Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I think he's trying to rip people off. If not its the ugliest pastel in the world What do you guys think? lol

that doesn't look a thing like a pastel, if it is....its the worst one i have EVER seen.

Hope everyone else agrees.

>>I think he's trying to rip people off. If not its the ugliest pastel in the world What do you guys think? lol
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- Joel Smith

"If you're not part of the solution, you're still part of the problem"

not sure what he was asking for that snake but i paid on the low side of average for mine

.

NP

There is no way that is a Pastel. In fact its not even that nice of a normal!
Jason
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I don't know much about what makes a "nice" ball, but I happen to think that its a very pretty snake. I would wait to see them in person before passing judgement.

i am not an expert nor do i even own a pastel. but to me this guy is really tryin to bleed you with a b.s. snake. i have been searching classifieds for a long time in search of cheap pastels. I had one guy i was gonna grab from but someone beat me to it. it was a lot less than normal price & was low grade but it was clearly pastel. the only thing i think that may even resemble pastel likeness is the coloring around the mouth but it in no way looks like a pastel to me. personally i say spend the money on a pastel from a breeder that has pastels that look like pastels. there are plenty of breeders that do payment plans & are willing to work with you. 200 dollars a week for a month & a half & bam! you have a pastel.
best of luck! even if you buy that one..lol

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....who is ripping people off, so it doesn't happen to somebody else! I got this pastel for only $700.
But my fiancee' thinks it's hers.

let us all get ripped off along with him!

>>....who is ripping people off, so it doesn't happen to somebody else! I got this pastel for only $700.
>>But my fiancee' thinks it's hers.
>>
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- Joel Smith

"If you're not part of the solution, you're still part of the problem"

No breeder would sell this animal as a Pastel unless he/she was a thief or they planned on getting into another business and out of the reptile business. Reason: even if he/she really thought it was a Pastel, its a really bad/ugly and low quality Pastel. Most would keep it for themselves and use it as a breeder instead of selling it and being known to having/selling low quality animals. It would be like selling kink backs or birth detected animals, and I have seen this done before with albino boas and womas. No breeder wants this bad reputation that would cost them tons in the future. FOR ALL THE BREEDERS THAT DO TRY TO SELL THIS ANIMALS WITH BIRTH DEFECTS people are taking notes and making a list of such breeders/dealers and making them known to the public.

We had an ugly/"normal looking" Pastel and we held on to him and now he is available as he turned into a very decent Pastel with lots of blushing. Pictured below.

Link

I know what you are talking about, I kept a kinked up corn that everyone said should go to in the freezer and even considered breeding him for a while.

However, I tend to think that most everything COULD be genetic so even if ugly pastels sometimes happen to produce nice pastels and if most birth defects are caused by random incubation problems I still would hate to think of the worst animals being continuously selected as breeders rather than the best. Someone brought up the % white in piebald as an example. For years I've heard that low whites can beget high whites but in addition to being prettier to look at I have to think that the high whites are commanding a higher price as breeders because many believe that those will be the best breeders on the off chance there is some genetic basis to the amount of white.

Of course that still leaves the problem of what to do with ugly pastels, low white pieds, and any birth defect visible morph. Not sure what the answer is but maybe people should start being pickier about trying to buy from people who post pictures of the parents when all other things are the same. That is, if you are looking at picking between a screamer pastel from breeder A and an equal screamer one from breeder B go with the one from the breeder who documents the quality of the parents on the off chance that it will mean your line will be more likely to consistently throw good quality rather than just randomly.

