Mike Shoemaker, Rebel Dragons -- Great Guy!!

I just bought a beautiful male Bearded Dragon from Mike. He arrived yesterday, sweet as could be. The whole deal was perfect in every respect. Buy with confidence from Mike!

Thank you Jim, I am glad you like your new little boy. He will be perfect for the 2 little girls you picked up from Dachiu.

Thanks a million,

Tere Salazar and I have had very negative and unfortunate experiences with Mike Shoemaker. Originally we had agreed to keep it off of Fauna, but recent events have made us feel that we have no other choice than to warn others about Mike’s character and deception. Mike has lied repeatedly, committed auction fraud, slandered numerous people in the reptile industry, and is continuing to do so. Unfortunately, there’s really no short way to explain all of this while still allowing it to make sense.

Tere and I will be posting information that we feel is relevant to anyone considering doing business with Mike Shoemaker. Some of it may not seem relevant at first, but we feel that it is evidence that Michael Shoemaker should not be trusted nor believed. If you’re reading this as it is being posted, please allow us a few minutes to get all of the information submitted.

As many of you already know, Mike Shoemaker and I became friends after the whole ordeal with my dragon, Apollo. What some of you probably don’t know is that Mike and I became such good friends that he and his partner moved in with my husband and I in June of this year. I was under the impression that Mike Shoemaker was a real stand-up guy and that he had just fallen on hard times, like so many of us have done.

Shortly after the ordeal with Apollo (at the end of May), Mike contacted me and informed me that his partner had lost his job, that they only had $200 to pay towards rent due on the 1st of June, and that they had no prospects for any income prior to the 1st of the month. Mike also informed me that he didn’t get along with any of his family and that basically, Mike, his partner, and Mike’s dragons were about to become homeless. At that time, I informed Mike that my husband and I didn’t have any money that we could loan him, but we did have a room that he and his partner could stay in until they could get back on their feet. I told Mike that should he choose to move here, that my husband and I could not and would not offer any monetary support for Mike or his partner and that they should not expect a “free ride“ while living here.

Mike insisted that for him to live here, he would need a cable modem, digital cable and a phone line with all the extras. I informed Mike that these were not things that John and I could afford, and Mike stated that were bills that he and his partner would take care of monthly. With those agreements made, Mike and his partner moved here, and I had all the requested services installed.

Once Mike and his partner arrived here, it was not long before the real Mike Shoemaker started shining through, and the Mike that I thought I knew ceased to exist. Cory (his partner) started looking for employment almost immediately. The first day of actually applying for jobs, he was offered a position as a carpenter, a position he still holds. Cory understood that a portion of his paycheck was expected to be used to pay the cable, internet and phone bills (any amount that was above and beyond the amount John and I were already paying), as well as to contribute partially for the household groceries. CORY decided that $225 a week would be sufficient to cover these expenses…NOT me or John. Cory has never had a problem covering his own expenses, together with the majority of Mike’s expenses the entire time he lived here.

The reason Cory was paying Mike’s expenses is because during Mike’s brief stay here (6/04/05 – 7/29/05), he had great difficulty finding and keeping any employment, often times staying up all night and sleeping the majority of the day, which makes job hunting near impossible. He used just about every excuse in the book, including that he didn’t have transportation to get out and look for a job. I found this funny since he had told me about all the times he utilized the public transportation system in Pennsylvania. I finally decided I would force him into getting a job, by applying for a job myself and throwing his name in as someone whom also needed employment. Mike got the job, and proceeded to walk out on that job a couple of weeks later. Because I had vouched for Mike to get him the job, I got fired. I have since gotten my job back, with 90 days probation thanks to Mike’s antics.
During Mike’s stay here, he was constantly complaining that John and I were taking too much money from Cory. He refused to contribute anything to the household, either financially or otherwise. John and I paid for the upkeep of his dragons, as well as taking care of them. Mike often said that scooping their poop turned his stomach. I think the entire time Mike lived here, he may have scooped poop for the dragons 3 times, and fed them 5 times. The remainder of the time, John and I would feed, water and scoop for his dragons. Whenever it was time to clean the house up, Mike would lock himself in his room and pitch a fit. I do have to give him credit though. He did cut the yard once (leaving the lawn mower sitting in the front yard), and cooked dinner a few times (using almost every dish in the kitchen). Mike also refused to wash his own dishes, do his own laundry, or anything else that required any energy expenditure.

Because of these issues, Mike and Cory were constantly arguing. Cory had decided that he wanted to end his relationship with Mike, and had informed John and myself that he would have no problem if Mike were to leave.

Mike also had a problem understanding “house rules” which were implemented to help guide our children. The rules are fairly simple, no eating or drinking in your room, keeping what belongs to you picked up, being kind and courteous to each other, and being honest. Mike was known for snacking in his room, often times spilling drinks and getting food all over the furniture and carpet, then refusing to clean up after himself. He couldn’t even take care of dragons, let alone clean up after himself.

As for the kind and courteous thing…well, that went straight out the window! Mike was absolutely cruel to my children, calling my 6 year old son a “whiny little girl” and telling my 4 year old daughter she had a “fat butt”. Mike schooled my children, however, in how to become racist pigs. I found it mighty hypocritical that Mike had the nerve to post on another Fauna thread that he is gay, and that everyone should accept him without passing judgment. But while he was here, he told about every ethnic joke in the book and made derogatory statements regarding anyone of a different skin color. Due to the fact that my husband is Hispanic and I am Caucasian, we both found this to be quite offensive. Racism is NOT something my husband and I approve of, nor is it something we teach our children.

The honesty rule is something that I don’t even think Mike Shoemaker is capable of. I witnessed Mike lying to his mother to get her to send him money, and telling her that he had secured employment here (before he had even started looking for a job). I witnessed him lying to business contacts, telling them that he didn’t live with John and I, and that he had secured employment here (again, before he had even started looking for a job). And I witnessed him lying to people who surely considered him a friend, only to later listen as he badmouthed each and every person when he just finished having a conversation with them.

About two weeks before Mike moved out, he informed me that he had a conversation with Vickie Dachiu before he moved here and that she had said that I would try to “steal his business”. Due to the fact that Mike came here with 2 adult/sub-adult dragons, 3 juvenile dragons and 12 baby dragons, this statement really upset me. Seeing that I had let Mike use pictures of my dragons to post on his website (so that everyone who saw his site would think he had a breeding stock), my response to that was “who’s trying to steal who’s business here?” Anyway, three days after Mike informed me of the statement allegedly made by Vickie Dachiu, he said that he had told Vickie Dachiu all of his problems and that he would be receiving a box of dragons from Vickie for him to sell and keep the profits, so that in the event he and Cory split up, he would have some money to “move on” with. Because of the statement that Vickie had allegedly made, and the fact that I knew John and I would be the ones covering the expenses for these dragons and taking care of them (not to mention I didn’t want any responsibility for these dragons in the event something were to happen to them), I grew even more upset with Mike. I told Mike I would like him to contact Vickie and ask her not to send the dragons here. Mike informed me the dragons had already been shipped. John and I were the ones who made room for the Dachiu dragons, squishing our dragons 5-6 to an enclosure. Mike, once again, did nothing.

Even then, thinking I would be helping Mike out, I purchased one of the Dachiu dragons. I also believe that Jim Ohlstein purchased one of the dragons. This is another point that will be made relevant by Paul Sage’s post.

To sum all this up, during Mike’s stay here, he did whatever he could to cause stress to everyone in the house, lied to John and I about numerous things (including the origin of his adult dragon, Meanie), and just plain made everyone miserable. He made himself impossible to live with. John and I sat down with Mike and told him all the things that were issues with us and that we thought Mike should find a different place to live. At that time, Cory informed Mike that he no longer wished to continue their relationship.

