Jewell Howard of tampa flordia???

I have been trying to reach him for some time now, everytime I e-mail him it comes back saying that the e-mail could not be sent.. I know he reads these threads some time..so could you please e-mail me back at [email protected] I still have 2 frozen snakes to give you, and you still need to make it right with me. Thank-you
Shannon Hall

Shannon

I have been trying to reach him for some time now, everytime I e-mail him it comes back saying that the e-mail could not be sent.

Click to expand...

Maybe I'm confused, but isn't Jewell Howard a woman?

Regards

OOPS sorry about that, here is the story, I live in Indiana, they sat up at the Indy reptile show, I purchased 2 retics from them, one was very aggressive so we didn't really check it out, the other one looked good, we got home got them both out of the bag, one of them had blisters all over it, at first it wasn't so bad, but within a few hours, it got really bad, before the night was over the other one got them, I had his/her card (there was a man and a woman sitting up) I e-mailed them, they said they would sent some baytril I should have it by weds, well weds came and went, they did send the meds, but the really bad snake had already died, the other snake died the day we got the meds, our vet said it looked like respitary (sorry for spelling) problems, but it was already to late, he said the snake was probably an import and could have almost anything. So I e-mailed them again they told me to freeze the snakes and they would meet me at the next reptile show, so I did that and they have't been up there since. WHen I try to e-mail them it keep coming back, the only reason I said Jewell was because that was the name the e-mails were coming to me in. The day they were suppose to be up there we did have a huge snow storm, and the roads were bad, so I really didn't think they would come up there, but it would have been nice to hear from them after that. In their defense, I purchased a lot of differant reptiles from them, everything else is fine, and I haven't had a problem with any of them, he (what ever his name is) was honest with me about the things I got that was imported. He did say though he would fix the problems with the snakes though and I haven't heard anything back, this has been a few months ago, I just figured I would give it a shot here, instead of calling it a loss, I have most all of the e-mails still and pictured of the snakes, but I don't really think this is a bad guy post I really just think it was something that was probably just forgotten. Sorry for the mistake of saying HIM the deals were done with the man.
SHannon Hall

Shannon,

Why don't you post the e-mail exchange between both of you so we can better understand the whole thing?

Thanks.

Well,,,let me clarify something...My name is Jeff Lewis,,and my partner is Jewell...
Now,,on to the snake situation;;; Shannon bought several reptiles from us at the Indy show in Jan. or Feb.. However,,he checked out all the animals he bought except for a large Emerald Tree Boa,((only because it had eaten a few days before,,and we didnt want to upset his stomach)),,,however,,he did check out the retics...He chose to buy them,,and honestly,,I,nor Jewell,,,nor Shannon saw anything wrong with them,,or at least nothing was said by Shannon...
About a WEEK or so after the show Shannon emails us,((LET ME SAY,, HE WAS VERY POLITE)),,,and says that one of the retics had blisters all over it,,and that it had it when he bought them...He even sent us a picture...I WILL CHECK TO SEE IF I STILL HAVE THE PIC,,HOWEVER,,AFTER 3-4 MONTHS I REALLY DOUBT IT..
In the pic,,you could clearly see blisters,,HOWEVER,,,you could also clearly see that the bedding they were on was SOPPING WET... Jewell sent him an email back saying that the bedding looked extremely wet...Then he sends us another email saying that the other one had blisters also... NOW,,,I may be wrong,,,but i didnt think that blister disease was spreadable between snakes...PLEASE CORRECT ME IF I AM WRONG...
We agreed to send him some medication,,and we did... He emailed us after he got the medication,,and said that one had died,,and the other looked bad... We did tell him to bring the snakes to the Next Indy show,,,due to the storm,,and the fact that its about a 15-17 hour drive,,we didnt go,,and probably wont be going back... We did not save his email,,,but i dont understand why he couldnt get thru to our emails...We have been posting on KS,,and plenty of people have emailed us,,,how come only his emails didnt go thru...
Now,,NEVER ONCE did Jewell say that we would give him a refund,,,only that we would try to figure something out...Now,,thats far more than any other vendors would do,,especially since they had it a week before they let us know something was wrong...
Now,,,alot of the people that browse this forum know me,,and alot know Jewell...I would like to hear what the "MATURE" Fauna audience has to say....
Also,,this post is the first we have heard of any respiratory infection,,or a vet visit... Now, we did send him medication((and that crap ain't cheap)),,so please,,let me know what, if anything we should do..

