...and I say goodbye, and good riddance.
This used to be fun.
We used to meet nice people.
There was camaraderie and respect.
We diligently cared for our animals and strived to build good will amongst our customers and the reptile community in general.
It all went down the crapper in the last few years. Especially in our home state. Liars, thieves, backstabbers, a lot seem to gravitate towards animals, a control issue I suspect. The animals became secondary, it became all about the ego.
This junk has been going nationally for years and, I, like many of you, have been duped by those at the top of the pyramid. I watched transactions take place at half of "market value" amongst some of the well known businesses. I'm sure that everyone is aware of the farming in Africa, right? A lot of those farmed animals are visuals. You'll never hear that from them. How about the practice of culling normal males in wild populations and reseeding them with co-dom males? What do you think happens to the normal males? Anyone ever get a thousand lot of imports? How many were DOA? How many made it passed first or second shed? We once bought fifty right out of the crate and lost three. Less then ten percent. The guy we got them from was amazed. He counted on twenty percent loss out of a thousand lot. All this garbage was in search of "The Next Big Thing". I don't think this has anything to do with being an animal lover. It's all about the green.
Another tie in is the personality cults that certain individuals nurture and perpetuate. If you've been around for any length of time you know who they are. They are not your buddies, they are businessmen. Anyone who has taken a business class knows the answer to this question: "Why do businesses exist?". The answer, for those lucky enough to have avoided business classes, is simple: "to make a profit".
We've been lucky. We dealt directly with very few scum bags and always had great customers. With the animal that arrived this morning on the east coast, we also had 100% success with shipping. Despite the best efforts of Delta. I think we even came out ahead financially over the years, but I'm not going to put the numbers together because frankly it makes no difference any more.
I know people that got burned, burned to the point of ruining their credit and putting their house in jeopardy. Meanwhile, the "big breeders" were busy breeding the same animals in quantity and selling them cheap to other insiders who then did the same thing. Then that great animal from (Insert breeder name here) ain't worth squat. I don't see anyone starting a fund to help out the poor folks that invested five figures in a dominant dead-end morph and then got annihilated on price the next year.
As far as the proposed federal regulations... well you reap what you sow.
Those little green anacondas look pretty cute in the store. So does that baby albino burm. Not so cute when they get big and unmanageable. I've worked around retail. It's cutthroat and so you have basically the blind leading the blind when it comes to sales. You can't get a true salesman for minimum wage. I rarely saw customers qualified before the sale. If you're a professional salesman you know what I mean.
In most of the country these animals wouldn't make it though the winter, much less propagate. Thank the pet trade in the warm south for this one.
On a personal note, we have some of the stupidest animal regulations on record in my small city. The Uncle Miltons Ant Farm you bought your kid for Christmas will be filled with what are technically considered exotics as soon as your little bottle comes in the mail and you add the ants. I asked for help from the local community for support when I got "busted". Two people helped me out by writing letters. One was my local vet that we take the dogs and cats to, and the other was Dr.Roger Klingenberg, the renowned herp. vet who we always went to for snake issues. No one else stepped up. Ever. It "wasn't their problem".
Read the article linked at the bottom of the page. It's a far more serious subject, but the ideas are the same. How many reptile people would be upset if the proposed regulations had to do with guinea pigs?
Someone "told on" us last week. It's not fun being awakened at 11PM by a cop who wants to look around your house for snakes and rats that are a "threat to our children'. It's really no fun when you tell them you are declining their request because they do not have a warrant and then they threaten to call social services and say that s.s. will get a warrant and that they will take our children. We haven't bred rats in several years and we had two adult and two yearling animals left. So the tattle tale did not do their homework. I have a suspicion it was not someone from the local reptile "community". However, I know people that have done this very thing to others, and although we've remained very low-profile for the past year and a half or so, I wouldn't put it past anyone.
In regards to the previous paragraph; we had already sold or given away most of our ball pythons and had planned to do so for some time. I'm not writing this post because I am bitter only about this recent incident. Am I p.o.'d about it? You bet, but most of my writing is based on our experience over the years and since our involvement is no more, I finally feel free to write about the garbage that I have witnessed.
By the way, out of those four remaining bp's, I gave 1.2 away to a kid I know, the male we paid $3,500 cash for a few years ago and the females were yearlings. During our house cleaning I gave away a Mojave, all our baby normals, and I gave the female that started it all for us to someone I trust will take good care of her. I also gave away thousands of dollars worth of equipment to various good folks I know. Does that make me a hero or inflate my ego? No, I just wanted to give back something to former customers and people I trust.
Just a thought... there was a time in my life, many years ago, when I dealt with a bunch of less-then-savory characters involved in victimless illegal activity. Even amongst their ranks there was a code of ethics. You may have heard the term "honor among thieves". In the case of the reptile community I don't believe such a thing exists. It's every man for himself, even if it means taking down someone else to get ahead.
I guess that's it. I'd love to name names and call out some people out on their insidious behavior. Considering the level of my trust of other people right now and knowing how much a bruised ego can hurt, I don't need some vindictive jerk causing me any trouble.
So long, and thanks for all the fish!
