are these balls worth this price asked?

[TheVipersHouse]

well its a good deal cause theres more females then males in the hets group . plus the albino all together ya its easily worth $600.00

and to me that cage looks like is the hatching cage ,
theres perilite underneath the papertowel so that tells me its set up to stay moist for the balls until their first shed . yes i would clean it more often , but the discoloartion isnt always from urine , could be residue from the eggs coming off the balls ..

not justifying their tank condition but shouldnt just jump to "filthy cage " determination without knowing ...

[blackcrystal22]

Two things I dislike, unclean caging in pics and animals with shed stuck to them. Bad practice!

Caging is going to look like that and way worse then that at some point, but not making the effort to post pics in a clean environment is poor presentation. Casts a shadow over a seller straight away and first impressions really do count, they can make or break you in a potential customers eyes.

It depends on the stuck skin, and the situation. My ball python tends to have bad sheds on his head, where a few scales are left behind. His humidity is up (my house is an avg 70-80% consistently) but it still just doesn't come off.
Peeling, easily fixable stuck shed though is definitely a turn off.

I would think they would at least clean before a picture... meh. I would be immediately turned off by the dirtiness. Just because it's me.

[Muze]

well its a good deal cause theres more females then males in the hets group . plus the albino all together ya its easily worth $600.00

and to me that cage looks like is the hatching cage ,
theres perilite underneath the papertowel so that tells me its set up to stay moist for the balls until their first shed . yes i would clean it more often , but the discoloartion isnt always from urine , could be residue from the eggs coming off the balls ..

not justifying their tank condition but shouldnt just jump to "filthy cage " determination without knowing ...

I don't believe, judging by the pics and everyone else's reactions, that stating the tank is filthy or dirty, is out of line. It may well be egg residue, but then I would wonder if those snakes will be sold before having their first few meals. Either way, I (this is my opinion) would not purchase from this breeder.

[sweetcheeks]

ive seen this picture on another local forum that i visit regularly lately..... according to what i read, they will include one male with the albino for 600.00 not all 4 for that price unless he's listing it somewhere else, he even told me he would include 25 mice, cause i love albinos and commented on them.

However i agree with the rest about the pic on cleaniness, I breed shih tzu's and i freak out if the picture is not just right, because I dont want some interested buyer to think my babies are dirty or come from a bad environment, i have seen some peoples pictures as far as pups are concerned and wouldnt buy them with a million bucks just because of the conditions they are kept in. However that being said that may not be the permanent enclosures for those snakes, he may have just used that to keep them all together for that particular pic, how easy is it to take a picture of 4 snakes together, when they are all trying to slither away lol

[simplechamp]

I'm suprised no one said to ask the breeder more questions before jumping to conclusions about the cleanliness. Ask if there is a reason the enclosure isn't clean and if this is a normal practice for their tubs. Ask about their husbandry practices.

For all we know they cleaned them immediately after taking the pic, and didn't realize how much of an impact that has on potential buyers. Maybe it was just temporary enclosure for the picture. The only thing that picture tells you about the breeder is they have one enclosure with a few urine stains that may or may not be a permament home for BPs.

[kratos]

I'm suprised no one said to ask the breeder more questions before jumping to conclusions about the cleanliness. Ask if there is a reason the enclosure isn't clean and if this is a normal practice for their tubs. Ask about their husbandry practices.

For all we know they cleaned them immediately after taking the pic, and didn't realize how much of an impact that has on potential buyers. Maybe it was just temporary enclosure for the picture. The only thing that picture tells you about the breeder is they have one enclosure with a few urine stains that may or may not be a permament home for BPs.

I second this..

[Adam_Wysocki]

The only thing that picture tells you about the breeder is they have one enclosure with a few urine stains that may or may not be a permament home for BPs.

That might be the only thing that picture tells YOU, but it tells me that the seller had the time to take the tub out and snap the picture in order to post it on the internet in an attempt to put money in his/her pocket BEFORE he/she had time to take care of his/her animals by cleaning the tub. It says a lot to me about this persons priorities ... People can excuse it any way that they like, but if a person doesn't take the 2 seconds needed to change the paper in a tub before snapping a picture with the intent of presenting their animals to the world, I have to wonder about the conditions of the animals that we're not seeing pictures of.

