Just a quick note to let folks know that we have finally gotten some pond plants in stock. Currently, we just have some water hyacinth in stock, but it is a start, and it has been going quickly! We'll keep working on getting some water lettuce and maybe some pond lillies too. We've got some pretty nice pond fish in stock too - perfect Mother's Day presents (hint, hint if you forgot or need help coming up with an idea!).

- Bill

Alright - a couple website updates here.

First, we think we have definitely tracked down and fixed the issue some folks were having with subscribing to the site (particularly for folks with verizon.net and comcast.net email address). We've tested this a bit more extensively than last time and it definitely seems to be working, but just the same... if you try creating a new account and don't get an email from the site about it, please use the contact form and let us know.

Another feature we've added (that might not seem like such a great feature right off the bat, but trust me it really is) is the addition of what is called a 'Captcha'. Captchas are those little slightly distorted images that you need to type in to submit a form in order for the form to work. These things help us keep the site clear of any spambot submissions (which we've already been hit with two instances of), and keeping spambots away is essential to keeping the site usable for real people. So while it does mean an extra step for folks using our site, it also means the site is a bit more protected.

Finally, I've gotten around to creating the user accounts that have been requested via the store sign-up sheet. My apologies for not getting to them sooner, but the email issue above was preventing me from doing this. For these accounts, I simply used the same username as your email address. If you would like to request a different username, simply drop me an email and we can get that taken care of.

- Bill

First, let me announce that this weekend we will be working with the members of the Pittsburgh Area Planted Aquarium Society (PAPAS) to setup a couple aqua-scaped aquariums for folks interested in keeping live planted aquariums. For those folks who really hated to see Tim's display tank go, this should come as good news. More on that as it develops.

Currently, we also have two new frog display tanks at the store. One tank will house our Dendrobates leucomelas (Bumble Bee Poison Dart Frogs) which we have for sale - in the photo above, it is the larger tank on the left. The second tank will house our Vietnamese Mossy Frog. Currently, the Mossy Frog is not for sale, as I am hoping to track down several more and start a breeding colony of them. These tanks help to show the great variety in setups you can use for various reptiles and amphibians.

A little more info on the Mossy Frog tank... This tank is a fairly simple setup (and subsequently, fairly inexpensive. The tank itself is actually a 10 gallon aquarium - it actually even has one side with several cracks, so it works well as a tank to use for something other than fish. I turned the tank on its side and stood it up with the open top facing forward, and then siliconed a piece of glass in across the bottom of the opening to allow the tank to hold some small amount of water. Next, I constructed a container to bury in the substrate to hold more water as well as a small Repti-Flo pump. I covered that with Hydro-Balls (ZooMed's new hydroton pebbles that are available at the store), then a layer of filter floss, then a layer of Eco Earth, followed lastly by a mat of moss that we had grown at the store. Then I took a piece of cork bark and drilled a small hole towards the top, and then ran a hose from the pump up to that hole. This gives the nice effect of water constantly cascading down the cork bark, as well as dripping off the leaves of the pothos ivy placed in the tank. Also in the tank are some plant trimmings from the other frog tank, and an Anubias barteri. The cork bark needs a bit more trimming to keep the mossy frog from constantly hiding behind it, but the bark is currently secured in place by some velcro (which works better in my opinion than permanently securing the cork bark with silicone). Alternative to the cork bark, you could run a setup with the Exo-Terra terrarium and run a water feature down the styrofoam background included with those terrariums.

I have a few more photos of these tanks, just view the comments for this post to see them. (I didn't want to clutter up the main page too much with them).

Note: I am also trying out letting folks post comments to news posts here, so if you have questions or comments about this stuff, feel free to post a comment.

- Bill

Well, unfortunately, some problems with the website seem to have snuck past us during the beta testing. It seems some issues have been creeping up for folks trying to create new user accounts. If you experienced this problem, please use the Contact form to send us a quick email so we can resolve the issue.

I believe that I've found the source of the problem and fixed it, but if it shows up again, or if anyone continues to experience the problem, please let us know so we can continue trying to figure out what is going wrong.

I apologize for any inconvenience this might have caused anyone.

- Bill

Well, some folks definitely took advantage of our one year anniversary sales, but I'm sure some folks missed out. Obviously we can't keep everything going, but we will continue some of the sales (and I'm wracking my brain trying to come up with ideas that might work for monthly deals - especially for email mailing list members).

Anyway, the buy one get one free on Oregon Desert Frozen Brine Shrimp deal is still available - so jump on that deal and treat your fish to a healthy treat. We're also still giving away a free 2 oz. frozen brine shrimp package for signing up to the email mailing list, so just fill out the sign-up sheet at the check-out counter in the store and we'll get you some free brine shrimp (no purchase is necessary). Lastly, the reptile 'kits' are going to stick around for a bit - the discounts won't be as great, but you'll still get some discount on the whole package, plus you'll know that you're setup with everything you need for your new reptile!

