Breeders with the best reputation.

Well i am just getting into ball pythons and i was wondering from those who have accuired snakes from breeders who has given you the good service, healthy animals, helpful, etc. and also is there any big name companies to stay away from?
Thanks

I would check out The Board of Inquiry at http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...play.php?&f=13

It is a pretty good system of labeling the good and bad people in the business although it does not include all the great people out there and new scum pops up all the time. Do a search on the BOI about someone you plan on doing business with for a check ;)

As a first-time BP-owner, I have to give props to NERD (New England Reptile Distributors). Kara (KLG here on BP.net) shares head-hanchoship with her man, Kev and they both were super helpful to me in the process of buying my BP.

Kara's the one I worked with the most directly, and she's very knowledgable and friendly. If I ever buy another BP (or any other kind of snake/lizard for that matter), I know that buying from them means quality animals with awesome service and support.

Kara's still helping me through my "new BP-mom jitters" :D

depends on how you look at it....

the way i see it is, i know reputable breeders will make sure their snakes go to good homes
bad breeders, or pet stores with poor reputations often sell snakes to the wrong customers, or to uninformed customers. i see this as a chance for a more informed person to help out and rescue if needed.
yeah if its your first snake you want to make sure its healthy
but if you have the knowledge/experience to help out not-so-lucky reptiles do it!

example- when i worked at petco in highschool i was the ''reptile specialist''. it actually pays more lol. anyhoo they sent us a baby burmese. i couldnt believe it because id never seen a petco sell a burm. i cant tell you how many kids came in and tried to buy it, but i refused to sell it unless a parent came in and told me to my face they were ok with the idea of a 12 foot snake that has human size feces and needs a gigantic enclosure. well needless to say it never sold while i worked there.

i don't think it's the job of the breeder, store, flipper etc to make sure it's going to a good home... i think it's the job of the purchaser to do their homework :P but... i agree with you... making sure a child has parental permission is VERY important!

in a perfect world... it would be great to have people get information FIRST and buy SECOND instead of the all-too-often other way around :(

Kara and Kevin of NERD are indeed awesome! So is Adam of 8ballpythons.com who I've purchased 3 snakes from and plan to buy more in the future from.


I'm only speaking from my own experience, we also have other breeders who frequent our site who are also A-OK in my book!

I purchased a beautiful pastel from Evan Jamison who is a member of this site. I would definitely recommend him with 100% confidence.

Ed Clark also a member of this site has some great looking snakes as well.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Spaniard

I purchased a beautiful pastel from Evan Jamison who is a member of this site. I would definitely recommend him with 100% confidence.

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Evan's site is blacklotusreptiles.com - I had the pleasure of meeting him last year in Daytona - very nice guy with a clear passion for his animals!

In no particular order some of the biggest breeders in the biz that have great reputations. There are also many small scale breeders that are great people and have amazing animals but the BOI should point you to those.

Ralph Davis Reptiles (www.ralphdavisreptiles.com)
VPI (www.vpi.com)
NERD (www.newenglandreptile.com)
Peter Kahl Reptiles (www.pkreptiles.com)
Bob Clark (www.bobclark.com)
The Snake Keeper (www.ballpython.com)
BHB (Brian and Lori)
Reptile Industries (Mark and Kim Bell)
Greg Graziani (www.grazianireptiles.com)
8BallPythons (www.8ballpythons.com) aka Adam_Wysocki

And a few others I've used
Garrick DeMeyer (www.crestedgecko.com)
Camlon Reptiles (www.camlonreptiles.com)
Eden Snakes (www.edensnakes.com)
Jim Stelpflug @ SW WI Reptiles (www.swreptile.com)
Michael Cole (www.ballroompythonssouth.com)

There a ton of other great breeders out there, many of them members of this site...so don't pass them by!

-Jason

one more i'd like to add to jason's list is exotics by nature: www.ballpythonmorphs.com. awesome snakes and great people!