Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey all,

So I find myself in kind of a bind. I purchased a late 05 male high end co-dom morph from a reputable breeder last oct. The animals was in good health but was a little small for his size (220g the breeder said he had been maintenance feeding only due to some personal problems). I banked a great deal of money on the hope that this little guy, once fed up a bit, would produce for me this season. I fattened him up to 700g (currently) and yesterday evening introduced him to one of the 3 girls I cooled for him. Only then did I discover that 'he' was a 'she'. I know, I should have double checked at the time of purchase, but it never dawned on me that you could pay 4k for an animal that wasn't properly sexed.

So, here I sit, good and attached to the morph I've invested so much time and food in. And now I face no return on my sizable investment. My question is, how would you handle this? I feel the breeder will be honorable, but I'm not sure what is fair in this situation. Any advice would be great. Thanks.

cheers,
Kat

First of all mistakes happen and as you now know you should always check an animal as soon as you recieve it, no matter who you get it from. But I do need to ask what morph this is? It does matter because some morphs have dropped alot more then others and you never know you might be able to find someone with an extra sub adult male that might trade you for your female. Did you tell the breeder who you purchased her from? He might have a back up male that he is willing to swap for your female. Paul

The same thing happened to me about 3 years ago. It was supposed to be a male mojave.
I traded (4) 100% het albino females $500 with the intent to breed the mojave the following year. This is when mojaves were like $3500 and the female het albinos were like $800 I think.
Anyways I never checked either, just because of the same reasons mentioned earlier.
Low and behold when I put the mojave in with the other females, nothing happened at all. After a week I decided to probe him. "He" was a she and I didn't get to produce any mojaves that year. I really did love this snake though, and didn't want to give it back so I kept her. She did breed the following year and had a cluch of 8 her 1st time. I still have her and she is a great snake. I am glad I kept her.
Its really up to you on what you want to do, I'm sure the breeder will make it right if you want to swap it out. Like Paul said, depending on the morph, someone would probably swap you an extra male for your female. Good luck.

Steve

I just realized HOW OLD THIS POST IS. lol
I guess I'm not the only one who shows up here every couple of months. I guess I should have looked at the post dates before responding to them.

Anyway, if your reading this, don't e-mail me to make jokes.

Steve