New Arrival!!! Lots of Pics!

Hey there everyone!!

As some of you were aware, I have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of my new 0.1 2011 Monster Tail BCI. Well, she arrived this morning via FedEx at roughly 10 a.m. in an unmarked box. That was my first concern. No live animals sign, no perishable, no fragile...just a brown box. I then proceeded to open the box, having my fiance record an unboxing video, which I will post the link to as soon as it finishes uploading! (SO SLOW). At any rate, when I removed the styrofoam topper and the layer of newspaper, I found a tube sock. A sock? Really? I mean, I suppose it works but still.

Anyways, I pick her up, still in the sock, and can immediately feel that she is FREEZING!! I don't have a temp gun, but man do I wish I HAD! She was maybe, MAYBE (and this is being generous) 70 degrees? That's atrocious! She came from Minnesota, where it was 36 degrees yesterday evening, to Florida. Which, isn't cold, but still. She spent a good chunk of time at the Minnesota hub for processing and whatnot. Then Memphis, which is also COLD. The kicker in all of this was that there were NO HEAT PACKS! NONE! ZERO! I was shocked and angry to say the least. But upon opening the sock and shuffling her toward the opening, she darted out and started climbing all over me. I weighed her, 165g, which seems a little light for a May 2011 female. But I'll work on that. :P

Is there anything I should do to help her warm up? I didn't want to stress her further, so I snapped some quick cell phone pics and then put her in her new enclosure. I will post a pic of that as well. I hate tanks, so I'm already (and have been) saving to get her a custom. I'm about half way there. Just some quick info, the coldest spot in the tank is about 79.8 degrees right now. The heat lamp is to up ambients only, and I have a zoomed UTH on a t-stat under the hide. My main concern is...will she get sick from being so cold?!? No signs of an RI or mites or anything else (yet).

Anyways, here she is! The most beautiful snake I have ever laid eyes on!

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1...honeAll530.jpg

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1...honeAll531.jpg

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1...honeAll532.jpg

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1...honeAll533.jpg

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1...honeAll534.jpg

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1...honeAll537.jpg

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1...honeAll538.jpg

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1...honeAll542.jpg

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1...honeAll543.jpg
Check out those reds! WOW!

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1...honeAll546.jpg

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1...honeAll548.jpg

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1...honeAll552.jpg
With flash.

Annnnd one last tail pic.
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1...honeAll554.jpg

Thanks for looking! I love her. She is the first snake that, despite such a horrible journey, I had to literally fight into her tank. LOL! I know...it was only to be expected...but it was welcome. :)

Any advice or suggestions are more than welcome. Thanks again!:D:D

Wow She is one good looking boa. Someday I'll get one, but for now my big snake cravings will have to be satisfied by my carpet python :)

Thanks! :D She's a tiny thing for now. Her momma was a BIG girl though, so I'm hoping she follows in her stead. :gj: The crappy cell phone pics don't BEGIN to capture her colors. She's got speckles all over her and her belly is this gorgeous pinkish red, with speckles trailing down the sides. She's from a Hypo Jungle Litter, and her siblings had a TON of red. I love her, and her curious personality. ;)

She looks good. :gj:

I would definitely complain to the seller about how they shipped her and probably post something to the BOI about them. If you can I would probably raise her temps for a little while and watch for an RI.

She looks like she's in good condition. My boa is also very small (around 300-400g I think it's been a while since I weighed her) and she is over a year old. Boas grow a little different than ball pythons. :)

Thank you! I'll try and get her temps up, but I think the arrangement of the tank is making that a smidge difficult at the moment. :/

I sent the seller an email letting him know that she arrived alive, but FREEZING. I told him I would keep him updated. I don't want to post anything to the BOI until after I'm sure she's gonna be alright, and after I get her to eat. I'd hate to be on bad terms with the breeder if anything goes wrong. You know? :rolleyes:

Here's the unboxing vid as promised, for all those interested. :cool:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jezC1...ature=youtu.be

I'd be PISSED!!! Especially since this seller comes with such high marks. Seriously... Ugh. Poor snakey :(

Okay. Now that's over... She's beautiful!!! Congrats.