I came here looking for advice on a snake. A lot of the people were VERY helpful and I appreciate that very much. But I am very sad to see how this got turned around by a couple of people and now I AM being called a crook by one individual. I was planning on coming back here on tuesday showing pics of these snakes that I will be taking pics of on monday AND I was planning on letting you know who this person was. BUT...I dont believe I will now. I am sorry to those those that helped me, but one person had to ruin it for everyone. You can thank Joel for that. I dont want to see anybody get scammed. i was a victim in the past so i take careful strides when I do business now. THATS why I will be meeting this person face to face to see the animals. If I see that these animals ARE NOT what they are suppose to be then I will talk to him about it and then let you guys know. I AM NOT about to ruin someone reputation BEFORE I know the whole story and SEE these snakes with my OWN EYES. if you dont like it then fine. Anyone else that wants to know the info on this person can email me OR I might still post the info on Tuesday. If you agree with what I am saying PLEASE let me know on here and BACK ME UP! Thank You

I just said that I wouldn't purchase anything from someone that associated themselves with someone that sells that wild type snake as a pastel.

You know it's not a pastel if the pics are truly represented.
One top breeder actually told me that was NOT a pastel.

We tell you this when you ask our opinion, and you get mad when you don't get the answer you'd like.

You won't disclose the breeders name, let him SCAM some more!!!! Wooohoo, kill the ball python market!!!

Get over it.

Joel

>>I came here looking for advice on a snake. A lot of the people were VERY helpful and I appreciate that very much. But I am very sad to see how this got turned around by a couple of people and now I AM being called a crook by one individual. I was planning on coming back here on tuesday showing pics of these snakes that I will be taking pics of on monday AND I was planning on letting you know who this person was. BUT...I dont believe I will now. I am sorry to those those that helped me, but one person had to ruin it for everyone. You can thank Joel for that. I dont want to see anybody get scammed. i was a victim in the past so i take careful strides when I do business now. THATS why I will be meeting this person face to face to see the animals. If I see that these animals ARE NOT what they are suppose to be then I will talk to him about it and then let you guys know. I AM NOT about to ruin someone reputation BEFORE I know the whole story and SEE these snakes with my OWN EYES. if you dont like it then fine. Anyone else that wants to know the info on this person can email me OR I might still post the info on Tuesday. If you agree with what I am saying PLEASE let me know on here and BACK ME UP! Thank You
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- Joel Smith

"If you're not part of the solution, you're still part of the problem"

I never said I was mad because I didn't get the answer I wanted..All I said was I was waiting to see these snakes with my very own eyes. You are just getting mad because YOU think I am SCAMMING everyone by not releasing the name NOW...If you can wait until tuesday this CONVERSATION WOuld HAVE NEVER TOOK PLACE between US. I can see where you are coming from and I am not upset with you, BUT please just let me handle the situation my way...In the Beginning ALL I ASKED..was ideas on Lesser Quality Pastels and it evolved into something that shouldn't have. Thats all im saying...Thank You

I came here looking for advice on a snake.
>you got it. It's NORMAL! You came to the right place for advice, but you have to be able to handle the truth.

I was planning on coming back here on tuesday showing pics of these snakes that I will be taking pics of on monday AND I was planning on letting you know who this person was. BUT...I dont believe I will now.
>That makes a lot of sense??????? You get offended so you want everyone to get burned? We have seen the pics. Now give us the facts.

I am sorry to those those that helped me, but one person had to ruin it for everyone.
>The only person ruining for everyone is you, buy deciding not to communicate with the rest of the ball python community about the person trying to decieve you with ugly normal ball pythons, and saying they are pastel..

You can thank Joel for that. I dont want to see anybody get scammed.
>One minute you don't want anyone to get scammed and the next you are withholding info that could very well save someone a lot of money, time and hasstle? We will be thanking you if we get ripped off by this person.

i was a victim in the past so i take careful strides when I do business now.
>LOL

THATS why I will be meeting this person face to face to see the animals. If I see that these animals ARE NOT what they are suppose to be then I will talk to him about it and then let you guys know. I AM NOT about to ruin someone reputation BEFORE I know the whole story and SEE these snakes with my OWN EYES.
>The person sent you pics of a normal ball python and said it was a pastel. The way I see it, they are ruining their own reputation. But we look forward to your follow up.

