zoobiotica

Hi all i have been recomended this site as a good place to go in order to find out about shops and people. Perhaps you can help me. I am considering doing business with the company ZOOBIOTICA and wondered if anyone could shed any light on them, good or bad.

Thanks

Craig Wells

Craig.... Even though I don't know the company you are asking about.... I just HAD to tell you.... you should NEVER put your full name on the first thread you write.... how are we supposed to police that???

Craig.... this is a FIRST!!! And I congratulate you!! You actually read the rules??? lmao

Sorry, Craig.... just a little inside board joke, you'll understand if you read a bunch of these things....

Welcome Aboard!!

....Neil

Hey Craig,
Is that Don Kesrics(sp) company, Zoobotanica?
Craig Clark

Don Kesseric of Zoobotanica cheated me out of 6 animals.  
I for one will never do any business with Don Kesseric ever again.

I did business with him for a couple of years and he often delivered many beautiful high end emerald tree boas as promised.  Of course they were pricey but then again what nice emerald tree boa isn't.

a few years ago I phoned Don Kesseric to tell him about a very unique emerald I had found at a the Hamburg show.  He wanted it badly and for a few weeks he asked me to send him the snake.  Finally we struck a deal which was mostly in trade and he got the snake.  In the follwing weeks of communication I was told the snake was feeding well and had no problems.  Soon afterwards it was sold to another well known emerald breeder for ALOT more than I had paid for it, about 10 fold actually.  But that was between the buyer and Don Kesseric.

So, fast forward a few months and one day Don called to tell me he had a very beautful high end male emerald that I needed for my collection.  We struck a deal and I traded him my most prized Amazon Basin emerald known in the emerald community as "flecks".  I traded my beautiful basin for the new locale male he had just recieved and 6 adult emerald tree boas (fresh imports). At the time of the Daytona show '00 I believe ( the first year in Daytona) we met up at the show and traded the animals.  He had not had any emeralds available and promised me some from an upcoming shipment.  Since we had done many business deals prior to this I had no problems with it.  During the show I bought a great pair of annulated treeboas from Don's partner Al Montejo so needless to say I was very happy.

A few weeks passed and I didn't get my emeralds even though he had recieved a few shipments.  Upon inquiring about the delay he informed me that I was not getting the emeralds because the customer that he had sold the emerald he got from me to, was having problems with it not doing well and he had to take it back.  This was MONTHS (around 6) after I had sold him that animal.  Prior to this he had reported to me that the animal was doing fine, it had regurged once on the breeder but Don said that this guy had a reputation from feeding aniamls WAY to big.  I didn't give it a second thought.
I offered to take the animal back many times (even though I had nothing to do with it for over several months now) but they refused.

Now he was telling me that he wasn't going to send me my animals because "He took a loss".  He explained that he had to put the animal in the freezer.  I was now out on a basin worth about 10k at the time.  I shrugged it off and took the whole ordeal as a loss.

To make matters worse a few months later I see a picture of the very animal that was supposed to be in the freezer on the web page of another well known breeder.  Upon contacting him it was determined that he got the animal in trade from Don Kesseric but it had to be put down soon afterwards because of chronic regurgitation problems.

Al Montejo is Don's partner and to be honest I can't say anything bad about the guy.  He's very charismatic and has always treated me with respect and given me good deals.

The problem is when you are dealing with Zoo Botanica you are dealing with Don Kesseric who has proven to be very volatile and unfair.  Unless Don were to make good somehow I will never purchase anything from nor support Zoobotanica in any way.  

Buyer Beware!

Hmmm, very interesting story Dan. I knew about that animal, but I didn't know the who's, what's and where's of it's captive history. It took balls for you to come out with this publicly, considering that Zoo Botanica is such a major source of so many outstanding corallus specimens that come into this country. With corallus being your game and all. Thanks for sharing. It certainly is an eye opener, for me at least.

