Bryan Dean Barrs (bryanbarrs)

All right, so about a month ago I contacted Mr. Bryan Dean Barrs regarding a pair of 100% Het. Kahl Albinos that he had posted for sale in the Fauna Classifieds. After a little bit of back and forth, I let him know I was interested in primarily the female and was hoping he would work with me on that, even though I knew he really wanted to get rid of the male as well. I was just lacking in space and am very male heavy at the moment in my own collection.

Anyway, as with all smaller breeders, I ask for proof of paperwork, updated photos as well as the length and weight of the animals I am inquiring about. I asked all of this of Mr. Barrs and all that was ever provided for me were older photosgraphs. He did, however, state that he was in the middle of moving, so I did not really press that issue. But, I did make it clear that I would not be entering completely into a transaction until I had those items.

I will not be dishonest and say I was not suspicious from the get go, but I wanted to try and get as much information as I could to invalidate my suspicions.

Communication slowed between us, however, and the last e-mail I sent him on Aug. 17th, 2010, did let him know I was still interestead and trying to keep the lines of communication open. I heard nothing from him after that.

That is ... until today Sept. 23rd, 2010.

The e-mail he sent me is plain deplorable. In more or less words, Mr. Barrs states that if I do not buy these animals from him, he will euthanize them because he just needs them gone. So, instead of just rehoming the animals, as any responsible person would do, he is threatening to kill them. I do not know if this is a selling tactic or just plain bullying, but what I do know is that I want this thread to serve as a warning for anyone debating doing business with him in the future.

Below are all the private messages and e-mails between myself and Mr. Barrs.

08-18-2010, 06:53 PM
ShadowAceD
Celestial Exotics
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Panama City, FL
Posts: 149
Name : Diem Boubede

Trader Rating: (0) 100% Het. Albino Boas

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Hello,

I was wondering if these animals were still available. Also, are they priced together or individually?

If they are ...

Could you send a better photo to armatussaevus@aol.com?

Are you willing to part with just the female?

Do you have paper work on them to guarantee the genetics? Do you guarantee the genetics? Do you guarantee health?

Also, a shipping quote for 32405.

Thank you in advance for your time.

Sincerely,
D. Boubede
Celestial Exotics
"Our Quality is Godly"

bryanbarrs
Registered User
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: Forman, ND
Posts: 31
Name : bryan dean barrs

Trader Rating: (0) Re: 100% Het. Albino Boas

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Hi, These guys are still available. I have paper work on them. we have recently moved into an apartment, so my wife will have to find the box with our files in it. I will guarantee live arrival and 7 day health. as far as the guarantee for het, all i can do is provide the papers I got with them. I really need to get rid of my entire collection, so I want to try to sell them as a pair. the female alone is worth what I am asking for the pair. I got a shipping quote of $99.37, but that was guessing at their weight. Give me a day or two and I will get their weights and some decent pics for you. If you have any more questions, shoot me a message.

Thanks, Bryan

08-20-2010, 12:57 PM
ShadowAceD
Celestial Exotics
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Panama City, FL
Posts: 149
Name : Diem Boubede

Trader Rating: (0) Re: 100% Het. Albino Boas

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Hey, thanks for the response. You may have said it in the ad, but where did you acquire them from?

I'm not in a hurry, so no worries on needing a day or two to get the accurate weights and pics. Just letting you know I am still interested. Thank you.

Sincerely,
D. Boubede
Celestial Exotics
"Our Quality is Godly"

From here, we moved on to e-mails.

In a message dated 8/23/2010 2:05:34 P.M. Central Daylight Time, bryanbarrs@yahoo.com writes:

Hi Diem, I am attaching all of the pics I have of my redtails. We still haven't
found the papers for them yet. If I cant find them I will be lowering the price.
As you can see by the pic that the female is a real beauty. I got them from a
young guy that was a member of our reptile group. I cant remember his name , but
I do remember Him saying he got them from a guy from Bismark ND that was working
on a patternless boa project. i will try to get some better pics for you soon

From: "ArmatusSaevus@aol.com" <ArmatusSaevus@aol.com>
To: bryanbarrs@yahoo.com
Sent: Mon, August 23, 2010 2:12:53 PM
Subject: Re: redtail boas


Lol, I sent a reply that had no reply in it. Sorry. Thanks for the pics and update on the paperwork. I am seriously interested in the female for sure. She's got a really neat looking pattern. I know you want to sell both of them and I'd probably be okay with both if you REALLY, REALLY, REALLY only want to sell them as a pair ... but I am strapped for room at the moment. I am incredibly male heavy right now (typical problem, I know). Let me know what you want to do and updated pics would be awesome, if possible, as well as the paper work. I know how moving is though, believe me. My spouse is military, so we uproot fairly often. I still haven't found things from a move three years ago.

By the by ... do you have an approx. weight and length on the female? My main concern being if she is close to breeding size yet or not.

Thanks again.

-Diem

No response.

From: ArmatusSaevus@aol.com
To: bryanbarrs@yahoo.com
Sent: 8/27/2010 3:35:18 A.M. Arabic Standard Time
Subj: Re: redtail boas

Hello,

Just keeping the lines of communication open. I'm still interested.

Thanks.