Mike had just begun a friendship with Paul Sage. He managed to convince Paul that Cory, and John and I were such horrible people that Paul felt sympathy for Mike. Mike then used that sympathy to convince Paul Sage to give him a place to stay. Paul Sage will be posting his experience with Mike Shoemaker later in this thread.

About three days before Mike moved out of mine and John’s home and into Paul Sage’s home, he informed me that Paul Sage had purchased one of his bearded dragon babies for $500. After much resistance, Mike contributed some of that money for groceries for the household. This statement will also become relevant shortly.

So the day came for Mike to move to Paul’s house. Mike had just finished packing his belongings when he informed me that he had taken the digital camera that Cory had bought. It wasn’t until later that I found out that Mike took the digital camera without Cory’s permission. Just the previous day, he had shipped his dragons to Paul’s house, including in the box Callisto, Pandora and Diana. These are three dragons that Cory paid for and was the rightful owner to. Once again, Mike never asked Cory’s permission to take those dragons with him. Cory will be posting later in this thread if his input is needed. I also noticed the next day that all the snacks that were purchased for our children (Little Debbies) were missing. Cory informed me that he witnessed Mike shoving them into his suitcase.

I watched as Mike left here, incredibly worried about Mike because I didn’t know Paul, and was concerned about how he would treat Mike. At the time, I thought Mike was my friend.

About two weeks after Mike moved out, and into Paul Sage’s home, I received the following email from Paul Sage.

Hi Tere, I had been meaning to call you but Mike told me the other day that you didn't want us to do so. I really do hope that you don't mind me sending you this email, but I'm honestly a little confused by a number of things, and I'm just hoping for a little clarification.

Obviously, I don't know you very well, and only spoke to you that one time on the phone (when I was incredibly tired). I admit that my view on this whole issue is incredibly biased, since I really only know what Mike tells me. But some things just aren't adding up lately, and I'm beginning to wonder if I made a huge mistake by offering to help Mike out for a while. I know he has lied to me at least once, so I'm beginning to question just about everything he's ever told me.

I'm assuming you're just relieved that he has been removed from your home due to issues that were apparently causing conflict there, and that you really don't want to hear another thing about him... but then again, I only know one side of the story. My concerns revolve around the "untold Mike" and if there is anything that I should really be worried about. I'm beginning to regret the offer I made to him when I felt sympathetic to his situation. I have the feeling that there's a lot more to it, and I was really just hoping that you would be kind enough to shed some light on the situation.

I would appreciate it if you kept this confidential, as Mike basically told me not to call or email you. Right now I think he's the last person I would want pxxxxx at me, especially considering he has a key to my house, code to the security system, and basically access to all of my animals and belongings. It just makes me worry.

Thanks much,
Paul Sage
(if you would rather call, my number is XXX-XXX-XXXX. Mike will be at work until 8:00pm our time. Any response would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.)

I called Paul Sage that night, only to be informed that Mike Shoemaker had told him lie upon lie about John and I…and worst of all, about our kids. These lies had been told from the phone in our home, often times in front of our children. Mike had continued to lie to Paul about us once he moved into Paul’s home. Paul will go into that in his post. I’ve also been informed by Jim Ohlstein and Kelli Hammack that Mike lied to them about me and my family. I’m sure there are countless others that I don’t even know about yet. This, I feel is a defamation of my character, and is certainly destroying what my husband and I have worked so hard to build, trust and honesty within the reptile community.

Just so everyone here is aware, I have also heard lies and gossip about many people that Mike has come into contact with. I will not name names because I know that I cannot trust a single word that comes out of Mike Shoemaker’s mouth. He’s lied about everything from finances, to relationships, to business practices, to very, very personal issues. But suffice it to say that I am NOT alone in this…there are many people that Mike Shoemaker is slandering and even if some of it is truth, these are things that NO ONE should know, that were probably told to Mike thinking they would be kept confidential

I got to know Mike through PM’s here on Fauna, and on July 8th Mike sent me a PM asking if he could call me because he had some questions about corn snakes and geckos. I sent him my number, and we talked for a while about reptiles.

