Mitchell Mulks

You're question of whether it's money not wasted in case they are doing better is a good one, but I think it is $3100 straight down the drain. On KS and even here it sounds like your not sure it's zonata disease, but it is. I'll tell you the same thing I wrote on the other forum...no one knows what causes this disorder. Is it a syndrome? Is it a pathogen? We don't know, but until we do know it is absolutely the best to err on the side of caution and treat it as though it's pathogen-based. Also, it sucks that your colony was wiped out by it. But not all z's displaying classic ZD symptoms perish quickly. I had a friend back in 1999 that had 1.2 adult agalma with it. Only one died, after a half-year struggle, and the other two lived (but the never recovered neurologically, and would always shed every two to three weeks, tie themselves into nots, and crawl on their sides, back arched, continually. It's not a death sentence, but it might as well be. Even if a snake ever recovered, since we don't understand the origin of the disorder, any responsible breeder should never let the snake in question out of his or her collection, as it might still carry a pathogen. I hope this answers your questions and also helps clear the air why Stu is the one that got worked here.

Seeing as how this is a thread where we are allowed to alert the public of the perils associated with Jerry Kruse...I'll do just that. NEVER, for any reason do business with this man. Honestly every person I've known that has has always gotten ripped off or verbally threatened of potential physical assault. I first met Jerry when he sent multiple emails literally begging for free zonata (something he now harps on others as pathetic if they obtain free zonata). I do still have all those emails if anyone would like to see them. Over time I sent Jerry and his family SEVEN FREE ZONATA (I just want to drive this home because Jerry always calls those who accept free zonata pretty horrible names). After receiving those seven snakes, Jerry tried to obtain a CA non-commercial license so I could gift him THIRTY MORE FREE ZONATA. He was denied the permit because law enforcement had no way to regulate his stock. Since his permit was denied I have spoken to two different people, one who has said Jerry told him he was offered the permit but declined to take it, and another person who Jerry told he actually had the permit. Both of these stories are typical Jerry fabrications with no basis in reality. I know he never received the permit because the law enforcement officer who denied his permit told me he had done so. Back to the thirty free snakes Jerry was still excited at trying to obtain from me. It became apparent that Jerry saw me as a source for bolstering his collection at no cost, and when he crossed a line I told him not to cross with me I decided to dissolve our friendship. In Jerry's own words he asked me not to broadcast free zonata because it really makes it hard to sell all of you his snakes. I have that email, and my response to him on my laptop, and I'll post it tomorrow. People, he basically kissed my ass for seven free snakes, was more than happy to take thirty more free snakes, but his selfishness was so great that he wanted no one else to enjoy a free snake. Those are not the qualities of a good person nor someone you can trust. Just after this whole ordeal Jerry them completely broke my trust by claiming an immaculate conception from a snake I caught and gave him, one that he bred to another of a different locale, but sold the offspring as pure. It was at this point that I felt so used that i washed my hands of him. I have since been verbally threatened, texted out of the blue by him with rude and swear-filled messages, and am still apparently eny number one. I'm so much an enemy and such the manipulative mastermind (apparently I have brainwashed over a half dozen strong-willed people into thoughtless cronies, all with the sole mission to destroy Jerry) that he just finished a brand new rant about me on his website blog. If you want to read the writings of an insecure, juvenile, and possibly dangerous person, go visit his blog. To make matters worse he's a licensed psychologist and he actively threatens physical violence against those that disagree with him. Btw, I will happily offer up all emails that will show you who and what you're dealing with when you let Jerry into your life.

Other things Jerry has done to others that I know to be fact, and hopefully the abused parties will share their tragic encounters with you, are:

1. Going mental on a breeder who didn't sell Jerry the holdback hatchling Jerry wanted.
2. Actively selling a wild-caught temporalis illegally collected from the Pine Barrens.
3. Taking breeders from a Zonata breeding loan, producing babies and not telling the owner of the snakes, and selling those babies and keeping all the money. When confronted about it he promised 'next year' he'd split the clutch, all the while sitting on holdbacks that he never offered to the owner of the snakes to make things right for being a their! Jerry claims everyone is lying about his behavior and that the person whom he ripped of is in fact a good friend, but I've spoken with him and I have his emails to show he dislikes Jerry immensely and feels as though he was stolen from.
4. Went into another person's house, took photos of all his zonata, and played them off as his. He told everyone he was going to have all these different locales of zonata for sale, but the hatchlings he was talking about weren't even his.
5. Screwed his Brother-from-another-mother out of hatchlings from a Purblan milk snake breeding loan (take home message: don't enter into a breeding loan with Jerry).
6. Knowingly sold mutt Baja Mtn kings as pure Martir stock when he found out that Dan Voss had sold him mutts and not pure animals. He was out the money so he dishonestly and under false advertisement did to someone else exactly what had been done to him. The classic part of this is Jerry just responded to a two-year thread where someone asked why he posted a negative BOI thread about Dan Voss. Jerry admitted that it was because two years ago he learned his pure stock was nothing of the sort. Since that time Jerry has unloaded his mutt stock onto others as pure.

Basically, don't interact with the man, because all that do tend to come out of it having been stolen from or lied to. Stu is one of many that have now been Krused, don't make the same mistake all of us have.

Mitch