Hi. I just wanted to post this topic on here to warn people about Victor Rivera from
www.reptilesplus.net.
This guy appears to be a legitimate and experienced reptile dealer from Florida, but his business operations are far from it. Last week I ordered a shipment of ratsnakes and coachwhips from him. I was aware that the snakes are wild-caught, but I have experience with both species, so I was not worried about acclimating them to captivity. I spoke with Victor on the phone about these snakes and he insisted that he uses overnight shipping with the USPS and properly packages his snakes for winter shipment with insulation and heat packs. He told me that he will ship these snakes out on Monday and I would receive them on Tuesday. Well, Tuesday passed and I contacted Victor and he said he had no idea where they were. Wednesday they arrived. I was shocked at the packing...they were packed in a normal express thin-walled box with NO insulation and only a few rolled up pieces of newspaper. When I opened the box...to my dismay, the ratsnakes were frozen and half dead. On top of that, the coachwhips were nowhere to be found. I contacted Victor immediately upon receiving these nearly dead snakes and told him about it. I even took photos to document how they arrived. I asked about the Coachwhips and he said they didnt have them anymore and then refunded my money (refunding AFTER receiving a package seems a bit odd to me). Shouldnt he have known he was out of coachwhips when he took my order? Anyway, thats not the issue of this post. I put the ratsnakes in a proper environment with heat and moisture as they were not only frozen, but they were extremely dehydrated as well (the snakes had dead mites packed in their eye sockets, so it appears someone sprayed them with Reptile Relief and didnt rinse them off, therefore dehydrating them during their shipment, but thats just my theory). The ratsnakes mouths were also filled with a sticky substance and you could tell that they were having trouble breathing. I offered both of them water and they attempted to drink as much as they could. One of the ratsnakes died a few hours later, and the other one lingered around for a few days, regurgitated a meal, and died.
Throughout this whole process, I kept in constant contact with Victor Rivera, updating him on the status of these snakes. I did this so there were no surprises. I sent him photos of both snakes after they died so he knew I wasnt making this up and fishing for a refund.
After the last snake died, I went to my Post Office to inquire about the shipping and it turns out that my package was not shipped on time on Monday. The snakes sat around at the post office and were shipped out on Tuesday, most likely after the heat pack expired. I contacted Victor again with this information and told him that his shipping methods were negligent and the USPS wont stand behind their overnight shipping guarantee because the package was not delivered on time on Monday. He simply claims that he got it there on time (even though the tracking number says otherwise), and therefore his guarantee on overnight shipping does NOT apply. Apparently, his guarantee on overnight shipping also doesnt apply to snakes that arrive half dead....they must be ALL dead upon arrival. I finally sent him an email asking him if he would do the honorable thing and not try to weasel out of his responsibilities and either refund my money or allow me to choose another animal from his store. He refused to refund and exchange and says he is not responsible.
So, the main point of this post is to get some feedback about his shipping method. I feel that his shipping methods are negligent, but he does not. I have been shipping and receiving reptiles for several years now and I have come to know that using INSULATED boxes with heating pads in winter is standard operating procedure. I wouldnt use his box to walk across the street with in the wintertime. I took a picture of the box and the way the snakes arrived at my house for everyone on here to look at and hopefully give me some feedback. If you feel this shipping method is negligent, please tell me!! If you feel that it is adequate for wintertime shipping, please let me know as well!!! If I am wrong in criticizing Victor's shipping methods, I will admit it, but I feel that there is no way that he could expect a tropical species of snake to arrive safely in the winter in this box!!! I am looking forward to hearing some feedback from some of the more experienced members of this forum. Thanks!! BRIAN
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