Chris Godino

What's up Alex?

I know Chris from a deal a couple of months ago. Went to his house to get some snakes from him that I was interested in. He told me they were guaranteed they were all eating. well out of three snakes one ate. He also said they were LTC (long term captive) I brought them home And had them quarantined for a while and notice they had mites bad. Well, needless to say I no longer have them. what he does is brokers them. He gets them in and seems like he tries to turn them around faster than he gets them. well tries to be a broker. And he is 17 maybe 18. I guess he tried to rectify it by calling me and telling me he would give me a deal on some other animals he got in. But Like you said live and learn. I will never get another animal from him or refer anyone to him.

hope you get your shipping back,

Jim,

No guarantee as to sex to Alex Hue, although his ad clearly states the following without ifs or buts:

Wholesale on the following animals: 2 new caladonian giant gecko females 5 months old $500 for both plus shipping...

They were sold for half the ongoing asking price for sexed females so it’s highly likely they were going to be sold. Had someone sent payment without questioning the sex he would have received two males.

It turns out to be that we later learned (through Alex) that in reality they were not females as advertised but males. We later learned they were not the size he claimed them to be (is it that difficult to measure a Caledonian gecko?). Finally he did not honor his word upon receipt of the animals. He could've said something before they were shipped but no, he waited until they were in his possession again.

As I said before, this is my personal opinion. But based on the facts at hand I will not trust him nor would I conduct business with him. Hope my stance is clear now.

Best regards.

Unless I missed it, nowhere in this thread does it say the geckos were in fact males (someone used a hypothetical example that if they were 2 males Alex would have sent them back) but as far as I can see, the gender was never determined - as quoted in Alex's first post :

These were way to small to even consider sexing

Three days later, after they had been properly sexed and turned out to be males, the following ad shows up:

2 new caladonian giant geckos 4 months old around 4-5in each and temp sexed to both be females $600 shipped

He corrected the obvious (age/size) but he still insists on them being tempe sexed to be females. Remember that now he knows for sure they are males. Yes, he was told they were temp sexed for females but were sexed by someone an turned out to be males. In my opinion that's deception.

Regards

Unless I missed it, nowhere in this thread does it say the geckos were in fact males (someone used a hypothetical example that if they were 2 males Alex would have sent them back) but as far as I can see, the gender was never determined - as quoted in Alex's first post :


Quote:
These were way to small to even consider sexing

__________________
Jon Cheris

Jon, you are right.

The sex was never determined. There was only a suggestion that sex has not been proven that it can be determined by temperature in this species.

I stand corrected on that matter. The fact that they were initially advertised as females, and incubated to be females in the second ad still stands.

Regards.

A 5-6 month old leachianus is approx. 5-7 inches from snout to vent depending on feeding regimen/husbandry

I've raised quite a few leachianus, and I don't think I have ever had one grow to 5-7 inches snout to vent in 5-6 months. No way. And my husbandry and feeding regimen is fine. My husband has raised more than I have at the zoo, and he's never had one grow that fast either.

Also, there has been some success in temp sexing of Rhacodactylus, however I do not believe there has been any real scientific study on it. In fact, just about every other leachianus breeder I know that has been working with them for a few years purposely incubates egss at 68-72 in order to produce females.

Also, did Chris ever state that the geckos were 6 inches snout to vent? Or did he just tell Alex how old they are? The only quote I can find in this thread made by Chris regarding the size is this:

I am stadning firm that they are around 4 months of age and are around 4in-5in

Sounds like Chris is young and inexperienced when it comes to the herp business, and it also sounds like he was going by what an experienced breeder of leachianus told him, that leachies can be temp sexed fairly accurately (I believe this to be true also). Anyway, if Chris told Alex he would refund all of the shipping charges, then of course he should do so. I didn't interpret their arrangement that way, just going by the emails posted here, but it would be a good will gesture on Chris' part, and well worth it.