East Bay Vivarium

The vivarium was owned by Ron Cauble. He opened the business in his basement in Oakland, California in 1970. The first storefront was located on Mac Arthur Blvd. in Oakland, then in 1979 he moved the store to an 8,000-square-foot (740 m2) storefront in the Emeryville Market 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. Johnathan Emberton has worked here since 1992 and purchased Cliff's share of the vivarium in 1995. In 2025, Alex Blanchard bought Owen's share.

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.