Why All The Hate Toward Reptiles By Mack?

Originally Posted by ElexisOrtiz

To be honest, she really is seeing a lot of bashing of them in groups, I've seen some of it myself but it's because they are a whole saler, and supply many pet stores. And the people in these gecko groups HATE pet stores it seems, so I guess in their mind because reptiles by mack supplies pet stores they are the enemy because so many pet stores don't know how to care for them.

Which is foolish and short-sighted. Even excluding the "big box" stores, I have both excellent and craptastic exotic animal stores in my area and do my best to ensure that the good ones thrive by not only spending my money there but sending other people there as well. If I treated them all as the enemy then soon there wouldn't be any.

They have a facility about 30 minutes from me and ive had a few dealings with them. A juvenile tegu I bought from them died 3 days after picking it up and within an hour of calling and sending pictures my refund was back in my account. I even applied for a few of their animal care positions and was given a tour of the facility. My only complaint was that they kept 25 baby crested geckos in each small chameleon type cage, but I've never bred on a scale anywhere close to them so I can't say whether that's wrong or not. Overall all the animals I seen and I've bought were healthy.

Four of my snakes are from there (1 Cali king and 3 corn snakes). My first corn, a snow, was from them. I worked at a pet store at the time when I made these purchases. I have had no issues with any of my snakes, and the shipments always came in good and well packed. We got a few "fancies" as well as common morphs. Were it not for Reptiles by Mack I would probably have not gotten interested in reptiles in general, or snakes in particular. I can't say that they are perfect, but in my experience they have provided good quality and healthy animals. I've had my snow just over 2 years now with never a problem.

Originally Posted by bcr229

Which is foolish and short-sighted. Even excluding the "big box" stores, I have both excellent and craptastic exotic animal stores in my area and do my best to ensure that the good ones thrive by not only spending my money there but sending other people there as well. If I treated them all as the enemy then soon there wouldn't be any.

Maybe there was some confusion by eat I said or how you understood it or how I'm understanding your reply, plus you highlighted only part of that sentence. It's supposed to mean these people are seeing reptiles by mack as the enemy for supplying the pet stores because some pet stores don't know how to care for them, I'm sure they think the store itself is the enemy when it comes to selling animals I really don't know. People always have to complain about something right? The pet stores around me that sell reptiles especially pet supplies plus takes very good care of their animals and I'm proud of the teen boy who works there usually in the mornings in the summer and weekends. He is very knowledgeable and takes great care of those animals, I've had several discussions with him.

I have since emailed reptiles by mack to ask about the specific genetics of a gecko I purchased from them and then sold to a friend.

Here was my reply, and I am satisfied with the result of this thread and the email responce.



The thing I was trying to address was the genetics, and nothing else. Nobody had informed me that the animals are sold as pets, until after I made this thread, and while I am a bit disappointed that they don't track the genetics, I am not displeased with their business in any way.

I would like to apologize for taking any rumors or insults I read on social media groups seriously and giving people reason to believe them, but I am ashamed that people talk badly about this business, simply because they do not understand what wholesale is.

I would like to say this inquiry has been resolved, if that's appropriate, since my question has been answered, and to close I want to add my positive review.

I have purchased two geckos from Reptiles by Mack, one gorgeous leopard gecko who has made me and a friend very happy, even if her genetics can't be confirmed and she may not be bred, and one african fat tail who may be bred in the future to produce quality pets. I am very happy with the appearance, health, and personality of these animals, and if stigma for breeding unknown backgrounds wasn't so high, I would use them to produce breeding stock as well. I can only complain that they were a bit too small when shipped, the leopard gecko being 10 grams and the fat tail being 5 grams, but both were healthy and eating immediately after arrival, and their packaging was done so well, I was able to overlook their small size. The leopard gecko is almost 40 grams now, and the fat tail is almost 10 grams, both still healthy and absolutely lovable and adorable. For the above stated purposes, I will definately buy again

It is not so much that anyone thinks wholesalers or pet store geckos are bad (unless sold too young and kept in incorrect care). The issue most breeders have are the people buying pet store geckos to breed. The only negative I've ever heard about Reptiles By Mack is that they don't keep track of their genetics. This is no problem for pets. Only when people buy them to try to breed. As long as they explain that selling a normal doesn't mean the animal is het free, I don't see any problem.

