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05-05-2012, 02:13 PM

I feel that great many ball python breeders take for granted how quickly these animals are capable of hitting sexual maturity. I often see males being put in with female after female after female during a season where they relentlessly breed over and over again until either they no longer show interest or enough females become gravid by them. Males successfully complete this task year after year starting from an incredibly young age. That does not, however, mean that the animal does not endure some type of extreme duress in the process.That is a major factor in what transpired in this transaction.

Let me begin by stating that if Brandon, or Thomas (whoever was responsible for the Potion's well being), had quarantined the animal properly, this whole story would be different. However, because that clearly did not happen, it is vastly different.

When you take an animal from an enivornment where it has been living, where it has been breeding, where it has established its "territory", put it in a bag, put it in a box and hand it over to some attendent at a counter to be sent on its way to a shipping process, you are stressing that animal out immensely. Factor in shifts in altitude, a cooler environment, less than graceful handling where it is tossed around, shuffled about and possibly dropped onto conveyer belts and you can multiply the stressful affects. Then, you takes this animal that has been put in a bag, put in a box, thrown around, bumped about and throw him into an enclosure he is not familiar with, has no reason to feel comfortable in and expect him to breed a receptive female. How is that even remotely responsible or in the better interest of the animal?

Oh, wait ... I know why. Dollar signs.

Regardless of if the ball python had the ulcers prior to shipping, regardless of when the ball python contracted salmonella (another one of those things snakes can carry around and never really present, by the way), because the proper methods of quarantine were ignored and because Thomas, or Brandon, or whoever, chose to force that animal into incredibly stressful situations with no regard for its life, they are responsible for his death. When you take the ability to determine just who is the primary factor in an animal's death (had you just put him in quarantine and left him alone to destress and acclimate himself and then he died), I would say that your other animals need to be returned. You did not do this however. No, you let the almighty dollar govern your actions and because you lack patience or any semblence of morality for the Potion, he is dead and you are out in the deal.

Tough. Deal with it.

You cannot prove that the salmonella came from the OP, not when you allowed him to enter your collection to begin fluid swapping with other ball pythons. You cannot prove the ulcers started before you recieved him. You cannot prove that all the factors of stress the animal endured weakened his immune system so badly that he died. This was not an adult ball python. This was still a juvenile. Juvenile animals can and do die abruptly and without warning from stress related complications. It is terrible and it is never easy to deal with, but that is part of dealing with live animals. It is always a risk to have an animal shipped to you because an animal that could have sat in a collection perfectly outwardly healthy for ten years can suddenly present disease or complications brought on by the stress of shipping and a new enviornment.

Maybe if you learned a thing or two about how thoughtless greed affects a life then all of this could be avoided in the future.

My question to you Thomas and Brandon is with the pontential contamination of your collection, what are you going to do now?

05-05-2012, 02:13 PM	#74
ShadowAceD	I feel that great many ball python breeders take for granted how quickly these animals are capable of hitting sexual maturity. I often see males being put in with female after female after female during a season where they relentlessly breed over and over again until either they no longer show interest or enough females become gravid by them. Males successfully complete this task year after year starting from an incredibly young age. That does not, however, mean that the animal does not endure some type of extreme duress in the process.That is a major factor in what transpired in this transaction. Let me begin by stating that if Brandon, or Thomas (whoever was responsible for the Potion's well being), had quarantined the animal properly, this whole story would be different. However, because that clearly did not happen, it is vastly different. When you take an animal from an enivornment where it has been living, where it has been breeding, where it has established its "territory", put it in a bag, put it in a box and hand it over to some attendent at a counter to be sent on its way to a shipping process, you are stressing that animal out immensely. Factor in shifts in altitude, a cooler environment, less than graceful handling where it is tossed around, shuffled about and possibly dropped onto conveyer belts and you can multiply the stressful affects. Then, you takes this animal that has been put in a bag, put in a box, thrown around, bumped about and throw him into an enclosure he is not familiar with, has no reason to feel comfortable in and expect him to breed a receptive female. How is that even remotely responsible or in the better interest of the animal? Oh, wait ... I know why. Dollar signs. Regardless of if the ball python had the ulcers prior to shipping, regardless of when the ball python contracted salmonella (another one of those things snakes can carry around and never really present, by the way), because the proper methods of quarantine were ignored and because Thomas, or Brandon, or whoever, chose to force that animal into incredibly stressful situations with no regard for its life, they are responsible for his death. When you take the ability to determine just who is the primary factor in an animal's death (had you just put him in quarantine and left him alone to destress and acclimate himself and then he died), I would say that your other animals need to be returned. You did not do this however. No, you let the almighty dollar govern your actions and because you lack patience or any semblence of morality for the Potion, he is dead and you are out in the deal. Tough. Deal with it. You cannot prove that the salmonella came from the OP, not when you allowed him to enter your collection to begin fluid swapping with other ball pythons. You cannot prove the ulcers started before you recieved him. You cannot prove that all the factors of stress the animal endured weakened his immune system so badly that he died. This was not an adult ball python. This was still a juvenile. Juvenile animals can and do die abruptly and without warning from stress related complications. It is terrible and it is never easy to deal with, but that is part of dealing with live animals. It is always a risk to have an animal shipped to you because an animal that could have sat in a collection perfectly outwardly healthy for ten years can suddenly present disease or complications brought on by the stress of shipping and a new enviornment. Maybe if you learned a thing or two about how thoughtless greed affects a life then all of this could be avoided in the future. My question to you Thomas and Brandon is with the pontential contamination of your collection, what are you going to do now?