Jewell is most certainly a SHE....

I dealt with Jewell Howard before on a couple of occasions. Sometime ago I purchased a half dozen or more Uroplatus geckos from her at the best price I have to this day ever got on Uroplatus. One or two didn't make if I remember (sorry sometime ago) but she DID make up for it like she said she would. She had told me to let her know when she had some animal or animals that I would like in exchange for the passed ones. Once I saw a gecko I wanted she sent it and it was top notch. I was never concerned with getting taken or ripped off in anyway. That's my 2 cents on Jewell from my experiences.

Shannon,
Sorry not trying to judge you at all, but you purchased the retics at a Reptile show where you got to examine them in person right in front of you and you never noticed the blisters on the animals you were buying in person? How long just curious, did it take you from the first inspection until you got them home and noticed the blisters that you didn't see at the show? Sorry again but i'm not so much a snake guy as a gecko guy but what does a Repiratory problem have to do with blisters. I have had snakes with repiratory problems before and treated those with Baytril as well, but never noticed blisters accompanying the problem. I'm not trying to defend anyone or anything, just trying to understand what happened.... Mike B.

Respiratory and Blisters?

Is it me or are there a number of people on this forum that desperately need some additional schooling? I'm sorry, but some of these posts are very difficult to read and understand.

If I understand correctly, blisters are not associated with a respiratory infection. IMHO it seems as though the person that purchased these animals does not have the knowledge or husbandry skills that are necessary. If these animals were inspected and purchased at the show and appeared to be healthy and then all of a sudden develop blisters and a respiratory infection.....I don't see it. Keeping these snakes on saturated substrate and less then ideal temps could very well lead to blisters and a respiratory infection!

We need to see the e-mails and a time line.

1. Those "Blisters" seem to develop a little too quickly. (a few hours?)

a. blisters = scale rot?
b. blisters = thermal burns? (enclosure too hot?)

2. blisters and respiratory infection.....????????

I do not want to sound like I am judging.....
But the blister story is not adding up.
Develop blisters within days or hours and die of respiratory infection within days or hours.....


HUH????

I'm not going to pretend to know anything about retics, but I have purchased from Jewell.
Everything went very quickly and smoothly. The aussie water dragons were packed perfectly and in great health.
They are doing very well for us.

Thanks
Dana

In my opinion blisters = high moisture combines with less than ideal cleanliness. Can it co-exist with URI? Absolutley. Why? Because URI can also develop under low temperatures + unsanitary conditions + damp environment.

Regards.

Although, I agree that the whole "respiratory infection/blisters/symptoms appearing too quickly" question is compelling, I have to admit that I know next to nothing about retics. However, when you pick up an animal at a show that you personally got to inspect BEFORE the purchase, the standards for reporting problems to the seller ought to be higher rather than lower. After waiting a week to report something that supposedly took place only hours after the purchase, I would say that the buyer has waited too long to address an issue that might have been handled more effectively if an earlier notice had been given.

Sorry Shannon, but I think this may be something that you'll have to bear on your own. Of course, that's just my opinion.

I have dealt with Jewell on several occasions over the past several years and all of our transactions have gone smoothly without incident.

I would have to echo several of the other posters sentiments in that I find it difficult to believe that there were visible signs of skin blisters on the animals that would not have been apparent from a cursory examination at the show. Skin blisters do not generally appear overnight and generally are not fatal if treated properly. Quite often a simple change of bedding and drier conditions will solve the problem without anti-biotics.

