Would you pay more for a ball python or boa with a recent clean IBD test?

[Royal Hijinx]

Not to jack but I hate to disagree with you here. There are too many people trying to make a quick buck and think claiming "HET" to get a higher price. I am not saying they are all crooked but lets be honest. Any written document can be faked.
Not to just jab the little guys but I had a collection I was keeping for an unnamed member here and I sexed all of the snakes and labeled them when I took in the collection. There was a Fire in question because this female that came from BHB had two nice big hemis Mistakes can be made but paperwork is not trustable.

I do not think we necessarily disagree, my bigger point is that you do not have to be Ralph Davis to be trusted selling a het. Also, we always hear about the cases of someone getting screwed, not the THOUSANDS of cases where everything went well. So I really do think the scammers are few amongst the whole.

[Raven01]

I would love to see this testing become widely available if it proves out.
And, yes I would pay more for guaranteed IBD free snakes backed up by documentation from a licensed vet. The test would also have to be very recent (just prior to shipping, ideally as we never know what animals are coming and going from any facility).
Let's face it IBD is an issue even for reputable breeders. We may never clean up the shady characters but, for serious snake enthusiasts and reputable breeders this has the potential to help clean up our collections. Possibly even eliminating IBD as any sort of serious concern for anyone dealing with reputable people. There is nothing to say that some of us do not have snakes that have been properly quarantined and have an asymptomatic carrier still, I have not read enough on the subject to say whether or not there might be a gene that prevents actually acquiring the disease even if infected or, if stress (such as less than ideal conditions which is something I think every one of us tries to avoid) can make an animal more susceptible.

I found it interesting that there seems to be a direct rodent link in that the virus seems to be from a group known to affect rodents. That said I'd be willing to pay more for feeders from a company that regularly tests there colonies for this virus if it is ever proven as a vector.

[bcr229]

Not to jack but I hate to disagree with you here. There are too many people trying to make a quick buck and think claiming "HET" to get a higher price. I am not saying they are all crooked but lets be honest. Any written document can be faked.

While this is true, forged test results or vet invoices can be discovered within weeks or even days, depending on how long the test takes, should a buyer receive a snake with IBD. The buyer can also open a dispute with PayPal or their CC company - "Item not as described".

OTOH a fake het may take months or even years to prove out, especially if it was purchased as a hatchling, leaving the buyer with little or no recourse for a refund by the time the deception is discovered.

[PitOnTheProwl]

How are you going to prove the animal sold is the one tested??

[bcr229]

How are you going to prove the animal sold is the one tested??

Obviously you can't. My point though is that if you are sold an animal that's advertised as "clean", and it's not, you have recourse if you get the test done ASAP once the snake arrives. Buyers got taken on false hets because of the length of time from the sale to the discovery of the fraud.

[Mephibosheth1]

But given the possible asymptomatic behavior of the disease, you may not ever know if it was or was not infected in the first place

[Kodieh]

Man is this true! Papers on hets are worthless unless they're from Ralph Davis or something. Would think people would just start making their own "lab results".

This irks me more than it should.
Even Ralph Davis and other big names can fake papers or make mistakes.

You really shouldn't buy hets period unless it's a gamble you want to take. Everyone can be sinister in intent or mistaken is good intentions.

[MarkS]

This irks me more than it should.
Even Ralph Davis and other big names can fake papers or make mistakes.

You really shouldn't buy hets period unless it's a gamble you want to take. Everyone can be sinister in intent or mistaken is good intentions.

I agree, while I've gotten hets from Ralph and the animals were great and everything I ever hoped they would be, I've also received a LOT of hets from people who weren't Ralph and have never been scammed yet. It's unfortunate that there always seems to be so much emphasis on 'outing the scammers' that sometimes it sounds like half the people in the herp hobby are scamming the other half when in reality it's really a very small number of people who are dishonest.

[Kodieh]

I agree, while I've gotten hets from Ralph and the animals were great and everything I ever hoped they would be, I've also received a LOT of hets from people who weren't Ralph and have never been scammed yet. It's unfortunate that there always seems to be so much emphasis on 'outing the scammers' that sometimes it sounds like half the people in the herp hobby are scamming the other half when in reality it's really a very small number of people who are dishonest.

It only takes the one incident that I've ever heard of legitimate case of faked papers (and it turned out that the guy faked like 10+ pairs of het pieds when het pieds were really expensive) to ruin the het market the way it has. Most people won't buy hets, as evidenced above in my previous quote, unless there is a reputable name behind it.

I made the first jump into hets with a pair of het VPI axanthics, and let me tell you it still scares me to have paid $50 a piece for what could potentially be $15 normals. But, at the same time, I don't have money to jump into an axanthic so why not make my own. Gambling is an addiction for a reason.

[bcr229]

It's unfortunate that there always seems to be so much emphasis on 'outing the scammers' that sometimes it sounds like half the people in the herp hobby are scamming the other half when in reality it's really a very small number of people who are dishonest.

Well being a relative n00b to the herp world I'm quite happy there are places where I can research sellers. I've also left positive feedback for every breeder/seller from whom I've made a purchase - including a few folks here.