Fluker Farms AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE! Filthy

I am furious with Flukers and now consider them to be an unethical business. IMO, they should be shut down. I am going to contact the authorities and find out if the health dept , agriculture dept , or whoever might oversee businesses like this should be pressed in to conducting an investigation. Someone told me that shipping pest species over state lines is a federal offense. ( I have no idea whether that's true, but if it is, I hope they get nailed.) From the way they responded to me it is obvious they know they have an issue and they don't care.

I believe the larvae are Dermestes maculatus. I am not an expert but the pattern on the larvae looks more like this species than lard beetles. If they are maculatus it means Flukers has a filthy warehouse and the beetles are feeding on massive amounts of dead crickets. If you decide to order from them, you may get a high DOA level if the crickets are diseased. You'll probably also get mites and who knows what else if their warehouse is filthy enough to support this infestation level of flesh eating beetles.

If they had responded differently and assured me that they take the issue seriously and would do an in-house inspection and cleaning, I would have given them the benefit of a doubt and dropped this issue. Raising feeders is probably a pretty dirty business, and we all expect to find a few unwanted *buddies* in our shipments, but if they are this infested, they have a serious problem. It is obvious to me now that Flukers doesn't care about cleanliness or their customers.

Once they told me to find another supplier I knew they are aware of what they are doing and don't give a crap. I now think they are a horrible company that needs to be avoided. If they are this unconcerned about shipping flesh eating beetles they are not only ripping customers off, they are endangering our health and the environment. It may also be mail fraud.

Here are the emails that transpired between us. (I have removed my email address and other personal data like my home address. ) When I told them that if they sent more pests I would have a responsibility to warn others, they passive aggressively told me to f-off, and claimed they will issue a refund. I have yet to get notified of any refund.

My first email was sent to their website's customer service. I attached a photo showing the infestation. I will add it at the bottom so you can see we aren't talking about a few larvae here, we're talking about a shipment that had more beetle larvae than crickets in it. I didn't count them but I estimate there were over a thousand by the looks of it.


Here are the emails...
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I am very displeased with my recent order. First of all, more than half the crickets were dead, secondly there were no where near 3000, more like 1000, and thirdly there were more of these strange larvae than there were crickets! The order was badly infested. I am attaching a picture of the entire order after I placed it in a deli cup, it was only a couple inches deep in a fruit fly culture sized cup, that couldn't possibly be 3000 crickets, even at 1/4 inch size. Notice the amount of weird beetle larvae infesting the order.

I am shocked at the level of infestation. I expect a few random weird bugs with feeders but this is crazy.

What are these larvae and will they infest my house?


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Help Desk help@flukerfarms.com

Feb 13 (4 days ago)

to me

These are feeder bugs that get into the feed. I see that you had a lot of them, if you give me your order number, I will replace this order at no charge, and I will report this to the supervisor.

Thanks,

Jackie

Fluker Farms





From: Rayven
Sent: Friday, February 10, 2012 11:31 PM
To: Help@flukerfarms.com
Subject: infested order


Feb 13 (3 days ago)

to Help
Your order number is: *****
Date of order: 2/8/2012 4:16 PM



I have determined that they are a species of Dermestidae. They are a pest species and can infest houses and cause problems. With infestation levels as high as your company seems to have, I do not believe you are unaware of what these are. The fact that you did not tell me what species they are leads me to believe you are purposely trying to hide that information.

If my replacement order contains any of these pests I may report you to the health department or whatever the appropriate organization is. If a company has an infestation but takes it seriously and makes sure no pests ship out with orders I wouldn't care, but if you are shipping pests out with orders and don't care, I have a responsibility to warn others.
Help Desk help@flukerfarms.com

Feb 13 (3 days ago)

to me

Sandra,

I will be refunding that back to your credit. It may be best if you find another supplier.

Jackie

Fluker Farms


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