BAD EXPERIENCE: Kicks Balls / Fred Kick / Kick Brothers / Reptile Addicts / Pets Plus

I purchased a big red female Nigerian Uromastyx from Kicks Balls (aka Fred Kick / aka Kick Brothers / aka Reptile Addicts / aka Pets Plus) in March 2017 at the Long Island Reptile Expo at Suffolk Community College in Brentwood, NY. I bought her for $85. A tall guy was selling her to us as he pressed in her sides and said she feels pregnant. She was not. I'm sure that was a sales tactic. Anyway, we never spend time in our Uromastyx room unless it's quick feeding and cleaning time, so we don't know if she was eating and pooping. She lived with a male who is the same size, and a smaller female. They are perfectly healthy. We noticed a couple of times when we give them their daily escarole/dandelion/collard greens mixture in a lid with water, she would walk over just to drink the water. She still climbed up to the basking spot and down at night to sleep. They were housed in a 40-gallon breeder tank with a Powersun 160-watt bulb, the hot spot is 110 degrees (the room is always warm), and the room is around 68 degrees overnight. We noticed she was sleeping a lot in the last 2 months and thought she was just tired. Instead we eventually realized that she was weak. I lifted her up and noticed the bottom of her tail no longer had any fat to it. The base of her tail on top also lost its fat, and her body thickness toward her armpits also lost some size. We decided to give her a bath and put "Pet Authority's Leapin Lizards Electrolytes With Vitamins And Minerals" in the water (she didn't drink at all), as well as directly onto her back (seeps into her skin), and orally (opened her mouth with tweezers). We also gave her some Grassland Grazer product orally with a syringe. We did this daily for 2 weeks as she would not eat or drink. Every 2 hours her eyes would open and she would move around, but the rest of the time she would sleep. We asked Kicks Balls for help, but they just said to do what we suggested ourselves.


She died in August. The baths, nor the electrolytes with vitamins, nor the Grassland Grazer product helped at all. Her body shut down and she slowly lost the rest of her fat in every other part of her body. When I think about it, every time we fed and cleaned them for the past 4 months, our other 2 Red Nigerian Uros were the only ones who ever ran over to the food as soon as we placed it inside the tank. I doubt if she ever ate anything at all and probably just lived off her own body fat, but I can't prove that since we never spent time in the reptile room other than to feed and clean them. Every time we walked in there, she was sleeping most of the time. ***Anonymous third-party quotation string removed by a moderator. - Nick*** I emailed them specifically asking if this is what they do, and they didn't deny it, so we assume that it is true. IF this is true, it's no wonder she didn't make it! How could they be more interested in making a quick buck instead of the welfare of the poor animal? So now I am not only out the $85 I've spent on her, but I've lost time and additional money on products trying to save her, lost a pet, received heartbreak from her death, and most importantly: she was robbed of a long life that she could have lived! IF what the reptile store said is true, ALL of this is because of Kicks Balls' (shows you their class in the name alone) neglect in the proper care of these animals prior to selling them to the public with their POOR business practices!!! We've done EVERYTHING PERFECTLY in the proper care of her, as her tank-mates were all healthy for years, so we know it was most definitely not our wrong-doing. If they expect to have happy customers and happy pets, they seriously need to start doing what's right on their end as a seller! Then not only did they decline a refund, but they had the gall to offer us a discount on another Uromastyx! If they honestly think that we would chance buying another sick animal from them again with their poor business practices, they're out of their minds!!! It's too bad we didn't consult the BOI on here prior to purchasing a lizard from them. There's bad feedback on them under all of their previous names: Fred Kick, Kick Brothers, Reptile Addicts, and Pets Plus. We could saved a lot of heart-ache for us, as well as our poor pet. Gee, we wonder why they've changed their name so many times. Got something to hide???