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Bad Guy Seller TimTina - Shipping NEONATE CHAMS!

Chamcrazi

New member
Joined
Jul 12, 2011
Messages
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Location
Columbia South Carolina
Purchased a 'smurf blue' baby cham from seller last week. Was told it would be 8 weeks / 2 inches. Although we asked for a smaller cham, what we received is approx a 1.5 inch 4 week old that we can't find appropriate food for without special ordering it. Asked seller to return this baby for larger one and/or refund, or try to maintain her and still receive a refund due to extremely early age of shipment. Below are the email exchanges. And I think they speak for themselves. If anyone can help me get this baby to eat in order to save her life, please let me know. We currently have 2 chams (both that are doing well and thriving) but we have limited experience with neonates.

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From: [email protected]


Tina, Call our petsmart and ask for 1/8 inch crix, fruitfly culture or phoenix worms, Tina. Let me know what they say. We've been there FOUR times today. 803 419-1342. None of the locations in Columbia carry them !!!!!! What in the hell are you thinking?? That we purchased a baby cham to simply starve her to death?!! I'm done with this conversation. You are clearly out of line and your true colors are showing. As a seller its YOUR RESPONSIBILITY. And at 2 inches she would have been much easier to care for than 1.5 !
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From: Tina <[email protected]>

Date: Sat, 20 Aug 2011 18:41:58 -0700 (PDT)

To: [email protected]<[email protected]>

ReplyTo: Tina <[email protected]>

Subject: Re: Crix


Paige, you do what you feel you need to but like I said several times before, YOU asked for a "smaller" girl. You can buy fruit flies at petsmart and petco as we have before so we KNOW FOR A FACT they have sold them.


They are 6-8 weeks and YOU ARE NOT FEEDING HER! I told you to feed her, she needs food so if you let her die that is your own fault not ours, I cannot make you feed her. We CLEARLY told you what to get before you got her, you also said you had other chams how would I know you needed a "care package" unless you told me and we would have been happy to? Do what you need to but we are not in the wrong here I just hope you feed her before she dies from starvation. Her siblings are just fine the same size and eating like crazy......again she simply needs food.


I am not going to keep emailing you and explaining to you that she needs to eat, you know that, you are just choosing not to feed her because you obviously, from prior email, don't want to pay for her food. I am sorry but we offered to buy her food and that is the best we can do as we don't live in your town so I cannot bring you over some fruit flies BUT YOU could have gotten them before you got her. I am sorry you are unhappy but like I said, no matter what, PLEASE feed her and that will solve your issue.


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From: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
To: Tina <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, August 20, 2011 9:22 PM
Subject: Re: Crix


Be sure when you reply on Fauna to include your message to me as it clearly demonstrates the lack of care you have for your animals. I was not threatening you but its your responsibility as a BREEDER and a SELLER to ensure your chams are of appropriate age for shipping. And since YOU order from Joshs, YOU obviously know food for neonates isn't readily available at local petstores! Therefore, at a minimum, you should include SOME food with the sell of these babies JUST IN CASE ! Regardless, I thought all of these chams were at least 2 inches old bc I've heard of no one selling their babies under 2 and surely not 1.5 ! And anyone on Fauna that reads the details will hold you at fault (morally at least) for selling babies so damn young.
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From: Tina <[email protected]>

Date: Sat, 20 Aug 2011 18:08:32 -0700 (PDT)

To: [email protected]<[email protected]>

ReplyTo: Tina <[email protected]>

Subject: Re: Crix


Also, since YOU decided not to get her the food we CLEARLY told you she was eating, how are we responsible for you starving her to death if you don't feed her for a week? We are not unreasonable either but nobody likes to be threathened and we would NOT ship out any reptile we knew was not going to make it. They are between 6-8 weeks and you knew she was "ABOUT 2" and YOU asked for a SMALLER GIRL!........Seriously just get her some food and I am not sure how her food is our responsibility but I think we are going above and beyond buying her food that you should have already had especially since you knew SPECIFICALLY what she was eating BEFORE you got her.


