BRANDON AT REPTIRUS- REALLY BAD GUY.

buyers:

Please beware of purchasing any leopard geckos from Brandon at reptirus.com

He shipped me a gecko that had a large lump on its right hip and swollen back feet, and a broken left toe.

I immediately took her to the vet, did x-rays, and the results were as folllows:

the lump was either:

1) MBD (Metabolistic Bone Disease) (caused by low calcium, very bad condition!)

2) Healed Fracture of the right limb and hip area.

3) Congenital Deformity.


any one of these would make BREEDING HER VERY DANGEROUS!

AGAIN, I PURCHASED THIS GECKO AS PART OF A BREEDING PAIR.

This is absolutely dishonest, and I will be taking further action through Paypal.

Please be careful when dealing with this breeder!!!


thanks again

Have you contacted him about the situation? What was his response?

here is the email he literally just sent me:

If this is the case, I will happily refund you for the female once I receive
her back. Before you send her back though I would like to have a copy of
the paper the vet gave you with these diagnosis listed. I would also like
to have the name and number of the vet because I would like to personally
give them a call and chat with them about what could have caused this,
because this gecko has been in my care since it was 15 grams and I actually
supply a separate bowl of calcium for all my geckos, to make sure that they
have enough calcium, plus I lightly sprinkle their food (meal worms,
crickets, roaches) so I don't understand how she could have gotten MBD.
The gecko has never broken any bones in my care, and considering the person
who bred her is a friend of mine, im sure he would have told me about this
before I ever purchased her. And lastly, if my understanding of a
congenital deformity is correct, I don't see that being very likely either
considering that I just contacted the guy who produced her and he told me
that the parents came from 2 different breeders, both very well known and
trusted, so I don't see how it could be a genetic problem. I am confused
how a qualified vet could not tell the difference between MBD and a broken
healed bone on an X-Ray considering these 2 should look very different. Im
sorry that all of this has occured, I am still extremely confused myself on
how she could have possibly had this problem while in my care and me not
notice it. If you can please get that info to me, we can get her shipped
back and I can take care of a refund for you. If you cannot scan the vet
report and need to fax it instead, please let me know, I have a fax machine
you can fax it to.


HE IS CLEARLY NOT ABIDING BY HIS TERMS OF SERVICE

here is the link to his terms:

http://www.reptirus.com/terms.html

thanks for your reply.

Britney, I don't think it is too much to ask to see a copy of the vet report. Since you brought this issue to the BOI why don't you post it here for all to see.

thanks, I'll take some pictures of the report for now.

I will get a scanned copy asap.

thanks everyone.

Could you please provide a time line of events. How long have you had the gecko, when was the vet visit, how long ago did you contact the seller about the problem, and how long did it take for him to respond to your complaint?
Thanks

Hey everyone,

Thanks for helping me out... I've been all over the place today with this..

here is the timeline of the situation:

Purchased the gecko through Paypal Friday, November 16th.

The gecko shipped Monday and arrived today, Tuesday at 11:00 am.

I opened up the box, and went to take the girl out and place her in her new home, when I noticed the deformity.

I have had geckos for years, worked with geckos, and studied them. I knew right away it could have been "healed" MBD or a fracture. So I called my vet.

They assessed her in the office right away, at noon, and did 4 sets of X-Rays. The diagnosis was as posted in my original post.


I'm very concerned, and am worried about the future of this gecko. It's the saddest thing i've ever experienced.

On the x-ray she said her bone density was so low, that you can't even decide between a fracture and MBD... the bones were almost see through.

She showed me comparable x-rays for other healthy geckos her size.

Other than the deformity, she is in great health, and loves to be held, and has a great disposition.

I don't want to get rid of her, I just want to only be charged as though she was a "PET ONLY" gecko.

any thoughts?

Oh, I have pictures of my flikr site... i don't know if they posted properly on here.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/20665563@N04/2051312782/

What I find disturbing is that the gecko arrived today at 11:00 and you took it to the vet at noon, I'm assuming these are all West coast times since you are in California. Now you posted here at 4:59 Eastern time which would have been 1:59 PST. Correct me if I'm wrong but it looks like you barely had time to get home from your vet visit before you posted a bad guy thread on the BOI. How much time did you give the seller to respond to the issue before coming here to post?

I gave him ample time. I also spoke with him over the phone right after I saw her. I have an phone with email and internet, so i did many things at the same time. I don't understand why yo are questioning my motives. imagine getting something like that in the mail. it's horrifying!

my vet is less than 10 minutes away. so the process didn't take very long.

Also you say he is not following his terms of service, but I'm curious as to what term exactly you think he is violating? He replied to you around 15 minutes after you posted your first thread and he offered you a refund. Now you say you want to keep her but be charged for her as a "pet only". What is it you think you are "entitled" to receive?