Tom Burns
Upper End Exotics

Tom,
I think the partnership between Al and Don is history and Al is not bringing much in these days. Last time I spoke to him, he said he was pretty much done with corallus imports.
Craig Clark

Not true. Check the KS classifieds. Hint: Look for things that could be considered outstanding. <img src="http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=''>

Tom Burns

This is only the second time we are posting in this forum. The first time was to report a ripoff by one Scott Gelsomino of Small World Exotics of Albany, Oregon who sold us a blind, GTP after having represented it as a "blue" chondro in perfect condition on Kingsnake. The animal later died of complications of the eye infection!

We thought it was appropriate to post at this time because of the relevence of this thread.

Anyway, we starting doing business with Don Keseric of Zoobotanica 3 years ago after being introduced by a mutual friend. The first purchase we made went smoothly. It involved a baby Amazon Basin Emerald tree boa which we purchased from him. The animal was fine and did real well for us. Encouraged by this transaction, we purchased another baby "basin' from him. He said that it was a guaranteed feeder and was doing great! After allowing a couple of days for acclimation, we offered it an appropriate sized meal which was refused. Nightly food offerings over the next 5 days were also rejected. When we contacted Don, he recommended that we assist-feed the animal. This raised a red flag in our minds because why would he suggest that we assist-feed an animal he had sold us as an established, feeding juvenile? Assist-feeding is a technique used to get non-feeding babies, especially baby Basins which can be shy feeders, started.

At the beginning of the second week, we noticed that the animal was puffing out it's throat sac while breathing. We realized immediately that this was a symptom of a respiratory condition! Being that the animal was not feeding, was small and weak, we decided to monitor it for a few days while housing it under optimal conditions before commencing a regimen of antibiotics. Before we could start medicating it, the animal died at the end of the second week!(The carcass was promptly frozen). For an animal to deteriorate and die so rapidly made it obvious that it had never fed and that it had a respiratory condition prior to it being shipped to us.

At the time all this was transpiring, we were in negotiations with Don to purchase a bunch of baby Emeralds. When the baby Basin died, we contacted Don regarding it. We didn't necessarily want a refund but were hoping that, given the circumstances, he would extend us some consideration/credit towards our upcoming, or a future order. We had an ongoing business relationship with him and we felt certain that as any good businessman, he would take care of his customers. Especially repeat customers!

What we got instead was a very rude, terse email from him stating that he could do nothing for us and would under no circumstances assume any responsibility for the incompetence of others! We were shocked at his unprofessional behavior.

Just for the record, we have been in this business, full-time since 1985 and have worked with and successfully bred numerous species of reptiles including arboreals boas and pythons. Incomptence my ass!

So far as Don's experience with reptiles, according to a very reliable source, he was nothing more than Al Montejo's representative, his business experience being limited to the fast food and snack industry. Last year, according to another reliable source, he was out of reptile sales and dabbling in selling lobsters! Now, he seems to be back in the reptile business. Maybe his lobster supply tanked!

If what we heard regarding Don's involvement in various business ventures is true (and we have no reason to believe otherwise) it seems that this individual is only intrested in getting involved with reptiles for nothing else but monetary gain. Don't get me wrong, we all like to make money, that's the American way, but when dealing with live, non-food animals, we are sure everyone will agree that one has to feel care and compassion for them.

We have dedicated our lives to the captive propagation and husbandry of these beautiful and fascinating creatures as have many other professionals in this industry. For a mercenary like Don refer to us with the word "incompetent" is tantamount to a slap in the face and is unforgivable!

"any fool can make a sale but making a customer is an art"

One can only imagine much additional revenue customers such as Danny Mendez, ourselves and a slew of others who may have had similar experiences could have generated for Don if he just took the time to learn the art of customer relations. We don't know or care how much money Don has, but even Bill Gates wants more customers because there is no such thing as having too many!

Our only motive for posting here is to give any potential buyer the "heads up" before they make their decision to purchase.

Dan Ferrena
New York Reptilia, Inc.
www.newyorkreptilia.com

Thanks for the heads up all. I will watch my back now cheers.

Craig