There's another way to look at it ... putting pictures of your animals for sale up on the internet to me is no different than going on a job interview ... you're asking people to look at what you have to offer and give you money in exchange ... I wouldn't dream of going on a job interview without being bathed, wearing clean clothes, and having a fresh hair cut ... As someone that has hired many people in the past, I'd expect the same from the people applying for the job. It says a lot about who they are ... their attention to detail ... their respect for themselves and what they have to offer ... to me, that means almost as much as what they are offering in the first place.

I'm sorry, but I feel that when you bring a living creature into your care, it's care is not just an important thing ... it's the ONLY thing. Regardless of the picture, the tub should have been cleaned as soon as it was opened or taken out of the rack or whatever. Those animals are at the mercy of their keeper and it's the keepers responsibility to provide them with a clean and healthy environment.

I'll hop off my soap box now ... sorry for the ramble, but I have very strong feelings about caring for living things.

-adam

[Muze]

That might be the only thing that picture tells YOU, but it tells me that the seller had the time to take the tub out and snap the picture in order to post it on the internet in an attempt to put money in his/her pocket BEFORE he/she had time to take care of his/her animals by cleaning the tub. It says a lot to me about this persons priorities ... People can excuse it any way that they like, but if a person doesn't take the 2 seconds needed to change the paper in a tub before snapping a picture with the intent of presenting their animals to the world, I have to wonder about the conditions of the animals that we're not seeing pictures of.

There's another way to look at it ... putting pictures of your animals for sale up on the internet to me is no different than going on a job interview ... you're asking people to look at what you have to offer and give you money in exchange ... I wouldn't dream of going on a job interview without being bathed, wearing clean clothes, and having a fresh hair cut ... As someone that has hired many people in the past, I'd expect the same from the people applying for the job. It says a lot about who they are ... their attention to detail ... their respect for themselves and what they have to offer ... to me, that means almost as much as what they are offering in the first place.

I'm sorry, but I feel that when you bring a living creature into your care, it's care is not just an important thing ... it's the ONLY thing. Regardless of the picture, the tub should have been cleaned as soon as it was opened or taken out of the rack or whatever. Those animals are at the mercy of their keeper and it's the keepers responsibility to provide them with a clean and healthy environment.

I'll hop off my soap box now ... sorry for the ramble, but I have very strong feelings about caring for living things.

-adam

I second this strongly. As keepers, it is our responsibility to protect these creatures. This means taking the time to keep their enclosures as immaculate as possible (unclean habitats lead to so many diseases that it is insane to not practice exceptional hygiene). Maybe this enclosure was cleaned immediately afterwards, but why would someone take a pic & post it when the enclosure is unclean? To me, that is a major red flag.

[JasonG]

I dont know about you guys, but I love using newspaper for this very reason. It gives me a great excuse to take out my babies, give em a once over, and clean their tanks at the same time.

I just love going into the snake room, saying hello for a little bit and taking 2 seconds to clean out some soiled paper. Like i said, it likes my "time" with my fellas... If I used aspen or something I dont think I would get enough oppurtunities to say helo as much as I like too.

[Pythonman]

I gotta disagree guys. I agree that I wouldn't go buying piedbald's from him for "piedbald prices." But the snakes look healthy, as long as they're at a size that I know they ate a couple meals. Also you can ask for references! Might be pleasantly or unpleasantly surprised when you pop that question. Yes the tank is dirty, but you're paying a "dirty tank" price. You want clean tanks 24/7 then go to snake keeper or somebody that EVERYONE knows is squared up on the husbandry end and pay the full whatever. I keep my snakes very clean, but that doesn't mean I'm against taking them from dirty surrounding and cleaning them up, esp if I'm happy with the quality of the animal and the price is right. I've adopted a couple females from terrible conditions that are now some of my favorite animals and you could never tell from looking at them now that they came from a "dirty" breeder. I have animals from the most overpriced breeders because theyre "famous" and from no name small breeders like myself, love them all, wouldn't trade them for the world!! (Maybe a female pied though!) lol The genes won't get pee on them...I promise.

PS. next time you want to pass on good deals feel free to message me with them xanaxez. Heart was in the right place!