Scales Tails - Aquatics Emporium & Pet Store LLC

Fantastic experience: BEST AFFORDABLE CRICKETS AND WORMS IN TOWN! The owners are very kind and generous in sharing their knowledge about animal care. They clearly care about their animals. They carry a wide variety of quality reptiles, aquatics, spiders, rodents, birds, and more. Also have a great selection of terrarium tools and accessories. Don't miss this Joplin gem.

Negative experience: Had absolutely no selection on toys, cages or anything to take care of a bird or any of the pets they sell , was very dirty, smelling terrible and the customer service was terrible very unprofessional place will not be back cheaper animals at PetSmart and less of a hassle (looks nothing like the photos in there profile that are 3 years old )

Fantastic experience: The owners of this shop are amazing. The pets are every well taken care of. I have bought two rats for pets and they sold the food they fed them to me.

Fantastic experience: Amazing people amazing goldfish just love their store and atmosphere, very friendly in love, coming in on my free time, just to hang out

Negative experience: Went in yesterday for the first time to get some feeder mice for my snake and I wanted to look around to see what all they had. I looked around and immediately felt so bad for the animals upon walking in. especially the fish. Very very dirty tanks.. the lady was nice but I was unable to look around to get a better look at the rest of the animals and stuff in the store and felt like I was almost forced out the door really quick.

Fantastic experience: Love this place

Negative experience: Disgusting. Feces on floor. Animals in cages not big enough for them. Guinea pigs were terrified.

Fantastic experience: The owners are absolutely amazing they care for there animals like there own kids and they treat there customer like family.

Negative experience: Every single snake was glass surfing due to improper tank size as well as no humidity and multiple dead fish in all aquariums. The lady was nice, but very pushy. If you can handle the immediate smell of ammonia, then this is your place, otherwise you’d be better off getting a pet from a big box store. The conditions are very clearly better, which is depressing for all those animals.

Positive experience: Was hard to find no outside sign, a little dirty only one person to help. Although the lady that was there was very nice.

Fantastic experience: Bobby Bawl was very helpful. Great service!

Fantastic experience: If you're looking for the best place in Joplin to find animals and supplies, look no further than Scales n Tails! This local mom-and-pop shop is hands down the best when it comes to reptiles and exotic pets. The owners truly go above and beyond to care for their animals and ensure they are in the best possible condition before they go home with a new owner. The selection of reptiles here is unmatched – it's hard to imagine a better collection anywhere! Whether you're a beginner or an experienced reptile enthusiast, you’ll find exactly what you need. Their stock includes everything from reptiles to amphibians, and each animal looks well-cared-for and healthy. What really sets this place apart is the genuine love and care the owners put into everything they do. They make sure you’re fully informed and prepared, whether it’s about the needs of the animals or the supplies you’ll need to create the best environment for them. The customer service is fantastic—friendly, knowledgeable, and always willing to go the extra mile to ensure you and your pets are happy. Support your local businesses and head to Scales n Tails in Joplin for all your pet and reptile needs. You won’t find a better place to go!

Negative experience: My wife and I were absolutely shocked of what we seen there was at least three dead fish in each tank that we looked at it smelled really bad they had a iguana in a bird cage and some snakes that were too big for enclosures and they had some always walking with really close my wife and I are not going to be coming back to this place and I don’t recommend no one else dose too

Fantastic experience: The ladies and volunteers that run it are amazing! All my fish are beautiful, flared, colorful, and very healthy. All my plant life I’ve bought are still alive months later. Love this place.

Fantastic experience: Great folks who are very knowledgeable and kind. Fun animals and great prices on feeders. Can't say enough how awesome this shop is.

Fantastic experience: Beautiful selection of birds and fish!! Also has a really cool little shark in the back!

Fantastic experience: This is a locally owned business. They are always trying to make improvements for customer flow and animal housing. They have the best animal food available. Since we found them this is the only place we've bought live mice/rats, crickets, and other repile snacks. We've bought multiple animals from here and always had great experiences

Negative experience: This shop needs closed down It's awful living conditions and if you don't believe every bad review on here go see it for yourself. The animals should not be living like that

Negative experience: Bought a snake from this place. Had mites… funny enough right after buying this snake, I went to pet smart and the employee after finding out where I got him. He told me to keep an eye out for mites. The snake is fine now mite free but pretty disappointing after spending $100 for a snake I could have gotten at another store for $50 had mites. Also they TAX u so hard. Got 1 snake for the price of 2. It’s fine tho just felt bad for the little guy. Love the snake tho. Will never come back.