You can post on fauna but I do have the emails CLEARLY showing you wanted a smaller girl AND what food she was eating. Again, we are not trying to be mean here but you got exactly what you asked for and should have expected so again, I am sorry you were not prepared for a baby so I am not sure why you ordered one and now want a refund. All the other chams are fine and eating good and I am sure she would be too if you would have gotten her the food you should have gotten before you got her.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Tina <[email protected]>
To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, August 20, 2011 8:56 PM
Subject: Re: Crix


Why did you not get her the food I told you she was eating before I shipped her to you?


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From: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
To: Tina <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, August 20, 2011 8:10 PM
Subject: Re: Crix


Tina, with all due respect, regardless of experience level with chams-this baby was too small to ship. I understood she would be small but you also specified about 2 inches... if she's 1.5 inches that would be a GIFT. We weren't expecting a neonate! She looks about 2/4 wks old to us. She is drinking some. We have put her in isolation with worms & crix but she waks all over them. We are doing out best to care for her but I have no intentions of keeping her and incurring add'l expense because she was shipped out too soon. A reputable seller would refund OR accept a return (although not in the best interest of the cham) considering she was sold WAY to early. Feel free to find someone in our area to come and take her but we aren't going to ''give'' her away and just eat $165 loss, either. We are intelligent, able minded people and are up to some challenge but this was a bit much for the average cham owner - So, again, I will order the food and do my best to keep her alive & thriving. If she dies before the end of the week we DO expect a full refund. Most reputable sellers honor a 10 day guarantee anyway. No one is going to spend $150+ if they aren't prepared to care for their animals. At the minimum you should pay for the flies AND the overnight shipping from Joshs. That's about a ridiculous "compromise", Honestly. Esp since the shipping is prob $25 or more. But if this is all you are prepared to do I have no prob letting folks on fauna & cham forums know the experience we've had as well as dispute this through paypal. Like I said, we aren't unreasonable people but we truly feel she was shipped way too early and barring a miracle , probably won't survive long term. Tomrow is Sun and since the post office doesn't run the earliest I can get overnite food will be TUES !
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From: Tina <[email protected]>

Date: Sat, 20 Aug 2011 16:47:40 -0700 (PDT)

To: [email protected]<[email protected]>

ReplyTo: Tina <[email protected]>

Subject: Re: Crix


Yes you should order her some food........Like I said before I think you should try to get the flightless fruit flies from Josh's Frogs (they can overnight them) at least. They are less then $8. We will even pay Josh for the flies if you pay the shipping since I don't even know how much he will charge for your area. Did you contact them?

I am sorry you did not realize how small she was but you even asked me specifically for a smaller girl and I told you before you even received her what she was eating; 1/8" crickets, small phoenix worms and the flightless fruit flies. I am sorry but I don't think we could justify refunding you because you don't want to purchase food that I told you she needed before you even got her. We could have sent some flies with the shipment or crickets/worms but you sounded like everything was covered and you could have also ordered food when you knew she was shipping so you had her food there. We don't want anything bad to happen to her either but I also am not sure that shipping her again will be of any benefit to her at this point either. She simply needs food. Is she at least drinking when you spray her? We can try to find someone in your area with chameleon experience if you want or we can try to have her sent back here to take care of her but like I said, I am not sure that will be good either. Let me know if you want us to pay Josh for some fruit flies for you, just let me know and I will contact him immediately.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
To: Tina <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, August 20, 2011 5:30 PM
Subject: Re: Crix


