2022
Hello
Born and raised in Fort Worth, I've almost literally lived from one side of the DFW Metroplex to the other throughout various points in my life, so here are my recommendations/advice:
First of all Dallas and Fort Worth are 2 distinct cities with their own micro-cultures, transit systems, population density and highways, so don't think that moving to Dallas is equivalent to moving to Fort Worth or vice-versa.
The best explanation I can think of is that the Metroplex (as locals call it) is like a conjoined twin with 3 heads. Everything from Plano in the far NE to Benbrook in the SW corner is all part of the metroplex, but employment opportunities, housing and communities/culture can vary from literal ranches raising livestock to an urban area akin to the stereotypical American concrete jungle.
The metroplex is normally split into 3 regions which are roughly
Dallas (eastern portion)
Arlington/Grand Prairie (centralish)
Fort Worth (western portion)
I'm only going to talk about Fort Worth and Dallas because this is already getting too long and I don't know much about Arlington/Grand Prairie
And yes, you may have noticed that my 3 regions correspond to blocks traced out by major highways; driving is, if not the only, then a major way of getting around throughout the entire metroplex, and so those major highways roughly define communities and are often the 'default' way of getting around/orienting oneself.
Dallas:
The larger 'head', in terms of land, population, population density, and business, Dallas is a place where out-of-state or out-of-country visitors often feel more welcome because it has a decent to good public transportation system (depending upon where within the Dallas area you are and want to go). If you like urban or semi-urban living where you can walk/take public transit almost anywhere you want to go, Dallas is the place for you. However, it has a privacy-oriented 'big city' culture/feel that feels rude or even hostile to many. There isn't much housing in the city of Dallas itself, and it comes in basically 2 types: high-end, upper-class urban living, and subsidized housing. Though there are the odd exceptions, almost everyone else lives in what is technically a Dallas suburb, but identifies by individual city/town name. For example, last year my sister and I said we lived in Carrollton, even though she worked on the edge of Plano (technically Dallas, but for everything except USPS/official things she and her coworkers all said Plano), and we did most of our shopping in Addison. If you like/don't mind apartment living, Dallas suburbs are a great place to find somewhere to live. Apartment communities are readily available and generally cheaper than their Fort Worth equivalents. However, if you want a stand-alone house, or even just a place with a private yard/lawn, you will have to pay major amounts of money. Driving in Dallas is a common nightmare. Traffic is terrible and drivers are more aggressive and hostile. Getting a Toll Tag so you can use the tollways more cheaply makes it a lot better (depending upon exactly where you are/want to go), but the tollways are not totally free of these issues either. The local public transportation (Dallas Area Rapid Transit or DART for short) is great in downtown Dallas, good for most of the rest of the city proper, and decent for most of the suburbs, but (generally speaking) the further you go from downtown Dallas, the fewer places DART can take you at all, and weekend hours/routes are often different. Google public transit directions are, in my opinion, the only sane way to take DART to go places until you are familiar with the route, but keep in mind that Google's estimation of arrival/departure times is only about 60%-80% reliable for buses, so if your directions include bus rides, you'll want to go to DART's notification system directly. Overall, DART is still expanding, and I found their GoPass app to be a nice way to make sure I always had the fare I needed, but if you're going to be out for very long, you'll probably want a portable charger if you use your phone for your fare. Additionally, unless you live and/or work in downtown Dallas, you probably don't want a weekly pass and definitely don't get a monthly pass.
Fort Worth:
Here is a map where I indicated certain regions of Fort Worth familiar with which I am familiar and which I thought you might find useful (please ignore the stars)
As I mentioned toward the beginning, I was born and raised in Fort Worth (often shortened to FW), so it is the region I am most familiar with. If Dallas is the larger head, then Fort Worth is the more creative one. Although known for its stockyards (which yes, are still both a major livestock business center as well as tourist attraction/entertainment), Fort Worth is a slower-paced, more spread out city which focuses more on the arts, culture and education. If you like suburban living with lots of space, Fort Worth is for you. Fort Worth prides itself on it's national/international appeal in the arts, history, medicine and a focus on being environmentally friendly that includes a large recycling program which has been around since the 90s and a lot of parks/nature walks/etc. If you can think of a category that might attract international visitors/residents other than business, Fort Worth probably has at least a decent option. Well, other than public transportation. Although there are city buses in Fort Worth and surrounding area, they provide only a decent option in non-walkable portions of downtown/central Fort Worth, and then a few routes to further away landmarks (malls, train transfer to the airport). Basically, unless you live AND work in downtown Fort Worth, a car is almost required and highly recommended. Housing within Fort Worth proper varies a great deal, but I hope you don't want to live in an apartment, because there aren't many options and even fewer affordable ones. Butting up against the TCU/University district in the southern half of Fort Worth is a region of historic/upper-class neighborhoods which are fighting to not be swallowed up in the university's shadow as more and more students need affordable housing. The cheap housing consists not of subsidized apartments but tiny, cheap rent houses mostly located in neighborhoods west of I35W and south of I30, which is where I grew up. I remember one time watching the hazmat guys come to clean out a meth lab that police busted literally across the street, and there were several times when someone attempted to break in to my family's house (thankfully stopped by the German Shepherds we had). Now, based on that experience growing up, anywhere better than a drug ring's homebase counts as safe to me, so my perspective is a bit skewed, but since I just recently moved (within the metroplex) after spending 2 and half months looking for a place, comparing the price of equivalent properties should give you a decent idea; how "good" or "bad" a neighborhood is raises or lowers the price (as compared to an equivalent property elsewhere) by pretty significant amounts. For example, the 3 bedroom/2 bathroom duplex i'm living in costs just under $1000 a month to rent, but an equivalent duplex in my grandparent's richer, suburban neighborhood might cost up to nearly $1300 a month to rent, and an equivalent rent house on the street I grew up on might only cost $800. But if you can afford to spend just a bit more, then the suburbs are probably where you want to look. Basically, each incorporated city is equivalent to a neighborhood (or sometimes 2+), which generally provide a uniform living experience within the city/neighborhood. Of course, all of that advice was based upon renting, so if you are looking to buy, I'm not sure how helpful that would be.
In general, the metroplex is a large, metropolitan area with a lot of opportunities and unique experiences. My siblings and I like to say that if a product or service is bought or sold in the US, then you will probably be able to find somewhere within the Metroplex to purchase it 90% of the time. Disclaimer: it may involve a lot of driving or going somewhere completely unfamiliar for the really weird things (jlike yarn spun from dog hair, for example). So far, we have never been proven wrong.
As to reptile needs specifically, I don't really know because I've never owned one, but I'll say this: my local Petsmart has a reptile section nearly as large as its small rodent section, and there are a lot of animal lovers in Fort Worth, so there are a lot of resources for pet owners- not just dog and cat owners but also fish, reptile and small mammals. You might have to do some digging, but you should be able to find an exotic vet who is familiar with reptile's needs, and reptile shops as well.
