Allen Belcher / Big Daddy's Wholesale ... WARNING

My bad. It should have read "if the answer was yes to any of those"....

Bryon,

It is very obvious that Mr. Evans is VERY close with Allen Belcher otherwise he would not be so hostile and insulting. If he was just a common acquaintance that just had a business deal or two with him then his approach to this matter would be very different.

It is plain to see he is not being exactly truthful in regards to his relationship with Mr. Belcher, so I find it hard to believe he is being exactly truthful in anything else he is saying.

And last but not least it is very obvious the vast majority of this board, with the notable exception on Mr. Evans, strongly agrees with what you did. You did the community a great favor by bringing this here.

I STRONGLY suggest that everyone keep their emotions in check while posting on this thread. I had to fine and suspend five (5) people for derogatory name calling. And I seriously thought things were getting better here after the crackdown on enforcing the rules.....

I agree that posts can be made without anyone calling names and being derogatory. That being said, today was the first day I read this thread and I am glad the BOI is here so that people with concerns about business practices and animals can express them (without name calling).
I do not think that wholesalers need to necessarily have cute display cages with decorative branches and so on. I do think that animals in captivity are entitled to food, water, warmth, and basic cleanliness. I do not think situations other that life threatening natural disasters excuse this obligation, and I think if one is going out of town one can hire help so that animals are not left in squalor.
Those who have many animals are not entitled to have below standard care just on account of the number of animals they have. I think that if one's operation has grown to that extent, one should hire additional help so that one's animals live in basicly hygienic conditions.
If this is not possible because of the expenses involved, then clearly it is time to either streamline and make the daily upkeep more effective in order to achieve basic standards, or retreat a bit and have fewer animals so that their care is more manageable.
There are pictures here on Fauna of the reptile rooms of some of the people here who have or sell reptiles, and I have in mind one particular pic of a gecko vendor whose gecko room is immaculate and inviting.
These animals depend on us, all animals in captivity depend on us, we should not let them down.

I'm still too pi$$ed off about the pathetic officiating job in last nights game to really comment on this thread while keeping my emotions in check but I guarantee you that my list of people who not to buy from just got a little longer, and for anyone defending keeping animals in these conditions, anoles or not, you're on that list to. Thanks Byron, and thanks BOI.

Originally Posted by lucille

I agree that posts can be made without anyone calling names and being derogatory. That being said, today was the first day I read this thread and I am glad the BOI is here so that people with concerns about business practices and animals can express them (without name calling).
I do not think that wholesalers need to necessarily have cute display cages with decorative branches and so on. I do think that animals in captivity are entitled to food, water, warmth, and basic cleanliness. I do not think situations other that life threatening natural disasters excuse this obligation, and I think if one is going out of town one can hire help so that animals are not left in squalor.
Those who have many animals are not entitled to have below standard care just on account of the number of animals they have. I think that if one's operation has grown to that extent, one should hire additional help so that one's animals live in basicly hygienic conditions.
If this is not possible because of the expenses involved, then clearly it is time to either streamline and make the daily upkeep more effective in order to achieve basic standards, or retreat a bit and have fewer animals so that their care is more manageable.
There are pictures here on Fauna of the reptile rooms of some of the people here who have or sell reptiles, and I have in mind one particular pic of a gecko vendor whose gecko room is immaculate and inviting.
These animals depend on us, all animals in captivity depend on us, we should not let them down.

Lucille you are so right! I hear so many people use this excuse as to why there is poop in there cages. Yes I know taking care of a large collection is hard work. I only have 20 or so rat snakes and they keep me busy almost everyday. But to use this excuse for the condition those pics show is inexcusable. A snakes cage does not get that bad in 4 days. That is obviously weeks if not months of neglect. And to expect one person to rectify this (Bryon) between doing all the other things is ridiculous.
Bryon my friend, I thank you for bringing this to light. I hope your actions do something positive for those animals. Allen, if you read this, please change your ways and get those animals in clean conditions. They didn't ask for you to put them in a plastic box where they cant get away from their own feces.

After seeing those pictures of animals in such horrific conditions, I can't believe ANYONE could defend Allen, friend or not. If someone doesn't see a problem with that, they perhaps should take a long, hard look at why they are in this business as well.

Bryon, you've done not only potential buyers a favor, but hopefully these animals as well. You've done the right thing bringing this here.....don't let ANYONE make you second-guess what you've done.

I think that you have made it quite clear that you brought this here to both warn people about Allen's animals, and in the hopes that Allen would improve his husbandry and that the animals conditions would then improve. I agree completely that the warnings were needed, as the conditions were deplorable.

At the end of your very first post, you add this:

On a side note Allen is currently setting up a show promotion company . If you decide to be a vendor there , good luck . Allen told me of his plans in which he sells the tables for the show then slash his prices on his animals well below the vendors so they can't outsell him.

Is not price-point a competitive tool availalable to all? I am puzzled at why you included this additional information.

The moment Bryon got involved because he didn’t like what he saw it became a personal issue. There’s nothing wrong with that. Now, if Allen sells tables to vendors at a show it’s because they (the vendors) have the expectation of doing well with their sales. Allen makes his cut pre-show (selling tables) so there’s no harm if he sells his animals at cost. If he does well selling “tables” he can even slash the price of his animals below cost and still be ahead economically. Is this a good business practice? Not in my opinion. He is streamlining buyers towards his own business by dropping his prices. He is not making money on the animals? It doesn’t matter to him, as he already made it with the tables. Of course Allen will also learn this in time, as vendors who suffer this strategy will more than likely will not be repeat customers of his the following year. As a vendor, would this kind of competition upset me…?

Regards

Originally Posted by snakebstr

You start it I will finish it!!!!!!

It does not appear that you have finished anything other than going down in a big ball of flames right along with Allen.

I don't care how long you are gone, there is absolutely no justification in allowing your animals to live in that squalor.

Bryon, if you truly do believe in what you are doing then I would highly suggest making a few phone calls letting the proper authorities know.

Griz