Ken Foose - Exotic Pets

[piedpipper]

I recently purchased a pair of Dominican Red Mountain Boas on kingsnake.com from Ken Foose in Las Vegas. I do not think I will be purchasing from him again for several reasons.

1. The Boas he had pictured in the ad were not the same ones he sent me. He listed in the ad that they were ALL red but the ones I received were much more brown colored than I anticipated. Whether they will turn red over time I do not know. I just wish he had told me this or sent me pictures of the actual animals I would be receiving. When inquiring he told me that one of the boas I was getting was the one pictured. Needless to say I do not think it was the same one. I suppose its possible that they turned browner over time but even so that means that he did not have recent pictures on his ad which is still unacceptable. Here are the pictures: the first and second one are his kingsnake.com pictures and the second and third one are the boas I received. He still has these same pictures on the ad for DRMB's that he has for sale right now. BUYERS BEWARE you will likely receive animals similar to mine.



2. He said in the ad (still says for a matter of fact) that the boas are feeding on hopper mice. When in fact they were clearly MUCH too small for that and are in fact feeding upon pinky mice. He even told me himself that they were eating pinkies while deliberately lying on the ad and saying they were eating hoppers. Hence I was ONCE AGAIN surprised when unboxing them because I was expecting snakes at least twice as big as the ones I received.

3. In speaking with Ken, he told me these animals were born last spring which would make them almost a year old. Call me critical, but I do believe these snakes should be a good bit bigger if they were a year old. So Ken was either lying or underfeeding them. To give you an idea, the male was 16 grams when he arrived. With regular feeding in my care he has nearly doubled in size in 2 months. So I do think he was either lying or underfeeding them.

4. I hesitate to say this last part because I do not want to make blatant accusations without the proof but take it for what it is: a speculation. A few weeks after receiving these boas a mite infestation broke out with these animals and the snake bins nearest to them. Now I didn't add any new snakes to my collection for several months so I don't see where else the mites could have possibly come from. I acknowledge that this is my fault for not checking the boas and quarantining them to begin with but I do not believe it is acceptable for ANY breeder to sell animals with mites. As I said, I didn't see mites on them when unboxing, but I also didn't look very carefully and I do not know where else the mites could have possibly came from. There is a good chance these snakes came in with mites.

Overall, there were several problems with the seller which all revolved around honesty. I do not believe he was being forthright with me when selling and I didn't receive what I expected. I will not be buying from him again. I caution all other buyers on kingsnake to make extra sure you know what you're doing when you buy from this guy.

I love the animals I got and will be taking excellent care of them. I'm just disappointed at the dishonesty in this transaction.

[John1982]

I've never dealt with Ken personally so have nothing to add in regards to your questioning of his character. I have noticed a few things though that might help shed some light and give you an alternative perspective in the meantime.

1. The Boas he had pictured in the ad were not the same ones he sent me. He listed in the ad that they were ALL red but the ones I received were much more brown colored than I anticipated. Whether they will turn red over time I do not know. I just wish he had told me this or sent me pictures of the actual animals I would be receiving. When inquiring he told me that one of the boas I was getting was the one pictured. Needless to say I do not think it was the same one. I suppose its possible that they turned browner over time but even so that means that he did not have recent pictures on his ad which is still unacceptable. Here are the pictures: the first and second one are his kingsnake.com pictures and the second and third one are the boas I received. He still has these same pictures on the ad for DRMB's that he has for sale right now. BUYERS BEWARE you will likely receive animals similar to mine.

As far as I'm aware, DRMB are one of the species that go through a rather drastic ontogenetic color change as they mature. Most newborns are closer to brown than red. Lighting issues aside, there is a much browner animal(on the right side of hand holding multiple critters) in one of Ken's photos that could easily be one of the snakes you pictured.

2. He said in the ad (still says for a matter of fact) that the boas are feeding on hopper mice. When in fact they were clearly MUCH too small for that and are in fact feeding upon pinky mice. He even told me himself that they were eating pinkies while deliberately lying on the ad and saying they were eating hoppers. Hence I was ONCE AGAIN surprised when unboxing them because I was expecting snakes at least twice as big as the ones I received.

It is disappointing that he admitted to lying in the ad. If it's any consolation, these look about the size of the jungle carpets I hatched out last year and they could easily take a small hopper mouse right out of the egg.

3. In speaking with Ken, he told me these animals were born last spring which would make them almost a year old. Call me critical, but I do believe these snakes should be a good bit bigger if they were a year old. So Ken was either lying or underfeeding them. To give you an idea, the male was 16 grams when he arrived. With regular feeding in my care he has nearly doubled in size in 2 months. So I do think he was either lying or underfeeding them.

As far as I'm aware, only about 1/2 of DRMB will take to rodents - without extreme coaxing - from birth while the other half are often simply started on alternative food sources such as geckos/anoles. If these were slow starters(or switches to rodents) that could easily explain their smaller size. I have a couple of last years jungles that took a lot of patience to get started who are in the same size range. They are just starting to feed enthusiastically where, if I were to sell them now, they would undoubtedly grow like weeds under standard care.