After that I talked to Mike several times over the phone, lending a sympathetic ear to problems he told me he was having. I had read about his mother’s ailing health online, and couldn’t imagine having to go through that myself. Anyway, Mike told me that Tere had asked him three times to move out, and that she had given him a deadline by which he needed to be gone. Mike also told me that he had no money, no place to go, and no one to turn to. He seemed like a decent guy over the phone, and unfortunately I believed him. Mike told me numerous bad things about Tere and her family, and I really started to develop a very negative impression of her. He claimed that he would wake up early to take care of Tere’s children, have lunch ready by a certain time, and also make dinner for everyone before he would go to work. He told me that Tere usually stayed in bed until around noon, and that she also took numerous naps throughout the day. Basically he painted a picture of Tere in my head as someone who was lazy and expected him to take care of her children and household chores since she was allowing him to stay with her.

I’ve since talked to Tere numerous times on the phone. I don’t think the woman ever sleeps. She is always doing laundry, cleaning, taking care of her children or her dragons whenever I call.

Mike had told me that when he and Cory moved in with Tere that they got there with $4000 between the two of them, and that he gave $2000 of it to Tere to help with their expenses. Mike added that the rest of the money went to help pay off several of Tere and John’s outstanding bills, and that he had very little if any money left.

Since then, I have spoken with Tere, John, and Cory (who is still staying with them). All three have confirmed that there was NEVER $4000 to start with.

On July 20th, Mike sent me the following message:

I talked to him about it over the phone, and he had told me that he sold a dragon to a guy and the dragon just died. Mike said that the guy wanted a refund, but Mike did not have the money to send to him. Keep in mind that at this point, I still believed that Mike was an honest and genuine person. I decided to help Mike out, given everything that he had told me was going on. On July 21st, I sent $500 to Mike through Paypal with the message “Mike, don’t worry about paying me back until you get yourself set up and comfortable.” I know he only asked to borrow $100, but I thought that having some extra money might make it easier for him to leave the situation that he described as being so horrible. Mike expressed his gratitude, promising to pay it back as soon as he possibly could. I believed him.

Dumb move on my part, but it gets worse.

Since I believed that Mike would be “out on the streets” and that he was an honest and truthful person, I told him that he could stay at my house for a while until he got back on his feet. This is NOT something that I’ve ever done before for someone whom I haven’t known for at LEAST a year, but I will admit that I have allowed friends to stay with me while they were down on their luck.

Mike told me that he had purchased shipping supplies for the dragons from Dachiu and that he had contributed to expenses at the Salazar’s house with the money I loaned him. While making arrangements to fly here to WI, he realized he did not have enough money left to buy a ticket, so I sent him an additional $75. He promised to repay that as well.

Since Mike was going to be sending all of his dragons to my house, I needed to come up with enclosures for them before they got here. I spent DAYS emptying and cleaning out old fish tanks, setting up shelves, and arranging screen tops, dome lights, etc. Then I started moving furniture and setting up the guest bedroom, which hadn’t been used in years.

I picked up Mike from the airport on Friday, July 29th.

While Mike lived here he offered a lot of personal information and gossip about not only Tere and her family, but other people in the reptile industry as well. He apparently gained access to the Salazar’s financial records, as he freely shared with me their information. Most of these things, even if true, he had NO business repeating to anyone.

I drove Mike wherever he needed to go. This included trips to local stores to find employment, buy supplies, etc. Crap, I even brought him with me to SEWERfest in Racine the day after he got here. He landed a job at a grocery store a few miles from my house, but it required a uniform that he did not have, nor could afford. So, I even took him shopping and bought what he needed to work there.

