MATT OAKLEY

Originally Posted by 2kdime

Hopefully this doesn't end up being a novel. But please take the time to read it.

I bought an Adult Female Blood Python off Matt roughly 2 months ago for 490 shipped. She arrived at the shipping address in a duct taped Produce box! There was NO heat, NO snake bag, NO insulation. Just a snake thrown in a box with some paper. This is not the right way to ship an animal! What should have took place was this girl should have been shipped in a properly insulated box without a heat pack. Not shipped in a box you’d find at the grocery store.

When contacted, Matt replied back saying that he thought I told him it was "hot enough" here and that the box she was shipped in was more than adequate. Anyone in the reptile business SHOULD KNOW BETTER than to do something like this. This was a very unprofessional move, especially for someone who claims to have over 4 years of experience on KS. I didn't see any of the other problems yet.....

This is said box upon arrival and opening....





Next issue...

She came in with an RI and easily 200 to 300 Mites, as well as stuck shed on her body and eyes. She got soak after soak after soak to kill the little things as well as getting rubbed down with Reptile Relief. Her cage was treated with PAM and in she went. I contacted Matt again and he refunded me 100 bucks for vet bills. I'll give him this much, that was a good gesture. It turned out to be too little too late though, especially since my vet bills alone amounted to over 100 bucks.

Now I'd had luck with Amikacin in the past with Bloods and decided to give it a go for 2 weeks to clear up the RI, didn't work.

We then ran a Culture and Sensitivity test on her and put her back on Amikacin as well as Fortaz for a month, THAT didn't work.

I contacted Matt and told him that we need to resolve this issue as she was going to be put down as she wasn't getting better despite mine and my vets best efforts. I told him that if he refunded the purchase price for the animal minus the shipping cost, that we would be square. He sold me this animal, she's gotta get put down, seems fair doesn't it?

Matt said that he had had the snake for over a year and she was healthy in his care....this snake says different.

We bickered back and forth for a few days over this, her being such a beautiful animal, I kept holding out on her, and thought to give her one more go...

I contacted my veterinarian and he thought trying one more drug class outside the Aminoglycoside and the Cephalosporin groups might be a last shot, we went with a Fluoroquinolone; Baytril. Since she was already doing terrible, what could it hurt?

We have her on 10 mg/kg q 24h with ZERO improvement. This is the highest dose and most frequent you can give this snake.

I already know Matt isn’t going to refund the price for her, nor does he want her back. Wonder why.....

I just hope that I can reach enough people with this information, to spare them the heartache and stress that this snake and Matt have caused me. I hope it reaches enough of you too, cause I’m out 500 dollars!

I hope you took the time to read this and take it to heart next time you consider buying from him.

Thank you

I got the same box when I ordered feeders from him!! They were all thawed and most of my snakes had regurged when I fed his rats. He must eat alot of bannanas

I'm not defending how Mr. Oakley shipped those snake(s) and feeders. That is a horrible way to ship an animal, and if the box had been handled differently, I think that snake would have arrived injured or dead.

But still, what's with the bashing about the cleanliness of someone's house/apartment/whatever? That is no indication of how well someone keeps their reptiles. My house isn't the most spic and span either, but you better believe I make sure my snakes are clean and happy! And we can't really see much of his place in the posted pictures, anyway.

On a similar note: Some people use paper towel or shelf liner as substrate, and the snakes do just fine. Why, then, is he being slammed for "minimal substrate"?

Oh, and I also keep my cases of pop on the floor. I guess that means I'm a slob, eh?

Sorry, but if you can look at those pictures of his setup and consider that to even be ok, rather than dirty, which is what it is, then I'd have to question your idea of clean and happy snakes.
Yes most people are harping more on his entire place being dirty, but when every picture shows not just dirty cages but dirty surroundings too then I'd tend to think that level of cleanliness probably extends to the rest of his residence too. And as far as minimal substrate, when you use the type of substrate he uses you're expected to have a certain amount of it in the cage to fully cover the bottom of the enclosure, obviously a layer of paper towel, news paper or cage liners automatically covers the entire bottom of the cage, unlike loose substrate.
But either way, whether he does have a dirty house or only dirty cages, from the pictures it is easy to see his snakes are not kept clean and happy.

I never said anything about his setups (other than the substrate thing, which I now see in some of his tubs, there isn't any substrate).

What I'm getting at is that we need to focus on how he keeps/ships his reptiles, not how clean his residence is (which has no bearing on this discussion at all).

Originally Posted by R. Eventide

I never said anything about his setups (other than the substrate thing, which I now see in some of his tubs, there isn't any substrate).

What I'm getting at is that we need to focus on how he keeps/ships his reptiles, not how clean his residence is (which has no bearing on this discussion at all).

Actually is does have bearing. It speaks to ( and reinforces) not only how he keeps his animals and respect for them ( which he has shown he doesn't have any for) but how he cares for himself. In short it is indicative of the entire picture.
No one snuck in to his house and took those pictures to prove he's slovenly. He posted those pictures while bragging about his "facility" which it obviously is not, this also shows how out of touch he is with regards to animal husbandry. It is also now obvious that this wasn't an isolated or rare occurrence.

All I can say is that I see no concern for the snake from the seller at all. Starting with the way the snake was shipped to the sellers behavior now.
You are selling LIVING BEINGS, not a pair of old shoes!!!!
You should be ashamed of yourself and you should refund the buyer his money.

Originally Posted by MiIguanaLvr

You should be ashamed of yourself and you should refund the buyer his money.

Beth, I'm sure you've had a chance to scan his photos. A person that lives in that kind of condition, packing animals into filthy cages spread out over every room of their home, has no shame. You would be either a hoarder or a slimy scumbag reptile pimp. To me he is both, and he seems pretty darn proud of it.

Originally Posted by critical bill

Beth, I'm sure you've had a chance to scan his photos. A person that lives in that kind of condition, packing animals into filthy cages spread out over every room of their home, has no shame. You would be either a hoarder or a slimy scumbag reptile pimp. To me he is both, and he seems pretty darn proud of it.

Yes, I did peek at the pics. I know this just could be my opinion but I also thought some of those snakes looked too larger for their enclosures IMHO.

Originally Posted by MiIguanaLvr

larger

OOPS I meant too LARGE for their enclosures. Forgive me, its late and my brain apparently already went to sleep