Bad Store - Wild Cargo - West Palm Beach, FL

I urge anyone thinking about purchasing a reptile, please do NOT go to Wild Cargo Pets in West Palm Beach, Florida. Aside from being disgustingly dirty, the reptiles (and other animals from what the humane society reported to me) are kept in deplorable conditions. The snakes and lizards are kept in glass tanks that are too small without any regard to heating or lighting needs. There is rarely, if ever, water in the bowls and generally the animals are forced to lie around in their own feces. The owner of the store, Ron Dupont seems like a nice enough guy but either he cant afford to pay someone to take care of the animals properly or just doesnt care. Regardless, this place should not be in business. I have lodged complaints with animal control and hopefully they will monitor the conditions and act appropriately. Thanks.

Jamie

A while back I sold some dragons to this store with printed out caresheets for their staff and customers. Everything was followed to the letter, the dragons looked good and everything was on the up and up. Because the dragons were looking good I went ahead and sold some more to him when he got down to 1 left and wanted more. I went there a few days back and saw that most were still there and it was immediately apparent why they were. They had neither a heat lamp nor UVA/UVB. Their cage was room temp (75*F) or so. They of course due to the improper conditions were looking quite thin, in fact thinner then they were when they left my facility a few months back. (we all know how fast juvi dragons grow) I sent the reptile manager a very harsh email letting him know that they conditions he keeps his dragons in will certainly seal their fate and that keeping them under those conditions will also make it damn hard to sell them. They left with nice yellows and oranges, were turd brown when I saw them and stress bars galore. It's been a couple days and I haven't heard anything, not even a thank you for the advice. I am not certain if he will follow my instructions or not, I guess I will have to drive out there and check. I was very clear in my email that I would not sell to him if these problems weren't rectified, guess we'll see just how badly he wants to do business with me. I need to make sales to keep my business going, but not at the cost of the dragons' lives.

And for all of you other breeders in the area that sell to him- please hold off on any sales until he get's his act together. I know at least one other breeder is selling to him, there were other dragons there in another cage that were from elsewhere.

Crap, meant to hit new topic.....not reply. Ignore above. Mods, please delete.

we are only half an hour south--we take good care of our animals, and we are always looking for dragons!!--Ben Siegel Reptiles

I think he was talking about another store in another state. Ben, I was in your store a while ago. Very nice collection and I look forward to buying from you in the future. I have to say though, it was sweltering hot in there and nearly every animal was in its water dish to cool down. Was that just a bad day where the AC wasnt working right?

could have been--we like to keep it around 80 in the front-85 in the back-Ben

Wild Cargo was a great store and still is good although it now belongs to Ron's children and has moved. For the past 12 years Ron has treated my animals for free. Most of my animals were adopted and some of my first reptiles were from Underground reptiles. He didn't care. ALthough, the reptiles from underground had protozoa and other parasites. He cured a 5 foot iguana I bought from him of severe impaction/constipation (I fed her too many beans and bread). I've had her for 8 years. He did his best to cure a waterdragon from another store. The people had prodded his clocoa with a safety clip and he was very ill they had told me his metabolic bone disease was cricket bites. Ron has watched chameleons for me for over a month, they looked better than when I left them. Ron can breed any type of chameleon in a wastebasket. He has bred babboons and has a beautiful ranch property. His free clinic was open to all. His eyesight is failing so he has less medicines now. He's a wonderful guy. I would love to be his apprentice. ALso, there is nothing wrong with keeping snakes in glass they can escape from most other types of enclosure. He has UVA and UVB bulbs through out the store and full spectrum bulbs in the light sockets. Ron loves animals more than anyone I've ever met.
Cimmerian

Originally Posted by dirge

Wild Cargo was a great store and still is good although it now belongs to Ron's children and has moved. For the past 12 years Ron has treated my animals for free. Most of my animals were adopted and some of my first reptiles were from Underground reptiles. He didn't care. ALthough, the reptiles from underground had protozoa and other parasites. He cured a 5 foot iguana I bought from him of severe impaction/constipation (I fed her too many beans and bread). I've had her for 8 years. He did his best to cure a waterdragon from another store. The people had prodded his clocoa with a safety clip and he was very ill they had told me his metabolic bone disease was cricket bites. Ron has watched chameleons for me for over a month, they looked better than when I left them. Ron can breed any type of chameleon in a wastebasket. He has bred babboons and has a beautiful ranch property. His free clinic was open to all. His eyesight is failing so he has less medicines now. He's a wonderful guy. I would love to be his apprentice. ALso, there is nothing wrong with keeping snakes in glass they can escape from most other types of enclosure. He has UVA and UVB bulbs through out the store and full spectrum bulbs in the light sockets. Ron loves animals more than anyone I've ever met.
Cimmerian

You're friend may be a great guy who helped you out, but that doesn't negate the original poster's concerns that the animals in his store are not properly being taken care of. Without knowing him/her, I'd venture to say that the original poster knows a bit about reptiles, and surely knows an animal kept in dirty/improper conditions when they see one.

Perhaps Ron's kids are not as caring of their charges as their father was.

I was snake shopping and decided to stop in Wild Cargo and look at specimens. Long story short I asked to hold a redtail. Rons wife helped and after she handed me the snake she started looking at her arms funny and after looking more closely I could see her arms were loaded with mites. I was holding the poor redtail and felt mites crawling on my arms. so immediately I hand back the snake and make a quick exit. I did not want to take a chance of bringing anything home so I stopped at a drugstore across the street for a can of deep woods off and took a good soaking with it. I thought I saw Ron throw something in the cage with the snake to kill the mites but have no idea what it was. Ron seemed disgusted with the whole situation and complained heavily about his Son in law. who I assume is now in charge of the store.

hey .. i agree with ron dupont being a scumbag to his animals but in all fairness since he gave the store over to his daughter the store has never looked better. it doesn't even smell like a pet shop!! i used to go to the old store and what a nasty cluster-#$#%. but really, i stoppede in the other day and snooped around ... what a difference! for all those who doubt me stop in and see it for yourself --- trudy