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Nick Lillis
I recently lost my 14 yo son to suicide, finished up treatment for stage 3 uterine cancer, after finishing recovering from a radical hysterectomy due to the cancer, was homeless for 6 months because i couldnt work during surgery, recovery, and most of my treatment (I did work during the last half of my treatments), and divorced my husband of 23 years.
Believe me when i say, i do NOT want to post this and go thru all the back n forth BS, nor the proving of everything, or listening to Nick lie and make excuses. However, i feel that i really should say something and warn others about his practices and what he did to me....i even saw the other thread on him and thought it was resolved pretty much in his favor and i saw one other good thread, so i thought it might be ok to take a chance on him. i was wrong. i even told him i saw the big, BS forum thread on here about him, but that i was willing to give him a chance....anyway...without further explanation this is what i posted on fb...
Bad Guy Review>
Bought 2 Monkey Tail Skinks from Nick Lillis.
Sooo...I didn't really want to write a bad review...
However, I think others need to be warned.
I bought 2 skinks from a man i've never had dealings with, before. Seller stated they were 4 years old and had been raised since birth into adulthood by the owner he got them from. in the pic provided, i noticed some buildup/roughened scales on the elbow of the left arm and the "look" on the skink's face and i had a tiny little voice telling me something was off, but the pic still seemed to show a decent looking animal. i thought maybe it was just me being paranoid..... originally, i was going to buy all 4 he had available, but the pic made me a bit jumpy. i decided to buy 2 and then buy the other 2 if everything went well and the animals were in good health and so on. plus, i have a monthly budget i try to stick to and i was getting close to my limit.
I did my research on fauna boi and good guy bad guy review group on fb. the only thing i found was that Fauna had one bad thread that seemed to be resolved in his favor and one good thread. so i went ahead and sent him money and made arrangements for when everything would be sent and so on.
nick informed me they had been eating yogurt and pangae for geckos.
After receiving the skinks i spent the next hour and a half, soaking and then helping them shed. they were hardly able to grasp and hold on. anyone that knows MT skinks, knows just how hard they hold on and will understand why this was especially distressing. i then immediately contacted him. He was "genuinely surprised to find that i was disappointed in them. " He then proceeded to tell me that when the skinks left his place, they were in good condition and reminded that he TOLD me they were in shed and he had been soaking them. He then followed that up with informing me that he had pics and vids of right before they left his facility. Then followed that up with the fact that he wasn't there to argue with me and asked "how can i help you?"
he said he was so sorry i was disappointed in them, then told me the other 2 skinks i had arranged to buy from him, were "flawless," and that i would be more satisfied with them after paying for them and they were sent. i stated that i would still buy the other 2 if he could assure me that absolutely nothing was wrong with them and that i wanted a refund if the 2 skinks i currently have from him were to die in the next couple of days to a week. he did not confirm, nor deny that he would give me a refund if that happened.
After ending comm's with him and after more consideration, i decided i did not want to risk sending more money and getting more sick skinks, so i contacted paypal. when i first sent a deposit on the skinks, i sent them as a "goods and services" payment thinking i wanted to be protected. nick informed me he did not usually take payments as a "goods and services" and that i needed to send the rest of the balance as a "gift for friends and family," and that the deposit being paid as a goods and services payment, that he would "make an exception this time." i informed him that i was uncomfortable doing that as it was unethical, he could lose his business account if he were asking people to avoid paying fees by sending as friends and family and that if this were an issue, to just refund my deposit and we could cancel the sale. he said he would be ok w sending the balance as a "goods and services," payment. however, this was a waste of money, as i contacted paypal over this and their resolution was that i paid for goods and services and those goods arrived, no matter the condition, therefore i am not entitled to a refund.
my whole intent on this post, is to warn that i found out he is a "flipper," whereby he constantly gets animals from trades and deals and then sells them. he also has at least 2 more skinks for sale and i would strongly caution against buying them even though he stated they were flawless. but if you're wanting to baby something that you got at a great price, you may want to save them...maybe he's telling the truth and he hasn't actually laid eyes on these animals and someone else has been taking care of them and was responsible for shipping them out??
