Panhandle Exotics

About Panhandle Exotics

Panhandle Exotics is an exotic animal store at 37 N Navy Blvd in Pensacola, Florida, that also operates a small indoor zoo named The Wild Side. The business describes itself as individually owned and operated and as licensed by the USDA and the state. It is mainly a retail pet store, and it is not accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

According to its website, the store sells a range of exotic pets, with mammals including sugar gliders, mini-pigs, kinkajous, raccoons, hedgehogs, skunks, ferrets and lemurs, plus reptiles, amphibians, invertebrates and freshwater fish. The site says its inventory is constantly changing. It also lists online shopping, pet boarding, transport to any legal U.S. state, financing, and a separate rocks and minerals shop.

History

The About page says the business was established in 2012, when it started its exotic breeding program, operating from home and selling at flea markets. It opened a small store in 2015 on Palafox in Pensacola and now operates from a facility the page describes as 4,500 square feet. The store says it keeps a non-commercial, mom-and-pop feel focused on customer service, breeds many species itself and obtains others from other USDA-licensed breeders and zoos.

Exhibits and habitats

The Wild Side is described as a mini indoor zoo. The home page describes it as Pensacola's only indoor zoo and names an Asian otter, a South American sloth, ring-tailed lemurs, naked mole rats and a fox among its animals, with hands-on encounters available for some species. The About page also states that the store keeps New Guinea singing dogs, which it describes as essentially extinct in the wild, and says private breeding programs such as its own help the species carry on.

Planning your visit

As listed on the store's website, it is open Tuesday through Sunday from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. Central time and is closed Mondays. The store admission page says regular customers are exempt from admission fees, that no admission fee applies on weekdays outside summer break, and that a per-person fee applies to the store side on weekends and daily during summer break. Store admission is a credit that can be applied to a purchase during the same visit, while zoo admission is a separate ticket that is not credited. Rates are on the store's website.