The following content was copied and pasted from the Kentucky Herp Society's message board. It is regarding a trnasaction that occured between myself and another person in Louisville. I am not aware of this person posting on here, but you never know....
It is with much regret, anger and solace that I am making this post. After doing lots of thinking and conversing with people whom I trust and hold in high esteem, I have decided to make this situation public in the hopes that I can prevent this from happening to anyone or any animal in the future. So, grab a seat and get ready.
This story starts off a couple weeks ago...some of you may remember the Brazilian Rainbow Boa that I had for sale on here and the local reptile show forums. I was contacted via the KY Reptile Expo forum by a person named Chelsea Richardson who was interested in purchasing the snake from me. We agreed on a price and set up a day/time to meet up and make the transaction. Upon meeting this person, I realized that I did not recognize their face from any of the shows or KHS meeting in the past...while a bit unusual in this tightly knit herp community, I didn't think much of it. We exchanged the funds for the snake and went our seperate ways.
The Rainbow Boa that I sold to Chelsea was produced by Will Bird. The snake thrived while in his care and also thrived during the time that I owned it. It had absolutely ZERO flaws. It ate frozen/thawed rats and was perfect in every way. Just to refresh your memory, here is a picture of the snake before it left my care:
Great looking snake, right? Well, I am sad to report that this snake is no longer alive. Why, you ask? The answers lie in the care it received while in the hands of Chelsea.
I had been in touch with Chelsea over the last couple of days because I was scheduled to come and pick up the Amazon Tree Boa that she offered to give away on this forum. This morning I received an e-mail from Chelsea. Here it is in its entirety:
Date: Thu, 28 Dec 2006 08:42:35 -0800 (PST)
From: Send an Instant Message "chelsea richardson" <bunbunsproperty66@yahoo.com> Add to Address BookAdd to Address Book Add Mobile Alert
Yahoo! DomainKeys has confirmed that this message was sent by yahoo.com. Learn more
Subject: Re: ATB....
To: "David beard" <louevillain@yahoo.com>
hey call me at 502 *** **** (# edited out by me) as soon as you get this. i need you to pick up the amazon today if you can. and somethings up with the brb. it ate and shed fine but somethings comeing to the surface now. i showed him to jeff. he told me that your a good guy and i should call you. i know your ligit. but i think i might want some money back for the brb. i dont want anything to happen to it. so i need you to take it asap because you cold probably help it better than i could. hes a beautiful snake. please call soon.
This e-mail greatly surprised me, since the snake had been thriving in my care and was perfectly fine when I sold the snake to her, no more than 2 weeks ago! I did as she asked and called her as soon as I got the e-mail. We discussed the Rainbow Boa's condition and I agreed to inspect the snake at her location when I came to pick up the ATB. I got dressed and left to visit Chelsea.
Upon my arrival at Chelsea's location, I surveyed the room that her animals were being kept in. The first thing that I saw was a 55 gallon glass aquarium with what appeared to be several Boa Constrictors. Upon closer examination, there was 6-7 Boas in this cage (not sure exactly how many) including a Bolivian Amarali, Hypo Colombian BCI, and several het for Albino Colombian BCI. Of course, this is not a good idea to house snakes together period, let alone this mixture of snakes and in the condition the cage was in. The tank was completely bare, except for a thin layer of some sort of mulch substrate, a corner litter pan for a water dish and lots of dried feces, urates and the 6-7 snakes. No hides, nothing except what was listed above.
I do not recall seeing a heat source on the cage, but there was a flourescent light. The animals in the 55 gallon were of considerable value, which shocked me even further at the state of their condition.
As if that mess wasn't enough, there was a 10 gallon tank next to the "Boa Dungeon" that contained the same set-up (mulch substrate, water dish, nothing else) but housed 3 adult leopard geckos. In the tank along with the geckos were TONS of crickets, which were obviously nipping at the geckos and trying to make a meal of them.
Are you getting mad yet? You haven't seen/heard the 1/2 of it yet!!!
The Amazon Tree Boa that I was supposed to be picking up was being kept in a 10 gallon tank, EXACTLY as it is pictured below...the only difference is that the pics were taken at my house, not at Chelsea's location...
Does this appear to be a good environment for this snake? Of course this question is rhetoric. If the last picture is confusing you, let me enlighten you as to its content...the picture is of what I have deemed as a piece of Potpourri that was located in the ATB cage. There were many other pieces of Potpourri mixed in with the substrate, dried feces & urates in the cage. What first alerted me to the Potpourri's presence is the strange fragrant odor emitting from the tank as I carried it into my house.
Having thought back to while I was at Chelsea's, I recall seeing what was very likely more potpourri in all of her animal's enclosures. I did not know it at the time, such a thing would NEVER have occurred to me (why would it?).
You're probably thinking it can't get any worse than this post already is, but you are sadly mistaken!!
Back to Rainbow Boa issue....here is what the snake looks like as of RIGHT NOW:
The photos above are obviously of a deceased snake. The snake is obviously emaciated, dehydrated and in VERY poor shape. This snake was turned into a decrepit corpse in only 2 WEEKS. When I saw this animal at Chelsea's, I'll be honest that I wanted to cry. I want to cry right now typing this post because of the injustice that has been brought upon an innocent lifeform at the hands of negligent, irresponsible owners.
Chelsea profusely stated that she did nothing to put the snake in the condition it was in (the snake was barely clinging to life while I was at her MOBILE HOME but died afterwards). That is the biggest load of BS I have EVER heard in my existence on this planet.
Not only did this person kill the snake that I sold to them, they want me to reimburse them for their own neglect and ignorance.
I'VE GOT NEWS FOR YOU, CHELSEA. YOU WON'T SEE A DIME FROM ME, NOR WILL I EVER ASSIST YOU IN OBTAINING ANY MORE ANIMALS.
I encourage everyone to refuse sale to this person on the grounds that they cannot and will not provide proper care for the animals in their care. And when they end up killing the animals they have, they will come to you wanting retribution for their disregard of life.
It breaks my heart to make this post. I am not in this hobby to make money. I am in this hobby because I LOVE these creatures with every fiber of my being. I regret ever having let that snake out of my care. When I see such atrocities as I saw today it makes me want to lose faith in all of humanity. To say that I am appalled would be the understatement of the century.
PLEASE....DO NOT SELL ANY ANIMALS TO CHELSEA RICHARDSON IF YOU VALUE THE LIFE OF YOUR LIVESTOCK.
Linear Mode