As time went by, I began to get suspicious of certain things Mike had said and done. On Wednesday, August 17th I sent the email to Tere that she has posted above, despite Mike’s pleas that I wouldn’t. Not only am I glad that I did, but I can NEVER thank Tere enough for responding to me. Tere – Thanks again.

Tere and I spoke for several hours, clarifying and sharing the NUMEROUS lies that Mike had told both of us. These lies were about each other, other people we knew, Mike’s behavior, finances, etc. Unfortunately, I had to go out of town and wouldn’t be back until later in the evening. I was concerned what Mike may do to/with my belongings and my animals based on some of the things Tere told me. I locked up every room in the house, including my reptile room, and hoped to be back before Mike returned from work.

Mike was already back in my house before I could get home. You have NO idea how nervous this made me, nor how FURIOUS I was. I told him that I had spoke with Tere, and that I found out that he had been lying to me from the start. Mike sat there in MY living room, continuing to lie straight to my face. Later in the evening he finally broke down and admitted to several of his lies. I told him I wanted him out of here as soon as possible. I even bought him his plane ticket home to PA, and dropped him off at the bus station the next morning, just to get him out of my house.

Mike and I had agreed that I would be keeping some of the dragons as a method of repayment. I did not necessarily want these animals, but since I did not believe I would ever see a dime of the $800+ that he owed me, I figured it would be my only opportunity for reimbursement. More importantly, I did not believe that Mike had cages set up for them at his mom’s house, and I knew that I could continue to take care of them as long as needed. Numerous emails were exchanged back and forth negotiating dragon values and deciding which ones I would be keeping. The list of dragons was forwarded so many times that it is now littered by computer jargon and is hard to read, but I think this is the most important one, as I suspect Mike has probably told others that I and/or Tere have “stolen” his dragons from him.



I have saved every email regarding these dragons, and can forward them or post them if needed.

Included in the lot of dragons were some from Vickie Dachiu that Tere has previously mentioned. Per our agreement, all of them were to be kept by either myself or Tere. I had no part to play in the loan or whatever it was of these dragons between Vickie and Mike. As far as I could be concerned, they belonged to Mike, and he signed them over to me.

A few weeks later, Mike had told Tere that Vickie was still expecting someone to pay her for these dragons. I had sent an email to Vickie asking for her approval in me keeping them as a form of repayment from Mike, but I never received a response. I figured that Mike had just lied to her as well. Because I don’t want anyone in this industry to be upset with me for any reason that I do not deserve, I wrote a check out to Vickie in the amount of $300 to cover the dragons, and mailed it to her with an explanation. I can post that here too, if needed. I just wanted to be DONE with all of this b.s.

Now, what makes this post relevant to the BOI is that Mike Shoemaker gave several of the Dachiu dragons to me as payment on the expenses he ran up while living here. He also asked that I keep Meanie, Callisto, Pandora, Diana and several of his babies. I kept Callisto, Pandora and Diana because Cory was the rightful owner of them. Cory has since given them to John and I. After being guilted by Mike into doing so, I sent Meanie and Mike’s babies back to Mike, and I started trying to sell some of the Dachiu babies to pay for the expenses he had run up while living here.

I posted 3 of the Dachiu dragons on Reptileauction.com as a group. I had 4 total bids on the auction, 2 by Rtreptiles, 2 by bigmanjulio. Bigmanjulio won the auction. I emailed bigmanjulio twice after the auction and never received a response. I started getting a feeling that I had been taken…so I did a little research.

The contact information for bigmanjulio is: Julio Espasito, 1122 Free Lane, Freemont, Florida 33112. His email address is bigmanjulio@yahoo.com. First, I searched the name Julio Espasito. From what I could find, there is no such person living in the State of Florida. According to the post office, 1122 Free Lane is not an existing address in Florida, and Freemont is not a town in Florida. The zip code 33112 is one of the zip codes for Miami. Once I started looking at the address, I noticed the use of the word “FREE”. I thought that was strange…there was only one person on the face of the earth that would have the view that I got these dragons for free…Mike Shoemaker. I also thought the use of a Miami zip code was odd, since the zip code of the man that started all this heartache for me, Mitch/Frank/whoever Triana, lives in Miami. I made a few contacts and asked if anyone could hunt down the ISP address of bigmanjulio. Once the ISP address for bigmanjulio was found, that ISP address was compared to that of Mike Shoemaker, and guess what? THEY MATCHED!!!

One thing I forgot to include above is that I was aware that Mike had been bidding on people auctions so that he could win the item and then not pay. One example of this is his bidding on, winning, not paying, and then leaving bad feedback for kimberleeroy. The username Mike had for kimberleeroy’s auctions was Catherine_Best. Some of his other usernames are Furrylildevils, Feedergeckos and Seemydragonsbaby. Some of the usernames that I suspect may actually be Mike Shoemaker are Corwyn, Mookie, and Cory_1199.

What this all boils down to is that Mike Shoemaker is the worst type of predator. He is one who preys upon people who he thinks are vulnerable, gains their complete trust, finds out what’s important to them, and then twists those things around to use for his benefit. He gains sympathy for his mother’s illness and his family’s plight, and his perceived maltreatment by everyone he’s ever run across, and uses that to get what he wants. What is so disgusting about Mike using his mother’s illness is that I’ve witnessed him yell at her on the phone, then hang up and make numerous derogatory statements about her…all this about a woman who raised him and is currently taking care of his brothers and sisters, and is critically ill (if that is even the truth).

I just want everyone who ever thinks of doing business with Mike, or being friends with Mike to be warned about him. Michael Shoemaker absolutely CANNOT be trusted in any situation. He is nothing more than a lying predator.

As I previously mentioned, Tere and I had planned on keeping this off of Fauna. While Reptibid was investigating the fraudulent bid, Tere and I noticed something occurring here on Fauna that caught our attention. It appeared to us that Mike was starting conversations with Kelli Hammack much in the same way that he did with both of us. I do not know Kelli outside of Fauna, but as I told Tere, dealing with any of Mike’s drama and scams was the LAST thing either one of us thought Kelli needed. Tere and I agreed that Tere would call Kelli to fill her in on our experiences with Mike, and warn her that it appeared he was exhibiting the same M.O. he did with us. Kelli, I’m sorry that we had to bring you into this, but I hope you can understand why we felt it necessary to warn other people about Michael Shoemaker.

Thats all I can say, WOW!!! speechless

How about you strange people leave my name out of this? Jesus Christ, I do not even know any of you people! I have talked to Mike Shoemaker twice on the phone, once was shortly after my son died and I dunno, I needed someone to talk to. I honestly have NO FREAKING IDEA what we talked about, that is how screwed up I was. The second time was a few days ago when he called me asking if "Terry/Tere had gotten to me".

Tere or Terri or whatever you name is, I do not even know you! I got a call from you a few days ago saying you had to talk to me, about Mike Shoemaker, who I don't even really know! You seemed like a nice lady but the whole time we were talking I was freaking out, going, "Ok here is some total stranger calling me about how bad this other person (Mike Shoemaker) is, and HE is a complete stranger too!

LEAVE ME ALONE! I do not know any of you, and I have never done business with any of you. I have my own problems to deal with! Go away!

By request, there is no reason to further bring anyone else into this.

Going forward, only one issue here that needs to be discussed. “The Scam”
This is the most important issue, in regards to the BOI.
Out of courtesy, anyone that wants to respond further, it would be very good of you to keep to that topic.
I am not telling anyone how to post, Just suggesting. IMHO.

I have no doubt that this thread will start skyrocketing by tomorrow.
The allegations are serious and Mike should be afforded the opportunity to have his say beforehand.