• 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.

  • IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!! About the Google Adsense ads being displayed

    =====================
    Posted 08/15/2025
    =====================


    Yeah, I know. They are a pain in the butt. But they pay the bills to keep my server running. Just a fact of life, I am afraid.

    Want to get rid of them? Simple. Just become a Contributor level member or above and they will be gone. -> Please click HERE."

    Is that too much for me to ask of you to keep this site running? Well, sorry about that. I too wish I could get everything for free. But alas.....

    =====================
    Addendum: 01/10/2026
    =====================


    Google Adsense ad revenue for December, 2025 was just $30 over the cost of the lease for the server running this site. So, in effect, the money providing the incentive for me to continue running this site is coming SOLELY from the paid memberships and sponsorships here. Which honestly ain't much....

Bad Guy AVOID Don Leydig and Amy Leydig of "Poor Boy Pythons" Bedford, PA

Fisher Reptiles

New member
Joined
Sep 2, 2009
Messages
233
Reaction score
9
Points
0
Location
Hanover, PA
I will start off by saying I do not like to leave reviews such as this and only have had to one other time. Unfortunately I got duped with sick, mite infested snakes from Don Leydig of "Poor Boy Pythons" on Monday 10/26/15. Don lives in Bedford, Pennsylvania and met me in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania at night on 10/26. We did meet in a face to face transaction for an adult pair of super dwarf retics that he bought from my good friend in July, 3 months prior, and I checked the snakes out in their tubs that were duct taped with 3 layers of tape. Don claimed that the snakes are very hard to get back into the tubs so I took his word and observed them through the tubs in the back of his van and they looked fine. My friend that sold them to Don also met us there and bought the 2 vision cages they were living in. Don and I talked and he was nice saying the snakes were healthy and didn't ever have any issues. Knowing he only had them for a short time, I was not too concerned about believing him. After that, I made the drive home where I got the snakes out to observe them better and put them into quarantine. I get the male SD out and I immediately notice he is breathing pretty loud and hear wheezing when he breathes heavy. After setting him down, to my horror, my hands are covered in snake mites. I close the tub and check the female. She is also wheezing and sneezes a few times throughout the ordeal and also has mites on her paper towels underneath her and on her body. She even had maggot larva on the paper towels and what appeared to be blood on the bottom of the tub! I immediately text Don about the respiratory infections before I saw the mites and he responds that he "never noticed and the female always made a loud hiss." I called him two times right after he texted back when I found the mites and he does not answer. I text two more times over the course of an hour to please call me and get no response. The next day I finally get ahold of him and tell him about the mites and RI they both have as he laughs on the phone, doubting my every word. He claims they were his first retics and he "doesn't know what he's doing." Then I ask what can be done to rectify the situation and he offers to send only $50 and will not refund my money and take the snakes back because he claims the hundreds of dollars was spent in less than 20 hours. I spent $25 on 1 can of prevent a mite alone. $50 wouldn't even cover the fee to walk one snake into my vet. Don then hung up the phone on me and blocked me on Facebook to hide. I spoke with my friend who bought the vision cages they lived in and he said they were disgusting and one had weeks worth of feces packed under the front lip of the one cage. Don is a liar and tries saying I am trying to "extort money from him and the snakes were fine when he put them in the tubs." He's full of it, to say the least. Don Leydig of "Poor Boy Pythons" is uneducated about proper care and sells sick animals with mites and refuses to take responsibility. Do yourself a favor and do not put yourself through what I'm going through for dealing with Poor Boy Pythons in Bedford, PA!
 
Screenshot_2015-10-26-22-39-55-1_zpssjhre52o.png
 
I had originally sold the SD retics to Don in July 2015. The snakes were in my care for 5 years and 100% healthy. On 10/26/2015 I met Don to purchase 2 vision cages that were housing the retics Sam purchased. Don told me the cage the male SD was in had some feces in it that was stuck under the front lip that he didnt see. When getting home and doing a thorough cleaning on the cage, i discovered feces completely filling the front lip of a 3ft vision cage. It was at least a months worth of feces. I then received a phone call from Sam stating the snakes were weezing and covered in mites. It was easy to see why they were in such poor health. I feel bad for any of his other animals as they are probably in the same deplorable conditions. I would stay clear of any dealings with Don and Amy Leydig (Poor Boy Pythons).
 
Don claimed that the snakes are very hard to get back into the tubs so I took his word and observed them through the tubs in the back of his van and they looked fine.
I am sorry that this happened to you and that you are having to deal with the expense and hassle of mites and alleged illness.
In the future, in a face-to-face meeting, NEVER take anyone's word, especially from sellers you do not know personally, ALWAYS check out the critters for yourself prior to purchase. No matter how many layers of tape, or how hard it is to get the critters back in their cages, don't just fork over your hard earned money without inspecting them.
 
