The owner says the discarded critters have flooded the NW Harris Co. exotic pet store.

An exotic pet store owner in the Greater Inwood area is swamped with discarded pets and is issuing a warning to anyone considering buying their own exotic pet.

“These animals are not the problem with them, but with people.” Underground Animals of Houston owner Nick Lue said. “People will get a snake this big, and then you know it’s eight feet tall. They have no idea if it will keep growing or where it will stop. So they just throw it out.”

His business started out as a rescue but is now a shop, a breeding farm and even birthday parties to help fund all the rescues that come.

His shop is full of snakes and bearded dragons. The peacock also roams. But these are just some of the rescued pets.

“We get everything from crocodiles, monkeys, I have seen cats that look like tigers,” Lue said.

The overwhelming number of abandoned pets, he says, is because chain stores don’t inform shoppers about what they’re getting into, such as that some reptiles live 40 to 60 years or that pets are expensive to keep.

“No one informed the owners about the animal they were buying,” he said. He also pointed to the lack of available online resources.

The 27-year-old business owner is doing everything he can to save the critters that have infested his store. He said that all income goes to the animals, and he has not paid himself a salary for three years.

His advice is to never buy an exotic animal online based solely on an online photo. The local breeder is always better, he said.

If you want to get rid of an exotic animal, he suggests seeking professional help rather than abandoning it.