I KNOW!! I was astonished. One would assume, that with so much experience and coming so highly recommended, that the presentation would have been flawless! At least FedEx was on time. Thank all things holy. But I do have to saw, the animal is PERFECT. So there's that. :P

And thank you!! I'll try to get some better pics in a few days once she's settled. Hopefully she'll sit still for a minute then...lol. :snake:

Sit still? Lol. Good luck with that :P the only time our guys sit still is when we don't have a camera in hand.

She's beautiful!

I would just keep an eye on her as far as an RI goes.

Good looking boa. She might be slightly light in terms of weight but still looks to have acceptable proportions so I wouldn't worry about that part. Put some food in her and she will grow. The heat issue is another thing. I'd be very upset at the seller. It sounds like they weren't certified to ship legally and did a crappy job of it. I doubt any harm will come from it since she seemed fine in the unboxing. Congrats on the sweet looking boa and I'd head over to the BOI if I were you.

I would try to talk to the seller about their shipping practices and post an Inquiry on the BOI.

On a side note, am I the only one noticing the ever so subtle bra in the background of the first two pictures? :P (just putting it out there to lighten the mood ;) )

Congrats on her! Glad she got through the cold okay.

Not trying to derail, but when I got my little hypo girl (back in April of last year) she weighed in at only 79 grams and she was a late '10 baby yet she was only 80 grams because the breeder said he cooled her along with his others and she basically didn't eat for those months until I got her. She was also shipped w/o a heat pack and was very cold when I got her, and she almost didn't even want to move when I unboxed her: it took a good couple hours of warming up before I got a couple tongue flicks out of her. I was very nervous! But boas are hardy, and your girl should be fine :)

Plus kudos to you for recording the unboxing, this is VERY good practice for anyone receiving snakes in the mail (it saves your butt in case you get a DOA)!

I noticed, Ruthless ;) lol

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Originally Posted by WifeOfSlasher

Sit still? Lol. Good luck with that :P the only time our guys sit still is when we don't have a camera in hand.

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Of course. Lol. She was like..."Hey! What's that thing!" lol.

Oh, and just an update...I reached in a touched her to see if her body temp was improved and I am happy to report that she is nice and toasty now. :D

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Originally Posted by WarriorPrincess90

I don't want to post anything to the BOI until after I'm sure she's gonna be alright, and after I get her to eat. I'd hate to be on bad terms with the breeder if anything goes wrong. You know? :rolleyes:

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Why wait? The next person may not be as lucky and have a dead boa on their hands.

I totally didn't even notice the bra in the background until I posted them. Lol! :P Oh well. :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by MazAnth

Why wait? The next person may not be as lucky and have a dead boa on their hands.

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Very true. Thanks for all the help and feedback everyone!

She is gorgeous. For 2011 she is nice big girl. I don't really see how you think she is on the small side or under weight.
I understand the frustration about the heat pack. My animals shipped from Jeff have all been fine, and they have been shipped during cold months. Jeff has his reasons that he doesn't use them, I was going to leave it for his correspondence but the gist is they have resulted in more DOAs from their use.
I have 6 beauties from Jeff, and have no reservation of doing business with him.

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Originally Posted by minguss

She is gorgeous. For 2011 she is nice big girl. I don't really see how you think she is on the small side or under weight.
I understand the frustration about the heat pack. My animals shipped from Jeff have all been fine, and they have been shipped during cold months. Jeff has his reasons that he doesn't use them, I was going to leave it for his correspondence but the gist is they have resulted in more DOAs from their use.
I have 6 beauties from Jeff, and have no reservation of doing business with him.

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Does Jeff have a website with Terms and Services and shipment info on it? If he does, and this is a known regular shipping standard that he has than you can't be too mad at him. It's a different story if he doesn't have a website and didn't disclose how the snake was going to be sent to you; maybe someone can share a link to his webpage if he has one?

Jeff is the boa god, trust me he wouldn't do something that he didn't feel was right as far as shipping. He has shipped and bred more boas for more years then most people on this forum have been on this earth lol. His website is theboaphile.com. Btw congrats on the new addition she is going to be a trophy adult to say the least! :gj:

Great addition. If it were me I'd make a BOI post. 36 degrees shipping with no heat pack? Wow...

Thanks for the heads up!

From what I have seen Jeff may not be the best communicator, but he knows his stuff. Without a temp gun to look at the temp, your hands are pretty unreliable to be honest. Boas have different requirements temp wise than Balls. My boa spent at least 75% of her time on the room temp side of her cage which was 70-75 degrees. Her hot spot was 86-88.

I would email or call (your best bet) to ask his reasoning, I am sure he will tell you. I would not run to the BOI for a perfectly healthy and happy arrival. Also it does say on his shipping page that he will answer and resolve any questions you have.

Just my opinion.

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Originally Posted by boadaddy

Jeff is the boa god, trust me he wouldn't do something that he didn't feel was right as far as shipping. He has shipped and bred more boas for more years then most people on this forum have been on this earth lol. His website is theboaphile.com. Btw congrats on the new addition she is going to be a trophy adult to say the least! :gj:

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Originally Posted by jinx667

From what I have seen Jeff may not be the best communicator, but he knows his stuff. Without a temp gun to look at the temp, your hands are pretty unreliable to be honest. Boas have different requirements temp wise than Balls. My boa spent at least 75% of her time on the room temp side of her cage which was 70-75 degrees. Her hot spot was 86-88.

I would email or call (your best bet) to ask his reasoning, I am sure he will tell you. I would not run to the BOI for a perfectly healthy and happy arrival. Also it does say on his shipping page that he will answer and resolve any questions you have.

Just my opinion.

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True and True
My only complaint with Jeff is he has to many boas I want

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Originally Posted by jinx667

From what I have seen Jeff may not be the best communicator, but he knows his stuff. Without a temp gun to look at the temp, your hands are pretty unreliable to be honest. Boas have different requirements temp wise than Balls. My boa spent at least 75% of her time on the room temp side of her cage which was 70-75 degrees. Her hot spot was 86-88.

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I second this. An 80 degree snake feels cold to me. So feel is not a good way to judge.

I have no complaints about the quality of the animal. I was just surprised by the packaging.(He did not specify how he would ship. Either on his website or in our conversations.) I let him know she arrived quite cold. I only thought she was a bit on the light side because my Dum is a couple of months younger and about 90g heavier. Having heard now from other buyers, I now have a better understanding of why he may have done what he did. I wasn't going to mention the name or the site until I had an explanation because, aside from horrible communication skills (I had to contact him about 5 times for my invoice), he really was a great guy to work with, and he really knows his stuff. Like I said earlier, I'd rather not run to the BOI with my complaints. Especially without an explanation. You know? And you're all correct in saying my hands are not a good way to judge temp. That is partially why I made a point to say I did not use a temp gun for the temp estimation.

As long as she remains healthy, there was no harm done. I would not speak ill of someone (especially by name) for everyone else to see without a very good reason.

All in all, I am very pleased with my purchase and despite these issues, would probably buy from him again. The quality of the animal was well worth any issues/ frustrations.

Gorgeous snake that I'm sure will be fine. Jeff knows his stuff. He'll answer your questions for sure.

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Originally Posted by minguss

True and True
My only complaint with Jeff is he has to many boas I want

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True story. I want several of his others...lol. I just don't have any more space or money. :P

Glad your little beauty made it ok and is doing well :)

I would also like to add (now that I am no longer typing from my phone...lol), that my initial complaints were largely resultant from my surprise and fear. The experience was so different from my previous online purchases and subsequent shipping that I did not know what to make of that! I was also terrified that she would get sick, and I really wanted some help/advice as quickly as possible. I was frustrated from a combination of these feelings to say the least.

I would not taint someone's reputation simply out of anger, fear, and a lack of understanding. The most important thing is that she arrived healthy and seems to be doing well. She also happens to be the most gorgeous creature I have had the pleasure of laying my eyes or my hands on. :P

As I mentioned previously, I specifically went out of my way NOT to name the seller in this thread, and wish that those that did had refrained from doing so. (I may have slipped up in the video description, I realize now, but regardless, I had no intent of blatantly stating the name in conjunction with my complaints). I did not want a name tied to my complaints until I was confident that they were justified. (Though to a certain extent I think they were, Jeff is extremely knowledgeable and as stated, I would still do business with him again.)

