• In case most of you have not noticed, I made changes to the donation amounts as well as the durations for all of the paid membership levels. Things are winding down here, and this seems to be the most prudent way to deal with the "end of life" period of this site.

    Contributor level members - $10 per 30 days
    Sponsors - Eliminated
    Benefactor level members - $25 per 30 days
    Endowment level members - $50 per 30 days

    Account Upgrades Page
  • Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

Inquiry Sacred Skin Reptiles (Victor Soto, Hugo Coria)

ReptileJay

Active member
Joined
Jul 19, 2008
Messages
408
Reaction score
40
Points
28
Age
44
Location
Durham, NC
I have been talking to Victor about a possible trade, and was wondering if anyone else has dealt with his company recently.

The main reason I'm curious is that when I search, there is 1 good guy thread about Victor (very limited info) and one Bad Guy thread about Hugo without any of the opposite on either.

If anyone has any recent info on the company, or on these individuals, I'd really appreciate it. It's not really my idea of a good time to go into any transaction blind, and in this situation I don't quite have enough info to consider myself well enough informed.
 
Totally untrustworthy he almost got me on a "trade" and I asked a couple of people if the guy had character, turns out he was full of it and never intended on keeping his end of the deal. Two thumbs down as stated above; a waste of time!
 
I dont even know were to begin, nor do i want to get started, but i agree with richard and Alex, a total WASTE OF TIME, very shady and untrust worthy....................
 
One of my biggest concerns is the condition of the animals... It seems like the majority of the complaints I've seen have been regarding communication issues...

Alex, just out of curiosity how do you know that he was not planning on following through on his end of the trade? Is that something that was mentioned directly from someone, or was that just an assumption made based on character references? That is a fairly major concern in my opinion which I feel that I should look into further...

Anthony, in the bad guy thread you mentioned that the animals were being kept in terrible conditions. Did you actually get a chance to see the facilities where they were kept? Could you possibly post some more info regarding that? You also said that one of the 2 Frilled dragons you received from Hugo died months after it arrived... What was the condition of the dragon when it initially arrived with you? Do you happen to have photos of the dragon upon arrival?

I'm sorry for all the questions, I'm just trying to get as much info as possible before committing to anything... whether it be a trade, or avoidance.
Thanks for the info guys!
 
I just recently purchased a Salmon Boa from Victor or Sacred Skin Reptiles.

I had a good experience overall. I contaced Victor when he listed the ad for the boas, I asked some general questions and liked the answers (was she tame, etc...).

We agreed upon a price and, after I paid, he agreed to ship the following week (because I paid on a Friday).

That week, I wrote him and asked when the animal would arrive. He got back to me after he printed the shipping label to give me the tracking number.

The boa arrived the next day as per usual. When I removed it from the box it was packaged very well, in fact, I still have the box, here are some pictures:

Shipping Label:
2dh64hg.jpg


Opened box:
2d2hgmr.jpg


Styrofoam top removed, the packaging/snake bag:
2e67o8j.jpg


Just a shot of the bag:
2q0pz5c.jpg


Here is a picture I took of the Boa after she settled into her new cage:

picture.php


Here is a picture today, she is in shed, so she is dark-ish grey:

10h9i5t.jpg


She has been eating well, and she is very tame. She also seems to be in good health, I've had her almost a month now and I haven't noticed anything. This will be her first time shedding for me.

I hope I included enough information here, sorry my original post didn't include more information. If there is anything else you'd like to know that you think I could help with let me know. I never did any trades, so I can't help there.

This was just my experience with Victor, I never spoke to anyone named Hugo.
 
I probably should mention that those pictures of the box are from today, not the day I got the boa. The snake bag was secured with a rubber tie as well as tightened and tied, not just thrown in the box like in that picture lol.

The outside of the box was marked with the upward arrows and said "Parishable" and "Fragile".
 
Ok that was a dumb question..I seen the website and looks like its owned by Hugo...No way at all would I ever buy from that operation...Victor you commented on my profile about my post in this thread bashing sacred skin reptiles...Now you know why..Ask Hugo why he had to go under a businness name versus using his own??..Its not a good one around here...It would be ill advised to continue to partner up with this guy..I bet you did all the funding??..But someone did say you were both the same person...So maybe an IP check is in order??
 
So is Victor really Hugo cause he cant sell under his own name anymore??..

To be honest, that I am not sure of. But, on his website, it mentions they are partners.