Negative experience: amazing nice kind pepole but the store did smell strongly of anmal waist and was dirty I culd be a little cleaner but the red cornsnake I got is thriving and helthy

Fantastic experience: One stop shop. Definitely has a wider variety of animals, as well as habitat components than the competitors around here. Knowledgeable and very friendly.

Fantastic experience: Great customer service, Great prices, And healthy animal

Negative experience: Went in to ask about adopting a tortoise and was met by an incredibly rude woman who barked at us that it is illegal to own an African tortoise in the state of Missouri. Who talks to a customer that way who comes in looking to buy from your business??? She is NOT correct either!!!! I would highly recommend finding somewhere else for your animal needs. Plenty of great local businesses who will treat you with courtesy and respect.

Negative experience: I bought some isopods for my birthday. And I apparently bought some mites aswell.. I called up there and told them. There was no apologies no refund nothing to make it right. I have multiple farms and colonies and they are all in jeopardy now. Very displeased with the owners and the business itself. Becarful what you buy from here bc you may be unknowingly buying mites.

Fantastic experience: I went to 2 fish stores today; this place, and Becky's. Scales Tails was an absolute dream. They have literally everything, and their stuff was in stock with a reasonable price. Not to mention the extremely cheap aquarium deals they have. I could easily spend an hour in this place, and would definitely recommend going here, whether it's to get a critter or just to have fun. Also, even though they were extremely busy, one person was trying to put away an entire fish order, and there only seemed to be 1 employee, she was doing great and regularly checked on me to make sure I was okay still. I would likely go to scales tails again rather than Becky's, mostly due to pricing and availability.

Fantastic experience: This place is super cool, the people are really nice and are very knowledgeable about the pets they are selling.

Fantastic experience: We had a great experience here, enough to make us drive the hour and a half to them to buy supplies for our reptiles. They’ve spent a lot of time giving us advice and answering our questions even though we’ve only made very small purchases. The enclosures have always been clean and all the animals look well cared for. I think a lot of people go in and forget that these animals are for sale, the enclosures they’re in are not meant to be permanent. Still though, the animals are cared for and have everything they need in the mean time. Definitely recommend this place if you’re looking to buy reptiles (they have a great variety of ball pythons especially), or just needing reptiles or fish supplies/food.

Negative experience: Pretty dirty place. The smell of ammonia in this place was horrible. Walked out the door feeling like a I had creepy crawlies all over me. I'm pretty sure the containment of the reptiles are not safe AT ALL. I've been looking for a LFS to get equipment and live stock for my aquarium, this place is definitely not it. I'd rather make the 2 1/2 round trip to Fayetteville to someone who takes care of their equipment

Negative experience: I owned my own pet store for 10 years and I would be ashamed to say this place was mine. It stinks, it's caged are empty, it's tanks are empty and no water in the little bowls the snakes had. Shame on you people for doing business like this and shame on anyone who supports you.

Fantastic experience: We used to shop at the big stores until we found this little shop. Now it's the only place we shop for our reptile and aquarium needs. Great people with excellent knowledge.

Fantastic experience: I went in here just looking to see what kind of fish I wanted, ended up falling in love with the snakes and I think when I am ready I'm going to go get one! Definitely was not what I was expecting! I love the friendly staff they are all so nice and all very knowledgeable!

Negative experience: The store smelled god awful the animals are poorly kept, and the 2 employees were following me around like I was going to steal something truly lost a customer no wonder why you aren’t allowed phones in the store. I feel awful for the animals in there

Fantastic experience: Awesome staff and great selection of animals

Fantastic experience: I purchased some minnows for our koi pond for a fair price. My daughter was all smiles. #ShopLocal #ShopPersonal #SupportLocal

Fantastic experience: Scales and tails is the best place to get an animal of ur choice they have always been kind to us and always had want we want or needed. They have also been kind nice and kind to customers and they highly take good pride in there animals I luv this place so if looking for a good place to own a pet go there

Negative experience: Truly disgusting and disappointing. The smell was absolutely awful and the animals look poorly cared for. When I asked about the living situation of specific reptiles the women became extremely defensive and rude. At the point where she kept going I became rude back the female employee proceeded to lock me and my friend in the store and refuse to let me leave because she felt the need to call the police for what? I couldn’t even tell you. Which was absolutely absurd I did not break any store policies. I then Informed the woman that I had reported the store in the past to animal control and would be doing so again, she proceeded to follow me to my car screaming at me. Snakes in small tanks with nothing but dirty water in interesting choices of water bowls. This place needs to be shut down. When I first visited years ago the store was in much better condition. I see so many reviews saying the were knowledgeable but the lady had completely wrong idea of what was adequate tank size for the snakes. This place has gone downhill. If you cannot properly care for the animals you should not have them. I will continue to report this store and absolutely encourage everyone else to do so when they go in and view the conditions.