Having heard stories from others who have purchased from him with similar results upon arrival, my fears have abated for the most part. More importantly, she was breathtaking and very active upon escaping her sock "prison". lol. Just thought I'd clarify some of my previously scattered thoughts that I managed to type out on my iPhone during class. :P

I managed to snap a pic that I LOVE once she warmed up a bit and settled.

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1...x/photo-15.jpg

Just thought I'd share. :gj:

Great looking girl you got there, glad all seems well with her!

Nice pick up! Thx 4 Sharin!

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Originally Posted by WarriorPrincess90

I have no complaints about the quality of the animal. I was just surprised by the packaging.(He did not specify how he would ship. Either on his website or in our conversations.) I let him know she arrived quite cold. I only thought she was a bit on the light side because my Dum is a couple of months younger and about 90g heavier. Having heard now from other buyers, I now have a better understanding of why he may have done what he did. I wasn't going to mention the name or the site until I had an explanation because, aside from horrible communication skills (I had to contact him about 5 times for my invoice), he really was a great guy to work with, and he really knows his stuff. Like I said earlier, I'd rather not run to the BOI with my complaints. Especially without an explanation. You know? And you're all correct in saying my hands are not a good way to judge temp. That is partially why I made a point to say I did not use a temp gun for the temp estimation.

As long as she remains healthy, there was no harm done. I would not speak ill of someone (especially by name) for everyone else to see without a very good reason.

All in all, I am very pleased with my purchase and despite these issues, would probably buy from him again. The quality of the animal was well worth any issues/ frustrations.

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Well I think I was the first to bring the name in, but You had already posted on the forum about getting this girl from Jeff. So I think most here would have known already who you were talking about. I did understand your frustration and fears. It shows good character to not just run to the BIO.(that place gets crazy) I understood Jeff reasons, I do guess it would be good to post this in his TOS or shipping info area. That way it would hopeful abate some fears.

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Originally Posted by WarriorPrincess90

True story. I want several of his others...lol. I just don't have any more space or money. :P

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I got 6 new additions coming 2 boas , 4 balls, none from Jeff this year, I just can't justify a $4K+ price tag.
I do have limited space to, and running out of room fast. I already need to build new cages and another rack, and need an incubator and other supplies.

Again that girl is gorgeous.
You will quite pleased with this girl, just wait to she colors up some more and I am sure she will. :D

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Originally Posted by minguss

Well I think I was the first to bring the name in, but You had already posted on the forum about getting this girl from Jeff. So I think most here would have known already who you were talking about. I did understand your frustration and fears. It shows good character to not just run to the BIO.(that place gets crazy) I understood Jeff reasons, I do guess it would be good to post this in his TOS or shipping info area. That way it would hopeful abate some fears.


I got 6 new additions coming 2 boas , 4 balls, none from Jeff this year, I just can't justify a $4K+ price tag.
I do have limited space to, and running out of room fast. I already need to build new cages and another rack, and need an incubator and other supplies.

Again that girl is gorgeous.
You will quite pleased with this girl, just wait to she colors up some more and I am sure she will. :D

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I believe you are correct. I guess I had forgotten that I specified who I was buying from in the previous thread. I apologize. :)

Congrats on the new kids! I can't wait to see some pics! :gj: That sounds like ALOT to do. I wish I had some building skill...then I wouldn't have to drop $800+ on an enclosure. Lol. And if I breed eventually, I will only ever breed my boas. That way I don't have to deal with the incubator and wondering if I'm doing everything right. :P

Again, thank you! She's the star of my collection for sure. I might have to get her a boyfriend one day, and I can almost garauntee it will be from Jeff (especially now that I understand why he ships the way he does). Lol.

All good
Yeah I got a lot of work ahead of, but I love it.

Congrats!!! She is awesome!!!

Extremely nice looking boa!

I agree on the shipping box needing a heat pack. I think the tube sock for small snakes is a great idea! I also was impressed by the thickness of the styrofoam used. I have been concerned about shipping in cold weather myself, but, have been told by several breeders that they never use heat packs. idk???

I'd love to see what the $800 enclosure looks like!