Nick Mole "First Choice Reptiles" Inquiry

Well....I highly doubt that Nick will post on the BOI as he has yet to post in any thread regarding himself. He seems to rather avoid the issues at hand in hopes that they will blow over and be easily forgotten. If you read his available page on his site it states that he has some of the F-1 animals available. The animals I saw his posted ads of that were labeled F-1 animals were clearly W/C animals.

Chameleons. F1 C.b


C. rudis sternfeldi: these guys have awesome blue/yellow coloration and are very nice looking animals $200/pair

C.B C.werneri "red phase" These guys are much different from the Standard werneri brought into the u.s. They are very red in coloration and have a real stock build. This is a new locale $350/pair adult pairs Gravid pair $500

C.fuelleborni: New locale. very nice hardy, livebearing chameleons. adults $225/pair

C.jackonii merumontanus "lemon heads" Males and females have yellow ridge on their heads. C.b adults ready to breed. $475/pair Two pairs left $875 for both pairs, both females potentialy gravid.

C.deremensis: C.b adults: $325/pair very nice

C.melleri:n/a

I should mention - his ads, both on KS an don his website, have been changed drastically, probably as a result of pressure from Josh.

Nick had clearly stated that all these animals were captive bred, farm raised F1's from MBT farm in Tanzania. He's changed some of the wording, but not all.

You are correct, the best way to kill any chances of fixing a bad situation is to post it directly on the BOI too soon.

Originally Posted by Rob @ RK Reptiles

..... He seems to rather avoid the issues at hand in hopes that they will blow over and be easily forgotten.....

We have to agree with this comment 100%.
I didn't bother to post about our problem with Nick - I didn't feel it would solve anything, but rather prohibit any possible solution.

In March 2005, we ordered chameleons from Nick (2.4 C. dilepsis). Nick stated that he thought at least 2 of the females were gravid. These were for a customer of ours that had successfully bred a pair of flapnecks and wanted new bloodlines to breed.

The animals arrived cold, and very clearly "fresh imports" (skin blemishes, dry shed, thin and dehydrated). I placed them in a quarantine enclosure and started the misters (warm water). One definately had a lumpy abdomen - and that proved to be the gravid female. By Monday, 3 were dead and the rest were still looking sad. They sat hunched, with eyes closed, ignoring the silkworms offered. Our customer took one look and refused to take them.

I informed Nick right away - and he promised to credit us/replace the ones that died (3). By the time Nick contacted us about replacements (late May), the other 3 flapnecks had long since passed and we had no need for more. I inquired about other animals we could use our "credit" on. In July, he promised to send us a trio of C. rudis as the replacement - we never saw them and he stopped correspondance.

Morgana Calvert
Reptayls, Ltd.

P.S. Yes, I kept all the emails.

I have watched this thread and feel like I can add a little experience I had with Nick.I had ordered a pair of Merumontana Jacksons.They arrived as promised,but the male was very dehydrated,with what appeared to be dry mucous coming from his mouth.I watched for the day,then later sent an e-mail to Nick the same day(now evening)that he was obviously not doing well.He did pass away that night.I informed Nick that I was not happy with the health of the female remaining and the passing of the male.I made the mistake of tossing the male when Nick informed me of his TOS(MY FAULT FOR NOT KNOWING BEFOREHAND)that he doesnt issue refunds,only credits.Needless to say,the female passed a few days later.I didnt want anymore of his animals,so along came some moss that he had for sale,and we discussed the credit owed.No problem right,he acknowledged the credit owed for the female as I had pics and a corpse in the freezer to prove my case.Well several days passed after the supposed ship date of the moss............oh well a year later...hmmm.I think I can write him off and the 325.00.Lesson learned.I have the e-mails I sent.I ve never posted a "bad guy" before.Hey we all make mistakes,but its what you do to make it right.Yes I have cared for chams and never really lost any in my care.Jackson,Panthers or Veileds.Marcus Quesada

I'm not enthusiastic enough to go deep into details right now, but after 2 banged up Melleri that were supposedly in perfect shape (one of which purchased gravid for double the price that died quickly and was found to be not gravid) I decided I wasn't going to go through Nick anymore. For some reason, I tried him once more anyways, and got 14 leaf chameleons when I ordered and paid for 15. He was supposed to credit me on my next order, but I was tired of sending him money. You can imagine what I said when he e-mailed me two months or so ago promising me a good deal on the overload of Jacksons he had....