Fantastic experience: Absolutely love this store! Went in for the first time like 2-3 months ago and they gave us a tour and showed us all the animals! Animals are more than well taken care of! They have always been so friendly to us! We recently bought a fat tailed gecko from them! We go every Saturday to buy crickets for our two geckos! Prices are pretty low compared to other stores! We love them and will continue to buy any other animals and food from them!!

Fantastic experience: This is hands down the greatest little mom and pop pet store in Joplin. The family including their children are very knowledgeable about all the animals in stock and take great care of the pets they sell. I purchased 2 bearded dragons at PetSmart one died in 11 days the other in 4 days they were not well i wish i had known about this little store first because the little beardie i got from them was well taken care of and I’m very happy. Will recommend this shop to everyone. They purchased all the end buildings to start this business And do their best to make it a safe and clean environment and for all of you who think you know everything about their business, do your damn home work. Stop deleting all the good comments on this page people deserve to know the truth. i personally will never buy another pet anywhere else. I am there at least once every 2 weeks buying crickets and meal worms for my beardies

Negative experience: Recently purchased a snake from here, and unfortunately passed away , their replies are covered in mites and left untreated which is what had happened to my snake, did everything we could to treat him but the mites were too bad. It had looked like the snake rotted from the inside out. Not only that, had also got an axolotl who passed away as well who also looked like it had rotted from inside and out. The owner is very nice, but those animals are not taken care of. There is obvious visible mites all over each of those snakes in her reptile room. It’s just sad that they would leave them untreated for so long claiming that they’re “animal lovers”.

Negative experience: just gonna be very honest with this store! If you do not have the time to care for these animals properly, you do not I REPETE do not need to be in this business. Just some of the things I observed, Emaciated animals, mites, dirty cages (had not been cleaned in a while), Bearded dragons with stuck shed, the snake room was so sad! URINE smell and bugs inside the snake cages. The building is in major disrepair. I'm sure this business started out with good intentions but it has turned into a house of horrors for these animals. Please do what's right and have all these animals checked by a vet. Put animal welfare before money.

Negative experience: I wanted to like this place but was very disappointed. It is very filthy. Animals here looked to be in very poor living conditions. As of right now I wouldn't recommend this place to anyone.

Negative experience: Charged me $45 for 30 isopods. Got home and there was actually only 9! I got charged for dirt! Also, they looked like regular backyard rollie pollies. Will be taking my business elsewhere.

Negative experience: Told me I needed to cycle for 6 months

Fantastic experience: A friendly, knowledgeable staff. Great service. Pricing is a little higher than some places, but you get a pet that's been very well taken care of. Not just locked in a cage and fed. And a variety unmatched in the area. Can not recommend highly enough. If you want a fish or reptile this is the store for you.

Negative experience: I am an avid snake owner and enthusiasts. I use to get my rats from them but my snakes would not eat the rats. Mind you I have boas. Boas eat a lot. I noticed tumors on one of the rats and another one looked sickly. Got rats from somewhere else and they never even hit the ground. When looking at the pythons I noticed most if not all have mites. Which is a pain to get rid of.

Negative experience: Good animals. I've bought a few. But lying to me saying you don't have female rats so I do breed my own ins completely disrespect. You husband had to tell us the truth and do to that after this last snake I'm paying for y'all will lose my business. I have no respect for lier's.

Negative experience: Terrible. The smell and condition of this store is like nothing ive seen before. We left because of the horrid smell and filth and both of us were sick for two days after visiting. Literally. This store needs shut down. Avoid at all cost!

Fantastic experience: We just recently discovered this store and if you haven’t yet, you need to check them out! The owners and employees went above and beyond letting my daughters hold the snakes and teaching them all about the different frogs and lizards. We ended up taking home these 2 rats whom are just so sweet and adorable. You can tell all the animals there are handled, loved and cared for.

Fantastic experience: Greeted me showed me everything thing in the store, let us hold annals and educated us on everything about the animal,10/10 would recommend for your pets needs

Fantastic experience: This store had been renovated, from the time I started to come in to now. The owners are awesome, I get all my feeders from them, they're the only place I really go to, honestly. I've bought numerous reptiles from them, and they have reasonable pricing.

