I just recieved my new boa from Michael Gambrill about an hour ago.
Mike communicated with me many times over the past week since I purchased her. We easily set up ship dates, discussed the shipping weather, etc. He very very polite throughout all the correspondence we had.
This is the first purchase I have made from a private breeder. Most of my animals I have rescued from one pet store or another. However I am sick of supporting such poor venues. (Not that all pet stores are evil.)
I must say it has been a very pleasant experience working with Mike and I could not be happier with my snake. I got exactly what was advertised.
He did warn me she liked to "Hiss" a bit and still needed some work with taming her down, as she was only being handled once per week. However out of the shipping box she did not hiss, or strike, and her demeanor was very calm, yet alert. She was not hot, nor cold and her tongue flicks seemed normal speed. No audible breathing noises were to be heard. She seems to be VERY healthy. No mites. And my god is she gorgeous
I put her in the cage ASAP after thoroughly checking her over. She wandered around a lot and then decided to try and escape because she could not find the entrances to either of the hides I had made for her. So after watching her try to escape for about 45 mins I decided to help her not stress and simply put a hide over her. She seemed grateful and is now sitting with her head poking out seemingly content yet wary.
I can't thank Mike enough for this gorgeous snake. She is everything I had hoped for and I am not at all upset that she is not more tame. She did get a little nip in as I was putting her hide on her. But it was barely a love bite and I'm sure she could have really torn in had she wanted to.
All in all I would highly reccomend Mike. His shipping container was top notch and very professional. The labels were all very clear and obvious and even stated the species on every side of the box. He exceeded my expectations in every area. And his price was Extremely fair.
Thank you Mike, I will keep updating with pics of her on the forums as she grows and as I get a beautiful larger tank built for her
Here is a link to the un-boxing of her:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tp5k3RB9-2g