Hello all,

First off I would like to apologize for my delayed response to this thread. I was out of town from Jan 26th to Feb 4th on personal business(My auto response on my email as well as answering machine would have noted this to anyone who tried to email or call). The response was further delayed because Josh Mease and I have been trying to work this issue out reasonably, without any name bashing(although he took the first step in that).There are many aspects of this story that I cannot get into as my attorney has instructed me to refrain from getting into specific details quite yet on public forums , but this is a shortened version with the best interests of all parties involved in mind.
Josh Mease of the Chamaeleo Research Group(www.chamresearch.com) first emailed me about two years ago asking me to be a distributor for MBT reptile farm in Tanzania(which specializes in breeding old world chameleons) and I willingly accepted. I would be the one who handled the importation of the shipments and we would split all charges, and I would forward his end of the shipment via delta dash to him. I share shipments all the time with other sellers and I figured this would be no different. Many delays happened(once again I have to refrain from specifics at this time) in which the shipment did not go through. My original order, which was placed over a year ago, called for farm raised animals which would be coming under WC permits( this is a known practice and you can legally export CB animals as WC but you cannot do vice versa). Those first permits for my end of the shipment were issued last august, and the shipment finally shipped this January so allot of time went by that stock could have changed but I did not think much of it. During our dealings, Josh was very hesitant for me to call the supplier(Joe Beraducci of MBT animal farm) in Tanzania and he instructed me not to call or email Joe, but to deal with him and he will forward any questions or news to him. When the animals came in, I assumed that my original order had been filled, But a few of the animals looked too large to be farmed(I assumed that they were probably old breeders, and they were sent due to lack of stock or items were out of season) but I did not think much of it. At that point, the animals were brought in under WC permits but I was under the impression that my original order had been filled asking for specifics like: red rudis, new locale dermensis, and sub adult farmed melleri(I have the original order saved if anyone would like to see it). Due to the excitement of the shipment that we had been waiting about two years for animals were advertised before we talked to the supplier about the specifics of the animals on that shipment.Keep in mind that I was not permitted to call Joe and did not want there to be any further arguing, so I made the assumption that the original order was what I had and continued with my advertisements. At this time I did not know that the animals may be WC, and I was under the impression that if they were Josh would have said something especially since 10 days had gone by since the initial advertisements had been placed. Following advertising, sales were made from the animals in question. A sale was made to Kristina of the melleri discovery forums, and she quickly emailed me upon receiving the animal stating that she thought that the animal that she received was WC and not farm raised(she brought up some valid points which made me think further about it such as the animal being much too large to be farmed, etc) I quickly emailed Josh Mease of the Chamaeleo research group and asked him if he knew if the melleri or anything else were WC. He then stated that Yes they were, etc(once again for legal reasons I cannot get into specifics at this time, but I assure you up until that point I had no knowledge of anything on that shipment being WC). I emailed Kristina back promptly agreed that she was right, and that Josh confirmed they were WC and that I would refund her money and she could keep the animal as I knew it was in good hands. Other claims were made about the health of that animal, but I assure you the animal was in good shape and was eating/drinking properly prior to shipping out and there were no noticeable illnesses prior to shipping. From there anyone else who received animals that came in under WC permits that may not have been farmed were emailed by myself stating the situation and I offered them a refund/replacement or Credit on a future order aswell as formely appologized to them. The next morning I left town, and the advertisements for those animals listed on kingsnake were not re listed, and sales were ceased on those animals. I did not have time to fully redo the website(and at that point allot of work was required to do so) and since the customers had been informed of the situation I left without thinking that there was an issue. The day after I left The post from Chamresearch came up and I did not find out about it until mid week. I had no Internet access, nor did I know exactly what he said on his website or any other gossip that occurred until I came back.
The facts are, that animals were misrepresented unknowingly and that every effort to rectify the situation has been made, secondly rumors of my end of the shipment being stolen are completely false, and I have all records of my end of the shipment being paid in full before it left Tanzania as well as the entire freight amount and any other charge that occurred during the importation process(anyone who would like to see this proof, feel free to contact me, I will be scanning copies for everyone to see). Also Rumors of Josh not receiving his full end of the shipment are false as well and I have a copy of the original invoice and DOA report that will reflect the actual animals sent to him and I assure you that every animal he was supposed to recieve was shipped aside from any DOA animals or animals that he and I traded(some of my personal animals were also sent to him to show good faith, for no charge as well).This mess happened as a result of lack of communication between myself, Josh Mease and the supplier and while I take the blame for the misrepresentation and advertising the animals before we knew their exact background, I refuse to say that this misrepresentation was done knowingly. I once again apologize for the inconvenience, if you have received something from this shipment and you are reading this please contact nick@firstchoicreptiles.com for your refund/replacement options(everyone who placed there order on the Internet has been taken care of, but some local sales were made).All of the animals remaining will Be sold as WC to avoid any argument(even though there is a very good possibility that many of these animals are indeed farm raised in Tanzania) and sold at WC prices. I am pretty offended that after the history between Josh Mease and I, that he would so quickly post these accusations, and allegations towards me especially since I paid the entire amount of the shipment and freight/import charges without asking for any payment from him. That issue will be addressed outside of the forums and hopefully we can get the issue resolved in order to bring in future F1 shipments into the United States. Of course in the future I will make absolutely certain that I have what I have prior to advertising.

