Watch who You Sell your animals to!

[PythonBreeder]

Okay so the story goes:

Me: Post C/L ad for sand boa
Some guy: Emails me
Me: Call some guy
Some guy: Says "Hi how big do they get?"
Me: He's a male so about..... 2.5ft.
Some guy: Wells that's good. Will he get along with a ball python?
Me: Probably will mind their own business. But you CANNOT house them together.
Some guy: Why?
Me: They will both get stressed and maybe the ball will resort to eat him.
Some guy: SWEET! *whispers to girlfriend* THE BALL WILL EAT HIM!

Me: Have you even done any research?
Some guy: uhhhhh..... Kinda. How much is he again?
Me: Sorry but I have the right to say I will not sell him to you.*hang up*

SO the moral of the story is he was gonna house them together to see the ball python eat him, because he though it would be "SWEET". SO do not just sell your animals to anybody. Ask as many questions as you feel necessary.

[TheOtherLeadingBrand]

I couldn't agree more. These are living beings!

[RebelYell83]

Screening every buyer in theory is a great idea,but IF you start breeding and doing multiple animals and vending at shows,,,well,,cant screen them then,,just sayin

[PythonBreeder]

I couldn't agree more. These are living beings!

Exactly.

Screening every buyer in theory is a great idea,but IF you start breeding and doing multiple animals and vending at shows,,,well,,cant screen them then,,just sayin

Yea I know once I start getting big and vending shows I can't do that. Then I just have to hope for the best.

[TheOtherLeadingBrand]

You can ask questions. And hope someone at a reptile show is at least somewhat clued in (or they probably wouldn't even know about the show). It still worries me, though! I would worry most about the inexpensive normals... I figure most people won't buy a $500 morph and mistreat it. But yeah...

[TheOtherLeadingBrand]

PS if someone creeps me out, I wouldn't sell that person a snake

[matt71915]

I would think that most of the people that attend a show would generally take good care of the snakes they buy, so i don't think you would have to worry as much about selling them there

[RebelYell83]

youd be shocked at the random stupidity one comes across at a show,many times the neice/nephew of a keeper knows about it from them,and takes some just as stupid friends along,and you pretty much end up with the petco buyers in there because its cheaper,,,,i know,,i was one of them in 07,but i heard about it on the radio,and i met alice cobb of florida reptile room,and well,,many people hate her for what i have become,when i let her i asked if i could keep 2 animals in one tank,she encouraged me not to,but we discussed it for a few minutes,to figure out the safest way of doing such,but to be fair,most vendors at the shows are not Alice Cobb,and they dont take the time when they meet someone,to set a blue eye lucy in thier hands for a picture,just to see them smile and wanna wet themselves,,,most i see only talk to the customer long enough to take the money,and thats even if words are exchanged.i am not saying not to do the best you can to ensure good husbandry,in fact,i will be printing out copies of the Official Reptile Fryndz Ball Python Caresheet,to include with every animal sale we do this year,and if we start doing shows next year,as we are discussing,i will be printing out many copies to just have for people to take as well

[rabernet]

I placed a Craigslist ad last year, to place my normal males for free. They were probably the most difficult "free" snakes to get. I even said in the ad that I would ask very specific questions about how they planned to house the animal, etc. I didn't rule out someone new to snakes, if I felt that they were genuine in learning how to properly set them up.

I probably got 100 inquiries for 4 normal males and I was very selective about who they went to.

[RebelYell83]

oh yeah,when using CL,or even internet sales,we have the luxory or screening people,that is a positive right there,