Reptile & Amphibian Forums

well, recently i purchased a pair of female phantasticus from the classifieds. i was really excited when i got them, as many of you can imagine since they have been few and far between in recent months. when i received them, one seemed fine and one seemed a bit dehydrated. i thought it was no big deal since i have had to rehydrate several of my uroplatus when i first got them. well, i received them friday and today the one female was found dead, with a very bright yellow substance leaking from her vent. now im not going to bash the seller, because i have yet to see how he responds. his response to my email telling my concern to him yesterday was "rehydrate her really well," nothing else. my question is, has anyone else had any experience with diseased uroplatus? any idea what the yellow is? any idea why she would only crawl in circles since i got her? im guessing she may have had some sort of trauma that caused her to move in circles, or perhaps her disease was so advanced her body was reacting. i am very disappointed at the fact that i paid $75 for an animal on its death bed, and furthermore angered at the loss of such a precious animal. any suggestions?

Sorry to hear about the loss... My speculation is that she may have been egg bound... But who knows... Perhaps she was passing an egg, or producing an egg that ruptured inside her?... Did it look yolky?... Did you collect any of the fluid?... You may be able to get it tested by someone... The expulsion of fluid may have been the product of a relaxed reflex reaction upon death as well... I've never seen what you describe, however, upon necropsy, I have seen "egg bound" diagnosed as a probable cause of death...
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Ben

first off, sorry for the loss. i've never had very good luck with phantasticus. however i've never had any die on my right after arrival, and all seemed to be doing fairly well. i seem to have the most trouble a month or so after i get them. they just don't seem to do quite as well as the larger species. it's different when one won't eat at all and you know the cause of death. however it's somewhat disturbing when they're eating, drinking and doing everything else perfectly normal and then bam, you walk in and it's dead. that had been my most recent experience with satanics and i don't intend on purchasing any in the near future until i can dedicate more time to them. all lineatus and sikorae i have dealt with have been pretty straight forward. not much help but oh well.

Sorry for you loss. I just had my first bad experience too. I had order a male pietschmanni but he arrived DOA. Luckily Xtreme Reptiles refunded me fully for him. As to the stuff leaking out of the gecko and her walking around in circles. My giant day gecko did the same thing for a while too when I first got her. Luckily she didn't die though. I have no idea what this could be. Also is the person you bought from Alex from LA. I was going to get phantasticus from him too but he refused to send me any references.
-Matt

well, i think i have worked out a deal. im still not happy about getting a sick gecko or having to haggle to get my money's worth (somewhat). sorry, but i have yet to decide whether or not to share his name, because i dont have reason to believe that this guy really tried to rip me off. he basically said i could freeze and ship the gecko to get most of my money back, minus the paypal fee and i would have to pay to ship it back. instead, i opted to wait it out and just pay for shipping when he gets another shipment. now i dont really know if i can get some sort of guarantee that he will come through with this and actually give me a female in what he says will be a month or so. so i guess in a month or so you guys will find me happy and bragging about a new gecko or bickering about how i got hosed.

Thats such a shame you lost her. Your right these are magnificent animals, sad when one is lost so fast, and not knowing the reason, makes it worse.

I hope you will get a healthy girl in a month and he is honest.

I'm also glad ,and respect the fact you did not give a name. As that is not allowed, to post a (Bad Deal and name the person)
Your post is important to try and find the reason for her passing and weird behavoir, not to be removed for name calling.

You used very Good judgement ! I wish you well, with getting another female real soon.
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Eve / PHEve

thanks eve, while i honestly am not a person to read of TOS rules, common sense provides most of them. it would be wrong to write some flaming response because it could have happened from pure chance. im sure he has good intentions, we just happened upon an unfortunate incident. we're working it out and hopefully he will receive more so it gets fully resolved. i also took the time to notice if you do get ripped off, as many other classified sites do, kingsnake offers advice and means of reporting for resolution. he stated that its the only gecko out of a dozen he received that perished, and he has been very responsive to my emails so he has changed my opinion of him from when i was first pretty mad. you cant forget that i still have another female that i bought from him who is very beautiful and has been in great health since i got her.

shipping reptiles is something i try to do only when i really need to, and i figured sooner or later i would run into trouble.

some of you can take this as a reminder to check the reputation of anyone you buy from, be sure to ask lots of questions and get contact info. question health guarantees. question shipping methods. remember we all want whats best for everyone: the buyer, the seller, and the animals!

it is so frowned upon to talk about bad experiences with dealers/breeders. you would think people would want to get rid of them and keep only healthy animals and honest people in the business.
now i'm not saying you're not going to get your new gecko or whatnot, however if you don't, people should hear about it.

im sure its because some people might jump the gun. before finding resolution with the breeder/seller, some people might go ahead and make statements about someone that arent true, and furthermore it could hurt your chances of trying to work things out with the seller. remember, theres somewhere to go to report ripoffs, and i would have gone that route if this seller hadnt kept contact with me and such. try to work things out yourself first, and if that fails, then report to the classifieds so they know not to let other users fall into the same trap. i've seen fights break out on message boards over such things, and i cant stand how stupid fighting over the internet is. im sure kingsnake wants to look out for the wellbeing of ALL of its users.

Mike,

There is a reason I would personally like to do business with you when everything is quieter. Please check your email.

Cheers,
Jason

i'm aware than many people would jump the gun and start crap talking too soon, however i think there should be a section for people who have gone through all of the loopholes and still haven't gotten what they originally set out to get.
just my 2 cents

about a bad deal or person, but the way I feel friend to friend as well as moderator I can understand, sometimes a buyer is just not very satified no matter how good the seller is.

And on here a person's buisness could be ruined in a matter of a few posts, and maybe wrongly! That would not be right either,
Sometimes it is just a terrible fluke or accident.

And of course there are the few bad dealers !

Those kind of posts DISRUPT the forum, and get everybody all fired up, and people begin to fight so on.
The reason for the forum is to discuss and share the care of the animal. And of course our pics, hehehehe

Nobody wants a HOSTILE place to come, the only ones that will come is the ones ready to argue, belittle, and BE NASTY !

That would STINK !

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Eve / PHEve

Sorry I asked for the name of the dealer and kind of pointed a finger at him. It won't happen again I'm very sorry. Feel free to delete my last post.
-Matt

You did not trash anyone, you said your problem was taken care of by the dealer, which is fine it turned out okay.

You asked about a name, but dropped it.

YOU guys are GOOD guys! This is a NICE forum LOL

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Eve / PHEve

There is a place where people can & do talk about bad deals, good deals etc. However, I dont think you are allowed to talk about it here due to personal conflicts between the owners of both sites.

-L
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www.wildeyereptiles.com

Chameleons, geckos & invertebrates

Head over to Fauna Classified's website to see if your seller is on their list of BAD people to deal from..so you have an idea of what you are dealing with. It sounds like this person is not very caring to begin with, and is hoping you go away.

Second, if you paid by credit card, and you know the terms of the sale, you could always put the sale in dispute by contacting your credit card company..

Email me if you want more details about this if needed.
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Uroplatus sikorae
Uroplatus henkeli
Ball python
Hogg Island Boa Constrictor
Several species of tarantula