"MnJ" Snake, Tortoise, Reptile Rescue - VA ???

Originally Posted by SethsExotics

Its information that is freely available to anyone, anywhere. Took me about 10 seconds to look it up.

Michael has posted again to clarify that the emails are coming from his partner and not him.

It went from both of them being lawyers, to one of them being a lawyer, to neither of them being a lawyer, in the span of about 30 minutes. Hmmm.

I'm going to bed. 'Night ya'll.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmRiJMhNDPo in this video, it says in the title hes a lawyer? Hrm

Great, if he truly is a lawyer, he explain why the domain is registered to "MnJ Inc."

If they are incorporated as a business, how can they also be a non-profit?

I'd really like to know. For profit, or not?

He seems to be in violation of his condo board's rules.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eqns55Idp1Y

Is the rescue being run from his condo?

Wow, looks like one of his boas has a serious case of mouth rot. Hope he separates it from the other boas in the cage and takes care of it. Doesn't look like he will though.

Originally Posted by kmurphy

Wow, looks like one of his boas has a serious case of mouth rot. Hope he separates it from the other boas in the cage and takes care of it. Doesn't look like he will though.

Agreed.... I certainly hope that snake got vet care. ( it was posted quite some time ago)

I received an email this morning via craigslist:




** CRAIGSLIST ADVISORY --- AVOID SCAMS BY DEALING LOCALLY
** Avoid: wiring money, cross-border deals, work-at-home
** Beware: cashier checks, money orders, escrow, shipping
** More Info: http://www.craigslist.org/about/scams.html


One of my coworkers has a turtle that she bought for her son, and now he ignores it. I emailed MnJ to see of they were interested in taking the turtle. I got an email back right away that said that they'd be glad to take him. So, I asked when we could meet up....then I asked again, and again. I got no replies and finally I just stopped trying. A few days later I saw an ad for a snake for adoption. I emailed the ad, and it was from them. They were adopting the snake out with no supplies or vet records, yet they were charging a $250 "adoption fee" I DID NOT adopt the snake, as I could've went and bought one for less than $100, but I DID email them again. I stated in my email that they shouldn’t respond to ppl's emails and then IGNORE them when it's time to pick up the animal. I also asked them if they PAID for the animals they rescued. They said that they never ignored my emails, and that they pay NOTHING for their rescues. I FORWARDED their emails back to them, so they could see that they HAD done exactly that. I also asked them what right they had to charge $250 for an animal that has no health care records/housing or supplies. They claimed that them being a "rescue" gave them the right to charge adoption fees. I explained to them that I also have rescued snakes. I have 8 now...all rescues...all GIVEN to me in hopes that they have a better life here. I also explained that JUST a basic vet visit (with an exotic) can run well over $200. My exotics vets visits are $170 for JUST the exam, and EVERY new addition sees the vet. I also questioned the validity of this rescue. What happened next was Unbelievable. Whoever answers their emails called me a liar and said that I was "full of shit" and knew NOTHING about rescues or how they work. I got an email that was about a paragraph of curse words. (and was one loooong run on sentence) My answer was to send them another email asking that they use their grammar/spell check if they were going to try to insult me. I explained that the lack of basic grammar skills didn’t make them look any better. I also copied and pasted the definition of "punctuation". for them to learn from. After that email, they REposted their ad....with about 10 lines of periods at the end. (now, they have cut it back to 4 lines or so) Guess that's a middle finger to me.
Just adding MY MnJ experience

OK Fauna Folk,

After following the links that were posted by a few of you and reading the emails from both of the individuals in question, I've discovered the truth behind MnJ Snake Rescue.

MnJ is Michael Davis and Nick Ignacio, who are friends. They both reside here in Virginia. Michael's side of the story is that Nick is a friend and somewhat of a protege. Nick didn't have any side to this story except some incoherent angry threats in which he claimed that he and Michael were both lawyers, and that they were going to sue me for slander/libel/whatever. Michael explained to me that Nick does a lot of things in jest and that I should take it easy on him.

It seems that Nick Ignacio believes that he is a cornerstone of the herp community, which is evident in all of his videos and clips from the local news, which can be found here:

http://www.youtube.com/muffdaddy2

(Thanks, Randal)

Nick's page led me directly to Michael's page, which is here:

http://www.youtube.com/user/snakemannva

In one of the videos that I watched, Michael claims to be a breeder. He shows us a female ball python that is going to produce some spiders for him. He also added a written comment to his own video that claims he is trying to breed a boa that came to him as a rescue.

So, is MnJ Snake Rescue a fraud?

The domain is registered to MnJ Inc., which tells me that they are a business, yet they claim that they are a non-profit. They maintain a "rescue" website, but have created a YouTube site where they claim to be breeders and list their occupation as breeders.

None of their advertisements have appeared on Fauna, Kingsnake, or any other site that costs money. Instead, they bombard craigslist daily, cross-posting in five different sections.

You be the judge. I'm tired of these delusional freaks.

These guys need to be avoided like the plague. They've been bombarding the venomousreptiles.org Ask the Experts forum for the past week or more with various rantings and ravings. Best yet, Nick is a bit bipolar (not to insult any bipolars out there!). He'll say he just wants to learn from the members there, but as soon as someone tries to get him to realize that he's hurting the hobby, he goes crazy. Right now he's trying to get people to meet up with him and go to the Arlington, VA hearing to help him fight the ban that's about to be passed. See the fireworks for that here:

(may not be around long if the admins catch wind of his shady "rescue")
http://www.venomousreptiles.org/forums/Experts/35421

These guys are beyond words. I thought it was bad enough they could show up out of the blue, insult the most highly respected members of the venomous community, then actually expect to be accepted on the forum while they seek information...but now to hear about them pretending to be a rescue so they can obtain animals for resale...ridiculous.

If you live in their vicinity, I would highly recommend you contact your local whoever-you-need-to and report their apparently illicit activities.

Seth,
Glad I could help you, however, I'm not the detective Chuck Kimmel is.
Chuck is very good at that sort of stuff. So is Dennis.

Randal

this guy nick is beyond words. many of his threads and posts have been removed from the shhs site. he has went far and above disrespecting people but also their wives and families. he is not only a disgrace to this herp community, but to the human race. stay away from him, do not do business with him. his next project is breeding Crotalus scutulatus and some Agkistrodon contortrix. I think he plans on hand taming them or something along those line. His copperhead video on youtube is just mind boggling.