HELP! Losing my Frilly

[Royal Morphz]

This is a recent write-up my friend Ken Foose did in a thread on the BOI.


Since the subject has been brought up, let me tell you my experience with Zilla and its parent company, Central Pet. As a retailer, I looked forward to a new line of reptile supplies to sell to my customers. Little did I know what a bunch of crap I was getting into. I purchased $15,000 in lights and fixtures from Zilla for my new store. We mounted them above all the reptile tanks, and above all the amphibians. I marveled at how one of my staff actually started getting sunburned as he mounted the lights to the shelving. Having expanded our amphibian section, we ordered a ton of new frogs. Within a couple days, they were all dead. I mean all of them. I tried to determine the cause, but came to the conclusion that we must have done something horribly wrong. So I ordered another ton of amphibians, and re set all the habitats until I decided they were perfect in every way. Within days all the frogs died again. By now we'd also noticed that some of the reptiles were acting a bit odd. Then we found the leopard geckos with severe burns down thir backs. I checked the heat, checked their hides, and double checked again. I sat up and wondered what could be going wrong. Then it hit me. THE LIGHTS. It was the only variable that was new. I commented to Zilla that I thought something was wrong with the lights. These same lights I'm selling to customers! I was panicked. I turned off all the UV lights and started using Zoo Med lights in my track light canisters that I was using for heat lamps. I had to revolve them around, which was a pain, but it seemed to do the job at the time. In the meantime, Zilla finally got back to me and told me that there was indeed a problem with the lights, and that they would replace them. All the leopard geckos died, as did all the amphibians, and many other animals. I put the lights on rats (mammals need UV too), and they had died. In total I lost over $50,000 in animals. Plus the cost of now useless lights and fixtures. I had to recall all the lights I'd sold to my customers. Then it took Zilla a year to re issue their lights, once they figured out how to make them stop emitting UVC, which is deadly to all life forms, including people. Needless to say, I did not buy them again, and in the long run had to sue Zilla for my loss. I only got $27,000 for the animals that I lost, and a full "credit" on the lights and fixtures, which I used to by Zoo Med lighting and other products. Zilla is sloppy, poorly run, and they don't know their butt from a hole in the ground when it comes to herps. Their products are all crap. They break, they don't work properly, and are made from the cheapest materials possible. I have more stories I can relate, perhaps later in this thread. I've typed enough for now. Stay away from Zilla and their products. There are plenty of other quality manufacturers and products out there.
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Ken Foose
Exotic Pets Las Vegas

She turned me into a newt...I got better!

I did edit out any words that would be censored.