'Jungle Pets' come to downtown Coldwater selling exotic animals – Coldwater Daily Reporter
COLDWATER — Downtown’s newest store is not for everyone. Cory Langridge opened Jungle Pets at 34 W. Chicago because, “I have a bearded dragon and I got tired of driving up to Battle Creek to get bugs and stuff for it.”
The brownish-grey, cold-blooded animal is not something from a Harry Potter movie, but a pet lizard from Australia.
Langridge spent most of his life in Coldwater, which the exception of his military service in California. For the past couple of years, he decided if he had trouble finding food for his exotic pet others did also.
Are other local exotic pet owners?
“Actually, there are. We’ve been quite busy with people buying stuff” such as live and frozen mice for snakes and bugs for lizards.
Langridge also sells pets, just not cats and dogs.
“Rabbits, guinea pigs, rats, pretty much everything. Hamsters are very popular. We’ve gone through a few.”
People have pet rats?
“Quite a few people actually like rats as pets. They’re just really easy to take care of and they’re really friendly,” the store owner said.
Langridge owned his bearded dragon for about three years. To open his store the owner had to overcome a major problem.
“I was like deathly afraid of snakes,” he admitted. “I’ve never owned snakes. I used to be terrified of snakes until I open the store. I had to get over my fear of snakes. Now I can touch snakes.”
So far, Langridge sold about 20 snakes in the month he’s been open.
Along with his bearded dragon, there is a small African ball python. Both are in glass tanks in the store for people to see and touch.
“These are not for sale,” he said.
The docile lizard feels like knobby leather you can only pet in one direction. The python is smooth.
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Langridge expects to expand his exotic pet offerings.
“I’m working on my USDA license to be able to carry hedgehogs, chinchillas, shorter gliders, and the more exotic stuff.”
It’s been at least a decade since there was a pet store in Coldwater. It’s an hour drive to the nearest ones.
As for dogs and cats, “there’s enough of those in the shelter. I’m working with the shelters to start getting those animals adopted out. I’ll be having possibly a cat in here from the shelter for adoption,” he said.
The customers are a younger crowd.
“People like around their 30s and younger. The older crowd, they don’t really come in here except to look around. They don’t really purchase anything.”
People can hold the store pets or any of the animals.
“We let people hold whatever they want so that way they can get comfortable with it and see if it’s actually what they want to buy” unlike most pet stores.
Langridge will hold educational sessions. A Girl Scout troop will visit this week.
The Coldwater graduate and military veteran worked as a dispatcher for Homeland Security at the Battle Creek Federal Center before he opened Jungle Pets.
— Contact Don Reid: dReid@Gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter: @DReidTDR.