Positive experience: Cluttered and dirty. The animals seemed to be taken care of. However, they also all seemed to be the owners' pets, so I am not sure what all they were selling.

Fantastic experience: I got two female rats from here back in February. I love this place. I'm getting two babies tomorrow. They have a big variety of animals. And Im so excited to get my new babies!!!!

Negative experience: My family visited the shop today and we are an absolute discussed at the condition of these animals are being kept in The African gray parrot has a bowl full of sunflower seeds, which is absolutely ridiculous and will cause fatty liver disease The reptile area smelled like extremely strong ammonia from urine and feces not being cleaned up for a very long time I am going to ensure that this business is visited by the appropriate authorities because this is uncalled for to leave these animals in the condition that they are in there were even customers yelling at the staff today about the condition of the animals and customers were asking if they can help clean up the store since the company doesn’t care enough to do so You guys should be ashamed of yourselves for the miss treatment of these animals. I will ensure that this store is reported for neglect and abuse.

Fantastic experience: Love going in here they are always so helpful and friendly. They always have a very good selection of things you don't normally see places.

Negative experience: Honestly the grosses store I’ve ever been to. The smell is so bad it gave me a horrible migraine. There is animal feces all of the ground and in their cages. The staff was nice though. I wish I would have taken photos to post.

Fantastic experience: Wonderful family owned business. If they don't know the answer, they will do their best to get one. Always have what I m looking for.

Fantastic experience: We go here now every week to pick our snake up a mouse but we also ended up adding two new members to our family. The people that own this place are absolutely amazing and very family oriented. They are very knowledgeable about animals and take amazing care of these sweet babies. I definitely recommend over the other pet stores in town.

Negative experience: People should be shut down. They have no idea what they are doing. Watched them drop fish on the floor bag them and send them out the door

Positive experience: Staff was friendly,prices were reasonable. I am giving 3 stars due to the smell. It hits you right in the face as soon as you enter. I literally had a headache after i left due to it.

Positive experience: Variety of creatures.

Fantastic experience: Great store for freshwater fish. The prices are good and my fish are doing very well. I will definitely be buying all of my fish from this store.

Fantastic experience: Awesome selection and the staff was very nice

Negative experience: Leaving one star because that is the lowest it will let me. Did a deal with Derrick and he conned me out of 400$. Messaged him about the broken equipment he knew he gave me trying to come to a resolve then ghosted me. Will be call the BBB. If you like being ripped off do NOT do business with this place.

Fantastic experience: I absolutely love this place they always have the feeders I'm looking for and for a good price. The people are amazing and so helpful, and there are so many new animals and fish to look at every time I go and they are willing to answer any questions you have about animals

Fantastic experience: Had gotten 2 snakes from them, both were very well taken care of. The employees are very friendly and welcoming. I highly recommend going to here especially if you're looking for a wonderful scaley or furry friend

Fantastic experience: The owner is so friendly and helpful. Always stops what she's doing to help and visit.

Fantastic experience: Would 100% recommend love coming to this place can always get want you want/need will help with everything you can think about

Negative experience: 3 days ago I bought a baby savanna monitor from this place. They have a good selection of creatures but this place isn’t clean, organized or functioning properly. The tanks weren’t labeled right the Savannah monitor I bought had no light in the tank and when I got it home it was acting strange it wouldn’t eat it wouldn’t drink so I took it to a reptile shop in Springfield and they discovered a injury on the stomach of the lizard and my lizard they said is pretty much rotting from the inside out sadly my lizard most likely will die I got medicine for him now but be aware of the conditions of this shop and the conditions of the stuff your buying. The staff if very nice but that’s about all the good things I have to say

Fantastic experience: This place is amazing!!!!! People need to come by and see them

Positive experience: Bought fish from here 2 weeks ago and all have died. I have been doing the water test and taking care of the fish the same way I was taught to but the fish still die quickly ever since Derrick has left the quality of fish has dropped.

Fantastic experience: The store is great the staff are amazing just overall a great place to get all your fish an reptile needs highly recommend

Fantastic experience: I love this place they are quite knowledgeable in salt and fresh water fish reptiles and birds among many others including pet rodents. I love to go and look around from time to time I'm still debating getting a snake or a beardie.

Fantastic experience: I love this place. Never knew about till my wifey surprised me with a tortoise. So freaking cool. They have a big tank with some cool sharks. Really dope place. Definitely recommend it.

