Matt Oakley

I ordered rodents from Matt Oakley of maryland and was extremely disapointed. The only reason I ordered from him was because I missed Rodent Pros shipping deadline and it was going to be two weeks to get my order from them. He was only a little more for what I thought was the same order so I went with him. When the shipment came I knew something was wron immediatley, it was in one box. My order was 140 XL rats, 100XL mice and 150 weaned mice. At Rodent Pro this order would have been probably 5 boxes. I opened the banana box(yup that is what he shipped in) and could not believe how tiny the rats were, some were not even in a bag just thrown in the box. I weighed the bags of rats and some of the bags did not even average 150 grams per rat. Some of the rats were under 130 grams. I called him and he said he ad says they are between 150 and 224 grams. I admit I did not read that before I ordered or I never would have ordered from him in the first place, most other suppliers would not think of sending a rat under 250 grams for an XL. Rodent Pro for example sells their rats this size as mediums and I think everyone would agree that is what these are. I just weighed the bag of XL mice and his ad states his large mice are 30-39 grams. the bag of 100 weighed 2479(minus bag weight of 30 grams brings you to 2449 or under 25 grams average) When I called him I really thought he had made a mistake and thought he may want to fix it, he basically said too bad. In short if you want to pay way too much for medium rats this is your guy. If you want true XL rats at a fair price stay away from him. I do realize part of the fault is on me for not reading his ad well enough and assuming XL was XL not medium but they did not even measure up to his pathetic idea of an XL. and unless XL means smaller then large in MD his mice did not either. Clearly misrepresented his product and I feel outright ripped off.
Craig Kade

Not defending anyone here, but you'll find all sorts of differences between one rodent suppliers Extra large rats, and another. I'm talking weight, which is what they go by, not what size "WE" think an extra large is. American Rodent Supply in IN and Big Cheese out of TX are two other major suppliers, and their weights and sizes will differ, not just from each other, but from Rodent Pro as well. It really is on us to make sure we know what we are purchasing.


Do you have a link to where you found out about him? Any emails to support what you are saying in the way of his attitude towards his customers?

Providing those things would help to substantiate your claims.

Rick

I know they can vary and that was my bad but they were even smaller then his idea of XL. I found him on kingsnake and the only emails I have are me placing the order.

not choosing sides because i dont know the 2 of you at all.

but like rich said

different rodent suppliers have different sizes an different prices.

to him (matt) a xl rat may be 130 gram
to rodent pro its 250 gram


i think you didnt read through his ad or email correctly or just had a misunderstanding wich is a bad mojo on your part.

i dont belive matt is a bad guy you are just not satisfied with your order.

maybe next time you will remember to read


best way to look at it is your snakes wont starve now.

I will say it again, his ad says they are between 150 and 224 grams, they are not. His boxing sucked, has anyone else ever received loose rats in a box? no bag? His sizes were smaller then his ad stated period. I know that he can sell pinkie rats as extra large if he states it in his ad(not to give him any ideas) You can defend selling 120 gram rats as XL if you want, we all know that is crooked but not technically illegal if he states the sizes in the ad, the ad said 150+ and they were not.

Originally Posted by craig kade

we all know that is crooked but not technically illegal if he states the sizes in the ad, the ad said 150+ and they were not.

Actually, that might be construed as mail fraud if the story really happened as described from this side of the story. There are consumer protection laws you can look into if the rodents received really were smaller than the advertised sizes of those purchases. I don't mean the name of the size class - I mean the mass of the rodents as compared to his listed size (assuming he doesn't have a disclaimer saying sizes are approximate and may not be accurate....or something like that).

Did you say how you paid? Was it a CC or paypal? If so, file a complaint if he really didn't provide the rodents - by mass - as advertised.

WOW that sucks. I was planning on using him too. I guess I have to reconsider that idea now.

Not surprised at all here. I talked with this guy a few months ago about finding a local supplier since I'm in Maryland. I did tell him his prices were much higher than rodent pro which he boasted about how his rodents were much larger by weight for each category compared to Rodent Pros. Needless to say he didn't convince me to switch and I stuck with Rodent Pro. I'm sure Rodent Pro would have done right by you if you contacted them about grossly undersized rodents. He also doesn't ship them out in Bananna boxes! LOL!

I don't believe that Matt produces any of the rodents he sells. I have seen him at the Havre De Grace show towing around multiple coolers. There is no way he can control the sizes/quantities of rodents he doesn't produce.

Boy, That sucks Craig!
I know this time of yr. feeding at a specific time, and a specific sized rodent can be crucial in breeding success.
It seems like you have good cause with the misrepresented sizes of the large mice to file a complaint with paypal or your credit card company.
Sounds like it's time for a "road trip" to Rodent Pro again.
Good Luck!