Backwater Reptiles: Good or Bad?

Iv seen so many horrible reviews towards these guys, from people saying they ripped them off to not even shipping the reptile they paid for. And that the owner posts his own positive reviews.

Now iv been in contact with Sam and he seems really cool, he even answers all of my annoying questions. But im not sure what to think, i want to do business with them but google is FILLED with so many bad reviews towards them.

Has anybody here personally done business with these guys?

If you have doubts, why would you even risk it when there are so many known good dealers out there? I don't care what business we're talking about, once an owner feels the need to post positive reviews on their own behalf, that's enough for me to steer clear...be it a restaurant, landscaping service, or live animal business.

You do make a valid point Rob. They just have a nice selection and good prices. I just wanted to get to the bottom of all the rumors.

I just checked out their site and honestly their snakes are overpriced. If I were you I would take my business else ware.

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Originally Posted by drama x

They just have a nice selection and good prices.

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Originally Posted by The Serpent Merchant

I just checked out their site and honestly their snakes are overpriced.

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Prices aside, whether they are good or "overpriced"...I don't know a thing about this company, but numerous bad reviews are a flag(unless good reviews outnumber the bad by a ridiculous margin), as is the owner posting reviews on himself.

Don't let prices motivate your purchases...we're dealing with animals here, if you're constantly on the hunt for the so called "good deal", you're bound to get burned.

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Originally Posted by RobNJ

Prices aside, whether they are good or "overpriced"...I don't know a thing about this company, but numerous bad reviews are a flag(unless good reviews outnumber the bad by a ridiculous margin), as is the owner posting reviews on himself.

Don't let prices motivate your purchases...we're dealing with animals here, if you're constantly on the hunt for the so called "good deal", you're bound to get burned.

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I completely agree. I was just saying that in addition to what you had already said I didn't think that their prices were that good anyway so there really wouldn't be any reason to deal with them.

This is about the bad reviews guys, im just trying to see if the rumors are true. I want to hear the comments from people who have actually bought from this business.

Backwater Reptiles=BAD
I just had a devastating experience with them because I didn't read reviews or research them more throughly before buying...
I recently bought a 2011 normal retic from them, I specifically asked for a female and when the owner emailed me to confirm the order I asked how "she" was sexed, and he said by probing through his "experts" I got the snake and a few weeks later popped "her" just to be sure and it was in fact a male. Its really not that difficult to sex a snake... But another concern I had was when I received the snake he had a huge white bump protruding off his head, I sent a picture of it tithe owner and he said it would just go away. He's been on a normal feeding schedule and actually just she'd, and pooped today, then he went for a soak in his water, I took him out and he was fine and active, and put him back and just checked on him and he's dead. When I found my little baby dead, I was obviously devastated, and then did some digging and found many more dissatisfied customers who have received sick animals. I mean how could he know if it was sick, or if it was sexed properly if HE'S IN CALIFORNIA AND HIS SNAKE DROPSHIPPER IS IN FLORIDA?!?!? And, why would he go on forums and make fake names to write good reviews for his company?? If its really that good, he shouldnt have to do that. That's totally unacceptable and irresponsible.
In the long run, I really should have done my research before buying, I saw the nicely put together website and the decent prices and dove right in, BAD IDEA ON MY PART.
But that's just my experience. If I were you I wouldn't trust this company with my life, nevermind the life of an animal.

I had actually looked into Backwater Reptiles awhile ago - I must say, I am GLAD I never bought from them.

I got my 2 bps from there and my little sisters ribbon snake all in good health and such! and im getting a water monitor and a frilled dragon soon from there as well.. theyre good and the owner keeps in contact with me constantly, i asked him to let me knowwhenthe water monitors get back in stock <3 i must have one... since i had a good experience with them im getting all my little pets over there from now on.. lol unless my local shop has some, but I got my two babies from there, ill be doing a videodiary on them after a week or two to see how its doingfrom time to time (:

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Originally Posted by Wolfie

I got my 2 bps from there and my little sisters ribbon snake all in good health and such! and im getting a water monitor and a frilled dragon soon from there as well.. theyre good and the owner keeps in contact with me constantly, i asked him to let me knowwhenthe water monitors get back in stock <3 i must have one... since i had a good experience with them im getting all my little pets over there from now on.. lol unless my local shop has some, but I got my two babies from there, ill be doing a videodiary on them after a week or two to see how its doingfrom time to time (:

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Just thought that I should add, that you "just" got them on Monday and they have not even eaten for you yet (as you posted in another thread that you are going away).
So you may have had a good experience purchasing them, but only time will tell that you got 2 healthy snakes.

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Originally Posted by Tzeentch

Just thought that I should add, that you "just" got them on Monday and they have not even eaten for you yet (as you posted in another thread that you are going away).
So you may have had a good experience purchasing them, but only time will tell that you got 2 healthy snakes.

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x2. Well said. Only time will tell...

i ordered a few animals from there and was not to happy the snakes a had gotten had mites and i called them and they didnt even care all they said was its in your hands now sorry but most of there stuff is imports so i guess you would get some mites and stuff.

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Originally Posted by ninerballs

i ordered a few animals from there and was not to happy the snakes a had gotten had mites and i called them and they didnt even care all they said was its in your hands now sorry but most of there stuff is imports so i guess you would get some mites and stuff.

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Mine were clean, just shed wasnt exact... badnews though is i lost both of mine cause i didnt put a weight on the cage.. i am so frustrated.. x_X

1st off, I had doubts as well about Sam. They've been put to rest. If the animal arrives dead that's a chance u take when having a reptile shipped. Mine all arrived alive. If urs died after u got it maybe u don't know how to properly care for a snake. U really thought these were bred at SAMs house? Of course not, and he wouldn't b my choice on who could sex a reptile properly, however whoever does has been correct every time for me. And sexing a brand new baby is just a guess. I was upfront with Sam, he's a reputable guy and I have only had good experiences with backwater

I'm kind of new here, but there are some things I can pick at in your reply.

1.) DOA's to my Knowledge are kind of rare when "healthy" animals are properly shipped (like with most breeders belonging to BP.net and Faunaclassifieds.)
2.) I think it's a little..strong to be calling out someone's husbandry, because again I doubt joe shmoe who just wanted to impulse buy a snake, would do so at petsmart or petco rather than go through the extra hassle of shipping a snake. That aside, you have no idea about the husbandry in question.
3.) I know when I first started looking online, I didn't think that places like general exotics, or backwater reptiles were just the middle man. They don't advertise it on their site, and it's an understandable mistake to someone new to the company, or herp community.
4.) Again, when a website goes so far as to let you choose male or female, it would lead someone to believe that the company has some form of credibility. I haven't tried to sex a snake yet, so I can't speak on it easiness, or for baby snakes.

In short, you are part of a very limited number of people that I've found enjoy backwater reptiles, and I personally think you have just gotten lucky thus far.

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Originally Posted by Conda

1st off, I had doubts as well about Sam. They've been put to rest. If the animal arrives dead that's a chance u take when having a reptile shipped. Mine all arrived alive. If urs died after u got it maybe u don't know how to properly care for a snake. U really thought these were bred at SAMs house? Of course not, and he wouldn't b my choice on who could sex a reptile properly, however whoever does has been correct every time for me. And sexing a brand new baby is just a guess. I was upfront with Sam, he's a reputable guy and I have only had good experiences with backwater

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I just discovered this forum after ordering three hatchling eastern box turtles. Prior to discovering the forum I had some correspondence with Sam who seemed very helpful. Had I read the forum previously I most likely would not have placed my order. However, at this point I am hoping for the best and will isolate the new arrivals in another room. I will be sure to keep all posted on the condition and health of the babies.

just got my water dargon today and I am very unhappy. He is not what I ordered. I ordered an adult male water dragon for my female, who lost her mate last year. What I recieved was a small juvinile, too small to go into the large enclosure with my girl, becuase she will eat it. Yes, he is that tiny!

He was packaged horribly as well, cold and sickly looking. I emailed then twice and have been ignored. I also posted on their facebook page and those have been ignored and deleted. I paid $67 for an animal I did not order!

Hi Drama x,

I bought two baby Green iguanas and two baby Savannah monitors from Backwater Reptiles and was totally pleased. I received fast responses to my e-mails and quick shipping. I'm an engineer and know that people who have bad experiences are always the ones to complain online, you rarely hear from the people who are content and happy with their purchase. Anyways, just my experience.

BeeGee

I ordered a normal ball and a brazilian rainbow boa, the normal was fine and the brb was dead on arrival, they didn't poke any air holes in his plastic container. They agreed to send me a new one, it was 4 emails(1 a week) and a threat to just charge back before they finally sent the replacement.

I wouldn't recommend them

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Originally Posted by Wolfie

Mine were clean, just shed wasnt exact... badnews though is i lost both of mine cause i didnt put a weight on the cage.. i am so frustrated.. x_X

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I'm confused you got your bps on the 16th last month. An by the 3rd of this one you had already lost both snakes? Where both in the same cage is that how they both got out or did you not properly close two different cages?

Wasnt trying to sound like an ass btw just truly wondering what happened to cause that an if you found them an fixed that situation.

She hasn't posted since April of last year. Doubt you'll get an answer.

[QUOTE=carlson;2063362]I'm confused you got your bps on the 16th last month. An by the 3rd of this one you had already lost both snakes? Where both in the same cage is that how they both got out or did you not properly close two different cages?[/QUOTE

I was wondering the same thing!!!

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Originally Posted by Bobbafett

She hasn't posted since April of last year. Doubt you'll get an answer.

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Whoops I just seen April thought it was this year. I had just wondered was all lol

It may not be a reptile but my wife and I ignored the bad reviews on an apartment complex and it ended up being one our biggest regrets. So I say listen to the reviews.

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Originally Posted by RobNJ

If you have doubts, why would you even risk it when there are so many known good dealers out there? I don't care what business we're talking about, once an owner feels the need to post positive reviews on their own behalf, that's enough for me to steer clear...be it a restaurant, landscaping service, or live animal business.

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Quoted for truth! :cool:

Although this thread has been stagnant for sometime, I thought I would chime in with some recent information if people were interested. I have been trying to find a quality Surinam red tail boa hatchling. Backwater reptiles had them for the best advertised price. I was hesitant after all of the bad reviews but thought I would contact them. I got a curt response from Sam. After asking subsequent questions about possibly seeing individual pictures of animals, my last emails have been completely ignored. It seems ridiculous that they expect you to purchase an animal when only seeing a stock photo of a "representative" animal. These aren't cars, they aren't all the same. I will not be purchasing anything from this vendor, and neither should anyone else. Shame on you Backwater, shame, shame, shame.

Backwater reptiles = BAD

Now don't judge me. Yes I'm brand new on the site, but I was surfing the forum and saw this question here. I just wanna say that I have bought two reptiles from backwater reptiles. One was a hypo corn snake with a deformed jaw which was labeled an okeetee corn at the new york metro reptile expo in white plains. If you want proof of this corn being wrongly displayed I can upload a photo I snapped of her before I bought her. Apart from the false advertisement, the hypomelanistic girl was a poor feeder and still is very jumpy while being handled to this day. Her jaw never healed like I thought it might with love and care, instead it's still the same. We call her crookedjaw because of this. I actually think she might have been born this way, but there is no way for me to be 100% positive of this.

The second reptile I bought from them a year later at the same reptile expo was a brown african house snake. His problems were as follows. 1) poor feeder, 2) he had tons of old scars from live mice most likely, 3) full of mites, and 4) he was also full of worms. The worms were the worst problem since the mites turned out to be wood mites and not the bad snake kind. It was in fact the worms that made him the poor feeder he was. After a two and a half months of this guy not eating a thing I finally decided to treat him on the chance that he had worms. I treated him for them, having to force feed him the first time since he wasn't eating, and then the next week he finally became hungry and ate a mouse injected with dewormer for his second treatment. We cleared him of worms after a few months and he's been eating well since then. He actually found a new home with a loving owner/friend of mine who had watched me treat the snake while we had him. She fell in love with him, cause he was as calm as could be, and decided to adopt him from me.

Now, I'm not sure how they treat their other animals. Be that as it may, I'm not getting snakes from them ever again. However I am interested in their tarantulas. So I may hazard buying a spider off of them, but not much of anything else.

They have a cool selection of reptiles for sale, but from the reviews I would not risk buying from them.

ordered a male brb from them a couple days ago. it shipped and arrived when it was supposed to. it arrived in okay condition. he looked a little dehydrated but he wasnt too sickly. he ate right away with little effort. i probably wont order from them again just in case though

Backwater Reptiles http://www.backwaterreptiles.com/ is Totally Over Priced and a Rip-Off of Exotic Insects Pets and Backwater Reptiles and is ONLY Online in The State of California USA ~ Samuel Sundberg ~ 4970 Rocklin Rd. ~ Rocklin CA. 95677

"Buyer Beware" ~ aka... "Caveat Emptor" ~ "Let The Buyer Beware" ~ "May He Beware" ~ "To Beware"

Their Live Guarantee is Worth Nothing ~ Their Nothing But Total Thieves and That's What Backwater Reptiles http://www.backwaterreptiles.com/ Web-Site are ~ Total Over Priced Thieves ~ "U" Have Been Warned"

Their Shipping Cost For Overnight Live Delivery That's in The SAME STATE of California USA as Them ~ Are Over Priced and They ALSO... Charge U for Handing Ur Order Too...

As We Stated We Live in The Same State of California USA as Backwater Reptiles ~ Samuel Sundberg ~ 4970 Rocklin Rd. ~ Rocklin CA. 95677 http://www.backwaterreptiles.com/ A Online ONLY Web-Site and They Shipped one Tarantula That Was DEAD ON ARRIVAL ~ BECAUSE They Shipped The Spiderling Tarantula in Soil and The Other Tarantula We Ordered Was to Be "3/4" to "1" in size and Was Only 1/4" inch in Size From Another Online Web-Site in The state of Florida

The Tarantula That The Online Florida Web-Site Shipped Out Was Packages The Right Way and Was Eating The Same Day

Sooo... We Say Again to ALL Who Reads This ~ "Buyer Beware" ~ aka... "Caveat Emptor" ~ "Let The Buyer Beware" ~ "May He Beware" ~ "To Beware" ~

When Buying Any-Thing From This RIP-OFF Fraud Web-Site ~ Know as Backwater Reptiles ~ Samuel Sundberg ~ 4970 Rocklin Rd. ~ Rocklin CA. 95677 http://www.backwaterreptiles.com ~ "U" "Will Beee..." Just Throwing Ur Money Away "Let The Buyer Beware"

VERY BAD
DO NOT ORDER FROM THEM http://www.backwaterreptiles.com/
I order $65 of gecko and they miss the delivery date and I need to go out of town and cannot find anyone to pick up and sign at UPS. And it eventually got sent back and I did not event get a partial refund!
:taz::confusd::colbert::colbert::colbert:

I got a emerald tree boa from them, he came full with mites dehydrated I wanted a female and what I got is a male I'm still fighting with my guy to feed him I been having him for about 2 months now and he only ate for me once, If I were you I'd stay away from backwaterreptiles.

i wouldn't... fauna boi reviews...youtube unboxings that are horrifying...feeding inappropriate food items...and not sure if he was lying or what but theres a guy in ball python fanatics that claims to work for them and hes happy about it...which is ok i guess whats no ok is what he says they find acceptable... and HE finds acceptable...nope.

