Warning: Jerry Motta in Bushnell FL SCAMMER!

Back in 2003 I purchased a baby Galapagos tortoise from Jerry. He told me he bred it. He said He had 1 adult male and 2 females(1 which laid every year and one that usually laid every other year). I had no reason to doubt him at this time. The baby I received from him still had the egg tooth. The following season I asked him if he would be willing to incubate an egg to produce a male. He said sure. When the time came I paid him $2000.00 to incubate the egg that he said was laid the day before. I trusted him at this point because we had the deal from the year before that went so well. When hatching time came he said the egg went bad and he would try again next season. At this point I was concerned, but since he said he would try again I figured it the egg could have actually went bad. Now he will no longer return my emails. When I tried emailing from another address he did respond, but when he discovered it was me he claimed to be his wife. "She" said Jerry was out of town with a band and their breeder male died in the hurricanes. I asked if I could get my money back and "she" said she would talk with Jerry. I even offered to take 50% back because at this point I knew I was being scammed, but that was still too much to ask and she blocked my emails after that. Unfortunately at the time this happened I did not know about this site so I did not keep all of the emails he sent me. The part of the story that gets funny is that I recently discovered Jerry Motta has never produced a Galapagos tortoise in his life. He has no mature animals. This was told to me be a very was respected Herper in central Florida(I would rather not get his name into this), but everyone involved in herps would recognize his name). Since hearing this I have asked others about him and they all agreed that he had not produced any Galapagos. I do not expect to get any money back from him at this point but I wanted to warn anyone thinking of doing business with him. I am hoping he will respond to this post just so I can hear a few more excuses but I doubt it. I have been told he has a table at the Daytona show next month so I am interested to hear what excuses he will come up with when I see him face to face.

hey,

just thought i'd give my 2 cents. i've been to motta's place and have seen the galaps. he has 17 of them. most are over 200lbs. i also recently have purcased a juvie galap from him and the deal was cool. he even let me pay it on time. took me 4 months to pick it up. i thought that was cool also. i've met a few people who have had things to say about jerry. mostly that he doesn't have what he claims he does. i've been there 3 times in the last 2 yrs and his place hasn't dissappointed. is he strange, yes, but so are 90% of us who are into reptiles. i like him and am happy with the tort. i however would never feel comfortable buying an egg, $2000 dollars on a an egg????? silly. oh well, he'll be in daytona, good luck.

The $2000 was payment for the baby galap he claimed to be incubating. I have also been to his house. He has many large galaps and young ones, but he has never produced one. His place looks like a puppy mill/ reptile zoo. Does he still have all the nile crocs in cages along his driveway? I also had a good deal with him before he screwed me. He has quite a collection. He is a good collector, he is just not a breeder. Just be careful dealing with him and never put a deposit down on an animal he says will be hatching. The only thing I actually believe he breeds are redfoots and sulcatas. Ask him in Daytona see what he says. I know I will have a few questions for him.

i was there last tuesday. the crocs were all in those ponds with some juvies in tubs outside, i can see where you get the puppy mill thing though. when i went there the fist time i was impressed that a pivate collector had that many diff species of crocs. but then i was new to florida at the time. i'm the type that likes to see how diff people keep their animals. some things he does i'm not down with, seems institutionalized, but then i don't have that many animals. his sulcata and galap pens are awesome though. i just assumed if he had that many galaps then he must have breed some of them. thats what he says anyhow. are you in florida? not sure if this is the right place but i've got the galap up on kingsnake. he told me he was bringing one to daytona as well. i wish i was going to the show to get to the bottom of this. he was fair with me, sucks he was lame to you. i did ask him about this when i saw him though. he told me you wanted him to incubate at 92 degrees for a male and that he told you not to do that but you insisted. he said that the temp was way to high and thats what killed the egg. he also said that because of that he didn't refund the money. i guess the best way is to not put that much down on any tort. $2000 is what real estates require for earnest money!! i was tripping at being into him for 800 bucks! like i said, he was cool and held on to the tort and didn't sell it to anyone else. i hope you get it figured out. keep me posted.

I dont know if you know this or not but he also has his property up for sale. I dont live too far from Bushnell and go up to that area quite a bit because my parents live in the area. I will be at the Daytona show as well. I hope you get things worked out with him.

Dear Pfan,

I keep a few crocodiles on breeding loan with Jerry, cuban, nile, dwarfs, and some other rare species. In my opinion Jerry is upfront and reputable in his business dealings.

I have known him over ten years. I think if you run into him at the Daytona show he will be reasonable. He does have quite te set up, nice to see animals an a near natural environment.

Hope your situation works out.

Kindest Regards,

Crocodile

I never said 92. Actually the opposite. I wanted them incubated at 80 degrees. Higher temps = females.

He actually called me today and said we will work something out at the show. I will let you guys know how it goes.

Jerry, has owed me money since last August. He won't return my calls. When I emailed him the email said Jerry was on tour with a band. I just want my animals, I think that is reasonable. Ronnie

Jerry and I worked out an agreeable solution at the show.