I agree, it's mostly in the amount of unknowns with geckos from pet stores that I have heard anything negative, and that's not been specific to RBM, but for pet stores in general. I don't know much about leo breeding, but it seems their genetics can be a little complicated, with different genes that produce similar phenotypes. With corn snakes (my reptiles) you can often tell right away what genes have gone into the animal, but it's more difficult to do so with leos. In my experience, the corn hobby is much more lax about it and I don't often see complaints about breeding pet store snakes except for inexperienced people who don't have the necessary setups for it.

I would expect someone who wants to breed would go to a breeder for their animals so they can get a full disclosure of genetics and hets/possible hets- but just because that's what I would expect doesn't mean that random Joe would make that consideration before diving in.

Their reply was very nice and I am certainly happy with my four that I know came from them but since I do want to breed snakes eventually (very earliest would be next year, but more likely is in two years), I have gone to breeders to purchase snakes with known genetics and hets.

Originally Posted by NekoGeckos

The first time I ever heard anything bad about them was from Steven Cervantes, of SC Reptiles in SoCal. I was talking about buying a super snow from them, and he said he bought from them before and had to throw the animals out because they had bad genetics. I did not buy from them because of this statement, which I now realize was cruel and wrong and I had no reason to believe him other than his reputation.

But that was back in early 2014, so things have been going around for a while obviously, and being that I actually really like Reptiles by Mack, I have been wanting to ask this for a while.

you have NEVER talked to me about buying the supersnow tremper because I would never sell you an animal. I put too much time and care into my geckos to send them to their death. I never said " I had to throw them out" so please do not start your drama with me again since you seem to have an obsession of bringing my name into things I'm not apart of. as everyone knows reptiles by mack does not keep detailed records of their animals, any serious breeder would not keep those animals in their breeding stock that is why I sold that gecko as a pet. I never once said I threw them out. now please grow up and just leave me out of any future conversations you have. sorry to anyone that is confused but " neko geckos" has a reputation of trying to slander my name.

Originally Posted by scervantes

you have NEVER talked to me about buying the supersnow tremper because I would never sell you an animal. I put too much time and care into my geckos to send them to their death. I never said " I had to throw them out" so please do not start your drama with me again since you seem to have an obsession of bringing my name into things I'm not apart of. as everyone knows reptiles by mack does not keep detailed records of their animals, any serious breeder would not keep those animals in their breeding stock that is why I sold that gecko as a pet. I never once said I threw them out. now please grow up and just leave me out of any future conversations you have. sorry to anyone that is confused but " neko geckos" has a reputation of trying to slander my name.

Steven, this isn't about you, do not turn this thread into something it's not. The only reputation being discussed here is John and Amy Mack's, and I believe I was the one to refuse to buy from you after you harassed me countless times.

And once again, if it's written, it's libel, not slander, though your threats were amusing. I did not post that to "slander" your name, but simply to site my third party quotation. And I was talking about when I planned to buy a gecko from Mack, not from you. If you want to share your experience with Reptiles by Mack, please go right ahead, but don't post here just to try and start drama with me. This is not the time or place, especially since we've never done business. Take it to facebook, or better yet, just talk about me behind my back like you're used to doing. This is a professional website, not instagram Mr. Cervantes or Lopez or whatever your name is now.

Originally Posted by NekoGeckos

Steven, this isn't about you, do not turn this thread into something it's not. The only reputation being discussed here is John and Amy Mack's, and I believe I was the one to refuse to buy from you after you harassed me countless times.

And once again, if it's written, it's libel, not slander, though your threats were amusing. I did not post that to "slander" your name, but simply to site my third party quotation. And I was talking about when I planned to buy a gecko from Mack, not from you. If you want to share your experience with Reptiles by Mack, please go right ahead, but don't post here just to try and start drama with me. This is not the time or place, especially since we've never done business. Take it to facebook, or better yet, just talk about me behind my back like you're used to doing. This is a professional website, not instagram Mr. Cervantes or Lopez or whatever your name is now.

Since you brought Steven's name into this post, it is only fair for him to come here and give his side as to what you said. If you didn't name him, then it would have been wrong for him to come talk about you, but you brought him into it.