Thomas "Rockabirdie Reptiles"

It has been over two weeks of madness, and I felt the need to warn others.
After purchasing a pair of Calotes bachae, a recently discovered species that caught my eye with beautiful blue coloring on the males, I assumed all to go well with Thomas. Although emails were not responded to until late, the look of the reptiles he has shown on his facebook business page https://www.facebook.com/RockabirdieReptiles?fref=ts looked phenomenal. When asked for a picture of the pair, the picture I received looked great, no complaints with how they looked.


$135 later on 5/04/13 at 12:56am right after he gave me his paypal info ($100 for the pair, and $35 shipping), however he had never informed me when they had shipped. They had shipped out on 5/04/13, and I had not been informed of this until 12:19am on 5/05/13. The second point I had not been informed about was the shipping in general - the choice was USPS meaning it would not arrive until 5/06/13 after I had contacted the post office to figure out why I had not seen the package. So after driving an hour to pickup the two lizards (as letting them sit until the next day was not going to fly by me) I finally had them. After bringing the package home to open it, I found a very upsetting sight. The male had been beyond dehydrated, and the female had been pretty beat up looking. Link to MonsterFishKeepers.com where I had originally posted for help with him: http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/fo...h-Dying-Calote
Pictures of the male -



Female Pic -


Now obviously the female doesn't look too bad, other than the fact she had mites, which I am currently treating.(Hadn't noticed until later, and it isn't uncommon with imported reptiles) Link to that post is here: http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/fo...Calote!-(Again)
HOWEVER, there is NO excuse for sending a reptile like the male shown above, or even putting it through that. He was clearly beyond dehydrated, and his condition didn't just happen over night. After contacting Thomas at Rockabirdie, he had said he would replace the male, but he was out of stock and would get the next order the following week. After contacting him day after day (having to call the majority of the time for any response) he said that he finally got a group as of 5/14/13 at 4:17pm. I had asked for pictures when he returned back at his location from the supplier, and they he be shipped next week Wednesday (5/19/13) so that someone was here to pick him up at the post office the following day. He said that was not a problem, and had no issues doing so. Now that it is 5/15/13 at 11:43am, and he has been on his facebook page multiple times to post pictures of his new stock and contact others on his page (up to an hour ago, and even has a smart phone to receive/respond to email and check facebook), but has yet to say anything to me. I have called and emailed with no response at all, as I need the male to be shipped Tuesday (5/18/13) instead of Wednesday AND to see those pictures of the "new group".

As far as I can see I'm out of a $135 breeding project, not including the supplies for the expected pair, $18 for mite spray or gas money to drive and hour to get the lizard and back (which I would do for any reptile order without a complaint anyway). As I sit here typing this, I still have not heard anything from Thomas, and will continue to have my suspicions until the replacement male is at my location or to have any contact with him at all.
I have all the emails to prove all that has been said, and even saved voice-mails and call times. If you see this Thomas, you can give me a call, but I believe I have every reason to be upset with how the animal quality and communication has been, if not more than that.

-Brady Bartel

I will be posting any updates as time goes on as far as future contact or if anything even gets sent on Tuesday.

In your post, I am confused on the dates ... did you mean 6/15/13?

Also, please use the attachment feature to add photos, that way they will always be here for others to see.

In addition post all emails, and relavent communications.

Originally Posted by Snake-Queen

In your post, I am confused on the dates ... did you mean 6/15/13?

Also, please use the attachment feature to add photos, that way they will always be here for others to see.

In addition post all emails, and relevant communications.

I knew I messed something up, yes they were ordered this month for June not May. My apologies for any confusion, it has been a long week with my new job.
And I will re-post the pictures as well as communications at a later time if needed - really bogged down as far as free time goes right now.

I have also just received pictures of the males at 3:29pm - Thomas has contacted me by phone, he had apologized for anything that may have seemed as if he didn't care about the situation, and the lack of communication. I had apologized for my premature accusations, as well as acting out more than I should have. He said he plans on making things right - we are currently working on the situation. The plan is for the male to be shipped Tuesday, which will be paid for by Thomas.

As Brady said, we are working this out, which was always the case. I had to wait for the new animals to arrive, which was communicated. My communication, and picture timing, could have been better, for which I apologized to Brady. He will be receiving the replacement male this coming Wednesday, as we discussed. About the health of the male. He did not look like that when he was shipped. He does look dehydrated for sure. I have seen animals crash, and in some cases it does happen very fast. This was one of those cases. I would never knowingly send an animal that looks as this one did. These are recent imports, and fragile animals. All I can do is apologize, and make it right, which was the plan from the get.

That male looks rough. Imports are tricky to deal with.

Brady, please post an updated pic of the new male when you get him.

Thomas, it is always good to see a seller willing to work with their customer.

Originally Posted by Snake-Queen

Thomas, it is always good to see a seller willing to work with their customer.

Everyone makes mistakes & sometimes things happen but the actions after what happens defines the character. I don't know much about importing or these animals in general but will admit it's nice to see someone accepting responsibility. The only thing I would mention is changing the shipping for future sales to insure the stress on the animal is kept as much as possible to a minimum.

Originally Posted by Durante

Everyone makes mistakes & sometimes things happen but the actions after what happens defines the character. I don't know much about importing or these animals in general but will admit it's nice to see someone accepting responsibility. The only thing I would mention is changing the shipping for future sales to insure the stress on the animal is kept as much as possible to a minimum.

I agree^

He looked good in the photo, I would bet he crashed due to the 2 day shipping...

Those don't look like the same male calote, the dorsal spikes are different....

Originally Posted by chongorojo

Those don't look like the same male calote, the dorsal spikes are different....

Are you talking about the 3 photos of the male?