We have spent 2 full days looking for food to feed her. Petsmart, Walmart nor Target have fruitfly culture. We have pulled the legs off the crx but she's not interested. We purchased the smallest mealworms we can find and she hasn't eaten. We are at a loss. I even purchased a 10 gal tank. We can send her back to you on Monday or we can try to keep & care for her but you would need to refund us as we've already spent a great deal of time, effort & add'l expense trying to care for her. We will use those funds to try to sustain her life - or we can ship her out Mon & hope she makes it back alive. Pinhead crix will cost $40 a week for as they only last 4 days. Please et me know TODAY what you want me to do so I know whether or not to order food. We aren't trying to be difficult but she is a neonate & I don't know how anyone can sustain these tiny babies. We don't have experience younger than 4 mos. Ps... Can they eat termites?
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From: Tina <[email protected]>

Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2011 19:08:13 -0700 (PDT)

To: [email protected]<[email protected]>

ReplyTo: Tina <[email protected]>

Subject: Re: Crix


I would not force feed her...they are tiny and unless you have size 2 fingers it would be too difficult and personally I wouldn't try. She ate really good before Tim packed her up so she will probably be fine. Do you have both Petsmart and Petco because sometimes if one doesn't have them the other does and you sometimes have to ask or have them double check because they get moved sometimes.


We have had to put a piece of a banana in a cup, wait a half a day then bring saran wrap and trap them and put in cage. They will eat them until you get the others. (just make sure nobody is spraying any chemicals where you get them from).


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
To: Tina <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, August 19, 2011 5:05 PM
Subject: Re: Crix


Alright girl, we will pull the legs off & hope it works for now. If not can we force feed her? How long can she go without food? You can let me know how/when as far as a return is concerned on Monday (provided we can get her thru the wkend). Sorry Tina! We are pretty skilled at keeping the older chams but are completely lost with the neonates.
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

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From: Tina <[email protected]>

Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2011 13:49:39 -0700 (PDT)

To: [email protected]<[email protected]>

ReplyTo: Tina <[email protected]>

Subject: Re: Crix


Rule of thumb for crickets is that they shouldn't be bigger than the width between their eyes......we have ripped the legs off before ...I know if sounds cruel but it works....:O)


From: Tina <[email protected]>

Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2011 12:38:31 -0700 (PDT)

To: [email protected]<[email protected]>

ReplyTo: Tina <[email protected]>

Subject: Re: FedEx Shipment 795094279116 Delivered


Of course the smallest enclosure would be great but to work with what you have, this is what we have done before. It looks great but you may want to put a cup in the bottom and have a vine or stick to go down into the cup so you can contain the food a little bit so she won't have so far to roam. She does get around pretty good though.


The fruit flies we have gotten from Josh: the first batch of 6 cultures we ordered about a month ago are still going....:eek:) I ordered two more because I thought they were running out about a weeki or so ago and the older ones are still going so I just alternate them and do a little out of each. The big ones will eat them too if you get too many but like I said, to get by for now, Petco and Petsmart up here anyway do carry fruit flies in a tube and sometimes they have small enough crickets you just have to check with them. We have gotten really small ones before from there. (Do you happen to have a small 10 gal tank? you could use that for a while if you had one)
Basking temps., our cage at the top hot point is about 105 ish with plenty of cool off spots. With glass you just need to be careful and I wouldn't get much over a 40 watt bulb for now. She may be small but she gets around pretty good......


From: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
To: Tina <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, August 19, 2011 3:09 PM
Subject: Re: FedEx Shipment 795094279116 Delivered

How long does the fruit fly culture & phoenix worms last when you order from joshs? Did you see her enclosure and do I need to make modifications? What about basking temps?
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From: Tina <[email protected]>

Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2011 11:58:27 -0700 (PDT)

To: [email protected]<[email protected]>

ReplyTo: Tina <[email protected]>

Subject: Re: FedEx Shipment 795094279116 Delivered


They should have fruit flies and sometimes phoenix worms. Our definately has fruit flies.....


From: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
To: Tina <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, August 19, 2011 2:54 PM
Subject: Re: FedEx Shipment 795094279116 Delivered

We have a petsmart. No crix under 1/2 inch.
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ate: Fri, 19 Aug 2011 19:58:45 +0000

To: Tina<[email protected]>

ReplyTo: [email protected]

Subject: Re: FedEx Shipment 795094279116 Delivered


So you say the basking temp should be about 100 for her age? We got the smallest crx we could find. They are about 1/4. Do you think this will work? They had NO worms or fruit flies. Ill tweak her cage as the basking spot at the top is 85 w/ a 40 watt bulb. I really think we will have to send her back on Monday as food & caging will pose a big prob for us! We can swap out for one double her size or for a refund. I'm terribly sorry, we just weren't expecting one so tiny. I just hope we can sustain her long enough with the limited food supply we currently have :(. Please give me your thoughts. We can try to keep but need a 30 day health guarantee & I'm sure you probably won't want to go that route. We just want to do what's best for HER. Thanks so much.
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Message body



Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

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From: [email protected]

Date: Sun, 21 Aug 2011 01:51:19 +0000

To: Tina<[email protected]>

ReplyTo: [email protected]

Subject: Re: Crix



From: Tina <[email protected]>

Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2011 11:53:01 -0700 (PDT)

To: [email protected]<[email protected]>

ReplyTo: Tina <[email protected]>

Subject: Re: FedEx Shipment 795094279116 Delivered


Do you have a Petco or Petsmart?



From: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
To: Tina <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, August 19, 2011 2:21 PM
Subject: Re: FedEx Shipment 795094279116 Delivered

What can I feed her right now? Do you have any ideas? I think we are going to have to send her back. I'm scared to death we won't be able to care for her properly. I just want to keep her stable until Monday. I'm terribly sorry. If you have a bigger cham we can swap her out for ?
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T


From: Tina <[email protected]>

Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2011 10:57:16 -0700 (PDT)

To: [email protected]<[email protected]>

ReplyTo: Tina <[email protected]>

Subject: Re: FedEx Shipment 795094279116 Delivered


Sorry, if I would have known I could have had Tim put in some of the crickets & flies in another container....

What town are you in again, I will see if I can get something to you or find somewhere....


From: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
To: Tina <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, August 19, 2011 1:50 PM
Subject: Re: FedEx Shipment 795094279116 Delivered

The problem is: the crix we can order here are $20 per 500 BUT for that size they only live about 4 days and obviously we can't afford 50 per wk in food. We have a huge tupperware container full of them but none that she can eat. All this is news to me as I wasn't quite prepared for her small size. I can't find anywhere local that offers anything less than 1/2 an inch. So right now I have NO food for her. We mite have to send her back to you :( Unless you know a shortcut we can take for feeding requirements.
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T


From: Tina <[email protected]>

Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2011 10:40:08 -0700 (PDT)

To: [email protected]<[email protected]>

ReplyTo: Tina <[email protected]>

Subject: Re: FedEx Shipment 795094279116 Delivered


We have been ordering the 1/8" crickets, small phoenix worms and fruit flies from Josh's Frogs. Their fruit flies are great, we have ordered from LLL before but they were dried up when we got them...:O(

We were just going to introduce them to hornworms too, if you get the eggs you can grow them but they grow REALLY fast so if you don't have others that can eat them when they get big, it probably wouldn't be a good idea to spoil her with those yet.


From: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
To: Tina <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, August 19, 2011 1:06 PM
Subject: Re: FedEx Shipment 795094279116 Delivered

Hi! We got her & she's doing well. She sure is TINY. I don't know if I can find crix that small for her? Where do you get yours?
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From: Tina <[email protected]>

Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2011 10:04:36 -0700 (PDT)

To: [email protected]<[email protected]>

ReplyTo: Tina <[email protected]>

Subject: Fw: FedEx Shipment 795094279116 Delivered


Haven't heard yet how she is doing and she was delivered around 10am.......Please let me know she arrived safely.

Tina :eek:)


Message:

Please email as soon as she arrives so we know she made it there safely....THANK YOU..:O)


We have been ordering the 1/8" crickets, small phoenix worms and fruit flies from Josh's Frogs. Their fruit flies are great, we have ordered from LLL before but they were dried up when we got them...:O(

We were just going to introduce them to hornworms too, if you get the eggs you can grow them but they grow REALLY fast so if you don't have others that can eat them when they get big, it probably wouldn't be a good idea to spoil her with those yet.


From: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
To: Tina <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, August 19, 2011 1:06 PM
Subject: Re: FedEx Shipment 795094279116 Delivered

Hi! We got her & she's doing well. She sure is TINY. I don't know if I can find crix that small for her? Where do you get yours?
 
Read the emails (quite a few holes) you are changing your story now but that is ok. We told you "6-8" weeks and "about 2" and you asked for smaller one. We offered to buy you food even though you should have ordered from Josh's frogs like we clearly told you before we even shipped, you chose not to, they are all eating great and you said the crickets you could get are too much money....etc. You should have never bought a baby as we CLEARLY stated to you what you were getting and told you exactly what they were eating before we even shipped. I will not discuss further we just hope you feed her and that is all we can hope for at this point since you did not order food. End of our discussion unless the mediators need more information from us we are choosing not to keep a 5 year thread going for someone who had obviously cannot purchase the food we clearly told her to get and apparently has buyers remorse. We love our reptiles and would never sell ANYONE anything we didn't think was going to make it let alone be starved to death. Thank you all for your time. We will not keep the chaos going and pray that she gets it food because by the time she would send it back to us, it will probably not make it....
 
Hold on. You buy a small Chameleon, can't find the right food for it, and then tell the seller its their responsibility?

Im sorry but I think the OP is at fault here. You knew you were getting a small chameleon, you should've already researched and saw how much the food would cost online.

Buy some fruit flies from JoshsFrogs and feed the Chameleon, end of story. While the seller does need to help give advice(which they have been), it is now YOUR responsibility to feed the baby.

How are they at fault just because you can't find the right food?(Which I already Googled it and found several places where you could buy fruit flies online for VERY reasonable prices)
 
I dont keep chams so I can't speak on wether in not it should have been shipped/sold at that age, however I just recently purchased the large hypo/m.leucistic bearded dragon "Frosty" Tim and Tina posted for sale just under two weeks ago and couldn't be happier with the level of service and quality of animal they provided, even as far as swapping email stories regarding Frosty off and on over the last two weeks. From glancing through the emails you posted they seem just as sincere and helpful as I have found them to be.
 
Agreed.

As a BUYER, you should have all of the preparations for an animal made ahead of time, its a basic rule of thumb when purchasing animals. The enclosure and food should have been purcahsed and at the ready for when the animal arrives.

I think the seller was very reasonable and prompt with their responses. How small of an animal were you expecting if you asked for "smaller than 2 inches?" :shrug01:
 
Cham was too small to be sold. Tina, if there are holes please copy and paste. Yes, food is available ONLINE but none for immediate consumption. Earliest is Tuesday for overnight on Monday. No one should ever ship a chameleon this young. And regardless, to be accused of starving a baby death is simply unacceptable and unprofessional. Sellers like this give small sellers bad names. I'll stick with full retail like Scremeleons from now on. I can promise they don't sell month old chameleons! We have been everywhere looking for food and we simply can't find any in my area. (Fruitfly culture, small phoenix or 1/8 inch crix).
 
Agreed.

As a BUYER, you should have all of the preparations for an animal made ahead of time, its a basic rule of thumb when purchasing animals. The enclosure and food should have been purcahsed and at the ready for when the animal arrives.

I think the seller was very reasonable and prompt with their responses. How small of an animal were you expecting if you asked for "smaller than 2 inches?" :shrug01:

I assumed her SMALLEST was at LEAST two inches based on their stated age. I wasn't expecting a neonate straight out the egg.
 
Cham was too small to be sold. Tina, if there are holes please copy and paste. Yes, food is available ONLINE but none for immediate consumption. Earliest is Tuesday for overnight on Monday. No one should ever ship a chameleon this young. And regardless, to be accused of starving a baby death is simply unacceptable and unprofessional. Sellers like this give small sellers bad names. I'll stick with full retail like Scremeleons from now on. I can promise they don't sell month old chameleons! We have been everywhere looking for food and we simply can't find any in my area. (Fruitfly culture, small phoenix or 1/8 inch crix).

Here you go:

http://www.reptmart.com/p-2439-18-live-crickets-1000-ct-for-sale.aspx

Overnight those things and feed the baby Cham :angry:
 
Tina, Call our petsmart and ask for 1/8 inch crix, fruitfly culture or phoenix worms, Tina. Let me know what they say. We've been there FOUR times today. 803 419-1342. None of the locations in Columbia carry them !!!!!! What in the hell are you thinking?? That we purchased a baby cham to simply starve her to death?!! I'm done with this conversation. You are clearly out of line and your true colors are showing. As a seller its YOUR RESPONSIBILITY. And at 2 inches she would have been much easier to care for than 1.5 !

Let go of the size thing... the size doesn't matter when the seller told you in advance that the cham was eating specific prey items. You chose not to buy these items ahead of time. You chose to assume your local Petsmart would carry these very specific items. You were mistaken. So now you have to bite the bullet and have the food your baby needs overnighted to you. At this point I consider it cruelty to intentionally disregard the needs of this poor animal because you don't think you should be held accountable for your own mistake.

Buy the poor chameleon some food and then quibble over the details over her age/size/etc!
 
Local bait store sales spikes they work great for small lizards. They are a maggot almost like a Phoenix worm. When buying small lizards you should always have something small on hand like maggots. I think it's funny that people are spending tons of money on maggots because they are called a cool name. Through a steak in a bucket and place it out side for a week and you will have super dragon worms. Any go by some spikes at a bait shop and feed your Cham.

Alex

Alex
 
The seller even provided details about where food could be purchased, and gave advice for collecting food in an emergency during the down time. It's not the seller's responsibility to continue to care for the animal once it is in your possesion.

I understand that the animal is smaller than you anticipated, but if you were ordering something that is 8wks and 2" long I still don't see how you can be THAT surprised by something that is a meager 1/2" smaller in size. Both likely would be consuming insects of similar size, I think you have have been in the same situation even having been sent a slightly larger cham (opinion).

Also, the OP is making a lot of accusations about this animal being a neonate, do either of you have factual evidence to support/rebuttal this claim other than personal opinion?
 
You could've found those things on Google and had them the next day to feed the baby. :shrug01:

Dude, she came yesterday. We have NOW ordered online but that doesn't solve my problem of what to do in the absence of ANY suitable food for her at the moment. This is the second full day we have been all over the metropolitan area. The bottom line is do NOT sell chams under 2 inches old and if you do G-D forbid, include a few feeders with the purchase!
 
The seller even provided details about where food could be purchased, and gave advice for collecting food in an emergency during the down time. It's not the seller's responsibility to continue to care for the animal once it is in your possesion.

I understand that the animal is smaller than you anticipated, but if you were ordering something that is 8wks and 2" long I still don't see how you can be THAT surprised by something that is a meager 1/2" smaller in size. Both likely would be consuming insects of similar size, I think you have have been in the same situation even having been sent a slightly larger cham (opinion).

Also, the OP is making a lot of accusations about this animal being a neonate, do either of you have factual evidence to support/rebuttal this claim other than personal opinion?

There is a huge difference between 1/8 of an inch crickets and 1/4 in terms of availability! This baby is so small she's eating pinheads. And it explains why the seller is flipping her chams at this incredibly small age. It's too damn expensive to feed them considering crix die within 4 days when they are that small!
 
The seller even provided details about where food could be purchased, and gave advice for collecting food in an emergency during the down time. It's not the seller's responsibility to continue to care for the animal once it is in your possesion.

I understand that the animal is smaller than you anticipated, but if you were ordering something that is 8wks and 2" long I still don't see how you can be THAT surprised by something that is a meager 1/2" smaller in size. Both likely would be consuming insects of similar size, I think you have have been in the same situation even having been sent a slightly larger cham (opinion).

Also, the OP is making a lot of accusations about this animal being a neonate, do either of you have factual evidence to support/rebuttal this claim other than personal opinion?

Chams this young shouldn't be sold and that's the bottom line. Unless the buyer has NEONATE experience, it's damn near a death sentence. We have two thriving chams. We aren't stupid people. I will post a pic tomorrow and at 1.5 inches she's most def a NEONATE.
 
Local bait store sales spikes they work great for small lizards. They are a maggot almost like a Phoenix worm. When buying small lizards you should always have something small on hand like maggots. I think it's funny that people are spending tons of money on maggots because they are called a cool name. Through a steak in a bucket and place it out side for a week and you will have super dragon worms. Any go by some spikes at a bait shop and feed your Cham.

Alex

Alex

I will call around tomorrow for spikes. This is safe to feed a cham, for certain? I've never heard of them before?
 
It's too damn expensive to feed them considering crix die within 4 days when they are that small!

Thats just ridiculous... how would we ever have crickets of larger sizes if they died so readily?

I think you need to do a little more research on caring for feeder insects properly, crickets are quite simple to keep and raise. All you need is a bin, dry gutload, greens/veggies for moisture, and some places to hide (ex. Egg flats). I've raised plenty of crickets from pinhead to adult size without die offs, you just need to know how to take care of them. Do a quick google search for keeping crickets - although I literally just told you all you need to know for successful rearing.

I don't want to go off topic here though, I apologize. I still believe you should have been more prepared for the cham before it arrived at your doorstep. It's good to know that you have placed an order for the appropriate sized food - I think the #1 concern for all of us here is the safety of the animal.
 
Thats just ridiculous... how would we ever have crickets of larger sizes if they died so readily?

I think you need to do a little more research on caring for feeder insects properly, crickets are quite simple to keep and raise. All you need is a bin, dry gutload, greens/veggies for moisture, and some places to hide (ex. Egg flats). I've raised plenty of crickets from pinhead to adult size without die offs, you just need to know how to take care of them. Do a quick google search for keeping crickets - although I literally just told you all you need to know for successful rearing.

I don't want to go off topic here though, I apologize. I still believe you should have been more prepared for the cham before it arrived at your doorstep. It's good to know that you have placed an order for the appropriate sized food - I think the #1 concern for all of us here is the safety of the animal.

We have a bin full of gutloaded crix! The smaller they are the quicker they parish. Hence, the reason I can find 1/4 but not 1/8. Yes, I asked her what this cham ate and was told Petsmart would have the food. They currently carry none of it.

I have put fruit in the bottom of her cage to try to attract fruitflies, we will try the small crx again tomorrow and I will research spikes at the local bait store. Any other advice welcome..
 
Dude, she came yesterday. We have NOW ordered online but that doesn't solve my problem of what to do in the absence of ANY suitable food for her at the moment. This is the second full day we have been all over the metropolitan area. The bottom line is do NOT sell chams under 2 inches old and if you do G-D forbid, include a few feeders with the purchase!

The Cham just came yesterday and you are already posting a BAG GUY THREAD???? Think before you act! This thread is way premature.

Include feeders? How about you become a better keeper and have the feeders ready BEFORE the Cham arrives? Like most responsible keepers would do...
 
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