need your opinions/advice on a situation please...

Simply put I need some advice. I'll try to convey this with a quick, short version so here it is: I had my female mystic for sale and through email came to an agreement with someone where we agree on a dollar amount much less than my asking price in exchange for a mystic potion from the first clutch she produces no charge. If she produces no potions I can either wait to see if she puts one out from clutch #2 and have one from that or simply be payed the remaing amount of what I initially wanted for her. I agreed to this deal and felt like it was a win win for both myself and the other party. A contract would then be typed up and we both sign...something that was to take place next week.

Before I had her for sale I had been pairing her with my mojave. I never witnessed locks and there was never indication that breeding took place. Well...I have been watching her closely and as of the last couple of days i now believe that she may be gravid. I don't know with 100% certainty but if I had to guess I would say she is. For myslef, this turn of events presents a new perspective on her sale and our original agreement. The other party would still like to go through with the agreement and simply add provisions based on the possibility that she is carrying eggs. Which i am not against but I have reservations about letting her go now because she is possibly gravid and may be carrying a mystic potion or even more than one. Not to mention mystics and Mojave's.

The other party has agreed to give me all rights to the clutch should she be gravid. His new offer is fair and I would like to honor our agreement in some way, my only issue being that ultimately I simply have to put my trust in someone I only know through email interaction to this point. Meaning...I have to put my faith in this person that they will be honest with what she produces. If she ends up producing 6 mystic potions (obviously just hypothetically) I have to trust that is what will be relayed to me. And not be told she only produced one for example. This person has been professional, fair and considerate. From what I can tell the deal should work out fine and without a hitch and we both come out with what we want. And i do feel a certain amount of obligation because we had an agreement and i want to honor that. But I am nervous and hesitant because in the end i have no idea who this person is and i have to trust a total stranger. So based on the information...what would you do?

If you don't personally know and trust this person as a friend, and even then, this sounds like a sticky arrangement to enter. I personally wouldn't enter such a nuanced agreement.

Simple... Wait till eggs drop, Shipping/sending a female, would and could be disastrous and stressful for her. Any committed buyer should understand! Aswell who says he doesnt claim she reabsorbed/clutch died, there are so many possibilities! And everyone seems nice in nature, but you dont fully know what could happen in the long run!

I would simply ask him to wait till eggs drop, then feel free to ship/travel for sale I see no reason for him to say No to that. As it is your clutch.

My take: You advertised a non-gravid unproven female RTB Mystic for sale. You may not be able to provide one now through events outside your control. It would be no different if she died or popped up with an RI, you can't uphold your end of the agreement at this time. Similarly, the buyer may have been expecting a female that he could start pairing with one of his males as soon as she passed QT. Now he would have to wait for her to lay, recover, and hopefully be ready to go for the next season. In addition if she loses the clutch due to the stress from shipping/relocation, he's still stuck waiting until next season.

I would thank the buyer for his interest but I would let him know that at this time you can not provide the snake that was advertised and you're going to have to cancel the deal. Since I'm assuming that no money has changed hands yet based on your OP there's no contract to unravel or anything like that. After she lays and has recovered you can offer her up for sale again - or not - as you wish.

Don't do anything until you have eggs or are certain there will be none.

Just an added note: the buyer is local...not in the same town but a half hour drive and would be coming to pick her up. So she would not be shipped so to speak. And no money has exchanged hands at this point. The only agreement that has been made is through email. And the agreement was made before my discovering she may be gravid. I told the buyer that I would get back with him by tonight so I have the rest of the day to make a decision. Thank you to anybody that offers advice on the matter.

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Originally Posted by versicolor

Just an added note: the buyer is local...not in the same town but a half hour drive and would be coming to pick her up. So she would not be shipped so to speak. And no money has exchanged hands at this point. The only agreement that has been made is through email. And the agreement was made before my discovering she may be gravid. I told the buyer that I would get back with him by tonight so I have the rest of the day to make a decision. Thank you to anybody that offers advice on the matter.

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Why dont you ask him to come look, Show him why deal is being held off for a couple weeks! possibly offer him her + (a baby) as a "sorry" for the inconvenience to give him a breeding pair =) Iv done that once with a Killer bee, gave him a pastel male baby, because she hid her eggs well!

I still wouldn't do it. Why is it so urgent that it can't wait until everything settles down, and you either a) get some eggs - and keep them yourself - or b) wait until you know for sure she isn't gravid?

If the buyer is still interested, they should be willing to wait. Circumstances change, and you want to be honest and uphold your end of the bargain, of course, however as you've mentioned the other party seems professional and trustworthy. So why not wait? :)

I would hang onto her till after she safely lays her eggs or you find out she is not gravid just for her own well being. Me personally I would worry about her health and stress.
Also who knows if he would keep their end of the bargain. They are coming to pick her up. It's quite easy to change email addresses, phone numbers......

So far it looks like an overwhelming "keep her for now" consensus. Thanks so much for all of your thoughts. I will keep checking this thread until tonight just to get as many thoughts on the matter as I can. But based on the comments so far I am leaning very much towards holding onto her for the time being.

Dont feel guilty either, ITS best for her health to stay stationary during building/ovy

No exchange of money = no deal.

Sometimes situations change.

Keep her, then decide if you want to sell her after she lays.

Just to let you all know I took your advice and called off the deal for now. I am going to hang on to her for awhile and see what happens. Thank you to all who offered advice and opinions.

Good job, i agree that it was just to hazardous. Not to mention sale called for only one snake.

I think you did about the best you could in the situation. If you have not already, I would make it clear to the buyer that he will still have first dibs on her at the agreed upon price as soon as she either lays (and a bit of time to recover from laying) or you conclude she isn't gravid after all. That way, you haven't so much backed out of the deal, but just delayed it.

In the future, I would suggest not offering a possibly gravid female for sale. I know you didn't see any locks...but that doesn't mean it didn't happen. Better to wait until you know for sure. Now, if this was a case of retained sperm, and the pairings were ages ago, that's a different story.