Reptile & Amphibian Forums

reptiles, I have a question.

Do you screen prospective buyers in any way?

I do it strictly as a hobby, however I do evaluate the buyer and have turned down sales.

I'm usually very emphatic as to the care and requirements. Some people are simply not aware of such things and I will flat talk them out of a deal with my emphatic, retentive approach.

I usually play around with the higher end stuff, thereby dealing with knowledgeable people most of the time. Those folks don't throw down 4 figures on something they're not serious about.

They, myself included, are the ones these bans will hurt the most.

The responsible subject knowledgeable stakeholders.

Of course Petco will continue to peddle the "disposable" novelty animals without so much as a care for their well being. The business model does not allow for such things.

That's what this is all about, bottom line. Taking away personal choices and providing a corporate noncompetitive dumbed down market in it's place.

Just fear peddled ignorance to make America that much more ignorant.

jsc
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"As hard as I've tried, just can't NOT do this"
John Crickmer

Only one reply? I thought that there were more breeders/dealers here than that...was I mistaken?

It could have to due with who is asking the question..with some people expecting being bated into some sort of argument...

As for me, yes, I screen potential buyers, and yes, I have turned people who want an animal I am offering down in the past, or made the animal no longer available to them. I don't sell large numbers of anything, and what I do is solely on a hobby level. That lets me be picky when selling any creatures I produce. How much, and how and why I screen depends on what they person in question is planning on purchasing from me. If its a Canary the screening is clearly going to be quite different then if they are buying a Tortoise.

I haven't sold retail in years and in fact I do very little breeding now at all but went to wholesaling when I was breeding reptiles in quantity.
But to answer your question yes I did. I had a small pet store for a while and I kept a 10ft green anaconda on display in the store. It was excellent for attracting business but was also an excellent tool for visually demonstrating what a large constrictor looks like. I learned early on that it is one thing to TELL someone a burm can get 12ft and larger it is a whole different matter to SHOW somebody a 10ft snake with a large girth to it and let the light bulb click on in their head.
That snake helped me sell lots of boas cal kings and ball pythons to people who initially THOUGHT they wanted a burmese python.
Even still if I had a customer who was insistent that I knew wasn't capable of keeping what they wanted to buy I would refuse the sale.

I think most simply don't think it's any of your business, and chose not to reply. In my case, my surplus goes to wholesalers.