Does this sound like "stolen" balls to you?

[Vasiliki]

I understand that everyone here is passionate about snakes but i feel like some people are jumpin the gun here. How is this any different from people finding morphs that were dropped off in animal shelters or at petco? It could very well be that maybe the lanlord found out about the snakes and didnt allow them in the first place, causing them to have to dump the snakes. I just cant see someone having the time to steal the snakes and the rack and t-stat. I think theres more to the story but i dont think its bad as everyone here is assuming. Call me optimistic maybe....

If you hang out at the BOI, you'll realize all the kinds of stories we hear in the reptile world. It's not kittens and rainbows. People can be terrible, and unfortunately, it's almost always at someone else's expense. I'm not jumping the gun. I'm saying that the facts give me a red flag. When people are unloading animals, the general way they do this is to ask for just slightly less than the value they paid. They don't want to be 'out' for what they put into it. Asking $250 for that entire set-up tells me that the guy isn't sure what they're actually worth. That is a huge red flag. If I paid $250 for a rack system, you bet I'd be asking for at least $100 for the rack alone. That's a pretty drastic mark-down. I'm taking a loss, but not a huge loss.

With the animals this guy sold for $250, including the rack set-up... It doesn't make sense to me. Even if you 'needed money now', you'd still be asking for about 50% the value of what you paid. Asking $250 for that 'deal'? That doesn't sound like the guy knew what he had.... And more often than not, people who don't know what they have aquired these animals through unfortunate situations.

Maybe he didn't steal them... But maybe they aren't his either. In which case, why is his story changing?

To save the person who BOUGHT the animals for $250 from getting charged with handling stolen property, they should call the police, inform them of an 'unusual' transaction and ask if anybody has reported any missing snakes.

[OhhWatALoser]

Let me give you another scenario, wife catches husband cheating, she pawns off his snakes cheap to get rid of them quick in retaliation. Happened to a guy I worked with, he was sleeping around, she sold his 69 camaro for 500 bucks.

[BleedingOrange36]

Let me give you another scenario, wife catches husband cheating, she pawns off his snakes cheap to get rid of them quick in retaliation. Happened to a guy I worked with, he was sleeping around, she sold his 69 camaro for 500 bucks.

Wish I would of found that deal!!! I would of drove it for a couple days and sold it back to him for a 1,000$ to teach him a lesson

[RoseyReps]

Let me give you another scenario, wife catches husband cheating, she pawns off his snakes cheap to get rid of them quick in retaliation. Happened to a guy I worked with, he was sleeping around, she sold his 69 camaro for 500 bucks.

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned
I would gladly take that deal and tell the cheater to go hump an electric fence

[Vasiliki]

Let me give you another scenario, wife catches husband cheating, she pawns off his snakes cheap to get rid of them quick in retaliation. Happened to a guy I worked with, he was sleeping around, she sold his 69 camaro for 500 bucks.

Hah! See, that's definitely a situation where I can understand that. My ex cheated on me (for over a year... and had a baby with this woman during that time...!!) so I sold off all of his 'Mint Condition' action figures and comic books cheap too. To multiple people. Rebuilding that collection would take another 10 years, easily.

A camaro, though? That takes some serious anger to do that. Haha.

A friend of mine once told me: "My ovaries are bigger than his (male anatomy)"

Seems true!

[jfaria1891]

Previously, you said you were in your 3rd year of law enforcement school, which implied a criminal justice degree. Which is it? Are you a 3L in Law School or in your third year of criminal justice? Those are two very different things.

Sorry, to hijack the thread. Just curious.

3rd year of a 2 year associates in law enforcement only took 2 classes one semester so im graduating this semester thank you for your interest

[cecilbturtle]

or you could be ned flanders over here and report it loose 250 bucks and miss out on the deal of a lifetime all for what to feel warm inside?

Remind me to NEVER do business with you.

[jfaria1891]

ok but if he was cheating on his girlfriend and she sold them then you all think its okay? there still stolen. so we have different point of views, that happens yeah its wrong and if i had gotten the ball for that cheap i would just enjoy the good deal i wouldn't go way out of my way to make sure they werent stolen and no that doesnt make me a bad person going out of your way to make sure they aren't stolen would make you an amazingly good person which i doubt all of you truly are everyone claims to be untill it comes down to it, but if i had found out they were stolen seen a post on craigslist saying balls were stolen from me this is what was stolen and it matches what i bought yeah i would return them im not that horrible of a person. your all jumping on me for just being honest about how i feel about the situation " remind me to never do business with you " like really.

[wolfy-hound]

I think it's "possible" it's a legitimate deal and someone just desperately needed $250.

But I think it's more "probable" that there's some illegal issues going on, and stolen snakes makes way more sense than most other scenarios.

If he were "unloading" them, and just needed money(even if he just needed $250), he should have started out asking way more than $250 for that whole deal. Even if he settled for $250 because he needed drugs or to pay his electric or alimony or whatever... if he really bought all that, he would know it's worth and try to start out at a higher amount. You don't just say "Hey, this is worth $2000, so take it for $100..." without first trying to get $1000.

Changing his story makes it more suspicious. Having the wife approach first, suspicious. Quick sale, suspicious. Not using appropriate venues, like contacting those who he purchased snakes from, other reptile people, pet stores, craigslist, online venues... suspicious. Too much fishy usually means something is not kosher and you should beware.

As far as jfaria1891's lack of ethics, well karma will out. I'm certain if someone cheated him, there'd be squalling and fussing and wishing for sympathy. But as long as it's some unnamed stranger who is possibly a victim of theft, I guess it's okay. It's the same attitude of "Well yeah I stole this from a table at a reptile show, but I didn't get caught so it's not really stolen".

As far as a scorned woman stuff, if she sells things in HER name, then he's out of luck. If the items belong to him or are in his name, she's a thief same as if she walked into your home and took your things and sold them. Sorry, but just because he's a jerk doesn't make it not stealing. If the car was in her name, then I hope she really enjoyed his anguish when he found out it was gone.

[cecilbturtle]

If I came home from vacation and found my snakes gone I would go straight to the police. If they said a somebody filed a report saying they bought some snakes worth $500 for $50 and in hind sight it seemed fishy, "just thought I should let you know in case they were in fact stolen." I would be ecstatic that someone was good enough to report it. I would be happy to have my snakes back. I personally would cover their monetary loss. Then I would want to track down the scum who stole from me.

Would you be a bad person for not reporting this? No. Would you feel better by doing so? I would certainly hope so. Is it possible that its simply a great deal? Absolutely!

Gain some Karma points and at least report it to someone, police, animal control, put an ad on craigslist...something.

- - - Updated - - -

" remind me to never do business with you " like really.

You are right. I won't need to be reminded. I will most certainly remember. Thanks and have a wonderful day!