Need a little advice....

Hi Guys,
I ran into a little situation the other day with a sale of a borneo short-tail male. I actually sold a pair consisting of a cb 6 year or female and cb 4 year old male. I have been cooling the STP's couple of months and I just started warming them about two weeks ago. I didn't feed or offer food while cycling. The person who bought them took the pair home and offered food a couple hours after putting them in the cage. The female refused and the male ate two small rats. Well the next morning he woke up to check on the snake and found the male dead. The female was fine. I had the pair for 8 months and the previous owner had the pair from hatchlings. Both of us never experienced any problems with their health. Also, I live in Chicago so both animals were transported during the cold nights.

What do you think should be done? Am I responsible as a seller to give a full refund? Or do think the responsiblity falls on the buyer? I just wanted to give the facts without showing bias or blame.

Any advice would be helpful.

Thanks,
Brett

http://www.luckystrikereptiles.com

What was the stated guarentee? Has there been a necropsy? Do you have photos of the snakes and the setup?

We need a little more info please.

We never discussed any type of guarentee. He actually live very close to me and had been to my house one other time to see my animals. He was housing them in 6ft vision cage with temps in the high 80's. There has not been a necropsy. I sold the adult pair for $450. His solution that he suggested was for me to give him $150 and he keeps the female or I give him $350 and I take the female back. He posted a picture on another forum but I don't think that I should forward that link.

I'm providing a better title and providing some of my feelings on this sale.

We both feel horrible that the snake died. As a seller I feel partially responsible but I honestly believe the snake was healthy when it left my house. The borneo was also taken outside from to his car then back outside into his house then fed 2 rats. That is a lot of stress to put animal through. I also told that I haven't been feeding him while in cooling and just started to bring him back up to constant temps a couple of weeks ago. I'll probably make it up to him somehow but I just wanted to hear your feelings.

Thanks,
Brett Bender

Do a screen capture or see if you can get him to come here and post it.

This is a tough one but without a necropsy I'd be leary of anything.

Business is business and for any kind of refund I'd like to know that I was responsible for killing the snake.

How were temps in the cage determined? If one end was cooler than you think and the male went there after eating, that alone could have killed him.

For a healthy snake to die that quick there almost has to be some outside influence.

Did you make him aware that you were just bring them back up from a cooling period?

We talked at great lenghts concerning the state of the bloods including the cycling of these guys. I told him that they have been cooled for the last couple of months and that they were off feed. I also told him that I just started bringing them back up to full temps about two weeks ago and that I haven't tried feeding them. He was fully aware that they were cooled.

Brett Bender

Then he doesn't seem to sharp feeding them a few hours after caging them.

IMHO, a necropsy should be performed on the snake. Could be a preexisting condition neither of you knew about. It would certainly put both your minds at ease if there is no contagious disease.

He should have waited at least a week to feed them, especially if they were being cooled (he should have waited longer in this case). Feeding a snake just out of cooling without a proper warm-up shocks the snake's system, and could be what caused the death.

Well the next morning he woke up to check on the snake and found the male dead.

In my opinion a necropsy needs to be performed. Wes makes a goood point, it died way too fast. Even if it was not ready to digest food (due to the previous cooling period) he would have probably regurgitated the rats, and not have died overnight.

Regards.