I hate to say it but I would have to agree that this one falls into the category of a learning experience. If you have the opportunity to physically examine an animal you need to take full advantage of it.

O.k I'll try this again, I swear I have wrote this 3 times every time I'm almost done my daughter hits a key and deletes it!!!! I did not write this post as a bad guy post, I just want to make that clear, I purchased a lot of things from them, and am very happy with the prices and the animals. However, I don't think the blister thing was our fault, we got the snakes at the beginning of the show, they were bagged we got home about 6 that night, and noticed the blisters as soon as we put them in a tank, we were probably the cause of them getting worse becuase I had them on mulch bedding, I wrote asking about the blisters on another forum, ( I have many differant kind of snakes and had never heard of a blister disease) they told me to put them on paper towel so thats what I did. I wrote him as soon as I remebered he gave me a buisness card, ( he gave it to me so I could contact him for some dragons) when I remebered I had it I wrote him and he e-mailed me right back, telling me to keep them dry he would send me some meds,he said I should have them by weds, I got them friday, by that time the snake was already dead, I took the other snake to the vet, (he deals with exotics, but mostly with birds) his opionion was the snake either had a respitary problem, or was an import. THis vet is not the best vet, but that is what he said. We figured since he said it was either or, he didn't know what it was. Yes they should have been looked at sooner, and when we got them they should have been inspected better, I don't think these guys knew there was anything wrong with them either, I still can't find anything on blister disease, so I don't know how soon that can pop up. The sell was on a Sunday I think I wrote him on a thursday. Nope I most of wrote him on a Sat, becuase he wrote me back Sunday morning. So can they get a "blister disease" and look that bad in less than a week? I know that one of them had it when we took it out of the bag, but I can't prove that, I can't figure out how to look through the history of the forum I asked about it on, because I know that was only a couple days later. Like I said I wasn't writting this as a bad guy post. Just looking for someone, they have wrote me, and I think what they said was fair. Here is a picture I sent them of the snake.
Shannon Hall

Well, that's a shame for you and the animals involved. I'm really sorry this has happened to you. Even so, I still think this is going to have to be chalked up as a learning experience (for us all at your expense, unfortunately!).

I want everyone to look at that picture... Now,,,the only way it could have gotten that bad was due to bad husbandry.. There is NO WAY that anyone would buy a snake that looked like that,,am I right???
Sooo,,in a week,,,that snake went from something that was inspected AND bought,,,to looking like that... How does that happen????

That is not what that snake looked like when we bought him!!!! He had a few blisters on his body, mostly around his head, that is what he looked like 3 days later, could poor keeping make him like that in 3 days???? I'am not being rude about it, I'm asking, he had something when I brought him home granted I may have made it worse by keeping him on a bedding that made it worse, but he had something to start with when we took him out of the bag, the blisters just got worse, and worse, this picture was taken and 3 days after I got him, and I sent the picture to them almost a week later 6 days later to be exact. I really don't think all that could break out, in 3 days if nothing was there to start with. I had pozsted asking what to do about the snake on the kingsnake forum, or how to take care of it, my user name on there is the same thing flammingcat, if someone can find that thread, I think I posted it a couple days after we got him. I can't find it, but I don't think I'm looking the right way. Like I said before I wasn't making this a bad guy post and I wasn't running anyone down, I know I can't prove that the snake had blisters when I took it out of the bag, but it did,the reptile show was Jan 26, I e-mailed him feb the 2cnd, I had already posted and asked about it on a forum, so that means that it was before the 6 days was already up, yes it was a learning experience, the check the animals out better, aggresive or not. He said he would send another snake as a replacement for the 2 we lost, that sounds fair to me.
Shannon Hall

Shannon,

I believe there was a request to see the emails between you and the people you bought the snakes from. I too would like for you to post these, to get a better idea of exactly what happened and what was said.

