Breeders/Sellers, do you want updates?

Are you interested in knowing the good and the bad from new owners about your animals?

Originally Posted by coyote

Are you interested in knowing the good and the bad from new owners about your animals?

In all seriousness, it depends. If I send out a snake and the buyer is not happy with it - yes, I want to know. If they have the snake for 3-4 months (or more), and it becomes sick or dies, my first thought would be "Why are they telling me?" Please don't take that the wrong way - I am always willing to give husbandry advice and try to sort out the occasional problem with animals that I have sold. It's just that too many people want to lay the blame at someone's else's feet if something goes wrong. (you know the ones - they get a new snake, put it in an enclosure without proper attention to details like heat and humidity, take it out when it is cold, and forget to give it water...then want you to replace it)
On the other side of that are the people that want you to know how happy they are with their critters. I think most of us enjoy the feedback, as long as it isn't overdone (I had one person that send me monthly emails for about 3 years, lol). I DO like when people send pics of the jungle/diamond Xs I sold them. I can usually tell which ones will be exceptional (by my standards), but I have been surprised by a few of the photos I've gotten.

Well, I am not necessarily referring to feedback. And I have witnesses how overboard some snake "parents" can get with the whole sympathetic performance etc.

Let me give you an example.

I bought a hatchling corn last year. She had some problems that I dealt with. Thing is she never did very well, she did not grow or gain weight. She recently died. I did not get in touch with the breeder because I did not know if he would be interested. I am not looking to place blame. I just wondered if this might be important because I am isolated from every other hatchling from that same clutch. I have no idea how any of the others fared over the past year. But, what if this is an undesirable trend that has occurred with offspring from one or both parents?

Or, what if the animal arrives with one or two mites on it. Not infested, just one or two. Should I assume that the seller knew that and become angry and indignant? Or might it just happen that the seller doesn't yet know but will very soon find that s/he has mites in his/her collection. Should I tell him or her?

See, my background, with regards to breeding animals is more in livestock, horses and dogs. Breeders of those animals build reputations on the heritable traits being proven in their lines related to how the animal is used like performance and conformation. A swine breeder wants sows and boars that come from large litters and that produce large litters. If I am buying virgin stock, I want to know certain things. I may also want to know what peculiarities in certain lines result in problems like dystocias, infertility, lameness, developmental defects etc. Things that the breeder can't observe for him/herself because the animals were sold as juveniles.

This is my thinking when I ask this question.

I have had a starnge occurance with a het for snow boa trio I purchased. One of the two males died over night with no symptoms. I had a necropsy done, while waiting for the results I contacted the breeder asking if he had any similer problems or heard of any from others he sold to. I made sure I was not blaming him at all. He was concerned but none of the other babies had any problems at all. Once the resulots came in I passed them on to him. Just that little boa was sick, none of the others. We both were relieved to know it was not a genetic problem. I saw him at the last show I was at, he was pleased with me and was concerned. I made a friend over this little boa.

Sometimes I like feed back and a picture a year or two later.

I was going to venture into the whole concept of genetic problems, but opted out...guess I should have gone for it. If there is any chance that there is a a genetic issue - I would want to know so I could consider my options regarding breeding a specific pair. I usually hold onto babies long enough to be comfortable knowing they are ok, but (of course) there are no guarantees.

I think it should be part of your own record keeping. If you know a snake comes from a litter that had problems, I personally would want to keep tabs on it.
If you mate said reptile, and have a decent litter, with no apparant problems, then I guess it depends on your upbringing, or your personal integrity as to whether you would pass this knowledge on to a prospective buyer.

I would say yes. Pass it on if you have the knowledge. Let them know up front about it.
Karma works both ways ya know. Yer reputation for honesty would climb, I'm sure.

Ciao,
Rick