Don't Go To Petacular in Antioch, CA!!

WOW, never will I return.

Bought a "Breeding Pair" of Ball Pythons from Brian here.

First, the birds stink and all reptile enclosures were very dirty and soiled. I just simply figured they were busy and just hadnt had a chance to clean yet that day, possible. I spent about an hour or longer holding and looking at these 2 Ball Pythons that I thought I was getting a hell of a deal on for a 700 gram male pastel and a 1000 gram spider female. I asked specifically 2 times if he was sure it was male and female? "Oh yes, I probed them before and I have been in the business for such and such years, you dont need to worry". Ok, I will take them! 2 nights ago I placed them in the same enclosure while finishing my rack and noticed the spider (supposed to be female) spurring the hell out of the male pastel. Hmmm, thats strange I have never seen that before. I asked some breeder friends of mine, they have never seen a female spur a male before either. So I asked here on bp.net and got that it has never happened. So I take the snake in to be sexed at a local reptile speaciality shop. Sure enough, probe came up male! Called Petacular to speak to Brian and he wasnt there, another person was very helpful tho, and very curtious.

Ok, so we called back today, Brian says there is no way that it is male, he probed it 2 times before and it was always female and was very arrogant, but told us to come on in and he will re-check. Also, he has personally witnessed females spurring males! Apparently he is the only one in the world to witness it.

Ok Antioch is pretty far from us, so we went in to sex the snake again with another person. Using popping they inverted the hemipenes and sure enough its a boy (producing sperm plugs no less). I got this on video as proof.

Called back to speak to Brian who's exact words were "I don't trust popping". Can you believe that?!? Due to his attitude and flat out "I am not wrong" mentality I will never return to Petacular. Which is sad because I have heard of nothing but good things about the owners. He wouldnt even try to attempt to let us know he would make it right! I am cutting my losses and am just accepting that I overpaid for these animals.

Brian also thought he would "share" information about a local reptile shop, basically talking crap, which I felt was very unprofessional. Because we in no way had any part of the business he was talking about and shouldnt be bad mouthing other businesses simply because he himself is wrong. Sorry for the rant, but I believe in people owning their mistakes and paying for them. Everyone makes mistakes and it is very hard to sex a snake, but to have the attitude that Brian had that he was so sure he was right and we were wrong was unprofessional.

I feel like I've heard this story b4. Popping is simple but why did you house them together again ?

The heat source I had under one of my tanks stopped working, so I placed them together while I was finishing up my rack. They were together for maybe 3 hours max and I kept an eye on them the entire time. Thats how I saw the behavior. I am glad I did it because I would have just continued on believing that the spider was a female. I personally couldn't get the spider to pop and after 2-3 attempts I stopped because I didnt want to hurt it. The pastel popped for me no problem. I just needed to take the spider in to someone with a little more experience in popping and sure enough it was easy for him. I am just very dissapointed in the guy Brian at petacular for being so rude and basically telling us that we were wrong (even tho I got the popping on video, sperm plugs and all).

Man that sucks. It's been almost 2 years since I've bought any reptiles there, they've definitely gone downhill over the years. I did stop by once a while back (as they are the only ones near me that I know of with live rat pinks-pups) and I saw that spider as well. I'm glad I didn't get him :mad:

I have heard Brian state his dislike for popping which I find quite odd. For females I always pop first, and then probe to confirm to avoid situations like this.

To be fair, step outside your shoes.

People make mistakes.
If I sold someone a male when I was sure it was a female, and then they called and said a third party said male, why would I just trust a random third party?

I think you should go back and give the guy a chance to rectify the situation before you dismiss him.