I haven't dealt with Jewell, but I have dealt with Jeff Lewis and I know him to be a real stand up guy. Jeff would never knowingly sell a sick animal to make a quick sale.

Now, on the blister disease thing, blister disease can appear rather quickly, sometimes only taking a couple of days to manifest itself if conditions are ripe for it(too moist and/or lack of cleanliness), but it does not appear in just a few hours. Basically, what I am saying is that the snakes did not develop blisters magically while they were bagged up at the reptile show. It took at least two or three days to develop to the level your picture shows, if not longer. One thing that really bothers me is that you have an animal with a bad case of blisters AND a supposed respiratory infection nice and WET(beads of water on the snake and wet looking substrate in picture). Even while the snake had blisters you kept misting/soaking it, which will only exacerbate the problem. HOpefully you're taking measures to get the surviving one back on track, if you're not sure what to do as far sa that goes, feel free to drop me a line off forum and I can offer some tips as I've dealt with blister disease a few times before.

Now, you say the snake was showing blisters when you got home, okay, why didn't you notice this at the show? Like I said, blisters can come on quick, but in a matter of a couple days, not a few hours. And besides, even if you only noticed the blisters after the show, why did it take you a week to contact Jewell and Jeff about the problem? You said you knew that same night, why not try getting in touch the same day, or at least the next? You were on kingsnake asking for help about it, why not go to Jeff and Jewell first to at least alert them of what's going on? And like Jeff said, they advertise on kingsnake, so even if you lost their card, you should have been able to track them down easily enough. Heck, not trying to be rude, but Jeffmore than likely had ads running just a couple clicks away from where you were posting for help.

Sharron, to answer your questions (which no one else seems to want to do), yes, blister disease can get that bad in 3 days. In fact, in my experience retics seem to have a harder time dealing with this disease than other species. I've seen it pop up and the snake be dead in 5 days. I don't know why, but it really hits retics hard.

To treat it, you place the snake on dry paper and only offer water to drink every couple of days. I've never used antibiotics to treat it, but that is probably because the only snakes that have a real hard time dealing with it (retics) usually get so bad, so quick, there isn't time. Corns, balls, boas, usually clear up with a week. I have used Neosporin to treat some really bad blisters and that did seem to help.

If you work with more retics in the future make sure to keep the bedding dry. I use plain newspaper and that seems to work well. The trick is to make sure they have a water dish big enough to soak in, and to clean up the spilled water asap. Most of the retics (normals) you see at shows are imported. When they can be bought from wholesalers for $35 not many people are going to be breeding them. Just because they are imported doesn't mean they are garbage. There's nothing inherently wrong with imports, it's just that they sometimes require a higher knowledge level. I have a few imported retics which not only are thriving, but they are also tame.

Hope this helps.

p.s. I never thought you went to far with your post, I saw it as someone looking for someone to contact them. But, I do agree that Jewell really doesn't owe you anything. If you get to pick out your own snake (in person) it becomes your snake and your problem as soon as you hand over the money.

I didn't fully finish my thought in my last post(got interrupted), but here's the rest...

In my opinion, when you buy at shows, for the most part you are buying "AS IS." Some sellers are willing to work something out if something goes wrong, but this is most definitely NOT the norm. You had the opportunity to look the retics over at the show. I will play devil's advocate and say that it is possible Jeff and Jewell may have missed noticing the start of the blisters, but knowing Jeff, I don't find it very probable. But even if that were the case, it was YOUR job to inspect the snakes before you purchased them. If you just gave them a cursory glance and tossed them in the bag, sorry, but you should have looked better and Jeff shouldn't have to make up for your lack of attention to detail at the time of purchase.

I am not trying to sound too harsh on you, as I do wish you can get your remaining retic turned around(looks like a pretty one), but Jeff doesn't really OWE you anything in the way of restitution the way I see it. If he and Jewell decide to work something out with you, that is their perogative, but it's not a requirement, and I wouldn't think any less of either one of them if they chose NOT to.