Doc Walker, reptidoc, Dr. Daryl G. Walker = buyer beware

Autumn,
I'm not taking sides on this and I did read the other thread about Doc and dieing snakes. However, it is probably more useful to all those involved to try and open a dialog in hopes of figuring out what is going on rather than starting another 52 page blast fest. The tests came back inconclusive (other thread see link on page one of this thread) which indicates there may be another problem. I have my suspicions but I will keep those to myself as I have no proof one way or the other.

Originally Posted by reptilebaby

It gets really cold here too.

if a snake is healthy and boxed correctly they do fine, I would not want to ship in frigid temps. My adult male came from California in the winter and it was cold but he came in fine and thrived. I also had other hatchlings come in the same time my ones from this breeder did and they thrived where his died.
Blaming weather in some cases is just a cover up and an excuse kinda like being so tired you can't function. I trucked for years and no one has a work schedule like that and we all still functioned, did our jobs, and that all meant we had to send messages, contact people and the sort.

I have been breeding corns for about 6 years now and I know that once in awhile you will get a hatchling that simply doesnt thrive. We all get that BUT to have possibly hundreds over atleast 2 season?? Doc really does need to do something differently if he hopes to continue selling corns.

in my years, I have had many many repeat customers because my babies are easy to handle, feed readily and grow quickly. I will not be a repeat customer for Doc Walker, sorry.

What is really going on with all these hatchlings and the tests showing nothing?? Does it speak for too close inbreeding? or as someone said too many clutchs for the females? They seem to do 'fine' til Doc sells them and then most die.

Doc,
I think you need to put more effort into dealing with this. I also think it's time you admit you have a problem with either your operation or your stock. You have had plenty of time to respond more in depth and have chosen not to do so, so far. To continue to ignore this will only result in more damage to your reputation and animals needlessly suffering. Time to step up. Balls in your court.

Originally Posted by Pmsayi

First, anyone who links to the other thread on Doc only the first 5 or so pages and the last 12 have any useful information. The rest is useless banter.

Doc,
Out of curiosity are the animals in question from both threads out of 3rd clutches? The reason I ask is because I've noticed in the past when triple clutching that clutches from smaller females produced neonates with a higher mortality rate (even when they did feed relatively well for me). Obviously the eggs are smaller and produced smaller hatchlings than did first and 2nd clutches. I never was able to figure out why and coincidentally just stopped triple clutching in general and rarely double clutch. This pretty much eliminated the problem for me. I've also noticed that many of those clutches had neonates that required manual assist in pipping. Of the eggs I pipped I only recall a small percentage of the animals surviving.

This post really adds a lot to the subject as a whole as well. Great post!

In the mad rush to breed and produce as many babies as possible, as patience in this hobby is not a virtue so common anymore, I have never in my life seen so many small babies as I have these days, especially at shows. Even though a snake CAN double clutch, what is the final outcome, and does it really serve a purpose at all? If the female is small anyways at breeding, which breeding DOES take a tremendous toll on them, she may be wore out much earlier in her life than if she was raised to a healthy size before breeding to begin with. Double and triple clutching can and does produce smaller hatchlings that, a lot of the times, do not do so well, and do not thrive as well as a first clutch baby. These thoughts are from years of myself speaking with many breeders on that subject, and my own experience. This statement is not meant to be a blanket statement for every single second or third clutch baby out there, but there is a lot of merit to what PMSayi has stated.

I myself, will NEVER buy a second clutch baby ever again. Each time I have, the snake never did as well as a first clutch. Now, even with my examples, I still know that there may be examples where some do thrive, and there is no argument from me on that. I strongly feel though that a lot of these issues with this particular thread may very well stem from the point PMSayi brought up.

To each is own Micheal. I won't police you, you don't worry about policing me. I've watched good people go through hard times because of this breeder. I'm glad Bob did not give up on reptile keeping because of it.

That aside, I agree with Bob. Weather is can be used as a cover up. If you truly think it is too cool ship, don't. Don't risk the life of an animal, there is no point in it.

I've waited months to have animals shipped before.

Originally Posted by bloodybaroness

There have been a lot of hatchling deaths. We are not simply talking 5 or 10 babies. The original thread documents a good many and there are more posted on CS.com. (I will refrain from referencing that further, those posters can come forward as they see fit.)

Bob (crotalis40741) did an amazing job documenting his case. There are vet reports, records and more. (All of this info is listed in the first thread, it's a fair few pages in.) There is something beyond simple un-thrifty babies here. If it was one clutch being affected I might be more lenient, but this is multiple clutches, over a span of time involving two seasons.

I don't care if you sold 50 babies or 500, when you have a marked percentage dropping off like flies, there is a problem somewhere.

Got same problem last year, spend $700 got 3 still alive. Other 5 died one next day passed way and other 4 two weeks later, can't work out with breeder and told lies about offer refund or replaced, he just send replace instead of ask if I want refund or replace??? but he did post on his side give me to choose refund or replace???

I was pay for high end and got replace for normal corns, he said all his stock sold out only these left for replace. But still on sale both ads CS and Fauna??? I did purchase different breeder not only him with our problem they all healthy.

I don't blame weather-I have had shipments in the middle of january that are still doing well to this day. I am beginning to worry after the actual health of this new baby though.

For documentation purposes, I would like to post a few threads from CS.com that people can read through and get an idea here. These are the few threads that I can currently locate. If I can find more, I will post them.

http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/sho...highlight=dead

http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/sho...breeder&page=3

I was never offered replacements... even though Doc Walker did tell me that the clutch mates to the snakes he sent me are all fine. I got 3 pairs with completely dif hets so... he must have Lots of babies left yet this year?

Before anyone asks, no, I didnt ask for and wouldnt want replacements from Doc