after reading the entire thread below, and having done this now for ten years, i think those problems today are much smaller than 10 years ago. when i started, female hets were a prize, you couldn't just buy whatever you wanted right away. they were very expensive, and you might have to put your name on a list for a year for the privledge of buying one. i got burned on several, we all did, but instead of just walking away, i just learned from it. in florida, we were blessed to have daytona, and all the bigs would show up every year. it was a crash course in profesionalism to buy a snake from ralph davis, a mere het, but he treated it like you were buying a crown jewel. he had a record card with the neck markings scetched on the back, he sexed it in front of you, and if you went home and looked on his clutch pics, it was the snake you asked for. if you bought a snake from pete kahl, he would implore you to take with you and not lose all the genetic information he had so you wouldn't inbreed. nerd and brian barcyk and the sutherlands would patiently answer any stupid questions i had about anything. i can't name all the people who took good care of me when i knew nothing, tom carlton, doug beard, ozzy, marc bailey, cv, my point is, i try to remember the good people in this, and the people that ripped me off don't matter to me. now there are plenty of snakes to choose from at fairly reasonable prices. if you are new to this, take your time and ask around about the people you are thinking of dealing with. the 'other' website can be helpful as well. this hobby/industry, or any other for that matter, will never be free of scumbags, that's not a reason to bail. just slow down a little bit. one thing i have learned is that there isn't a reason to get into any risky deals at this point. too many good people i can give my money to instead. kurt d.

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• good guys, bad guys, and 'the biz' - i95east, Fri Mar 9 01:54:29 2012
• RE: good guys, bad guys, and 'the biz' - BuzzardBall, Fri Mar 9 07:11:19 2012
• RE: good guys, bad guys, and 'the biz' - medusah, Fri Mar 9 10:48:25 2012
• RE: good guys, bad guys, and 'the biz' - kingofspades, Fri Mar 9 15:17:32 2012
• See through the drama - Violetdixie, Sat Mar 10 10:51:00 2012
• RE: See through the drama - JPLReptiles, Sat Mar 10 13:40:37 2012