The nightmare that ended my passion for reptiles.... until yesterday... (LONG POST)

Originally Posted by Effykins

Sorry that the sunglow didn't work out for you, but in your situation, I'd say it's better safe than sorry. I'm glad to hear that the seller was very understanding, though!

My feelings exactly ^

maybe it was 100% good to go, but i'd rather pass on a good purchase with good piece of mind then try and make something work that i'm not comfortable with and end up in a bad situation again... It's all about perspective and mindset

Welcome back, one addict to another. My drug of choice is rainbows, but boas are on my pet list some day.

I wish I could tell you there are no bad breeders/dealers left…but bad apples are a fact of life in *any* industry where a dollar can be made. Buyer beware, deal only with quality sellers, and despite those precautions always quarantine anyway for longer than you think you need (I go a full year now, plus blood tests).

Welcome back, and good luck!

Quick update with some good news.... I'm super happy with passing on the jungle sunglow, thinking back on my conversations with the seller there were many red flags and I know I did the right thing in the end, it just wasn't what I was looking to get in to. So instead I purchased a motley sunglow male locally from a fauna member!

He is PERFECT and everything I had hoped for. Before I got out of boas motley sunglows were just in their first or second year of production and were kind of my grail snake so to have my own big male perfect healthy flawless beauty now is a dream come true.

My arabesque albino female also came in delta dash last night and is also big fat healthy beautiful example as far as I can tell... Having been in boas a long time and having owned probably hundreds in the past I can tell instantly the quality of care, some boas look... not good. others look well cared for but don't carry that slow grown consistently fed dense muscle that properly raised boas have, both of these are those kind of boas where you'd expect to have been raised by a pro, muscle density on the female is IMPRESSIVE, her size, power, alertness, it's all there and I'm thrilled to finally have two prime genetic, pick of litter dripping with color, and healthy animals.

On a side note I'm about 90% sure this female arab albino is in her pre ovulation stages as she has some lumpy situation going on in the right places and was lying in the pretzel shape when I peaked in on her last night... Not sure if this is a blessing or a curse since they are both being quarantined though. I'm going to get a meal in both of them and let them pass it and then we'll re evaluate I guess

oh and i'll make a new thread with pics of them as soon as the male sheds he's in deep right now

Welcome back to the addiction.

My condolences on your past losses, Alberto, and my congratulations on your new adventures.



Definitely play things extra safely from now on.

Originally Posted by snowgyre

There are many good guys out there to offset the bad though, the trick is getting to know who's who.

This. There are probably just as many bad guys out there now as there ever were, but there are also always going to be people who really care about their animals and aren't just out to make a buck.

Best lesson I've learned is that if it feels off it probably is, always go with your gut. As soon as they say something or respond in a way that seems strange to me I consider it a "danger zone" and proceed accordingly.

And like you said, if they can't take a few minutes to send a couple specific pictures I ask for then they don't need my money. How they act towards potential customers (you in this case) can tell you a lot about how they act towards their collection and how they're going to deal with the situation if something goes wrong.