One other issue that I would like to address is too Rob at RK Reptiles. Why would you say that I will not defend myself? If you read further in this original thread you will see that I defended myself over two years ago when Justyn Miller brought up an issue. Also, the black and white throat monitors advertised by FYB Exotics(www.fybexotics.com) are From Joe Beraducci at MBT animal farm and not from another shipment. I know this because I unpacked and imported them myself from that shipment(they too came in under WC permits but once again, you can send farmed, or CB animals under WC permits, but you cannot do the opposite) and I do believe that they were actually bred and born at his facility in Tanzania but I cannot confirm that quite yet. Another issue that i would like to address is the fact that Joshua Guerrero of FYB Exotics and I are partners. We are not business partners, but we share shipments from other countries, and sell together at shows for convenience. We do allot of business together, and are often seen with each other, but we have completely separate business names, finances, customers, liscences etc. He is not responsible for my deals and I am not responsible for his.
Back to the topic at hand, Josh Mease and I are trying to work things out responsibly and until things develop further, or more info can be submitted, this will be my last post here. This issue is very complex and should be settled in the court room rather than the BOI if it needs to go any further. If you are reading this as a potential customer to us, I can assure you that I do the best I can with my chameleons and try to represent them as accurately as possible. If you have read these comments and still have doubts, please contact me stating that you read the post on the BOI and I will give you 15 percent off your first order. From there you are more than welcome to post your findings about us on this forum.

Best Regards,
Nick mole
First Choice Reptiles
nick@firstchoicereptiles.com
407-855-7323
www.firstchoicereptiles.com

Nick,
I for sure give you a thumbs up on the fact that you are willing to acknowledge specific mistakes were made, own up to them and try to make the situation right. Regardless about whatever questions could rise up whether or not you knew this or that before hand, for face value it is the righ thing to do and I commend you for it. But, I think while the tree was getting chopped it woke up some the bugs that lived inside and now there are some new points brought up from unrelated deals and unrelated people that would need some answering, as a potential future customer, before I would consider doing business with you. It seems the consistant theme is that people are not getting what they pay for, you make a promise to "take care of them" for it and then you fall off the Map. Can you answer some of those claims against you? Thanks.

