Boamaster (Mark Venhorst)

My name is Allison Preske and my boyfriends name is Joseph Lagenour. We purchased 3 snakes from Mark, we received them May 19th 2011. I don't know Mark personally but he sold me 3 sick snakes. I know he has a good reputation so I'm guessing this is not something that he does often. I just want to put my story out there so people know what happened and that they can take precautions when dealing with this guy. I also want to make sure that I am not in the wrong for wanting my money back (he won't give me anything back). I have informed Mark that I am writing this post, he doesn't care. This is a long story but I will tell you everything I know. I have emails written back and forth between us. Right now I just want to tell the story, I will eventually put the emails up for review. I want everyone's opinion on this.

The 3 snakes I purchased from Mark were a hypo (kingsnake.com), a jungle and a het albino (kingsnake.com). They were sold to me under the impression that they were breed ready females. We bartered about price only on email. He didn't tell me about their health until Joseph talked to Mark on the phone. I was initially only interested in the hypo and het albino but he threw in the jungle during the phone conversation. He informed us that the het albino had a "swollen scent gland" and that it wasn't a big deal because his other snakes get those and they eventually go away. He didn't say anything about the hypo's health. He said the jungle was eating consistently and that she was a little underweight. We bought her too for some reason. I bought all of these snakes for a little over $740.

When we received the snakes on the May 19th I immediately wasn't happy with the het albino and the jungle. The jungle looked very sick and she was very mean. The het albino had the swollen lump and it was going to cost some money to get that fixed. On his terms of service he says that if you aren't happy with the snakes you have 24 hours to email him and tell him and then he will do some kind of exchange of his choice. I emailed him and told him that I wasn't happy with the two snakes and that I would like to return them for some other snakes. He emailed me back and said that he fully informed us of the health of the snakes and that the price that I purchased them for reflected that price (he did not inform us that the prices were discounted because of their health). The prices don't really reflect that either. He wasn't going to give us any kind of exchange because he stopped emailing us.

The jungle was very sick and she died a week after we got her. I paid $120 for her. He did inform us of her health although he dummed down her problems a lot. What threw me over the edge were the other 2 snakes that I bought from him. We were not happy with Mark before but now we were even more unhappy with him.

A couple of weeks go by and then all of the sudden we see that the het albino has a swollen mouth/throat. I immediately made an appointment to go take her to the vet, I needed to make an appointment for the "swollen scent gland" anyway. We figured it was from some kind of respiratory infection. At the same time the hypo started looking sick as well. There was residue coming out of her mouth so I made an appointment for both snakes. Joseph contacted Mark again and told him the situation (he sent us 3 sick snakes so he should give us some kind of compensation) and he said that he was going to send us 2 baby snakes that were probably worth about $250 total but he was going to make us pay for shipping. He repeated that he didn't know that they were in that condition when he sold them to us.

A day later we took them to the vet and Joseph and I were absolutely flabbergasted at these two snakes health problems. I have the paperwork for what was wrong with them and I will post those here as well.
Het albino:
The swollen scent gland was actually an abscess. The abscess was on her body for so long that it infected her whole body (making her septic) and that's why her throat and mouth were swollen.

Hypo:
The hypo had mouth rot and pneumonia in her lungs.

The vet also informed us that they were in such bad health that they may not survive. We bought medication for them and it cost us $400. At this point we were at our wits end with Mark. We were very frustrated and angry with him. First off we were mad that he sold us sick snakes and second of all we were mad because he obviously wasn't taking care of his snakes. Joseph called Mark again and told him what happened. He said he was busy and told us to send him an email. We did send him an email and I admit that it wasn't the friendliest message but I think any one in our position would have felt the same way and written the same thing.

I wrote him that I wanted a full refund of my money for the hypo and the het albino (which would be about $640). I think that we deserved that much. I might be wrong for feeling that way but I really hope that I'm not. He responded saying that he wasn't going to give us anything and said goodbye.

Today the hypo died and we are very upset about that. We put a lot of time, effort, love, and money into that snake trying to make her better. I can only hope that the het albino will live. We are trying our best.

All I know is that Mark shouldn't have sold these snakes to us or to any one else. He obviously didn't care about the 3 snakes he sold us. I can't speak for the other snakes that he sells or the snakes that he has in his collection.

I don't recommend that anyone buy snakes from him. I regret it, it has been nothing but a nightmare.

Please respond to this thread and tell me what you think should have happened. I hope we are not in the wrong for wanting our money back. I will post the emails and vet papers another day.

Thanks,

Allison Preske, Joseph Lagenour

Sorry to hear about your loss Allison. We were going to look at a Boamaster cage for our boa at some point... now I may reconsider, depending on the outcome of this thread. Don't want to hand money to someone who is unethical in his or her dealings. I hope you get appropriate restitution, and that you will be able to save the het-albino.

Looks like another to add to my **** list. Give them their money back Mark!!!

I always hate reading about things like this. From what you've posted, those animals should never have been shipped....but, by the same token, I can't help but feel you let your desires get the best of you. $120 for a breeding size female jungle...and that didn't set off any warning bells? You knowingly purchased snakes with problems...if you didn't have the knowledge/experience to deal with them, you should have passed on the purchase.
That fact notwithstanding, Mark sent sick snakes and dropped the ball on customer service.



You stated that you wanted a refund for the het albino, but I didn't see any mention that it appeared ill on receipt. Why did you wait a few weeks to take the snakes to the vet?

That is terrible. I would have avoided buying from him when he mentions that his snakes get the swollen scent glands. since it is a reoccurring problem with his snakes something must be going on with his husbandry. Seeing the way that he has treated you puts him on my do not buy from list.

Sorry you had gone through all this and with the snakes passing. I hope the het albino survives. Those infections can be very hard to treat in people so I hope that it is not hard on the snake.

Good luck on getting a refund. Hopefully posting here will help persuade him to give you the refund you deserve.

Thank you for all of your kind words. We appreciate everybody's opinions (for us or against us) in this matter.

I agree that we were foolish for purchasing the jungle. We understand and we aren't asking to get our money back for that snake as that was a dumb idea. We are inexperienced but we are learning more and more everyday. The hypo didn't show signs of sickness until a couple of days ago. As for the het albino, we did some research on snakes that have swollen scent glands and people said that if you soak them in warm water everyday eventually the scent gland will go down. We did this and it still wasn't working, so we were going to go to the vet anyway. As soon as the snakes showed signs of being sick we made an appointment and took them in the next day.

Oops - my mistake....the hypo was the one that there was no initial sign of illness.

Just for clarification - I am not "against you"...you made some poor choices, but that doesn't excuse the condition of the snakes.

I know Mark isn't a regular on this site, but I'd be interested in hearing his side of this.

I totally agree with you. I was so excited about getting these snakes that I was blind to the warning signs, I shouldn't have bought the jungle for sure. My lack of experience cost me dearly. I've bought from multiple people and I've never had a problem. I guess I was too trusting. I did inform Mark that I was going to be posting about the situation. I don't know if he will put his two cents in or not but I certainly welcome him to.