Adam Block

Here's what it comes down to for me. Refund or not, replacement or not. I feel this is an issue of ethics and not only with my situation but with other stories I've heard from people, as in the one I relayed about a two year old weighing only 282 grams.

These facts are the only things I have to go on and they are as follows:

1) The snake was sold within 14 days of hatching.
2) The snake died of gout.
3) The snake was free of any other protozoa at the time of death.
4) The snake ALWAYS had water while in my care.
5) The snake was feeding with no troubles.
6) The breeder has sold at least one underfed snake in the past.
7) That snake died as well.
8) He sold other from this clutch while at the show.
9) He denies even a chance that there could have been an error on his end.
10) The snake was promised as healthy at the time of purchase.
11) The snake was less then 8 weeks old at the time of death.
12) The snake had a 1275-mile trip down to Daytona with or without water.
13) The breeder claims to have the most geneticly diverse line of albino balls in the Country.
14) The breeder told me he only produced 15 albinos this year.
15) The breeder told me he gets burned out on snakes on a weekly basis.

With the above said I will focus on those issues only. I will also say the reason I purchase my animals from the breeders I do is because I feel they are big enough people in this business with enough of a reputation at risk to be trusted. In many cases I've found the person to seemingly only care about the money and have not done business with them. In others, I've found them to care about the snakes and people buying from them above all else. In all honesty, I've learned a lot from this. Mainly that nothing should be assumed and just because you've bought from a big name breeder doesn't mean you will not run into big troubles and surely doesn't mean the snakes have had good care.

I was blindsided by this, as this is a very trusted breeder when it comes to ball pythons and I didn't even think it as a possibility that I would get a fresh out of the egg snake without being told and the price reflecting it.

I'm not going to mention the breeder by name at this point because I feel that little has been established to back my conclusions. I don't feel with two dead snakes there is a backing or foundation for anything more then two odd occurrences.

Until I've seen a pattern I'm not going to put a mark on some bodies reputation as I think with the way things sit that would not be the responsible thing to do.

Has ANYBODY else had a ball python from a larger name breeder drop over in a manner like this? Or for that matter do any of you have any proof of poor care? I don't need a name but if you can post or email me the story it many be a help to establish a pattern and go from there.

Thank you all for reading this and taking part. Please if you have something to add feel free to do so. Understand though, I’m not pointing a finger or asking for anything to come of this. I’m only posting this because I feel there may be an issue here that needs to be taken care of if this has happened in more cases then the two at hand.

Thanks a lot,
Adam Block