-Diem

In a message dated 9/23/2010 6:34:24 P.M. Arabic Standard Time, bryanbarrs@yahoo.com writes:

Hi Diem, I was wondering if you were still interested in my retail boas. I still haven't found any paperwork on them, so I am dropping the price to 100.00 plus shipping for the pair. The female threw slugs for me a couple of years ago. I really need to move these guys soon or they will face euthanasia.

Thanks, Bryan

From: ArmatusSaevus@aol.com
To: bryanbarrs@yahoo.com
Sent: 9/24/2010 1:04:30 A.M. Arabic Standard Time
Subj: Re: redtail boas


Bryan,

I e-mailed you back about a month ago letting you know I was still interested in these animals and would have liked updated pictures of them. I also did let you know that I really would have liked just the female and if you could work with me on that. However, I got no response from you.

Now, I am getting a response from you and I have to say I am a bit appalled by it. Not only have you failed to give me anything I have asked for, but now you are basically saying "Buy these boas or they die", and am really dumfounded by such a thing. Why would I give you 100.00 USD plus shipping (which would be upwards into the hundred range, mind you), for animals you are more willing to kill than just find a home for? Did it ever occur to you that you probably should just adopt them out to someone if the situation has become that severe?

It truly is deplorable.

I will be posting an information thread on the BOI regarding these series of e-mails. I do not think anyone should be looking to do business with someone so lacking in ethics and morals when it comes to their animals.

Sincerely,
D. Boubede


Pics he sent me. Just seeing the female led me to believe too good to be true, by the way,

Female:





Male:

Wow. That is rather depressing. He has def. Made my do not deal with list.

Hello everyone I will apologize about my last email to diem. I meant to let him know that I am running out of time to find homes for all my snakes. I would like to get some of my money back if I can, but am willing to give them away to good homes if that's what it takes. Ive had a lot of them for a long time. I have been very sick over the last few months, in and out of the hospital. and have had to have help from my family with their care. we had to move from our home and into a apartment with handicap facilities, that don't allow snakes. The house will be sold on Oct. 1st. we will be able to keep the snakes there until the end of December. If I don't find homes by then, I won't have any choice. but to put them down. Reptiles express is no longer shipping snakes, so i don't have a way to ship, so that limits it even more. There are only a few rescues up here in ND, and are mostly geared towards mammals. The zoos in the area aren't interested. I have been getting some hits off craigs list. everyone is interested if it free. i am skeptical of people that aren't willing to pay even a little for something. how well are they going to take of it? which is better, giving them to someone that won't take good care, or having them put down humanely? I am only 48 and planned on taking care of them until I was 50 and then find homes for everybody at my leisure. i didn't plan on getting sick. Yes I didn't return emails in a timely manner, I am sorry. I didn't give you the information you requested in a timely manner, I am sorry. I am sorry for coming across like I don't care about my snakes. I have 17 snakes left at this point. after they are gone, there will be no further business in which to do with me. I will try my best to answer any questions.

I was advertising everyone so cheap because I wanted to sell them quick. I have over 350 in the pair of redtails and started at 150 and down to 100 for the pair. I will go to zero if necessary. The point is moot, as I have no way to ship, now that reptiles express is not shipping snakes. I will try my hardest to find homes for everyone locally. by local I mean 300 miles to meet half way.

I just have to say...we hear "hard luck" stories all the time....and probably 95% of them are mostly bogus excuses used for all manner of reasons, from simply cutting cost corners to being lazy to outright scamming.

But Bryan, your story just rings true to me. I can't say exactly what it is about it...maybe just the humble way you came and apologized and presented yourself. The boas pictured in the first post are simply gorgeous, and I think anyone able to get them will be very fortunate indeed. I sincerely wish there were some way I could help. As it is, all I can do is keep you in my prayers for your health as well as quickly finding good, worthy homes for all your animals.

PS - I've seen some amazingly big-hearted people on here. Maybe someone who is certified to ship FedEx lives within a reasonable driving distance of you and would be willing to help you ship to worthy homes. It's worth a hope, anyhow!

I recently sold my female albino burm to a guy who live in a town 25 miles from Forman for 100.00 with caging, on credit. He evidently had some warrants against him. 2 weeks later I get a call from someone asking if i could home an abandoned burmese python. It was my girl. the guy skipped town and left her in the closet of his apartment. She ended up in the local paper. luckily they did the story in a positive way. I am definately going to check people out better from now on.

Judyc, It would be awesome if there was such a person close to me. I should have asked for some help with shipping, but I feel like it's my problem, so I should have to take care of it myself.

I can vouche for the fact that North Dakota has nothing in the way of rescues for reptiles. We are not as lucky as some people to have pet stores and reptile shows and such up here. There are not many reptile people up here that I know of.

Hi Ramie, Thanks for posting, hope things are good for you and yours(geckos included). If people want to look at my join date and the number of posts I've made over the years, it shows that I don't like to participate on most threads (lurker). I am good at putting my foot in my mouth and I don't like the taste. Also, thank you Diem, for not putting bad guy in the thread title. I never thought I would end up on the boi. I hope that you can see that I want whats best for my collection. I was thinking that I would repost all of them here on fauna and if someone has a shipping account wants any of them, I will ship to them and if they are satisfied, they could send me the the amount agreed upon prior to shipping. The thing is, I have a lot invested in my hobby, and would like to get some of it back, especially now as I haven't been able to work for the last few months. I will probably take it in the shorts, but at least they will be taken care of. let me know what you think.