SHIELDS GAZETTE (UK) 18 August 08 Reptile hotel opens - off Lizard Lane (Terry Kelly)
A new hotel is open in South Tyneside – for an unusual type of guest.
With guests needing to be no more than 2ft long, and a menu consisting of live crickets, it won't be to everyone's taste. But for reptiles, it will be positively five star.
And it is in the perfect location – just off Lizard Lane!
The Reptile Hotel is a new pet shop selling a variety of lizards and tortoises, but also provides holiday accommodation for pampered pets.
Owner Carol Thornton said she is responding to a growing public demand.
She said: "I recognised a gap in the market, and news about the shop is already spreading. We only opened earlier this month but business has been good, and we have already sold several baby bearded dragon lizards.
"We can also house up to 10 pets at a time. We can accommodate reptiles up to about 2ft long while their owners are on holiday."
Situated in Fallow Road, off Lizard Lane, Marsden, The Reptile Hotel was launched with investment of about £30,000, including a £4,000 start-up grant from Tedco.
Mrs Thornton's 15-year-old Craig, a pupil at St Wilfrid's RC College, helps out the family business during school holidays.
Mrs Thornton, who also sells live insects for food, added: "I got the idea for the shop when my family had a reptile, and we had real problems getting the right food.
"News about The Reptile Hotel is spreading by word-of-mouth, but I also put out flyers about the business.
"I was a self-employed caterer 18 years ago, but this is my first business since then. Thankfully, it seems to be taking off."
Registered with a local vet, the shop sells a wide variety of reptiles, from tangerine lizards to corn snakes, and adult and baby bearded dragons.
Other exotic pets for sale include pygmy hedgehogs, plus more conventional animals like puppies, hamsters and gerbils.
And they are hoping people take up the service to leave their reptiles with them when going on holiday.
Reptile hotel opens