Bob Clark -- Thorough and honest REVIEW

[mccymegan]

Hey guys. So, I recently purchased a male Banana ball python from Bob Clark. I decided I would come on here and tell everyone about my experience because I have seen a lot of mixed reviews about him, and I figured this would help people who are thinking about buying from him in the future. It's probably gonna be a long one, so bucket up.

Alright... So, I ordered this little guy around noon on Monday (3/13/2017). I had been talking to Bob about him all day Sunday, and he was relatively good about going back and forth with me. Bob sent me a link to his payment page on his website, and I paid in full. I then waited for a few hours, and didn't hear anything back from him. I emailed him about shipping, and he said that his website didn't notify him of the sale. He said he saw the money in his account but didn't have any of my information. So, I did have to email him my address, and phone number. This wasn't a huge deal, just seemed kind of iffy. He then asked me if I would like him to ship out that day (Monday), and I asked him if he could ship him out on Wednesday, so that he would be available for pickup on Thursday at my closest Fedex store. He said that he could do that.

So skip ahead to Tuesday night. I got an email from a company called NEX saying that a package was picked up from Bob, addressed to me. Two things about this confused me. #1) I was under the impression that Bob would be using Fedex, so I got confused, and emailed him asking him to clarify. He didn't email me back all night. #2) The shipping label said the the package would be ready for pickup the next day at 10:30 AM. (Wednesday 3/15) This also confused me because Bob told me that he wouldn't ship out until Wednesday so that I could pick him up on Thursday. So, I did have to rearrange my schedule today, which included taking an Uber to Fedex, so I didn't have to wait for my roommate to get back with the car later today. This, overall, was not a HUGE problem, but it still would have been nice if Bob had continued to keep in touch with me Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning. I didn't get a response back from him until after I had already picked the little guy up. He just simply said that he must have put in the dates wrong.

LASTLY, I will explain the condition that the snake was in when I opened the package. I will need some input from you guys about a few things, as well.

I opened the bag, and immediately noticed that he was in shed. He wasn't in the blue stage, but had actual skin falling off of him. My first question is...

1) Do breeders typically ship snakes while the are in shed? It seems like a bad thing to do, since they need a stress free environment for shedding, as well as access to water, humidity and items to help them get that skin off. Maybe it's just a matter of personal preference, but I know that if I was a breeder, I would wait until the snake was done with its shed, to ensure that he was as healthy as possible before being shipped. I would have at the VERY least, let the buyer know that their snake would be in shed upon arrival, and let them decide if they wanted to ship after the shedding process was complete. Bob did not let me know that he was in shed, so opening his bag and seeing that, was somewhat of a shock.

2) I'm gonna post some pictures below of the little guy. Would you guys let me know if his shedding looks normal? He's gotten his face piece off already, but he's got some pieces falling off all down his body, so I'm worried that Bob did not keep his enclosure humid enough. I suppose an incomplete shed could be due to the lack of proper humidity in his shipping container, but again, that could have been avoided if I had known he was in shed. I would have asked Bob to wait until he was done, before shipping. Also, in the picture of him all stretched out, does he look too skinny? I'm just concerned for the little guy.

Also, before ya'll freak out... this is not his permanent enclosure. This is his quarantine enclosure, just to ensure he's healthy before moving him into the same room as my other BP.

[JodanOrNoDan]

Ok, my 2 cents. It is possible, on a snake that light he didn't notice it was it the latter stages of shed. I personally would not care if a snake was shedding during shipment, but I would let the person I was shipping to know so they don't freak out. It is a nasty shed, however it doesn't look like anything that cannot be remedied with a damp cloth and a little work. As for everything else going on, if everything you say is true, I believe a lot of your problems could have been alleviated if Bob would have communicated a little better.

Disclaimer...

I know of Bob, but I do not know him personally nor have I ever bought a snake from him.

[ladywhipple02]

I've had breeders send snakes in shed before. Plenty of times I've opened a bag up to see a nice full shed with the other typical "surprise" as well. It happens.

The communication piece is a bit irritating. Thanks for the feedback!

[rock]

Little beauty you have! Reminds me of mine. His size is similar to mine in the beginning. He will look more robust after his shed and next meal. I know Bob's work, never bought from him. Seems like the process could have been smoother.

Is that really his enclosure?

[mccymegan]

Little beauty you have! Reminds me of mine. His size is similar to mine in the beginning. He will look more robust after his shed and next meal. I know Bob's work, never bought from him. Seems like the process could have been smoother.

Is that really his enclosure?

This is his temporary enclosure. He has his big, better enclosure in the "snake room", but I like to put new snakes in a "quarantine" for the first week or so, to ensure that they are healthy, and don't have mites or anything. I don't want to risk the health of my other ball python.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

1) Do breeders typically ship snakes while the are in shed? It seems like a bad thing to do, since they need a stress free environment for shedding, as well as access to water, humidity and items to help them get that skin off. Maybe it's just a matter of personal preference, but I know that if I was a breeder, I would wait until the snake was done with its shed, to ensure that he was as healthy as possible before being shipped. I would have at the VERY least, let the buyer know that their snake would be in shed upon arrival, and let them decide if they wanted to ship after the shedding process was complete. Bob did not let me know that he was in shed, so opening his bag and seeing that, was somewhat of a shock.

Yes because trying to schedule a shipment for a customer with a suitable date that fits you, the customer and the snake (shed process lasting 14 days) is just unrealistic and unnecessary, it's just a shed nothing life threatening, the only thing you MUST as a breeder be mindful of is feeding and shipping.

There is no issue sending an animal in shed, I have done it many time over the animal arrive and has a shed during transport or a few day after arrival, no big deal. Now however based on the picture this is not what I would call an animal in shed, this is an animal that had a failed shed due to low humidity (a bit of a difference). Being wrinkly like that with part of the shed missing and the rest stuck is just a bad stuck shed.

A quick fix is get a warm damp towel and let your snake slither through it a few time, put the snake back in the enclosure and provide an ambient humidity of 60% 70%. If the next day there is still some stuck shed use the warm damp towel trick again.

[mccymegan]

There is no issue sending an animal in shed, I have done it many time over the animal arrive and has a shed during transport or a few day after arrival, no big deal. Now however based on the picture this is not what I would call an animal in shed, this is an animal that had a failed shed due to low humidity (a bit of a difference). Being wrinkly like that with part of the shed missing and the rest stuck is just a bad stuck shed.

A quick fix is get a warm damp towel and let your snake slither through it a few time, put the snake back in the enclosure and provide an ambient humidity of 60% 70%. If the next day there is still some stuck shed use the warm damp towel trick again.

Alright, thank you. I will do that right now. Thank you!

[rock]

This is his temporary enclosure. He has his big, better enclosure in the "snake room", but I like to put new snakes in a "quarantine" for the first week or so, to ensure that they are healthy, and don't have mites or anything. I don't want to risk the health of my other ball python.

I'm sorry, you didn't have to explain. I had read the last line of your first post about the reason for the enclosure. Just being funny because you warned everyone about it first. Honestly, you know exactly what you are doing. Great job, enjoy your new addition!

[highqualityballz]

I've never done any business with him solely on his horrible customer service. Probably the worst customer service I've ever dealt with. Id say i emailed him dozens of times and maybe got an email once or twice back.

[mccymegan]

I've never done any business with him solely on his horrible customer service. Probably the worst customer service I've ever dealt with. Id say i emailed him dozens of times and maybe got an email once or twice back.

He seemed to email me back faster, before I actually purchased the snake. This is to be expected with anyone selling something, once they've got your money, it's a done deal, so they don't try as hard to please you. However, I would have hoped that with something like this, buying and selling live animals, that he would have been a little more attentive to my messages.

That being said, I don't want people to think he is just the worst person to buy from, either. As a consumer, I try very hard to understand the circumstances that he is under at any given moment. Bob Clark is one of the most prominent breeders out there, and has pioneered many projects relating to ball pythons, including breeding the first Albino BP in captivity. (I'm sure I don't have to tell everyone that, it's a pretty big deal, so I'm sure ya'll knew that) Because of all this, he is, understandably, a very busy person. While I would LOVE it if I had nothing but excellent customer service, I do realize that sometimes that just isn't possible, given the demand for ball pythons at the moment.

I just wanted to lay out my experience for people to see, while also getting some feedback on this particular snake's health.

Just because I had a slightly less than excellent experience with Bob, doesn't mean that he is a breeder to avoid. It also doesn't mean that people who order from him will go through the exact same experience that I did, either.

I just wanted to be able to give people a little more information, so they could make that decision for themselves.