Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I had a couple of Suris in the past with no problems. I got out of boas and later decided to get back into them. I purchased a BCC female that I was told was a good eater on f/t (that is the only kind of boa I want). I waited two weeks for her to settle in. She appeared in great health. She refused to eat both f/t and live. No worries yet, she still looked fine. She refused a second meal 2 weeks later. A few days later she was found very dead - too much so for a necropcy. I had her 5 weeks tops and she dies for no "apparent" reason. I notified the people I got her from to let them know what happened and too find out how fresh of an import she truly was. I never heard back from them.
This was her (stunning creature in my opinion):

Now comes this female. I paypalled the price asked in the ad. I believed shipping was included in the price. Never once was shipping payment mentioned...

They couldn't ship the first day we agreed on (my day off), so I supplied another address...told them in two different emails to ship to the new address because I wouldn't be home the rest of the week. They shipped to my home address. Luckily they redelivered in the evening, since we weren't home in the morning. I also had the surprise of my life when I discovered I was charged $75 COD. I never would have had her shipped that way - The box was only 5 pounds tops - but, they didn't have a box to match the dimensions of the styrofoam container and so used a much larger box. I was charged an oversized rate - I suppose were it their dime, they would not have used such a large box.

Again, I had no clue I was going be charged additional for shipping, I thought it was included - but the ad is gone now and I can't prove it.

When I opened her bag, pieces of dead skin fell out like so many leaves, I shook out the blanket so all the skin wouldn't be in the pics I took of her. She has no skin flaking on her that I can see, although she is dull in places. If those were her skin flakes, you wouldn't know it. When she ran through my fingers, I could feel every vertibrae in her spine, though her ribs do not look bad. I believe I read in the ad that he had raised her as aa baby - but, if that was her sheddings in the bag, it is more indicative of a WC trying to acclimate, or such. Maybe it was just a husbandry issue...I honestly don't know. She has some scarring on her back too, also more indicative of a WC.

My concern is if a snake that "appeared" in great health can keel over dead...what will happen to one that not as healthy looking? I will take her first poo sample in though...if she lives long enough to have one...the other did not.

Anyway, please give your opinions on this snake - not so much on her pattern, but over all condition.

I have not yet written the fellow I got her from, but will do so tonight, just wanted to calm down and think rationally before doing so.

Please also give me your opinion of how things went businesswise between us. I always thoroughly discuss shipping with the buyers before the animals leaves me. This really through me for a loop.

Thanks for your thoughts..
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Oh gosh thats aweful.. Sigh i hate it when things aren't discussed in the open from the start of deals. It sounds like you kind of got an import but paid for a CB animal and gosh i think thats just about the worse thing in the world you can do is to misrepresent the snakes you have for sale.. I wish you good luck with the new girl she is beautiful and i would get her into a vet to get the internal parasites treated just in case... i wish you good luck in any case.

Sincerely,
Rose Hipskind
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www.srsnakes.com

I recently bought a pair of suris that are just wonderful animals. I made sure that they were CBB by asking multiple sources and had many photos sent to me. i was able to find a reputable dealer on the forums here by just asking around. In fact, i can list a few that i have delt with:
Jonathan Brady
Ecothermics
Bill Cagle
All of them will be able to give you top quality animals and will send you pictures any time and even give you the names and contact info of the people that produced the snakes they are selling. I would recommend all of the above and I am sure there are others out there.
Its really sad to see that people advertise WC as captive bred. I would say the best thing to look for is asking price. Most CBB suris will cost you $300 and up. Anything lower is probably WC.
To get the skin off the snake I would soak her in warm water and give her a while to settle in. She doesn't look terrible, I give you my best wishes.
Eliot Stone

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1.1 Cape York Spotted Pythons
1.1 Suriname Red Tailed Boas
and always looking for more!

I do not believe she is in really bad shape or anything, just a bit thin with a bad shed. I only worry at all because I just had a bad experience with a WC. It wasn't the snake that upset me really, it was his lack of business savvy - the use of the wrong address, wrong shipping day,undisclosed COD, etc. Am I in the right to upset about that?

When she (I will probe after she is settled in to verify sex) first came out of the bag, her body was shaking or vibrating - will do they do that if they are cramped for some time? it worried me at first, but by the time I got her into her cage, the shaking had stopped. I will keep a further eye out on that. I've had snakes (king/corn)try to scare me by shaking their tails, but this reminded me more of a little dog that shakes. Has anyone else had that experience?

Thank you for the names...I did go through Ben Siegel twice and came away with two gorgeous BCC, at least one I know was WC - those were the two I had before. I was interested in acquiring an adult this time. I expect an adult to be WC - just wanted overall opinions on her health (visual). Granted, appearance is not always indicative...which is why her first stool sample will be framed...er, uhh...I mean analyzed.
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If you end up keeping it, make sure your temps and humidity are dialed in. I would definitely get a fecal done, and also treat the animal with nutri-bac. Slowly feed it, to bring it back up to weight. It looks like it would be a killer animal, what a shame.

Best of Luck.

If the animal isn't what you expected/doesn't meet your expectations, you should send it back. You probably want to "help" this bcc...so would i, but don't encourage this guy to treat his animals poorly by doing business with him. send a message that this sort of thing will not be tolerated in this hobby, and that those who would mis-treat animals and sell sub-par animals will lose business! let me know what happens, i'm curious.

my 2 cents, chris olson
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www.chrisolsonreptiles.com

Assuming the animal is WC, I really don't expect much more than I received. I was "lucky" my other recent WC came to me looking so outstanding...I say "lucky" loosely, as it only lived a few weeks. So, apparently outward appearance is not always indicative of what is going on inside.

I'm more put out about the unexpected $75 COD charge. I was unprepaired for it. I told him when I purchased the snake that was all the money I had, and he accepted that, never telling me he was sending her COD. I wouldn't have accepted that. I had to borrow money just to pay the delivery man. That is not acceptable. And, being sent to the wrong address on the wrong day didn't help...

But, your overall opinion of the boa - do you think she's ok? I'm gun shy after the last one...

Thanks.
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