled it, also known as dying world on there too. Even lost licenses for reptiles? They use to have loads, I never thought it was bad, read that it's changed hands.


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## GlasgowGecko

Yeah especially for rep! It changed for a while from husband (who got banned) to wife... and then may have changed again. Not sure. But it was on telly for being so bad (one of those undercover things i think).

May still be there though. Been a couple of years since ive been, biut that was for fish...


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## Joshuashaw

The only thing I ever remember being in pretty poor condition was the siamese fighter fish, the tanks they were in were shockingly small. I remember they shut the rep part down for a while then opened it up, whether it's still in the hands of people who got it its name dying world, but last time I went it was really good set up in the rep department, everything seemed happy, clean enough, that was when they had monkeys, kittens, puppies, snakes, billions of birds fair big ones too. Never really saw lizards though.


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## GlasgowGecko

Well if you go down, and its any good let me know.
Cool.


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## Emmaj

Joshuashaw said:


> The only thing I ever remember being in pretty poor condition was the siamese fighter fish, the tanks they were in were shockingly small. I remember they shut the rep part down for a while then opened it up, whether it's still in the hands of people who got it its name dying world, but last time I went it was really good set up in the rep department, everything seemed happy, clean enough, that was when they had monkeys, kittens, puppies, snakes, billions of birds fair big ones too. Never really saw lizards though.


OMG yes those poor fish used to make me cry going in there and seeing the state of them most either half dead or already dead 

it picked up in the place for a short while things changed a bit then it went back to square 1 all over again 

but saying that got my 1st water dragon from there as a hatcling and that was hmmm 12 years ago and he is still alive today happy and healthy living with my ex


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## bosshogg

living world has all animals including reptiles? we went in there a few months back and there had small animals, monkeys, fish, reptiles allsorts?


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## Joshuashaw

Didn't realise they ever kept reptiles? I always remember them having 1 or 2 dwarf caimens in that area under the stairs, always remember that from when I was a little kid.


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## kennedykrew

Never heard of it!!! Being quite close to them, i thought i woulda viited!
was it really that bad?:cussing:


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## ussasx

Living world has lost its license a few times over the years from what i have heard.
They currrently have a reasonable stock of reptiles including leapord geckos, beardies, corns, boas, pythons, chameloens etc.

I bought an apporx 1yr old columbian red tailed boa a few weeks ago and have had no problems at all. Have also purchased agama's and bearded dragons there and had no problems.

Also quite handy for feed, substrates and accessories.

I would still recommend tpets.co.uk which is based on kirkstal road only 2 minutes drive from living world. The staff at tpets all know there reptiles and the stock choice is much better although more expensive (I paid 69.99 for the red tail)

Living world also has a breeding pair of rock pythons that are nice and two small monkeys (not for sale).

If you are close its worth looking.


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## sulcata2big

could some one pm me the address pls as i wouldnt mind a pop along myself


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## Paul1988

can some1 pm me address too ill have a pop in


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## gingerpony

if it's where i'm thinking of it's not actually Bradford as somebody stated, it's in Armley, Leeds, on the main road through heading for the Stanningley bypass


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## Optikal

If we're on about Living World... about a mile or two off the Armley Gyratory.... then I have to say that it has drastically improved since the last time I was there. 

I remember as a kid going and seeing the Caimans, seeing how many fish were dead in how many tanks and looking at the giant spiders in amongst the filth of their ponds displays. My dads mate used to work there years ago and one of his jobs was to rub the expiry date off of expired products and re-stamp a new date on them. 

I went in a few weeks ago after travelling to T-Pets (without a doubt the BEST rep shop in Leeds, if not in all of West Yorkshire.. even if they are a tad over-priced )

I was genuinely suprised by Living World though, now know and the Pet & Garden Centre it has turned things around. All of their animals are very clean, in good well kept conditions and I even had the chance to see one of the young lads feeding The leos, chameleons and the beardies on mealies, with all of the animals looking healthy, happy and eating well. When I went in, I went in for nostalgia sake telling my wife that I'd never hand over my money to them for anything. I had three more visits to the shop without a purchase over the course of a couple of weeks and things were as nice and clean and happy as my first visit. On my fourth trip there I purchased quite a few things, satisfied that my money wasn't being handed over to shop which neglects its animals.


