What is better - buy from expo or buy from breeder who ships to you?

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Originally Posted by MelissaFlipski

How do I check Fauna/BOI? Do I just google? Sorry, I don't know what it is. :confused:

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Here ya go :nerd:

WARNING!! lots-o-trash :O

boi

LOL Cue.

It's not so bad sometimes.

Usually if you are looking for someone and their information, you can find references to them on the BOI.

But be aware, like Cue says, things can get a bit trashy and overboard. Just take everything you see with a grain of salt.

I think it is a useful tool.

I have never not gotten what I expected from online breeders/importers. I request pics of the exact animals to be shipped and pics of both the sire and dam (if applicable) and if the breeder does not comply I don't order.

In my more then 40 purchases in the past 24 months about 50% have been from breeders that shipped to me and 50% from shows/expos. Both have been more then what I have been promised.

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Originally Posted by lord jackel

The only thing I would add to this discussion is to not overlook the little guy (or gal). This hobby is growing quickly and there are a lot of new breeders that have some really nice animals...but aren't on the BOI yet. I have purchased a few animals (2 online and 1 at a show) from people that are new (only a few clutches in)...but in speaking with them (or via email), contacting their references (the couple of other people they did business with), seeing pictures of the animals, etc. I decided to go with them and got some really nice animals. Sure there are scammers out there but not everyone without a "rep" is bad.

Just something to keep in mind

Hope this helps,
Sean

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I really like this post, great JOB! So many people say that you need a breeder with a track record, etc. And they themselves are buying to breed, don't they realize that they will one day have to make that first year of selling happen? Just because a person is new does not mean they don't work hard to deliver what is promised.

Everyone has to start somewhere, to me if you are on a lot of forums, I have your home address, etc and you can provide me pictures of what I am buying and take my phone call, I will give you a shot if you have what I am looking for. If you only deal with "proven breeders", there will be no new businesses that make it.

So yea, when you can and when it makes sense, support the little guy,

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Originally Posted by MelissaFlipski

IIs it better to buy from a breeder who ships or to buy it from a local expo and drive the hour or two home?

I ask for two reasons, 1) is one inherently more stressful for the snake than the other, and 2) is one better in terms of quality of animal, health, care, etc. or are they pretty much 1/2 dozen in one and 6 in the other???

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I would like to add something that I have not seen anyone touch on yet, and that is the stress that is present in each of these situations. I personally believe that the buying the animal from a trusted breeder and having it shipped to you is less stressful for the animal. Here is my reasoning. I just recently did a show in Chicago. I live in New Orleans, LA.

This is a short summary of what my animals went through. (note: this whole event was about as stressful for me as it was my animals, as I spent every waking moment worried about how they were doing). Thursday morning - pack snakes in deli cups and load into cardboard box. Load boxes into SUV and drive for 10 hours. Stop at Motel, and load animals into motel room. Turn up heat in room, and sleep miserably, because I am not a reptile. Friday morning - Load snakes into SUV and drive 3 hours to show. Unload snakes and put in acrylic display cases. Friday night-Sunday afternoon - Keep snakes in small cases, with no thermal gradient, and very little to no heat at night. Sunday afternoon - pack snakes into deli cups and cardboard boxes and load into SUV. Drive 8 hours and stop at motel. Load snakes into motel, and sleep in the heat once again. Monday morning - load snakes into SUV and drive 5 hours to home and put snakes back into nice cozy enclosures with a ready suppply of much needed water.

p.s. I am not against reptile shows, nor anyone who does them. We do shows, and I think they are a great venue for promoting the industry. What I was trying to do was educate/remind some people what goes on behind the scenes, so that you can look at a snake at a show.

Now to the stress that is received from shipping. I sell an animal to a customer in Ohio. I live in New Orleans, LA. I pack snake into snake bag, and place in insulated box with appropriate environmental conditions(i.e. cold pack or hot pack, whichever is needed due to temperatures at shipping end and receiving end). This typically happens at 6:30 pm. Drop off snake at FedEx at 7 pm. Next morning at 10:30 am the snake arrives at it's new home, where the new owner will put it into a nice cozy enclosure with a ready supply of water. Stress time = 16 hours average, vs. about 100 hours average for a show.

I mostly wrote this to show people that are nervous about having snakes shipped to them, that it may not be as bad as you would think, if you think about all of the factors that go into your purchase of an animal.

All of the above is moot if you have a local breeder that you can meet, or go to their facility to pick up a snake. However, that is not available to everyone.

My 5 cents,

Tim, thanks for pointing out the behind the scenes stuff that lots of us may not have thought about.

I did notice that most of the 100+ hours of stress occurs after the show starts. So if you want to purchase at a show, you can reduce the stress on the animal(s) you purchase by getting there when the doors open the first day, and making your choices as quickly as reasonably possible, then taking your purchases straight home.

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Originally Posted by cueball

Here ya go :nerd:

WARNING!! lots-o-trash :O

boi

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How do you do a search for key words? Can you do that?

Also, thanks to Tim for his long explanation about shows. I did think about that, but didn't know all the details. It was enlightening.

I am at the point where I think the biggest difference is that I would get to actually SEE the snake in person that I would be buying at a show. We are going the first day, but not sure we'll arrive when doors open. (Going to NARBC in Chantilly on 10/27.)

I don't even know if any Rosy Boa breeders will be there....! Is there a faster way than clicking on every vendor's website to find out? :confused: I found a few vendors on-line, but none of them will be there.

Thanks.

NARBC will have an absolute ton of vendors. I can bet that there will be at least a few(LLLReptile is one of them) that will have nice CBB Rosies.

What kind of Rosy Boa are you wanting? I used to have a San Felipe and he was a cutie(evil, but cute).

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Originally Posted by MelissaFlipski

Also, thanks to Tim for his long explanation about shows. I did think about that, but didn't know all the details. It was enlightening.

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Never a problem helping out someone with a valid question. I did want to note that there are plusses and minuses to each purchasing scenario, and one was that at the show, you can be a bit more picky as to what you want, because you can put your eyes on the snakes.


Also, after reading my post again, I wanted to add that after all of the work that goes into vending at a show, please show your support, and spend a little money there if you see something that you like.

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Originally Posted by MelissaFlipski

How do you do a search for key words? Can you do that?

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I kinda think you have to register first before being able to use the search function :crazy: