Posting Snakes For Sale on Craigslist?

[snakechaarmer]

Hi all,

This may have been asked before and I could be a complete ditz -

However, I see people all over saying how they bought or sold this or that snake on Craigslist, and I guess I am asking -

HOW?

Everytime I post a snake for sale on Craigslist, no matter the category or how I word it, it is deleted, usually within an hour.

Is there a trick to this that I am missing?

 

[BobOblak]

You have to make is sound like an adoption, rather than a sale. Breeder sales are prohibited. Make it sound like you have to get rid of them due to a situation change, ie:

"Rehoming my 3 ft boa constrictor and 2 ft ball python due to landlord issues. $75 each adoption fee."

Dont use words like for sale. Use words like, rehoming, or adopting out, etc.
Dont have more than 3 animals in an ad or you will appear to be a dealer.
There are a lot of AR trolls that flag ads that appear to be from breeders doing regular sales. Good luck.

 

[GHC Exotics]

Yeah, you have to submit it as a "rehoming fee"

 

[snakechaarmer]

I have actually worded it that way on 3 different ads and they were still flagged. :/

 

[Wolfy-hound]

Some area craigslists will have trolls that sit around all day doing nothing but flagging ANY animal post no matter what. Some will flag any post that is for a snake, some for anything that simply catches their eye. I had a free snake ad flagged and removed, even though it stated outright that it was "Free to approved home" with no fee, no adoption fee, no pay-for-my-gas, nothing.

For the record, that snake was free, and went to a good approved home later anyway. I don't try to use craiglist to sell animals, just don't believe in trying to break a site's rules in general.

 

[MDC_Ophiuchus]

IMHO, Craigslist is a severely flawed system. The "no breeders" and "no selling live animals" policy was originally established with the intent to prevent puppy mills and dog BYBs from getting business. I heartily salute this attempt and understand the reasons behind it.

However, the world of breeding, raising and selling herps is quite a different one from the one for canines. Keeping a snake in a rubber tub on a shelf is NOT the cruel, inhumane living conditions that it is for a dog. Two entirely different organisms. In that regard, I have never really felt guilty for using CL to sell any of my reptiles. Yeah, I'm technically breaking the rules, but its a free classifieds venue on the stupid internet.

Personally, I hate dealing with CL. When it first started getting popular, I was really against using it for obvious reasons. However, I started using it more out of necessity more than anything else. I don't produce enough stock to warrant the fees for posting ads on Kingsnake, and I've rarely had much success selling stuff on here or on other herp sites. Additionally, I always preferred local sells because I'm not yet certified with FEDEX (which I know, is mostly a procrastination on my part), so I never liked being in the position of having the ship snakes under the radar. We have local ads that are fairly cheap or free, but with the arrival of CL on the scene, their success has diminished.

Along with the annoyance of the flagging (which in all honesty, you can't gripe about because you're essentially breaking the CL rules anyway), I've never liked dealing with CL because of (and I'm about to get judgmental here) the type of people it attracts. It didn't matter how cheap or reasonable I was selling a reptile, I was always getting lowballed. Very few calls were from people I felt comfortable selling to.
------
Nowadays, I only use CL when I may have a single animal that I just need to move to save space for; often animals that I don't really care so much about making any money on anyway, I just want to get them out of my rack and into a good home.

It really is ridiculous, though. I have to specify in my ads that I don't receive calls after 9, because idiots will call me at ungodly hrs of the night asking if I still have that snake for $30 (seriously, can't it wait until morning?!). And I also seem to get a lot of calls from long distances wanting me to meet them halfway.

The last ad I posted a month or so ago was for a group of snakes I was offering for FREE. Just needed to downsize the collection and simply wanted them to go to someone into snakes who wasn't an idiot. This individual called me from a city 50+ miles away and wanted me to meet them halfway. Seriously? The snakes were free and they were essentially asking me to spend money (+ time + effort) to give them to her. I told them no way. They wanted the snakes, the least they could do was drive the full distance to get them.

 

[Focal]

Some area craigslists will have trolls that sit around all day doing nothing but flagging ANY animal post no matter what. Some will flag any post that is for a snake, some for anything that simply catches their eye. I had a free snake ad flagged and removed, even though it stated outright that it was "Free to approved home" with no fee, no adoption fee, no pay-for-my-gas, nothing.

Yep, we have those people and they will ALWAYS flag any pit bull ad or any animal that eats another animal. Whether they are for free or for $25. They are always flagged within minutes. We also have the big PETA headquarter building here and I've read random posts about them being on there all the time flagging ads for whatever agenda they are working on.

There are also people that download the CL auto-flagger program. It will cycle through 10 different IP addresses and remove/lock any ad in like a minute.

But there is nothing like a flagger. I love them. I don't use CL much, but I have this app on my phone that stores my last post. So when I am flagged, it usually takes less than a minute to repost it no matter where I am. My post always stays at the top until it sells.

I definitely want to send a thanks out to Colin, ECRB, for www.herpexchange.com
He has saved us from the slums of listing our reptiles on CL. Too bad its local though, but I'm sure everyone can start something similar.

 

[Cp3_Pythons]

I have to agree CL does have people that have nothing better to do than flag ads and certain post I belive most of the time when a Reptile or as Nick brought up an American Pit Bull Terrier I do belive it's becuase of the type of animal thats being offered.... This may vary from county to county and city to city IDK...
Although CL can be a good site to find deals on Cars Boats Furniture Computers
Ad even the firearm that comes along every now and again although there an item thats prohibited what ever and Ive seen a few good priced animals for " Adoption " as well as a few that where clearly not what they were labled and priced rather high...

Like any site it has its ups and downs and take them as they come IMHO Selling reptile's on CL although you can have some sales from using CL the bad is that the ad may sit there forever before intrest is taken in the animal being offered...

 

[timebider]

Our local CL is rife with snake-haters. People asking advice, looking for feeders, selling snakes, etc. are generally flagged off within hours. We do seem to have an inordinate number of folks who bought pet store ball pythons, got tired of them after a week or a month, and then want to sell them with all their (unnecessary) stuff for $100-200. (A normal ball hatchling at PetCo is $80 - makes me go whenever I'm in that place.)

The thing that irks me most is when legitimate ads are flagged off because the CL trolls who spend all day on the pet page don't like the subject matter. I posted some surplus feeder rats once and got immediately flagged. I also posted long ago looking for a particular size and type of live feeder for a super-picky ball and was instantly flagged off.

It cracks me up when people price pet rats for $5 or $10 so snake owners won't want them. The time that I was looking for that special feeder rodent, I received some hate mail in conjunction with being flagged off. I got mad and posted a rebuttal that actually did NOT get flagged off right away, in which I stated that I would show up at your house, charm you to death, and convince you beyond all question that I had been looking for a pet rat just like yours and wanted nothing more in the world than to hand you $40 cash or more for it, if doing so was the difference between my $2000 snake getting dinner or not. Got more hate mail after that, but felt so much better!!

 

[bigjej]

However, the world of breeding, raising and selling herps is quite a different one from the one for canines. Keeping a snake in a rubber tub on a shelf is NOT the cruel, inhumane living conditions that it is for a dog. Two entirely different organisms.

Though I agree with everything else you write, this statement is very debatable.

 

[Focal]

Our local CL is rife with snake-haters. People asking advice, looking for feeders, selling snakes, etc. are generally flagged off within hours. We do seem to have an inordinate number of folks who bought pet store ball pythons, got tired of them after a week or a month, and then want to sell them with all their (unnecessary) stuff for $100-200. (A normal ball hatchling at PetCo is $80 - makes me go whenever I'm in that place.)

The thing that irks me most is when legitimate ads are flagged off because the CL trolls who spend all day on the pet page don't like the subject matter. I posted some surplus feeder rats once and got immediately flagged. I also posted long ago looking for a particular size and type of live feeder for a super-picky ball and was instantly flagged off.

