Sarah Shingleton, BAD GIRL

Clara.... I'm sorry, but I totally disagree.... you should never handle a snake right after it eats, especially one that is so stressed out already.... you're just asking for regurge problems with a snake like that.... it's like having a large Thanksgiving dinner and then "Uncle Al" picks you up and starts swinging you around.... something is coming up!!.... I agree that you should keep the snake well fed, but give her at least 24 hours before you handle her, or you might be asking for unnecessary problems....

Neil

I MEANT after it has eaten several meals in its new home. NOT right after it eats. Sorry if you misunderstood that.

If someone has an Email Address for the seller she should definitely be alerted to the existance of this thread

Thanks everyone, the only thing I am remorseful about is buying from this person over the internet, like I said... I was told about her temperment, but it was not explained to the fullest extent of detail. Sure, stress is expected during shipping - this is why she was extremely feisty when I opened the snake bag and took a few bites at me, I was prepared for that and wore gloves and long leather sleeves for this occasion. I believe the experience in purchasing this animal from Sarah was a bad experience, I also agree I should have done more research on the animal itself in its temperment however, as a responsible herp keeper I always let my potential customers know exactly what they are getting. This person was not 100% honest with me, and I made an even worse mistake of not asking more questions. Hey, live and learn right? It was my first purchase over the net with a private individual and it's a shame it came down to this experience. Now I use the BOI for future purchases, but before I bought her I was not aware of such forum. For that, I apologize.

Pete.... first of all, I really don't think the seller did anything wrong.... they told you about the temperment of the animal before you bought her??.... If you were looking for a "puppy dog tame" animal, that should have been the majority of questions you should have asked, and when the seller first told you about her "hissing", you should have moved on.... with that said.... If you hold her AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE, EVERY DAY, FOR AT LEAST AN HOUR OR SO EACH DAY, she will become very docile in no time flat.... once she learns that you're not going to hurt her, and she's not going to hurt you, that's all it will take.... when she's nervous about her surroundings, striking out is her only defense.... once you alleviate her fears, she'll be fine.... PROMISE!!

Neil

I hope you are not taking the comments made here personally since they are not intended that way. As you pointed out, this was your first purchase on the net. In my opinion as someone who has participated in literally thousands of web transactions, You are drastically over emphasizing this situation. The animal has more attitude than you expected...attitude is a subjective thing as I stated earlier. With work the animal will undoubtedly calm down to some extent.

Once you were plainly made aware that the animal was rather aggressive by the seller, 100% of the responsibility for asking additional questions regarding this topic falls to you. The seller flat out told you what you were getting....and exactly that was delivered.

Posts of this sort do not do much if any damage to the seller but, if repeated, they can label you as a difficult to deal with buyer. From the articulate and well thought out nature of your posts I would deem you as an intelligent and overall reasonable sort of person. As you yourself said earlier, this is a good learning experience in asking all pertinent questions before purchase. It should also let you know that your failure to ask all the questions needed to make an informed purchase does not create the need for a bad guy post on a seller who did nothing wrong.

Thank you Neil, I do very much appreciate your advise. Fortunately, she is learning (slowly, but surely) that I am no threat to her. Yesterday I started the process of letting her know "who's boss" (*LOL*) and after some constricting and a few bites she eventually calmed down (after 20 minutes!) and allowed some petting with and without the gloves. This just shows me some good progress. I do plan to work with her, I don't regret buying her, I just wish she would have been more honest and I wish I didn't make that mistake of sending her the money even after she mentioned the hissing. I've been in contact with several different Burms in the past and they all did some hissing, but no biting. So that's kind of what I expected... anyway, I'll keep posting on her progress, I can now leave her w/o a towel over her enclosure, she has not stroke from within her enclosure since last night. I guess that's a very good thing. Once again, thank you.

It sounds as if the snake is so aggressive that it could cause itself harm. If I was selling that snake and describing it I would tell the buyer "at your own risk" and describes it's behavior to a and let them know what they are getting into. Why were they selling it?

I know we can't see the snake and how it reacts but by the way it sounds it's extremely "pissy".
Question: How would you describe that kind of behavior and what would you tell your buyer?

Happy Holidays!

Bthacker

Originally Posted by Bthacker

It sounds as if the snake is so aggressive that it could cause itself harm. If I was selling that snake and describing it I would tell the buyer "at your own risk" and describes it's behavior to a and let them know what they are getting into. Why were they selling it?

I know we can't see the snake and how it reacts but by the way it sounds it's extremely "pissy".
Question: How would you describe that kind of behavior and what would you tell your buyer?

Happy Holidays!

Bthacker

Great question, Brett! When I asked Sarah your previous question of, "why are you selling her?" She simply responded, "We have so many snakes, that we need to downsize because she is one of our larger ones."

This I don't believe, simply due to the fact that she's only 5 ft, it's not THAT BIG of a snake at this time. And to say she has so many snakes, makes me believe even more so that this Burm was seldom handled.

you are incapable of asking questions about the snake before you buy it rather that be surprised about it after the purchase. The fact is , you have no business even buying a 5 ft Python unless you know what you are doing. Even if you know what you are doing, you were made aware of the animals representations. This should never have gone to the BOI , the seller did nothing wrong. Sorry but , in this instance, you just were not careful.