I don't know how much sense it would make, if you wanted to go by a different name, that you would mention you're partners with the name you wanted to change from, rather than leave it out entirely.

If it were a concern, I would ask Victor, I never had any communication issues with him personally, and he always replied to all of my emails.

For me, the transaction went smoothly, and I'm happy with my new Boa.

I'm not trying to negate other peoples experiences, just share my own.
 
Ok to clarify things Sacredskin reptiles is a joint run company, I Victor Soto teamed up with Hugo after we met in the construction feild. We breed boas,chameleons,tegus,leopard geckos,kenyan sand boas and colubrids. We decided to join forces and build a small company to share are babies with others. Yes Hugo has had bad experiences when had had first started selling on his own, not knowing how to ship his boas and returning funds to an upset party, yet he has never sold a sick or dieng animal. I have not nor intend to sell sick or dieing animals myself. We both understand that Fauna is very good at weeding out ill providers of animals and feel for all the good folks that have had their dreams of owning a healthy yet costly reptile shattered through a bad transaction. We are sorry to have upset interested traders due to money deals worked out on the animals. We prefer to sell but when the market is slow we will post possible trades. We cant make everyone happy and we have learned our lesson about changing our minds about trades Not because we wouldnt keep our end of the deal but because a buyer finally come through with money. We hope to continue posting here on fauna due to the great community and freindships that we have built and greatly apologize for the misunderstanding.
 
Ok to clarify things Sacredskin reptiles is a joint run company, I Victor Soto teamed up with Hugo after we met in the construction feild. We breed boas,chameleons,tegus,leopard geckos,kenyan sand boas and colubrids. We decided to join forces and build a small company to share are babies with others. Yes Hugo has had bad experiences when had had first started selling on his own, not knowing how to ship his boas and returning funds to an upset party, yet he has never sold a sick or dieng animal. I have not nor intend to sell sick or dieing animals myself. We both understand that Fauna is very good at weeding out ill providers of animals and feel for all the good folks that have had their dreams of owning a healthy yet costly reptile shattered through a bad transaction. We are sorry to have upset interested traders due to money deals worked out on the animals. We prefer to sell but when the market is slow we will post possible trades. We cant make everyone happy and we have learned our lesson about changing our minds about trades Not because we wouldnt keep our end of the deal but because a buyer finally come through with money. We hope to continue posting here on fauna due to the great community and freindships that we have built and greatly apologize for the misunderstanding.

Having a trade arrangment set up and then back out for a money sale is not a good way to do businness at all..how does that not say SHADY...And what happens if their animal was sent to you already and you got the money offer??Now what??..They gotta trust you to keep it safe til you can ship it back??...I am still gonna wait for an IP check before I assume these are two seperate people..Hugo cant do much with his name and seemed "looney" , so I am not sure if I believe what you say yet...Oh,except for what you said about shady businness,I do believe that...
 
I just received my Lesser Platinum Male from Victor today. I paid him Tuesday July 27 and he shipped it yesterday as we had agreed. The snake came in very well packaged and right on time. The only point that I saw was the snake had a small nick on it's chin which could be overlooked very easily if not given a thorough check. I am pleased with the overall deal as I talked to Vic on the phone and felt very comfortable afte our conversation. I have no complaints and would do business with Victor again. Thanks Vic
 
dealt with him in the past and it was bad very bad

I got a snake from him earlier this year and was not at all happy.First off she was supposed to be a gravid female pastel.He sent me pics of her and from the pic you could tell the snake was for sure gravid.But when he finally sent her and I received her she was packaged very well.But when I got her out she was not gravid and possibly not even the snake in the pic he sent me.So after calling him and bringing this to his attention he basically gave me excuses,lies and kept me waiting for him to make it right.And after over 2 months of waiting he still didnt send me any of my money back but instead he sent me 2 baby red tails.He had told me that he was sending the babies and he told me that they was jungles but when I got them they was both normals.And I am pretty sure that Hugo Coria and Victor Soto is the same person and until some proof is provided that they are in fact different people that what I will believe.I would not do any business with him at all purchases or trades.
 
I have done many transactions with victor over the past year and have seen alot of the animals that he sold. many of which I wish I had the money to buy. I currently live a mile away from victor and know he is a good guy. now I understand that every reptile breeder has had stuff go wrong, but just cus an animal died a few months after you recieved it or you didnt get the trade you wanted. doesnt mean that there going to screw over. I personally know Victor and he takes pride in what he does.
 
Back
Top