It cracks me up when people price pet rats for $5 or $10 so snake owners won't want them. The time that I was looking for that special feeder rodent, I received some hate mail in conjunction with being flagged off. I got mad and posted a rebuttal that actually did NOT get flagged off right away, in which I stated that I would show up at your house, charm you to death, and convince you beyond all question that I had been looking for a pet rat just like yours and wanted nothing more in the world than to hand you $40 cash or more for it, if doing so was the difference between my $2000 snake getting dinner or not. Got more hate mail after that, but felt so much better!!

LOL, I love that. "I'm asking a rehoming fee of $30 to ensure my rat doesn't become snake food."

Dummy! I wouldn't pay $5 for a feeder rat at a pet store, don't give me that crap, lol. You are asking $30 for a two year old pet rat because you are greedy.

*No I do not search for peoples pet rats. I look at most ads in sheer boredom.

 

[timebider]

*No I do not search for peoples pet rats. I look at most ads in sheer boredom.

I don't either, but it amuses me that people think even $30-40 will deter someone who paid thousands for a snake if they REALLY need food for it - say, if it had been off feed for months and would ONLY take a live 78-gram black rat with white feet and medium-length fur (gotta love those finicky balls). Not that there aren't way better options for procuring feeders...it just shows how ignorant most people are about our industry and the value we place on OUR pets.

The best, though, are the rat breeders that insist on fees of $50 or more per rat, plus a signed "adoption" contract. That's some seriously overpriced vermin.

(Yes, I am no kind of rat enthusiast... )

 

[BobOblak]

Just sharing this from todays Madison WI Craigslist Pets Classifieds before it is flagged:

Date: 2011-02-11, 11:50AM CST
Reply to: [email protected] [Errors when replying to ads?]

I admit it: I'm a hater. I post hateful comments on the craigslist pets classified ads (which at times becomes my personal forum for venting my hatred) on a range of various things that I hate. Some of these topics include:

(A) Too-high "rehoming fees". I think that many people are trying to make money by breeding dogs, cats, snakes... and I hate it. If I were honest I'd admit that I don't really have a clue about breeding dogs, cats, etc. If I did have a clue, I'd realize that there is really no way to turn a profit doing this; I'd realize that, at most, people who charge too-high "rehoming fees" are merely trying to cut their losses. But, I'm a hater, and I haven't thought any of this through very thoroughly.
(B) People "rehoming" animals that they've bred regardless of the price they are asking. I think (somehow, convolutedly) that "rehoming" an animal that was born from an accidental breeding is somehow, I don't know, more responsible...noble...worthy...than rehoming an animal that is the product of a planned breeding. In some crazy way I believe that someone who owns an unfixed pet and lets it run loose and has puppies or kittens to rehome from that (ignorant? culpably irresponsible?) "accident" somehow has more of a right to use the services of craigslist than does someone who plans ahead just a little bit. But, I'm a hater, and not a logician, so somehow in my mind this makes sense. Plus, remember that I believe that people are making scads of money breeding cats and selling them for $20.
(C) People misspelling words such as "Chawawa", "Shit-zu", and "Phython". Really, I'm so much better than you I can even spell better. What I really hate is that your misspelled words ruin my vision of every pet owner being a college-educated suburban professional. Stop stomping on my fantasy view of the world, and use spellcheck.
(D) People who "rehome" animals like primates, Greyhounds, wolf hybrids, chameleons, and other animals that really only an animal expert like me knows how hard they are to care for. So I post hateful messages to the effect that no one should adopt such an animal without years of research and a PhD. I also post lots of links to websites that explain how hard it is to care for such animals (since if you find a couple websites that claim that something is the case, it is undoubtedly true). Not only am I a hater, but I know better than all of you about the care of exotic animals.

There's much more that I hate, and I'll post again soon to tell you about it. I'm on this site at least three times an hour, so you shouldn't have to wait long.

it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests