BHB reptiles/ Brian Barczyk

[Maddumpling]

I want to get a het albino from them, but I've been hearing some stories about them and wondering if it is true. I hear that people have gotten sick snakes and mites. I saw one guy on youtube that showed one of his snakes from BHB had mites. Are these rumors true that BHB has had some mite problems or ship sick snakes? I'm a huge fan of Brian and his snakes but when I see at least two people saying that they have had mites from a reputable breeder it worries me. He is the only one that has a adult female het that I know of. I know another breeder that has one but she doesnt have the paperwork to prove she is a het, but she has produce albino babies from her. So I'm leaning more to BHB because he would have paperwork for this snake.

[Slashmaster]

I know a breeder who told me a story about a snake he got from BHB...

He said he bought an adult female cinnamon and he had to run it through the shower to get the mites off. It was like a stream of black coming from the snake as the water and his hand brushed them off. He warned me never to buy from them because their snakes have mites.

I looked over BHB's sale stock at Tinley Park NARBC and I didn't see any mites, though granted I didn't ask to pick any of them up. I only looked at them through the plastic containers.

I've heard the same thing you have, though, so maybe there's some truth to it.

[Kinra]

I have 2 rat snakes I got from BHB. I got them in August. I won one in his auctions (albino black rat snake) and the other (Kunsir Island rat snake) I bought off his site. Neither of them had mites, but I was afraid the Kunsir might had a respiratory infection because it was making a popping nose.

I immediately e-mailed them, but I described it as a popping/clicking nose, because that's what it sounded like to me. I asked them if it was possible it had an RI or if it might be something else. They are my only venture into the world of colubrids and I'm still not completely familiar with them. My best guess is that it was stressed induced from shipping because he's been fine since, but I got a response from Lori basically saying she had no idea what I was talking about and she had never heard of a popping nose being a sign of an RI.

Overall, I have two healthy mite free snakes, but I don't think I will buy from BHB again. Brain seems like a great guy and I love SnakebytesTV, but I'd personally rather take my business elsewhere. My experience with BHB wasn't bad, but it wasn't amazing either which is what I have experienced working with other breeders.

[mechnut450]

I note heard of mites from bhb ( but then again I not purchased any snakes from them.)

I know most people will provide paper work with their hets. I know I do and I don't print them out until I about to sell the snake(s) in question.

[Mft62485]

I've got 7 of my snakes from BHB, and none had mites. I went to his shop in June, and didn't see any mites there, although I wasn't really looking for them.

[OhhWatALoser]

He gets shipments all the time so it expected to have mites come in, whats unacceptable is shipping snakes back out with them.

I talked to someone who used to work there, He told me there was a neglectful crew at the time and poor quality control on his part and snakes were getting shipped out with mites.

Brian appears to have stepped up the quality control on his animals and also he has a new crew. Last time I was at his shop was about a year ago, I looked at 100's of animals. Never saw mites.

I personally would buy from him again, to me it appears he had a bad streak at a point, but I haven't seen anything personally to make me say "don't buy from this person"

[BbyBoa]

I got my Pinstripe from BHB, he had great customer service, called me personally to talk about the snake I wanted and he shipped a great snake with no problems what so ever. Really good guy and I would recommend him to anyone.

[Maddumpling]

i see, it still bothers me though because there are some who had mites and some who did not and right now im seeing a 50/50 answers. I want to buy from them because i'll have a guaranteed het but i'm worried when it arrives. Either it will be healthy or harm my other two snakes, especially my albino which i want to breed to the het.

[adamsky27]

I bought a ball python from them. They were really nice on the phone, and my snake was healthy. No mites. Call them and when you place your order ensure that you are getting a guaranteed healthy snake. They have a good name that they do not want to tarnish, I doubt they would send a snake knowing it had mites.

[JLC]

Either it will be healthy or harm my other two snakes, especially my albino which i want to breed to the het.

A word of advice....no matter who you buy from...ALWAYS quarantine your animals. A minimum of three months. If everyone is still healthy after three months of being in a new environment, then they're most likely safe to include with the rest of your collection and breeding project.

The thing about a business the size of BHB...there WILL be negative reports. Period. No one is perfect and mistakes will happen. When you have as many different customers as someone like BHB, then those mistakes are that much more likely to make it to the public ear.

More often than not, we hear bits and pieces of such stories and rarely ever get a full picture of exactly what happened and what was done to correct it.

I've met Brian on several different occasions and seen his animals at those shows. They're beautiful and healthy, from everything I've ever seen. I've known people that have visited his facilities and never heard a bad report from any of them.

There is ALWAYS a small risk when buying live animals...no matter who you buy from. I trust that buying from Brian is a sure way to keep those risks very small.