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.