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## copperlid

It goes under the name Pet and Garden world now and I read it was totally different owners and people have commented that they seem ok now. Didn't realise they had reps though. Gonna check it out as it's on my way home from work. I'll report back.


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## robbiepurvis1309

i duno about living world m8 personally i wouldn't bother
its nicknamed dying world by people in the know
the licence has been removed many times and the guy has just got one in his dads, cousins name etc


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## Optikal

They have a gorgeous green Iggy for £100... the wife was trying to convince herself that we could build an extension on the house to house it


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## Joshuashaw

I've been in since this thread was posted (ages ago!!) and the rep/mammal section has improved since the previous time I was in, the fish section always seems to be in construction, but the rep and mammal section didn't seem as bad as it use to be. Although I fear those monkeys have been in there since the originally owners but I could be wrong. They do always have a wide selection in, mainly the common reptiles (boas, beardies, bosc, geckos etc). 

Might be worth something close by going for a look and getting some good reliable feedback compared to me


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## copperlid

OK, I spent quite a while in there yesterday(sad I know but I just like to hang out and watch the reps) and it seemed ok. Animals seemed fairly happy and I had a good long chat to the 'reptile specialist' who did seem to really know his stuff and told me he was trying to get some different species in there. A very nice pair of Mountain Horned Dragons led to that bit of the conversation. I still have reservations but I think that's from the reputation of years ago and I'm thinking I'll give it a chance. Lots of customers in too which says something. Though annoyingly I fell in lurve in a major way with the Bosc who seemed very keen on me too. Now all I need to do is kick out my housemates and use their room. hehe.


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## Optikal

I saw that Bosc the other day too and had the exact same thoughts 

My mate is pretty keen on the long tailed skinks they have in stock because we have never seen any anywhere else. And the Mountain Horneds are GORGEOUS :mf_dribble:


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## the zoo

i have been in there recently and the reptiles looked ok. the other animals all looked ok too but i did notice things like chinchillas being kept in a rabbit pen with nothing to climb on and stuff but its not that bad anymore. the guy who owns it if i am correct is now the husband of the woman who has jj's in halifax in the piece hall. i am told this has recently closed down but it was hardly ever open anyway


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## Joshuashaw

It would be worthwhile and I think I consider them more respectable if they sold up the horse department and all the equipment in there in bulk (so much pointless, random, unorganised sh!te it's unreal!) and converted this into another larger rep room even if it's just for animals which will bring in the public, some special animals you don't often see in pet shops, adult monitors big enclosures providing they have enough experienced educated staff.


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## brian

copperlid said:


> It goes under the name Pet and Garden world now and I read it was totally different owners and people have commented that they seem ok now. Didn't realise they had reps though. Gonna check it out as it's on my way home from work. I'll report back.


 
Right and wrong..............

It's under diffrent licence and management but the building is still owned by the same people ( I THINK ) It was at one time Mark Hemmingway he is not a bad chap to talk to as it happens thay also had or still have a company in bradford called Aqualine Who sell to more pet/reptile and aquatic shops than you could shake a stick at. Thats why if you look in pet and garden centre at leeds it has a load of aqualine products in.......


