Not thrilled with LLL Reptile.

[Skiploder]

A flipper is someone who buys snakes from one party with the intention of reselling them. It's often used as a pejorative term.

Personally I find the current negative attitude towards 'flippers' to be puzzling. Every single pet store since the beginning of pet stores is a flipper. There isn't a pet store anywhere that I've ever heard of that breeds all of the animals that they sell. Petco is a flipper, Petsmart is a flipper, that Mom and Pop pet store down on the corner that has been in business for 50 years is a flipper.

I'd be willing to bet that most of the people that are currently in this hobby first became exposed to it because they saw a snake for sale in a pet store.

The REAL issue here is NOT whether or not LLLReptile is a flipper, they're a pet store, of course they are. The real question here is whether or not they have a pattern of reselling snakes that may be sick. And THAT is the issue that needs to be addressed. Pointing fingers at them and shouting 'FLIPPER' like it's some kind of swear word does nobody any good and just clouds the real issue. At least in my opinion.

When you are dealing with the volume of animals that LLL does, then buying whole clutches, not putting them through proper QT, mixing them in with the rest of the stock and then selling them is in essence creating a giant petri dish. That's why when you dig into them a bit you, find the trail of health issues.

Is flipper a bad word? If animals are being brought in, properly acclimated and put through a basic QT or preventative treatment regimen - then no, it's not.

If you however are buying a clutch of boas on Friday, advertising them on Fauna and Kingsnake on Monday. Not waiting to see if they feed, not waiting to keep them long enough to be able to accurately assess their health - then yes.

When you are advertising on Kingsnake and Fauna that you are buying whole clutches from anybody that will sell them to you low enough - then yes, you are a baaaaaaaaaaaaad flipper. When you are a retailer that has a series of trusted suppliers that sell you properly raised and acclimated animals - then you are not.

Case in point - a local reptile store where I live buys animals from myself, Robert Seib, Doug Price, Steve Angeli, etc. They do not put blanket adds out in reptile classifieds asking any schlub who has a clutch of snakes if they want to offload them. In my opinion, Mark, there's a BIG difference.