Snakes Alive! Bishes Fishes to become Terraria and Aquaria
A well-known business that has sold fish and exotic pets for more than three decades is now under new management and has expanded its offering.
The previous owners of Bishes’ Fishes, Tim and Karen Bishop, set up the business in 1988 but last year decided to sell it.
It has now been taken on by Krissi Carre, who has brought with her two other businesses that she operates – Island Pets and Second Chance Saddlery.
Although Ms Carre has continued operating under the Bishes name for a while, she said the business will soon become Terraria and Aquaria to reflect the diversity of what it will provide.
Alongside the fish and exotic pets, the first floor of the Oatlands site is now the home of several snakes, rabbits, lizards and Guinea pigs who are all part of a new education centre.
Island Pets already took animals to care homes, schools and groups such as the Girl Guides and scouts, but the new site is going to be offering open days where people can get the chance to meet the animals and handle some of them.
This is a work in progress, said Ms Carre: ‘The aim is to create a better education centre. We want to get it better fitted out for presentation to our customers.’
As well as open days and parties, the centre will also be available for people who may not have owned a pet before.
If they buy an animal from the shop, they will be able to take part in the ‘Poppet Pets’ scheme, which will see them keeping their pets at the centre for a few weeks but having to provide daily care.
While some reptiles will be sold by the shop, others will remain part of the education centre, where they will be acclimatised to being handled by Andy Moore, formerly a volunteer at the Accidental Zoo.
‘We want to provide a sanctuary for unwanted reptiles,’ said Ms Carre, and the centre is already working with the GSPCA and has taken some animals from there.
Animals have also been brought in from the former Accidental Zoo, including its star boa constrictor, Bella, and her two offspring.
One of the re-homed reptiles is George, a paddle-tailed newt who, at the ripe old age of 16, may well be one of the oldest of his kind since they usually do not live longer than about 10 years.
‘He belonged to a lady who’s moved into a care home,’ said Ms Carre.
His former owner now pops in to see him in his new home, next to the cash register in the shop.