...that's the only excuse i can think of, in regards to why he's convinced these animals were just fine to sell and ship....
the above pics are 1.5 hours AFTER i received them and had soaked them and helped remove their shed. i should have taken pics before removing all the stuck shed on them, but i was so horrified at their condition that i immediately started working on them, as soon as i saw them...as i went along, i became more and more heart sick and disgusted over their condition that it finally dawned on me i should start taking pics...Note: upon arrival, it was full body retained shed.....toes, vents covered, etc...LAYERS of it....it was so bad they they stunk of rot from so much shed.
i'm hoping they make it. the largest one did eat on its own, yesterday and i've been giving them .25 mL's of liquefied greens every 3-4 hours, as well as a bit of fruit to add some sugars into the mix. i've also been giving them doses of water, and i've started treating their overall wounds, and infections, using a rub down with helichrysum oil. i'm keeping their cage humid, while still providing a dry area for them to be in....
the smaller is still pooping only water, no urates.
i really hope they make it.
he stated in PMs, that he has had these animals for a year. i blocked him on fb and will not engage in any further comm's w him, as he continued to state that the animals were fine....in one of the PMs we exchanged after i received the skinks, he stated he had had scale rot (on them, or other animals...i'm unclear what he meant exactly in that comment) and maybe that was what i was talking about in regards to how bad their skin is/was....
he SEEMS really nice...and genuinely acted shocked and saddened that i was disappointed in them....but w the other threads i've seen....i wonder. and the thing is....i told him...i'm not mad. i'm very concerned....this whole thing makes me very sad. i did comment that maybe he's just not used to working w monkey tail skinks....
he warned me the day they were being shipped and "on their way," that they both were in "heavy shed" and he had soaked them....that's the only warning or reveal i received from him. nothing about bones sticking out, infections, missing toes, etc....as a matter of fact, he states in his ad (please note the first ad i saw was dated in april and he is insisting he provided current, not dated pics when advertising the 2 skinks) here on fauna "This girl is amazing! She is a beast and will eat whatever we put in her bowl! Amazing animal!" This is the same animal he sold to me as a male, when he found out i was female heavy and needed males.
To be fair, he did NOT guarantee sex and stated he believed they might both be males, but it could be only one male....
My main reason for posting and what i want most of all, is for Nick to understand that these beings have souls...and desires...and want to live happily just as much as any other living being...they should be treated w dignity and kindness....and i don't want others supporting him in his flipping, if he isn't going to treat the animals, better....that's it.
yeah, i'd like the money back....but if i don't get it--i will have to deal with that. BUT, if Nick will learn and grow from this...if he will start being more conscientious and kind towards these beings he holds in his power, then this is worth it, to me...
ya know??
nick did respond to the review on fb, that he had been willing to give me a refund...that he said he was willing to give me a refund, when i contacted him about the animals...that is a complete lie....he kept insisting that he took vids of them eating and how great they were before leaving his place...he kept arguing there was nothing wrong except the stuck shed....if he does indeed have vids and pics, i can guarantee they are either old or not very detailed in regards to showing spine, hips, tail, etc...he then said he wasnt going to argue with me and then asked how he could help.
he also stated in one of the PMs to me, that he had had a paypal account for the past 10 years...that made me wonder...if hes 22, did he get a pp account at 12?
anyway, the system here would only allow me to upload so many pics...if there's another way to upload the screenshots of PMs, please let me know and i will do so.
other issues, are that he has supposedly been informed of possible crypto in his animals and that another fb member has had to destroy her collection, or most of it due to receiving animals from nick AND he has his fb profile pic of him w an arm around ty park, and is identifying some of the animals he's selling as coming from ty park. nothing exactly wrong w that, except it seems an awful lot like he's trying to use ty park's reputation to bolster his rep....ty park should probably be made aware of that....
thanks
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