- Bill

First off, if you haven't been to the site in a while, make sure you read the next post section as it does include the sales we're currently running for our one year anniversary. There are a lot of great deals there, so you won't want to miss out on that!

To the right you should see what I'm hoping to use for our t-shirt artwork. It is a slight play on our logo, and I think it kind of gives a bit more of that playful feel that we were really going for with the logo in the first place.

The other idea for t-shirt designs will be based on the artwork we used for the sign out at the end of the driveway. I'm not sure how it will look, but we're still working on that with the various folks who are giving us quotes on the shirts.

More on our current sales. I kind of hinted towards other fish being more deeply discounted. There are a couple that might surprise you with the amount of the discount, so stop by and check out the deals. Or just pick up some other fish at the general 10% discount.

Also, we got three of the 'Pre-Built' Reptile Setups pulled together today - one for leopard geckos, one for green striped dragon agamas, and one for fire-bellied toads. I want to get at least one more done up tomorrow if time permits - probably for corn/milk/king snakes. So far, it looks like the general deal with those is a 15% discount on all of the items in the 'kit' as well as an additional discount on the animals themselves. Upon further debate on these 'kits', we decided not to actually set them up completely to leave a bit of flexibility with some of the included items (basically so folks could upgrade certain items if they preferred).

Anyway - please keep in mind that these deals only run through the end of the weekend. We might continue some of them (like the reptile 'kits') but the discounts won't be as deep, so if you're thinking about them, you might want to jump on them early!

- Bill

Well, it is official! A & B Oddball Pets and Aquariums is one year old! It certainly has been one wild year, and we're looking forward to what the future holds for us.

As promised, here is the list of deals we're running for our celebration:

• 10% Off All Fish Livestock - and certain fish are even more discounted, but you'll have to come in to see those discounts! (excludes feeders)
• 15% Off All Exo-Terra Glass Terrariums, hoods, and stands(if we don't have the size you want, let us know and we will order it at the same discount!)
• Buy One, Get One Free on all Oregon Desert Frozen Brine Shrimp
• Special Deals on our new 'Pre-Built' Reptile Setups - basically we are setting up some enclosures for certain reptiles, and not only will the cost of the enclosure be discounted, but you will then save extra on the appropriate reptile for that enclosure!
• Free 2 oz. Frozen Brine Shrimp when you sign up for the email mailing list!

That's what we have going right now, but keep an eye out, maybe we'll come up with something special. We're going to run our celebration through the end of the weekend, so we hope to see you sometime before now and then!

Thanks again for a great first year!!!

- Bill

The website is officially live now. We're still going to be working on adding new features, but user registration no longer requires an invitation from the site. Simply click on the register link and fill out the form, and then wait for the approval. Sorry - we don't want to open the registration completely and get swamped with spam bots and what not. We will try to make sure approvals take no longer than 24 hours.

Also, keep an eye out for more updates over the next day or so as we announce all of the stuff we're doing for our one year celebration.

- Bill

Well, as I'm typing this, that is the current countdown to the one year anniversary of A & B Oddball Pets and Aquariums! It has been an amazing year, and we're looking forward to what we can accomplish in the coming years. I guess time will tell.

However, for our anniversary, we need to celebrate somehow! I've been trying to come up with good ways to celebrate, and all of them are geared at letting our customers know just how much we appreciate your business!

First, the website will be officially released as 'open'. Registration will no longer require the invitation request (though administration approval will still be necessary to keep the site from being over run by spam bots).

With the website going live, we're also going to make a push to get folks to sign up to our email mailing list. As initial incentive to sign up to mailing list, we're offering a free 2 oz package of frozen brine shrimp. So, not only will you get to receive email notifications from us when big stuff happens at the store (and whenever sales are happening!), but your fish will get a little bonus treat out of the deal too.

While we're on the brine shrimp subject, I'll also announce now that we're putting all of our Oregon Desert brine shrimp on sale - buy one, get one free!

Also, we want to stir up a little more buzz about our reptile section, so we're going to come up with some deals in that department. I haven't quite worked out the logistics, but we will announcement them on our official anniversary.

Finally, it looks like t-shirts are a go. We still need to work out logistics of where we'll be getting them from, and final artwork design (I will post some ideas tomorrow too). But from the sounds of it, we'll be able to sell the t-shirts for $15 (or less hopefully). And I really would like to get folks the opportunity to pre-order shirts for a discounted price, so we'll have more on that soon too!

So keep a close eye out here and at the store for more developments as we get ready to break into a new year with A & B Oddball Pets and Aquariums!

- Bill

Quick update today. I implemented a new feature on the site. If you look in the left sidebar, you should now see a poll listed. We figured we should have a quick easy way to start gathering input from our customers so we can hopefully be your favorite store. If you have an idea for a poll, please drop us a line and let us know. Meanwhile, check out the current poll and cast your vote (and I promise - it'll be easier than the vote coming up in November!)

- Bill