Steve Lloyd [Vfxsteve1815]

good to hear and see at least the male is fine, looks healthy if a little thin but most womas will eat happily until they explode...lol, my pair do!
i would not wait a year either, i feel you have a very good case to request a refund for the female right now.
Not sure how the ground would lay with paypal as do not think they would look at a partial refund and doubt they would give a full refund but if you have no luck with the seller you can always try

I have not had time until now to post here but here it goes. I also purchased an animal from Steve and the "before" shipping photo posted above by Acrimonious is representative of what the animal (a male) looked like when it arrived. My 16YO daughter was livid concerning the condition of the animal. I do not have photos but I did reply and ask him if the animal had eaten yet.Attachment 832454

I assumed from the condition of the snake that it was a hatchling with a stuck first shed. I was surprised to learn the clutch had hatched in June. I was so concerned about the weight that I did something I have never done before with a new arrival, which was to offer it a meal (a small pinky mouse) and it immediately ate. It still isn't perfect but it looks MUCH better than when it arrived. It has eaten approximately 8-10 rat pups/fuzzy mice since arriving. Here is a photo made today and yes, that is a dead mite on the left-hand side.
Attachment 832458

Acrimonious, who had contacted me once before inquiring about the health of my animal because his arrived in such poor condition, sent me an email on November 28 asking if I had found any mites on my animal because he had found them on his. Before replying to him I did a very thorough search of the python using a white paper towel and did in fact, find 3 visible. After soaking the animal in water for about two hours I came up with a bowl of water with LOTS of mites in the bottom.

I let Acrimonious know what I found and immediately began to clean and disinfect cages (I have multiple snakes). I have not after soaking other snakes found mites on any of them with the exception of the woma. I have to assume they are there though and will begin treating with PAM as soon as it arrives.

Saturday, October 29 I sent an email to Steve informing him that I had found mites (in addition to Acrimonious) on the snake and advised him to remove the ad from Fauna until he had treated the remaining womas and was certain they were mite free.

Attachment 832467

I did not ask Steve for a refund or compensation because the snake is currently eating, it's health seems to be improving, (it ate yesterday) and I am now going to have to treat the entire colony as a precaution anyway. What bothers me the most is that after being contacted by myself, Acrimonious, and the other person mentioned in the email by Steve to Acrimonious, the ad is still up as of November 1 after having been told 3 times that he has shipped snakes with mites. This does, in my book, warrant a bad guy post.



I have tried to provide all relevant information and if I missed anything let me know and I will try to accommodate you. I'm sure someone will take me up on this.
Dallas Hawks

For some reason, the above attachments did not show up in the post even though they did in previews. Here they are again.

I almost forgot this one. This was the last email I received before the animal arrived.



Dallas Hawks

i am confused as to what steve is trying to say there
is he saying that mites from other peoples reptile shipments that are in the same cargo area as his are going to jump ship from their box and dive into his box????????
that is a mind boggling thought
or am i missing something?
smells like prime horse manure to me.......

It looks to me like Stephen's trying to preemptively assign blame for the mites on "other reptiles" that may or may not have existed alongside his shipment. He's trying to make it seem like the mites are not a result of poor husbandry on his part.

Originally Posted by Black Adder

i am confused as to what steve is trying to say there
is he saying that mites from other peoples reptile shipments that are in the same cargo area as his are going to jump ship from their box and dive into his box????????
that is a mind boggling thought
or am i missing something?
smells like prime horse manure to me.......

I could see how this is remotely possible in theory, as FedEx is likely grouping packages containing live animals onto one palette during transport, and shipping boxes are certainly not airtight so mites could travel between them during the several hour period they are in close proximity. I know when I've picked up my critters at the hub that all of the "live animal" boxes are set up on one cart behind the counter.

In practice, this seller has several recent purchasers reporting that they have received critters with mites, so the more likely conclusion is that the seller is the source.

If the OP had let the seller know about the problems with the snakes upon arrival, or if he had a vet report documenting the female's poor condition before she passed away, he would be in a better position to do a chargeback for her.

Originally Posted by Acrimonious

The animal has died.

Sad to hear, but not at all unexpected based on your photos.

Originally Posted by Acrimonious

Does anyone think I am out of line to re-request a refund from him... ?

No, I think you should. Why should you have to a wait a year? I agree, there is a difference between I "can't refund" vs. "I don't want to refund". His ad says $200 female. Honestly, if folks don't have $200 in a business situation/environment, they shouldn't be in business. Send the buyer back his $200, apologize and move on.

Under no circumstances would I wait a year.
No guarantee of woma births next year...
No guarantee of a better quality animal being shipped next year...
0% interest free loan to him...
etc.

Refund. Part ways. Done.

Originally Posted by dallashawks1

though and will begin treating with PAM as soon as it arrives.

I almost regret posting this as I don't want to derail this thread, but you don't have to wait for PAM to "arrive" in order to help your snakes from getting relief from mites "now". Everyone pretty much has access to Wal-mart. Here is product they sell. Spray it on the paper towel substrate, let it dry. Place the animal back in the cage. A couple days the mites will all be gone.

$8 gives your animal help/relief = now versus later

Originally Posted by Robert Walker

I almost regret posting this as I don't want to derail this thread, but you don't have to wait for PAM to "arrive" in order to help your snakes from getting relief from mites "now". Everyone pretty much has access to Wal-mart. Here is product they sell. Spray it on the paper towel substrate, let it dry. Place the animal back in the cage. A couple days the mites will all be gone.

$8 gives your animal help/relief = now versus later

Actually, I did treat the animal within a couple of hours of finding out the mites were present with a temporary solution (I guess I should have been more thorough in my post), hence the dead mite lying in the cage in the previous photograph. The PAM order was for a more permanent solution. Is this the equivalent of PAM and have you used it with success? If so it would be good to know.