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## Magpie

Sorry to bring back an old topic but didn't feel I had enough worth putting in a new one ! Every time I go in Living World I find things wrong (as I also do in Paws for Thought's two shops in Leeds), and it's prompted me to look into how I can make some sort of complaint or report - no idea how - or if there'd even be a point, as people have said, they've been reprimanded several times and nothing has really been done, has it ?
Yes, it's improved a bit since a few years ago, but it's still a really bad shop. I bought a garter snake from there last year. When I asked the 50-something man on duty (who I assume is their 'expert' since everyone else who works there is 16 years old and without two brain cells to rub together), if I could see one of the garter snakes, he just grunted that they don't bring out reptiles, even though I was obviously thinking of buying. When I decided to take one of the snakes (there were two in the tank that I could see), he grappled around in the 1-foot square tank for ages trying to get hold of one, they were leaping about everywhere and getting really stressed out. Took him forever to actually grab one - clearly very experienced handler ! The snake I took home was under a year old, and pregnant when I got her, which I didn't know until she gave birth to 5 stillborn snakes. She later died herself, I think partly from the stress of the birth so young, and partly because I'd been told they were absolutely fine to eat lance fish alone with no supplement and not to switch to mice, and she became thiamine-deficient.

I went in just the other day and saw several things that disturbed me. They still have those poor monkeys (though I remember there being four not so long ago, and now there's two). They had two kakarikis in separate cages. One was yellow, and really unsteady on its feet - it was scared out of its mind when we walked past, nearly fell off its perch. The other one had an almost entirely bald head, and its claws were so long they were twisting and it couldn't grip its perches properly. 
As usual they had kittens. No puppies, but they had Alsatian pups the time before. The kittens were really sluggish. If I see kittens in shops, I always play with them through the glass, let them chase my hands, etc., but these just didn't want to move at all, could not get a response out of either of the two tanks of cats.
I don't know if this is a problem or not but it struck me as odd - there was a Cuban knight anole (female) with its face pressed right up against the glass, scrambling to get out, sort of like bearded dragons do when they see you. I don't know much about anoles in particular, it just seemed strange considering every other time I've seen one of the Cuban knights, it did everything in its power to ignore the people looking at it and stayed camouflaged in branches watching from a distance. This one didn't have anything to climb, just a bark hide.
I enquired in there about a degu (who was on its own in a glass tank, eating what looked like sugary, high-fat rabbit/hamster food), asked its gender, and they told me it was a boy, even though I know it was female.
The last time I went in there, they had an extremely noisy cockatoo (as they tend to be), in the room where they keep the birds, rabbits, monkeys, reptiles, kittens, puppies, rats, mice, hamsters, ferrets, chichillas, etc., screaming its head off, which was really obviously distressing a very large tegu they had in there, in way too small an enclosure. It was pacing up and down and banging its nose against the glass - it had sores on its nose where it had been doing it. 
Also not long ago, my boyfriend asked their 'aquatics expert' if they were getting any axolotls in and he didn't even know what they were. This time when we went into the fish section, it was as dirty and badly-maintained as ever - dead and dying fish in the tanks as always. I don't know what you can reasonably expect from a pet shop who are only supposed to house animals short-term til they're homed, but I think even in the short-term, the tanks they had the terrapins in were way, way too small. They had about 4 yellow-bellies in one tank, fairly young ones. Then in another (I'd say the tank was about 2.5ft wide) they had three terrapins. Two were yellow-bellies, older ones, almost fully-grown, and one was a different type that I've not seen before, no idea what it was but it was a lovely little thing. It was also probably fully-grown. If the three of them had stood on their back legs side-by-side across the front of the tank, there wouldn't have been much of a gap between each one. There was no dry basking area, no UV or spot light, and the different terrapin was being pushed around by the other two all the time I was watching. 
We went round and looked at all the other fish, and they had two big piranhas in a tank that wasn't big enough. I think they'd been fighting for territory because both had really scruffy fins with big chunks bitten out of them, as well as large bitemarks and gouges out of the sides of both fish.

I could go on all day about the things that were wrong there, and the same with Paws for Thought, there are endless things. Is there a way to get any of this improved ? Where do you even start ?!


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## PawsForThought

I would recommend speaking with the shops first... they would be the best people to sort out any problems... and if they are unresponsive then perhaps further action could be taken by a third party.

You have PM : victory:


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