Matt Jillson

Nick,
I believe that you use spell check, but that does not identify properly spelled words that are not of the correct meaning, ie:
allot : To parcel out; distribute or apportion
a lot (two words) : a larger quantity, many

I have no dog in this hunt, and as I said earlier, have no info pro or con. I do have plenty of experience with import deals gone "not according to plan", in the event people questoned the possibility. In fact, it is too often the rule.
Those of us with a reasonable amount of import experience with chameleons, know that many countries have restrictions on quotas of WC animals, but may be more liberal with CB quotas. Some countries have played with it, only to find out that it often doesn't work. Reason being, if an exporter has filled their WC quotas, but still has a CB (farmed quota) for animals, but no farmed animals to fill it, guess what's happening to that chameleon in the tree over there? Here's your quote:

...you can legally export CB animals as WC but you cannot do vice versa.

Not to be the spelling and proper English jerk here, but the highlighted "cannot" would be best put as "legally cannot". So, did the paperwork that they came in with say "farmed", or did it say WC ? It also points out that even if this, or any other import paperwork, says "farmed", it's no guarantee that the animal actually is, just that you have the proper documentation to say it is! All said though, I have no specific information what-so-ever that MBT has ever done anything not in accordance with their paperwork. Hope all works out Nick.

Well, I just finished reading this thread, and I can give you my FIRST HAND perspective....

I have done a lot of business with Nick.... My emails were always answered very quickly, the Chameleons I ordered were accurately represented, shipped very professionally, on time, and were in very good health when they arrived the next day.... I can only remember one time when a Cham came in sick, I called Nick and he replaced it immediately (paying the shipping, too), even letting me keep the sick one (which DID recover).... I have never had a complaint from any of my customers I've sold them to, either....

Nick always told me if they were wc, fr, ch, cb, cbb, or f/t (lol)....

I (personally) will continue to buy from Nick without hesitation.... He gets in some very nice animals, and the prices are very competitive....

Neil

Matt,

Thanks for your acknowledgement on this situation, and you brought up some issues that are unrelated to that specific post, but I will address them. First off, I stick by my terms of service very strictly, especially if someone gets unruly in a business deal. Anyone who has a credit with me, whether it be from a month ago or 3 years ago, can email me about something that I have available for equal value or a replacement for those animals(not including shipping charges).Anyone who has done consitant business with us will assure you that I am extremely courteous when it comes to replacements/credits, and if I know you are not out to get something for free, I will generously credit you if anything goes wrong. If someone has a credit or needs a replacement for an animal that arrived DOA or not up to par i will take care of it, but if those DOA animals did not meet the TOS I have no reason to respond more than once(which was the case in Marcus's situation with the merus, no pictures were provided, etc and TOS would not honor the replacement) but I was still willing to send him a replacement animal and when I had some moss advertised agreed to send some to him once we got another load in, but some time went by with that and unfortunately it went forgotten and no further emails came from him that I know of. As for Morgana, she did have a legitimate credit and I even offered to send replacements a couple of times for the animals ordered months after the deal went through. I don't recall any emails from her requesting rudis, but I may be wrong and I will admit, some emails do go unanswered due to high email volume(I don't recall a phone call from her either, but it was some time ago). If she or anyone else has a valid credit you can feel free to use it at any time, if the animals requested are in stock(and of course shipping is the responsibility of the buyer unless otherwise noted). If you choose to order from us in the future please make sure to read the Terms of service on www.firstchoicereptiles.com prior to placing an order

Best Regards,

Nick Mole
First Choice Reptiles
nick@firstchoicereptiles.com
407-855-7323


www.firstchoicereptiles.com