Drew Lambeth- Curio Creatures

I really did not want to have to post this, but Drew has forced my hand.

In December 2009, my significant other and I decided to rehome some snakes we had purchased with breeding goals in mind that no longer fit with our plans. We went out of our way to select the very best homes for these animals, going so far as to turn down a few people we were not convinced would provide good homes. Our ad stated that we wanted good forever homes for our snakes and that we'd be picky about who they went to.

Drew was a friend on the forums and a local guy and we were elated that he was interested in two of our snakes- a hypo lav female for $125 and a ghost female* for $25. We were asking $25 for the ghost female because we had bought her from a Craigslist ad and did not know her breeding history, nor did we ever have a confirmed sex on her... i.e. she was NOT proven. We were upfront and honest about this as can be seen on our ad on the Insider's Forum at CornSnakes.com. If need be I can post a screen shot of that ad.

My inlaws live about 2-2.5 hours from Richmond, VA, which is where Drew lives, and we agreed to meet Drew at Port Royal, which was slightly out of our way, but closer for him. We took both snakes with us for a weekend visit a Christmas when it was very cold, heated them as best we could at my inlaws and left their house very early Sunday in order to make it to Port Royal to meet Drew. We arrived with about 15 minutes to spare at our meeting point. After 1/2 hour, I called Drew to see where he was, if he was close. He did not answer. Several minutes later he calls back and tells me he is "So sorry," he overslept and please for us not to think he is a flake. So we drive back home with the snakes after having gone out of our way to bring the snakes to him on a holiday weekend. I wanted to call off the deal right then, I was so angry, but Tara spoke with Drew that week and arranged to ship the snakes.

We shipped them down to Drew and all went well with the shipping. He seemed happy with the transaction. A few days later I get a message on Facebook that said he thought the ghost was a male. I said "That really sucks... she was sold to us as a female, and I'm sorry." He said "It's cool, I can find something to pair her with I'm sure." We didn't hear anything else about the transaction.

A few weeks go by and I happen to look at Drews website and he has the male ghost for sale. I was a little irritated by this because we had spoken to him as friends about our desire for a forever home for the snake, but I do acknowlege that once purchased the snake is his to do what he wants with.

That being said, I was even more angry that he had taken one of OUR photos from our ad to use to sell the snake he purchased for $25 for $125. We sent him a PM asking about the sale and he denied that it was our snake. When Tara pointed out that it was OUR photo, which is very distinct because of the background we use, he then became sulky and said he'd "take the ad down."

Now this weekend, my mother in law, who, as I said, lives near Richmond, happened to be browing Craigslist pet ads and found this and showed it to us when we came down, saying "Hey, isn't this your background in the photo? Is this snake yours?"

So yet again, for the third time, Drew has said one thing and done another. Our dealings with him have been fraught with lies, dishonesty and broken trust and I don't want anyone else to have this happen to them. If he cannot be trusted to not use other people's material without their permission, then his business dealings also cannot be trusted.

Here is Drew's ad:
http://richmond.craigslist.org/pet/1702970944.html

The photos on grey fur are our photos. I have the original copies of them and they are also still on my iHerp page for Demi, the snake in question.

I am including a screen shot of that ad in case he deletes it, along with a copy of the PMs we have sent back and forth since he initially used our photo to list the snake for sale. I am also including a link to our iHerp page for Demi that shows the original photos we took. We have sent him an email about it.

I want to state again, emphatically, that I do NOT begrudge him the fact that he is selling a now-extra male snake, even though I do feel that by doing so he went back on part of our sale terms, and that does affect the way I personally feel about him as an individual and as a former friend.

I fully understand that the snake is his to sell to whomever he wants, however he wants.

I would never have posted this if Drew hadn't stolen our photos to use in his sale of this snake, not once even, but TWICE without giving us due credit and against out wishes, as you can clearly see in the PMs.

http://www.iherp.com/HerpTrack/MyAni...AnimalID=15364