East Bay Vivarium

The East Bay Vivarium is a vivarium located in Berkeley, California in the United States. The store is more than forty years old, the oldest and largest store of its kind in the United States. It sells snakes, lizards and various other reptiles and the supplies to maintain and care for them. The store is open to reptile enthusiasts, hobbyists, and the general public. The vivarium has been deemed a "must-see" by Disney family and the "strangest attraction" in Berkeley by The New York Times.

The vivarium was owned by Ron Cauble. He opened the business in his basement in Oakland, California in 1970. In 1979, he moved the store to an 8,000-square-foot (740 m²) storefront in Emeryville. In 1988, he sold the store and opened The Bone Room in Albany. In 1989, the building was damaged during the Loma Prieta earthquake. The damage was so bad that the store had to move. The insurance company denied the damage claim allowing the store to move. The owners had to pay $10,000 to break out of their lease. Upon moving to their current location on Fifth Street in Berkeley, they made efforts to stabilize the store to avoid future earthquake damage by having shatterproof plastic cages and attaching the shelves, via straps, to the walls. The Fifth Street location is 6,000 square feet (560 m²). The front is the store and the back, which is closed to the public, is the breeding center. As of 2001, Cliff Moser and Owen Maercks co-owned the vivarium.

In 2008, parking concerns threatened to close the vivarium. Owen Maercks spoke at a zoning board meeting, protesting the building of a 22-unit, three-story building, which would be next to the vivarium and cause a loss of parking. The vivarium only offers approximately five parking spaces to visitors. That same year, The New York Times called the vivarium and Moe's Books the only two "must-see" sites in Berkeley.

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Wikipedia