4. I hesitate to say this last part because I do not want to make blatant accusations without the proof but take it for what it is: a speculation. A few weeks after receiving these boas a mite infestation broke out with these animals and the snake bins nearest to them. Now I didn't add any new snakes to my collection for several months so I don't see where else the mites could have possibly come from. I acknowledge that this is my fault for not checking the boas and quarantining them to begin with but I do not believe it is acceptable for ANY breeder to sell animals with mites. As I said, I didn't see mites on them when unboxing, but I also didn't look very carefully and I do not know where else the mites could have possibly came from. There is a good chance these snakes came in with mites.

I'm not sure why you did add this bit. It just feels like a low blow accusation, especially after admitting to not finding any mites on first inspection and failing to quarantine. While not as likely, mites can hitchhike from sources other than reptiles.

Overall, as an outsider looking in on this transaction, the only thing that disturbs me personally is the bit where Ken admitted to lying on his ad. If you have proof of that, it'd be something worth posting to add weight to your negative review. As a fellow reptile enthusiast, I'm sorry this deal left a bad impression and hope those DRMB mature into a couple of real stunners for you.

[Albert Clark]

@ piedpipper: Wow, sorry for the dilemma. John really qualified everything however if you want to speak to some red mountain boa experts shoot me a pm. I have some contact info to real dmrb breeders and experts who will be able to help you.

[piedpipper]

John, thank you for the reply.
I realize that DRMB's are one of the species that go through ontogenetic change, I hope that they do turn redder over time. I also agree that the animals pictured may have been the ones I received. But if they WERE the ones I received then they were not recent pictures as you can see by the size difference alone in my pictures and his. I did ask for recent pictures prior to buying the snakes and he had simply said to look on the ad as they are pictured there. Leading me to believe that these were indeed recent pictures. That is my only problem with that. That I asked for recent pictures and was directed to old ones which misrepresented the animals to be much redder than they actually were.

Yes, you are probably right, the bit about the mites may have been a bit overboard. I was just a bit annoyed at the time of writing as that is the only source I could think of for the mites coming from.

The Chillabothrus genus of boas unfortunately cannot take as large of a prey as carpet pythons as far as I know. They are typically started on pinkies from what I know and move slowly up from there. I will add the bit from our emails where he directed me to the ad pictures and told me they were eating pinkies even though the ad said they were eating hoppers. This is right after I talked to Tom Crutchfield to try and get pictures of the parents (since he originally produced them). I suppose this could be chalked up as a typo but it STILL lists them eating hoppers on KS right now even after he told me they were eating pinkies. I suppose it's not a big deal, I just don't understand why you would say they are eating hoppers when they are not and you know they are not.




On Feb 21, 2016, at 5:54 PM, Exotic Pets <exoticpetslv@gmail.com> wrote:

Actually Tom is incorrect. But he's old lol. I got these from him in early spring of last year. The first pic is the only female, and the second is one of only two males left, and the prettiest of the two. All are feeding on f/t pinky mice.
Thanks,
Ken Foose
Exotic Pets
2410 N Decatur Blvd #160
Las Vegas NV 89108
Voice 702-631-7387
FX 702-631-7367

www.Exoticpetslv.com

On 2/21/2016 2:37 PM, Gregory Pandelis wrote:

Hi Ken,
I contacted Tom - he said he didn't remember the exact animals except that they were all red - which is sufficient for me. But he did say it was a couple years ago that he sold them to you so I'm guessing the pictures you have up are not very recent? In any case I am still interested as long as you can send me some recent pictures of the reddest pair.Thanks,
Greg

Overall, I'm not super upset about everything. I still got a pair of wonderful animals. It's just the fact that they were misrepresented in those couple ways that rubbed me the wrong way. Maybe Ken didn't intend it and he just had a moment when he was writing the ad or though that I wouldn't care if the pictures weren't very recent. I didn't intend to make Ken out to be a terrible guy here. This was just my experience and maybe yours will be different.

Albert I think I will take you up on that offer that sounds great!

[piedpipper]

I would like to make a complete apology here to Ken.
I thought he hadn't sent me the pictures I requested. As you can see in the email, it appears he is talking about some photos but they don't show up. That is what led me to believe that he was referring to the dated pictures on the ad. When in fact it was because I was viewing the emails on my phone and apparently attached photos do not show up on mobile versions of email. In viewing the emails on my computer for the first time, I realized HE DID send me recent photos back then and they are the exact animals I bought. I was completely at fault with this being as I didn't carefully check emails on my computer. I know this now for future transactions and I hope that this thread has not harmed Ken's reputation in any way. I now realize that he WAS being completely straight forward with me, it was mistakes on my part that led me to believe what I did.

If it is possible for mods to delete this post so as not to accidentally harm Ken's reputation any further, I would appreciate it.

[Albert Clark]

@ piedpipper: It's great that you caught it and were straightforward about the oversight. We're only human and subject to error and mistakes.

[piedpipper]

Thanks Albert. I just feel really bad for making him out to that way when it was really just a simple misunderstanding on my part. Lesson learned for me to think and check twice before posting a negative review on someone.