Inquiry on herpdude@firehousemail.com

I don't know if this guy is for real or not so I figured someone on here may have some insight on him. Thanks in advance. This is an email this guy sent me about patternless albino leopard geckos I had for sale and he wanted to do a trade. Just it seems a bit too good of a deal to be true.
Beth Wallbank

If you are interested in trades, I have tons of 66% het albino, and albino x piebald ball pythons for trade or sale.

----------------------------------------------
Click on (or cut and paste into you browser's
location window) the URL below to view the ad that
this message is in response to.

http://market.kingsnake.com/detail.php?de=138281&cat=10


----------------------------------------------
This message was sent by an unregistered or non logged in user.

Sent 02:03 PM, Sep 07th, 2003 from I.P. Address 4.42.120.194

I don't know if this may help in finding out anything about this guy, but he has now emailed me from a different address
and his name is Austin Molyneux.
Thanks in advance.
Beth Wallbank

If it sounds too good to be true, it invariably is.

My experience with Austin is based on a Dragon i placed up for bid on Reptibid. The dragon was bid on and won by Herpdude aka Austin Molyneaux. i sent him an email stating he was the winner of the auction,, the total with shipping was 80.00 and he could pay via postal money order or paypal. he replies saying his girlfriend bid on the dragon with out his consent and wanted to know if i could sell it to anyone else. I explained no, he was the high bidder, and i expected him to pay if he bid or his girlfriend did,,, that was not my fault and i expected him to follow through... a day or 2 goes by and i sent him an email that i expected payment etc,, and he said no problem and he would send it overnight to me... then he emailed me back saying all he could scrape up is 75.00 and would i do that... I said yeah sure, no problem,, just send it overnight,,, 7 days later it comes in a seven eleven money order, and was not sent over night as he specified it would be. the weather here was 98 degree for the following week and i sent him and a couple others that had paid for dragons that i was holding shipping until the following week based on the heat,,, and he said no problem and understood..( as did all of the other customers). he was very understanding about the heat. and told me he "trusted my judgement as to when to ship". the temps dropped the next week and i emailed him telling him the dragon was coming the following day and to be on the look out and enclosed a tracking number. he got the dragon the following day, and emailed me saying in his exact words " this is an awesome dragon". and thanked me. i replied thanking him for his business,,, and that was pretty much it...
now,, i am not sayng it was a good deal, or a bad deal,, Austin did pay, and make good on his part of the deal... and his communication was good timely emails etc... and understanding about the heat issue.... the few things like a seven eleven money order,, and not being sent overnight as he stated,, is not that great,, but all in all the deal went through,, and i have seen a lot worse.. my concern is how if a month ago he could only scrape together 75.00 instead of 80.00 does he now have a lot of albinos and het piebalds,,, unless he won the lottery, i just don't see it,.,, ( maybe i am wrong, and i hope i am ) but my gut feeling is not good about that. if it were me,, i would have to pass,,, BUT DON"T SUBSTITUTE MY JUDGEMENT FOR YOUR OWN...
hope this helps,,, and i think i still have some of the emails if any of this is disputed,,,

He recently won one of our auctions on a high end pair of dragons priced at $225+S/H. He bid even though the description specifically said "PAYPAL ONLY, DO NOT BID IF YOU CANNOT PAY" and asked to pay with a money order at end of auction.

We agreed to take his concealed cash payment which he says is being sent out on tuesday overnight for wednesday delivery.

I'll keep you updated.

EVERY time I list something new I get atleast one email from him asking to do a trade. Never wants to purchase, always trade. I got one email that you had to read into VERY well, something about F1 beardies and blah blah, then later in the email it says the parents were bought from the north eastern US (same place and it actually read like they were inbred). Has several Beardies listed here there and everywhere and none of them look like they are in top notch condition.

Personally I ignore emails from him now and I would not consider a trade of any kind with him..... just my opinion.

Well as for NorthEast and F1 Beardeds, you never know- Sandfire does have a very large portion of its operations based in New Jersey.

However I sincerely doubt this to be the case, obviously. Just an interesting bit of information.


I wouldn't chance the deal unless you were really into normal BPs I love my leopard geckos, but no way are any of them comparable in market value to a pied x albino BP. Het albino I could see in the eyes of some being worth it, but personally I would never deal with 66% hets to begin with, let alone trade a double homo. for a 66% het.

I thought I would fill you in on what is happening with this guy.
He sent me an email stating that he has all the paperwork on the
parents and that they are from the breeder. I figured I could play along with his game and sent him an email back stating that before I did any trades, I wanted to see copies of the receipts directly from the breeder along with the breeders full name and/or company. And go figure, I havent heard back from him yet.
I appreciate all of your comments, and soooooooo glad this BOI is here. Even though I am in Canada, this site has saved my butt on more than one occasion.
Take care all,
Beth Wallbank

Just to update you all...

Payment arrived as he had promised, in full, overnight. His dragons went out today.

I was also looking at some stuff
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...9754#post79754
posted on 10/9/2003

herpdude
Austin Molyneux
Member
Offline

Registered: Aug 2003
Location: California
Posts: 30
Feedback Rating: (1)
66% het albino breedable females
I have 66% het albino ball python virgin adult females, and male, 2.3 to be exact. I am in need of money, so make an offer. They are 100% guarenteed females, and are feeding great. Dont have their weights, but trust me they are awsome. Purchased from ruiz reptiles, with papers.

One day later it changed.
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...9926#post79926

herpdude
Austin Molyneux
Member
Offline

Registered: Aug 2003
Location: California
Posts: 30
Feedback Rating: (1)
Whole clutch of het albino for sale as one lott!!!!
I am having some family problems, so I am selling my whole clutch of 6 66% het albino ball pythons. They're parents were bred by ruiz reptiles, and are from bob clarke stock. The whole group of 6 is for sale for 1,500.00 shipped, or partial trades may be considered. Price is negotiable. I also have many many adult virgin male, and female 50% het albino balls. Copies of papers of the parents will be provided, as will papers on parent stats clutch records, etc... The clutch consisted of 7 snakes, but one was an albino, and I am holding that back.

thanks

Nothing big really could be a mistake.


Now here is what I found interesting. Posted by Austin on 10/5/03
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...9213#post79213

herpdude
Austin Molyneux
Member
Offline

Registered: Aug 2003
Location: California
Posts: 30
Feedback Rating: (1)
double het albino, and pied.
I have some awsome juvie balls from a 66% het albino x 100% het pied pairing, and some from a 66% het albino x 66% het albino pairing. The het albinos have produced 6 albinos. I can also put you in contact with previose buyers who have produced albinos, and pieds with them. I will provide you with documents stating the parentage of the juvies, and weights etc... on the parents.
66% het albinos, make an offer.
double hets make an offer,

I do not know about you guys. But if I had a 66% x a 66% and they produce 6 albinos to date. I would call the parents 100% het for albino

Another note. a 66% het for albino X a 100% het for piebald does not produce double hets.
If you are VERY VERY lucky you can produce POSSIBLE double hets.
If you are unlucky but optimistic you can produce 50% possilbe hets for piebald.
If you are just unlucky and not optimistic. .....you have some normals.