Backwater Reptiles is an on-line broker, a "drop-shipper" owned by Sam Sundberg. If your animal arrives dead or sick, Sam will just blame the customer or say, "that's the risk you take"...."read the fine print" etc....

When asked about his poor reputation, he will tell you that "only unhappy customers provide feedback". The "disgruntled effect" is a statistical selection bias that doesn't have the same impact on an internet broker like it does in professional services. It does not account for the shear magnitude of negative feedback you will find on the internet and even BBB site.

The BBB posts 4 stars for Sam but BACKWATER IS NOT accredited by the BBB because BACKWATER does not conform to their standards.

Last, Sam and his employees are very computer savvy. They are known to pose as "customers" to stuff web sites with glowing reviews of his own "company". This is well documented on Reptile sites and blogs.

How Do I know all this? Research AFTER the fact !!!

I bought several pets from BACKWATER. I never had a problem until one arrived sick. Sam refused to answer calls. He refused to admit, even the possibility, that the animal arrived sick. He claimed that he "would never send a sick animal" despite the fact that he never ships anything and never actually sees the animals. Sam implied that it was my fault that the little guy died. He threatened to send me to collections if I filed a dispute with the credit card company (which I did anyway). He threatened a lawsuit etc....

SUMMARY: PLEASE !!!! STAY AWAY from BACKWATER Reptiles and Sam Sundberg !!! There are plenty of CHEAPER and more honest folks out there. PLEASE learn from my mistake !!!!

There are many places online to purchase reptiles. I, unfortunately, didn't discover some of the awful stories related to BackwaterReptiles until after my baby kingsnake died, suddenly about 10 days after arrival.
I paid $140 for a baby snake. I was very upset and sent them an email, since there is NO phone number to call for concerns/ questions. She wasnt all that active when first acclimating to her home...I was happy with her colors, she was beautiful! But her health was in question. Near the end she really stopped moving altogether. Id put her in her tank and she wouldnt even use her muscles to adjust to the ground! She just laid however she was put down...her head just dragged on the ground..she would, near the very end, stand up on her belly, and her head would waive back and forth, like she couldnt keep her balance :( also she would open her mouth over and opver again, and a quiet "popping" sound came out...thats just not normal.
She died that night, right under the light, which A snake wouldnt do for a long period of time like she did, they would hide under something.

I didnt even care about the money, I cared about the snake and I wanted to talk to someone about it.
Anyway I didnt get a reply that next day after a few emails. I finally got a nice lady (all of the female employees were very nice!). She asked me to send pictures and proof of my dead snake baby, and i did. I didnt get any emails back a while after that. I felt like I was being ignored. Youd think they would be all over the unfortunate situation of a dead animal of theirs. A friend told me about BetterBusinessBeaurau and said I should just go through them. I wasnt going to originally but I saw SO MANY terrible stories about animals arriving dead and poor customer service. I did it anyway. I know thats not nice to do to a company but I felt they werent doing their jobs right! Then a dude named "Sam" sent me an email and it just got nasty from there. Now I know a lot of the bad reviews Ive read are true when it comes to customer service. This guy really takes things personally unfortunately...

I WOULD NOT recommend. Plus, you really never know how things run in a state across the country. In hotter and more humid climates people can breed/sell/trade reptiles easier, so the way things run can definitely be in question. There are stories of really bad snake breeders out there, It was even on Animal Planet at one point. Shipping small delicate animals is very stressful on them. You should just find a snake you like that is local in your area. Reptile EXPOS come to different states all the time once a year or so, just research one. And you can ask the breeder questions right there! :) much better option.. Good luck!