Thanks for posting what I was gonna post. I hurried all the way home from the vet and you beat me to it. I love the part about not wanting anybody to get scammed. LOL

I email the breeder/seller to send me more pics of the "pastel". So i checked my email a few minutes later and saw this pic. I email him and said this wasn't the snake you emailed me last time. He asked me to email him the pics he sent first and I did. He called me right away and said that he had made a mistake and emailed these instead of the ones of the real pastel. SO..we had all of this DRAME for no reason. As you can see..this isn't the greatest pastel, BUT IT IS a pastel. SO..for all the people I argued with...I hope we can put this behind us. NOW as far as the breeders name......Mike Hampton from Georgia. Thank you!

Looks good to me! If you can get that snake for around $600, you scored. You are lucky to be able to meet him in person. The worst is having to wait for your new snake and not know what to expect when you open the box.

If I had given his name before this was straightened out, his reputation could have been ruined. Im glad I waited to give out his info. I knew something had to be wrong..I pretty much knew that the snake wasn't a pastel, but he kept insisting it was. This breeder has 100% feedback on all of the reptile forums I have checked. It was just a case of sending the wrong pic. I would have really felt bad if I would have given his info out and had you guys trash him for being a scam artist and it come back later as a big misunderstanding. BUT..in the future..IF I RUN INTO ANY SCAM ARTIST...I WILL 100% INFACT..Post it here.

Either way, good luck with the pastel.

Big misunderstanding. Take care,

Joel

>>If I had given his name before this was straightened out, his reputation could have been ruined. Im glad I waited to give out his info. I knew something had to be wrong..I pretty much knew that the snake wasn't a pastel, but he kept insisting it was. This breeder has 100% feedback on all of the reptile forums I have checked. It was just a case of sending the wrong pic. I would have really felt bad if I would have given his info out and had you guys trash him for being a scam artist and it come back later as a big misunderstanding. BUT..in the future..IF I RUN INTO ANY SCAM ARTIST...I WILL 100% INFACT..Post it here.
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- Joel Smith

"If you're not part of the solution, you're still part of the problem"

Hey...I Have the same feeling toward reptiles and the reptile industry as you do. I am all about letting everyone know about scammers. In the past I was scammed BIG TIME....It was so bad I almost gave up on reptiles completely, but I wasn't about to let that A$$hole take away my favorite hobby like he did with my snakes. You have to understand where I was coming from. When you said you would never buy anything from someone with the last name of Lanier it really did something to me. It made me feel as if I was being portrayed as a Bad Guy in this industry. You can ask David Boggs....I email him and asked what I could do to help in getting his snakes back from Jeremy Stark. This Loser, Jeremy, was in Tn and thats where I live. I had searched and got all the info I could on this dirtbag and got David the #'s for the DA and the Crime Division in That part of TN. And in the future...I hope we can DO BUSINESS together...

I understand and am glad this turned out the way it did. We can do business...and in the future I hope we do. Take Care,

Joel

>>Hey...I Have the same feeling toward reptiles and the reptile industry as you do. I am all about letting everyone know about scammers. In the past I was scammed BIG TIME....It was so bad I almost gave up on reptiles completely, but I wasn't about to let that A$$hole take away my favorite hobby like he did with my snakes. You have to understand where I was coming from. When you said you would never buy anything from someone with the last name of Lanier it really did something to me. It made me feel as if I was being portrayed as a Bad Guy in this industry. You can ask David Boggs....I email him and asked what I could do to help in getting his snakes back from Jeremy Stark. This Loser, Jeremy, was in Tn and thats where I live. I had searched and got all the info I could on this dirtbag and got David the #'s for the DA and the Crime Division in That part of TN. And in the future...I hope we can DO BUSINESS together...
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- Joel Smith

"If you're not part of the solution, you're still part of the problem"