IMPORTANT INFO!!!!

Hello all,
I have some really important news that I wish you to spread around. Last year me and my friend bought snakes from Walter Smith. All snakes we recieved tested positive for parasites. All together we lost 5 of the 11 snakes that we bought from him. He showed very good service in the beginning but when we tried to tell him our problem, he sent rude and hateful messages back to us. I suggest that if you are considering buying from him that you think twice. It almost cost me my whole collection.

Thanks for your time Charlene Dourty.

Charlene,

Can you provide some additional information? What types of snakes, were they advertised as wc or cb, how long were they in your possession before you found out they had parasites, etc. etc.

Yep. More info is definitely needed. What type of parasite... were the snakes necropsied after they died...did the parasites kill them, the treatment, or something totally unrelated?

Very few, if any, reasonable conclusions can be drawn from the vague info alreay presented.

I'm not entirely convinced this posting is legit. She has posted numerous duplicates of this message here as well as on my CornSnakes.com forums, most of which I have had to delete for one reason or another. And I specifically asked her to post the name of the person involved directly on the topic line and she still hasn't complied.

I'm beginning to get irritated....

Hey,
I had the snakes about 4 months and started noticing that they weren't growing properly so I took the smaller one to the vet. When they arrived they seemed fine and ate well, though a few of them were rather small. All had the same symptoms and seemed different. The vet said that they had a type of stomach parasite. I don't know the exact name right off the top of my head. They ate fine but tended to regurgitate a few days after they were fed and most of the time the pinkie really hadn't even been digested. Those that did digest theirs didn't seem to put on wieght like my other healthy snakes were. I am sure that alot of people have had no problem with Walter but I have had a bad experience along with my friend and I want you to know. This might not help you change your mind about ordering from him but I just want to inform people about my situation.

Thanks Charlene Dourty

I would like everyone to know important info that has been left out in this slander against me.

First, on this claim that ALL of the snakes tested possitive of this parasite ( which is called what? ) I have no proof of this and have not been presented with any.

Now, the claim about the animals. I find it odd that she is asking for a refund on only ONE of the alleged five animals lost. I have NEVER been contacted by her "friend" about problems with her snakes. I have also NEVER been contacted with problems from any of the other people who purchased siblings to these animals, or about any of the other 600+ animals that I sold.

The snake that is in question ( the ONE looking to be refunded on ) hatched on 7-29-02. This snake was not sent to her until 10-28-02. The snake was in my possesion 3 months feeding with NO problem what so ever. I was just contacted about this problem at the end of January, so it was in her possesion for 3 months before I was notified of this problem.

I have an animal guarantee as follows:

All animals are guaranteed to be sexed properly, healthy and have eaten at least two (2) meals prior to purchase. All meals will have been live or frozen/thawed pinky mice, unless otherwise stated. This guarantee will stay in effect for TWO WEEKS (14 DAYS) from the purchase date. This is for animals purchased at FULL LIST PRICE ONLY !!
After the 14th. day, I will assume you are happy with your animal(s) and ALL LIABILITY on my part will then TERMINATE.

As you can plainly see I was not contacted about this problem until way past the allowed time limit. Now, if someone contacts me a few days beyond the 14 day limit, I will certainly not have a problem with corrcating the problem.

I ALWAYS make sure that I send out animals that are feeding, but this is not a feeding problem. This is a claim that the animal was consistantly regurgitating and I NEVER send ANY animals out that would have a problem such as this.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and ANY opinions would be greatly appricitated.

Sincerly,
Walter Smith

I had a similiar problem with some hatchlings from a very reputable breeder. Only I never blamed the breeder, I KNOW the breeder was a good guy. But for some reason snakes kept dieing. Not all of them, but a good half of them. Regurges, feeding without growing, refusals, at least a thousand in vet bills......no answers. I thought I just was REALLY bad at keeping snakes, but SOME of my snakes were fine. That year I had all together 12 hatchlings come into my home, 5 of them thrived and are still fine, but I lost the other 7.

Turns out after I moved, no more snakes died, or failed to thrive, or acted sick at all. I'm almost sure it was the water. Even when I switched to bottled water I was still cleaning tanks with tap water.

If your breeder is reputable, and no one else complains about the hundreds of snakes he sells a year, then you may have to look for the cause at home. Good Luck.

Just what I've said.... It doesn't matter WHAT an animal dies from, or how long it's been in the buyer's possession BEFORE it dies.... IT ALWAYS (99.9%) FALLS BACK ON THE DEALER!.... There is NO WAY that the buyer EVER does ANYTHING wrong!.... THE BUYERS are the experts, so if the animal dies.... "It wasn't ANYTHING that I did"???, will be the refrain of the day!

As far as I'm concerned.... this is WAY beyond the warrantee.... the buyer is on his own!!

....Neil

One thing that needs to be addressed as well is that 3 months time is plenty enough time for the baby snakes to have picked up parasites from being fed while at the new owner's home. This is definitely likely if feeding live pinks. Unless one's mouse colony is in a hermetically sealed isolation ward, parasites are just one more lovely part of nature that we have to deal with.

Which, by the way, if you chew your fingernails after or during cleaning your snake cages, you might very well wind up in that parasite lifecycle yourself.

I have posted this statement many times,
"When is it no longer the sellers responsibility and it becomes the buyers?"

Every single time it gets answered the same way. Once the gaurantee period is out.

Charlene,
In short tough YOU KILLED THEM. Your not going to get any sympathy from this board. But the animals remaining in your care will.

In case you need a bit of help understanding why,
"This guarantee will stay in effect for TWO WEEKS (14 DAYS) from the purchase date. This is for animals purchased at FULL LIST PRICE ONLY !!
After the 14th. day, I will assume you are happy with your animal(s) and ALL LIABILITY on my part will then TERMINATE."

Walter,
Chalk this one up to a bad customer and move on.