Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Recently, I purchased a black throat monitor that was advertised as "CBB." When I received it, it looked emaciated and dehydrated. I've ordered a black throat from another company and it looked much healthier than the one I received. I contacted the seller and he told me that they are supposed to look as mine did.

Does this look emaciated to anyone else or do I just not have enough experience with these monitors?

It is in bad shape. Probably dehydrated. It is not CBB.

Ed
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Ed

Hello,
That animal could be captive born in the US or another country and shipped, or be a wild caught baby for that matter- I cannot tell you where it was born but I can say it looks neglected and needs proper husbandry immediately and the attention of a vet yesterday... If you provide it with these things and plenty of mice or fuzzies we will be viewing pics of your jumbo blackthroat in a year or so. Sending it back where it came from may be a certain death sentence for that lizard. Best to you- Mike S

You see, if there is any lesson learned from the US Global Exotics debacle, it is that, we, as reptile consumers, need to step up and hold the reptile "supply chain" accountable for its practices.

Otherwise we are ALL (highly) guilty of supporting an industry that is steeped in cruelty.

If the seller or dealer reads this and is pi$$ed...good. All he or she needs to do is just step up to the plate and feed (and care for) their livestock better. So the stuff they sell will not be thin. It really IS just that simple.

Please take good care of it and feed and house it properly. Let that one you got live and flourish. Its the least one can do considering probably 5 died so you could get it.

Reptiles are not disposable pets.

Best of luck! Todd G.

PS Kingsnake.. if they post and it came from an advertiser on the forum... don't wuss out and remove the post. Thanks.

value your animals and take the best care of them you possibly can.

happy herping.

Image

What is that a picture of? Peta supporters are impressed by shallow storied shock value photos. Photos like that are relatively meaningless without the true story. I have collected and euthanized twice as many iguanas as that in a single day because they were to be sensationalized on a news broadcast as they were using the community pool in a wealthy gated community. Again, these animals were humanely euthanized and the carcasses were frozen off and recycled through a collection of cribos. I could have photo recorded this happening- I chose not to so that the photos would never be circulated by peta supporters... Only reveal photos such as that if you were there to take the photos and know the WHOLE story accurately; otherwise, it is nothing more then ill rooted sensationalism like my choice of title. - Mike S

Where does this chip on your shoulder against PeTa come from?

And yes, I do know the story behind this photo... since it is photographic evidence in the Shaw trial.

It seems the story goes something like this...

US Global Exotics owned by Jasen Shaw had a buyer in the Middle East who wanted something like 400 green iguanas.

The folks at US Global exotics boxed up 413 of them, 3 to a muslin bag, and packed them to ship.

However there were some "snags" and the deal was off again and on again.

Finally the deal fell through and the lizards were never shipped.

So the iguanas stayed packed for a shipment that was never going to happen.

They had been packed 2 weeks without food or water, crushing each other on the loading dock floor when the government raided the facility.

When agents unpacked them, in the raid on the facility in mid December, 50% of them were dead due to crushing suffocation, starvation and dehydration. The rest in horrible shape. The decaying remains of some had started to "liquefy" and seep from the boxes, the official report said.

Hmmm...I wonder when (if ever) the Shaws planned on unpacking their iguanas? I guess unpacking them would have been just too much of a bother.

Anyway, Mike S, thats the story behind the photo.

I have to give a plug to HerpDigest.org for following this story and reporting on it in a professional way.
BTW, If you haven't subscribed to their free bi-weekly e-mail news letters, I suggest you do.

Cheers. Todd G.

Below is the link (not from the Peta website) but the Star Telegram Website (the local newspaper in that area) and their ongoing reporting of this story.
Link

Todd,
Take a good look at the link that you posted from "a little consciousness raising". Read LuAnne's post of Feb. 1st under comments... Did you miss the comment that was posted about the Peta plant being possibly incriminated for staging some of the crimes- hurting animals... So I am concerned of your motives as well. No further from me Todd G.

Everything is better with a little objectivity aye? And yes, I said aye, like the canadians do.

NP Mike.

Cheers,
Mike.

Yea, that's horrible. Do you goto a pet store to buy a puppy that you can see his ribs? That is morally and ethically wrong and some fly by night seller that doesn't take care of his stock should have a dishonorable-mention at the very least in a post. It wasn't an accident you got the animal in that condition. All of their animals are probably like that. I have gone to the Indy reptile show and a fellow there sells animals like this as well and they say they don't have time to take care of them all so he basically goes around and trys to sell them before they die. Most likely he aquired a bulk shipment of wild caught reptiles. Call him out! Or at the very least post things like this so that someday we won't get posts like this anymore.

Check the link on my original post or this one. You'll see the whole story if you read the forum. This company did advertise on the king snake classifieds. Pets Friends and Supply.
Link

Testimonials

“I love Friends Pet and Supply. I get all my pets through them and the cool thing is if they don’t have what I want then they get it for me. I wouldn’t buy from anyone else now that I have them.”

Sharon A. from Santa Barbara, CA

“I really trust Friends Pet and Supply for all my herp needs. They are really reliable and have great customer service.”

Bob Z. from Thousand Oaks, CA

“I like how I get high end exotic animals for reasonable prices.”

Diego M. from Oxnard, CA

These are their testimonials. either these people are insane, that's not the right website, or that website is run by a nine-year old child.

Wow. first off do you know how old your monitor is? not that it matters because there is no excuse for the animal to be that thin at any age. but i want to know because i just picked up a baby black throat also and it is 5 months old and close to 30 inches. he is from the batch of babies that jason leonard recenlty had in the classifieds. i dont know where you received yours from, but im just giving a little info on mine and i hope we can get a little more on yours so you know just how undersized and underfed your animal really is. but like others said if you keep him hot, feed him, and make sure he can get fresh water at all time then your monitor will explode in size in no time. im sure its not just me but everyone here on this forum wishes you the best of luck with your new addition.

a couple pics of my "little" guy to see the size.

take care.

Nice lizard! No, it was not from the same source as yours. Check the link on this post.
Link

i just read the posts on the link you put up and i saw the other picture of your lizard, and he/she looks nothing like the ones in the ad. how is it doing? is it drinking? does it try to move around its cage? and how about its feeding response? has it taken any food since you have had it? keep us posted on how its doing.

take care

It's doing a lot better than when I received it. I've been soaking it for 30 minutes a day and feeding it a pinky every other day (that's all the more it will eat). He's already tail-whipping me I think he's on the path to recovery, though I need to treat him for internal/external parasites and I think one of his nostrils may be congested (I hope it's not upper resp infection). I'm keeping a close eye on him. I'll keep you updated.

What an A****le!!! he's like a child trying to hide behind somebody else's accusation!!!! He did this, oh ya, well he did this!!!!!!! when you do that you just look like your an idiot. people like you are the ones that ruin this world. your greed for money has driven species to extinction!!!!! Have you ever Heard of a Dodo? Ya, you know that bird that people like you clubbed on the head for fun until you finally killed the species? Their meat was sour, their arrows could not be used for fletching, you just murdered them!! for fun!! The temperate rain forests, where i live, guess what? these are the last on the planet!!! and people like you are tearing them down and slaughtering all the species there, just because you want money!!! once these forests are gone, they're not coming back. nobody else will ever be able to see these magnificent forests, filled with life. nobody ever again will hear a pacific coast giant salamander growl, even though it doesn't even have vocal cords!!! like what the hell, your just murdering species because your bigger than them and can overpower them, and get money from it!!!!!!!!