Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I ordered a BP a while ago from a reptile business/breeder(B/B) and it was supposed to be shipped to the B/B April 28th.
They came a little late, which is typical and everything.
I e-mail the B/B and asked when they were going to start shipping, because at the time I was away at school and was due for home in three weeks.
It seemed as though they took their time with responding, but I was patient and thought that maybe they had a lot of stuff to do, like hydrate and feed and things like that.
I finally get an e-mail on may 5th saying that they will start shipping at the end of the week.
The end of the week goes by, so i sent another e-mail on may 15th asking about it.
Now, maybe they're annoyed by my constant e-mails and such, but this is getting ridiculous.
I asked some people in a chat about their rep, and supposedly they are good and such, but it's not really showing through.
I don't really want to be a pest, but i don't want to get screwed over either...
This is my first time ordering via mail, so maybe there is something i'm doing wrong.
I don't really want to say the name of the B/B as to tarnish their rep, but i would like some input as to what you think i should do or what you think about the situation itself.

thank you

By BP I assume you mean a Ball Python?

Personally I have brought Milksnakes 6 times from 4 seperate breeders on Kingsnake this year. Each one was great. Tim @ Third Eye, Paul @ Carolina Herps, Don Shores and John Lambert. Each one was great and almost as anxious to ship my snakes as I was to get them.

If your buying a ball from an importer/wholesaler they very may well be waiting to see if the snake eats before shipping it. Most are dealing with babies laid from gravid wild caught females. They are notorious for not eating. If they have a good reputation give them time. You'd hate for them to send you a non-eater just to get you off their back.

You do bring up a good point.
I think i'll give them another week or so, then call.

Thank you so much for your response!

Forget about sending e-mail, call them, talk to a live person.

Start out by being nice but don't let them push you around or put you off. It's past time for some straight answers. Once you get someone on the phone, don't hang up until you get a satisfactory, straight, answer.
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It is said that 1 out of every 4 people are mentally unbalanced. Think of your 3 closest friends, if they're normal, then it's you.

First of all, since it's been a few days since you posted your concerns, I hope everything has been resolved by now. But here is what I think...I would be very concerned that they are not responding; unless you have sent them 10 emails a day every day, you have not been pushy. I've found that with everything, if it takes the person a long time to respond, then somethings usually wrong. If it was something like they want to make sure it ate before shipping, then why would they not just say so?? I have only purchased one snake online (actually, my fiance purchased it for our last aniversary) and the guy returned every message left, usually within an hour. If you don't get an answer soon or get to talk to them, then I personally wouldn't purchase from them. That's just my opinion; I like to feel comfortable about who I buy from, and I can't if they don't talk to me.
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-David

1.0 ball python (Pandora - don't ask)
1.0 argentine boa (Prometheus)
0.1 hogg island boa (Andromeda)
0.0.1 brazilian rainbow boa (Inara)
1.0 kenyan sand boa (Diablo)
1.0 nornal corn snake(Cypress)
0.1 amery. corn snake (Morgan LaFay)
0.0.1 banded cali. kingsnake (Cain)
1.0 tangerine honduran milksnake (Narcissus)
0.0.1 snow corn snake (Valkyrie)
1.0 amazon tree boa (Pegasus)
0.0.1 sandfish skink (Slick)
1.0 dog (Luke)

Two points:

1) If selling the animals is important to the seller, they'd be responsive to questions and emails. I've sold many snakes online and I always try to be responsive and answer emails/calls etc. Many of which do not actually end up in a sale. Some folks ask lots of questions since they have no idea what they are doing and are very gratefull and end up purchasing from me. Others, somewhere in the process of Q&A either decide against or find a "better" deal??? Regardless, I still always try to answer the emails.

2) People do get busy, sometimes too much stuff hits the fan at once. But still, that shouldn't be all the time and if it's really that bad then the seller should stop advertising!!
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
21.29 BRB
19.19 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats