I received the animals on the 31st. This is the condition I received them in...
http://picasaweb.google.com/PricklyP...K2ppZXtlsTLaA#
I thought they were dead. I noticed the males belly contract slightly while taking photos as proof that they arrived deceased, so I then warmed them up as quickly as possible. The signs of RI didn't start until the 9th. I kept their tanks at 95 in the hot end and 80 at the cool realizing that an RI may set in. The smaller female has so far been fine.
So I believe the RI set in here under my care. I do feel it wouldn't have happened though had they not been half frozen when they arrived. My vet wholeheartedly agrees and also feels they should not have been shipped at a temp below 40 degrees.
Lesson learned on my part and I will never have animals shipped to me below these temps again, but I do feel it is the shippers responsibility to ensure the safety and welfare of their animals.
I would like to wait until I go back in to the vet on thursday and find out for sure the gender of the animal (as that is now in question), and then offer the seller the chance to rectify the situation before I slander them in anyway.
I'm basically trying to collect any evidence of wrong doing on their part by a group of peers.
Oh, and yes I contacted the seller as soon as they arrived and reported the condition and I also contacted about the RI and the fact that I'd be bringing him to the vet. He asked me to keep him updated. I have not yet contacted him about the visit, since I wanted to get the fecal results and the gender double checked prior to contact. If you think I should make him aware of the RI (it was pretty obvious and he even said it sounded like an RI), as diagnosed by the vet now I will. Just thought I should have all my info straight before presenting anything to him.
If he's done nothing wrong then I don't want to berate him either. But I'm getting the impression that at the very least the heat packs were inadequate.
They too (the heat packs) were cold upon receiving the animals. After I had noticed the animals were alive I scanned one with my temp gun and the temp was 52 degrees, this was after about 10 minutes after arrival. And they had been sitting on heat pads in their tanks while I took the photos.