Fantastic experience: Glad I came to this place awhile back! Been coming ever since with their great customer service and "small mom n pop shop" vibes. They'll special order anything you want and always great with the kids. Today was just a cricket run but I ended up with their sun conure on my shoulder as I walked the store.

Fantastic experience: Great place and one of the few places with rats and mice

Fantastic experience: Awesome place! Very knowledgeable about the animals that they sell!

Positive experience: Friendly people and the pets are well cared for. Knowledgeable and helpful.

Fantastic experience: This a mom and pop run pet shop and then are the two nicest people. They have a great selection of fish and reptiles. We bought out Breaded Dragon from them and they are very knowledgeable and help us with everything. We highly recommend them

Positive experience: Knowledgable folks to help with fish selection and environments. Other critters to see besides fish. Go take a look.

Fantastic experience: Absolutely amazing shop! Very friendly and helpful. It is easy to spend an hour or more chatting with staff and looking at all of the fish and reptiles. I traveled an hour to go to a box store pet shop only to stand in a never ending line. I googled to see if there was any other options in the area and found Scales and Tails! So thankful I left and gave this place the chance it most definitely deserves. I won’t be going anywhere else for my aquatic needs.

Fantastic experience: We absolutely LOVE it here! They’re super friendly and knowledgeable on all the animals they have. They take wonderful care of their animansl and customers. We have 4 dogs, a corn snake, a Chinese water dragon, a bearded dragon, a chinchilla, a conure parrot, a Sunday conure parrot. We’ve got everything except the dogs from them so far. Highly recommend!

Fantastic experience: Very helpful and personable people.

Fantastic experience: I absolutely love this place great prices and heathy animals the owners are super nice and knowledgeable this my my baby sally I got from them and she’s doing great ❤️ Highly recommend

Fantastic experience: Great service and healthy fish! We adopted a beautiful koi Betta. His fins were in perfect condition and he was obviously very well taken care of while he was at the shop waiting to come home. They have a great selection, we will be back again (and again and again and again)

Positive experience: 3rd time this has happened to me. Never open when they say they are… Awesome fish selection though.

Negative experience: Price markup is high and no warranties on animals purchased. They'd get one star but store and tanks were very clean.

Fantastic experience: Wonderful shop with so many options! Highly recommend this to anyone!!!

Negative experience: Owners kid followed my family around the store recording us. Did not feel comfortable in that setting.

Negative experience: Very friendly place, but the smell was overwhelming. Seems like a work in progress.

Negative experience: This place smelled awful, just absolutely terrible. I had to cover my nose with my shirt while looking at their critters, and after about 5 minutes had to leave. Their salt water fish tanks were quite dirty, like murky enough water you couldn't see some of the fish very well. The whole place just felt dirty and gross and I can't imagine purchasing anything there would end well. I will not be back!

Fantastic experience: Great place to see animals you don’t see most of the time at PetSmart or Petland here in Joplin. Derrick is super nice and helpful!

Fantastic experience: The staff is very helpful and knowledgeable and the store is full of all kinds of cool stuff! I'm definitely coming back!

Fantastic experience: Very friendly and the owners make you feel very welcome are very helpful when having any questions.. Thank you both for now becoming my number one go to aquatic store!!

Fantastic experience: Wonderful establishment! Good variety of unique fish and reptiles that you would otherwise never find at a Petsmart or Petland. Good prices and healthy animals. Recently bought a lemon blast ball python from them and she is a very good eater :) She had some mites but they were no trouble to get rid of. Looking forward to bringing home more scaly babies from Scales n' tails!

Fantastic experience: Derrick is very knowledgeable and willing to take the time to answer questions. He gave great advice as we are setting up a planted tank. The tank is doing well and look forward to returning to Scales Tails to purchase more plants as well as the fish, shrimp, snails etc that live in the tank.

Fantastic experience: We went in to look for a bearded dragon, the owner was awesome! Super helpful, and answered all the questions we had. He got us set up with a cool looking red translucent beardie, and the tank for a good price. There is also a good selection of fish. Great place!

Fantastic experience: Derrick, the is very nice. The prices are very reasonable. If they do not have something in stock he will order it for you. Great place to get your feeder mice for your snakes, everyone should come check it out.

Fantastic experience: I am very new to a axolotl aquarium and the owner has been very informative and professional

Positive experience: This place has a various amount of stuff. Snakes, reptiles, fish, an feeder rats. Check'em out if those are your thing.

Fantastic experience: Awesome costumer service! Derrick helped me order my first custom tank! Everything was easy and efficient and my tank is awesome! He couldn’t have made the whole experience nicer!