I am sorry that this happened to you and that you are having to deal with the expense and hassle of mites and alleged illness.
In the future, in a face-to-face meeting, NEVER take anyone's word, especially from sellers you do not know personally, ALWAYS check out the critters for yourself prior to purchase. No matter how many layers of tape, or how hard it is to get the critters back in their cages, don't just fork over your hard earned money without inspecting them.
:iagree:

May we ask what you paid for them say compared to what your friend sold them for only 3 months back?
What did you ask for from Don, a complete refund and return of the snakes or some form of compensation for the problems you are now facing with them?
 
:iagree:

May we ask what you paid for them say compared to what your friend sold them for only 3 months back?
What did you ask for from Don, a complete refund and return of the snakes or some form of compensation for the problems you are now facing with them?

Sure, I paid $500 for them because he was unsure on the locality of them. I believe this is what he paid to Mike although I can confirm with Mike. When I spoke to Don on the phone the day after I got them, when I was able to get a hold of him, I asked what he could do to rectify the situation. He asked me what people normally do. I said well you can either send back a good part of the money to cover most of the vet bills and supplies needed to fix these snakes to which he replied he would only send $50 so I said that does not really even help so I would like a full refund and to return the snakes to which he laughed and said he will not take them back. Then he hung up on me and blocked me on facebook.
 
Sure, I paid $500 for them because he was unsure on the locality of them. I believe this is what he paid to Mike although I can confirm with Mike. When I spoke to Don on the phone the day after I got them, when I was able to get a hold of him, I asked what he could do to rectify the situation. He asked me what people normally do. I said well you can either send back a good part of the money to cover most of the vet bills and supplies needed to fix these snakes to which he replied he would only send $50 so I said that does not really even help so I would like a full refund and to return the snakes to which he laughed and said he will not take them back. Then he hung up on me and blocked me on facebook.

Ok so a fair price and probably comparable to what he may have paid for them, just curious, did they give a reason for wishing to sell them again so relatively soon after purchase especially as it seems they were not "flipping" them to make a huge profit?
Have you made them aware of this thread here on the BOI of Fauna?
 
Ok so a fair price and probably comparable to what he may have paid for them, just curious, did they give a reason for wishing to sell them again so relatively soon after purchase especially as it seems they were not "flipping" them to make a huge profit?
Have you made them aware of this thread here on the BOI of Fauna?

I do not have contact with Don but I posted about this review on Facebook and he was made aware by an admin in a group on there. He claims that the female was very flighty and aggressive and he couldn't handle her because he has a bad back. I'm not sure why he has any large snakes then to be honest. The female is actually pretty easy to handle and is not aggressive at all. He just seems inexperienced with them. My goal is not to get a full refund anymore as he already denied any chance of doing so and at this point I would not want them to go back to him and have to suffer in his "care." I have already seen some improvement and I plan to get these guys back to 110% health. I just want others to be aware of this guy and not have to deal with what I am.
 
I do not have contact with Don but I posted about this review on Facebook and he was made aware by an admin in a group on there. He claims that the female was very flighty and aggressive and he couldn't handle her because he has a bad back. I'm not sure why he has any large snakes then to be honest. The female is actually pretty easy to handle and is not aggressive at all. He just seems inexperienced with them. My goal is not to get a full refund anymore as he already denied any chance of doing so and at this point I would not want them to go back to him and have to suffer in his "care." I have already seen some improvement and I plan to get these guys back to 110% health. I just want others to be aware of this guy and not have to deal with what I am.

Very laudable sentiments for sure!
Glad they are doing well in your care now for sure, just a shame the snakes and you had to go through this which I am sure could have been completely avoided with a little more good husbandry on the Leydig side.
Quite possibly we will not see them on here but if they are aware that is good, they cant say they were never notified of this thread!
 
It's sad that within a short period of time animals health can plummet to such levels. I have seen it happen within a week. The good thing is that they are in good hands now to get them back to health. As far as Don, well I think his laughing and hanging up speaks volumes. I do agree that if you are meeting in person, look over the snake just as you would count the money. I know of a guy being trusting, and they flipped the money over so he only got half of what he was suppose to. Bad people don't do random acts of treachery, they are usually trying to do someone wrong. Sometimes it's just a game to them. Laughing at someone that is going through something because of them just shows you how pathetic this guy really is.
 
I completely agree Randy. The guy isn't even worth any more of my time. I'm glad I had time to think about the deal because as I said, I wouldn't even give them back now, knowing what they'd have to go through again. I want these beautiful animals to thrive and that is what they will do in my care. I'm glad I saved them, costly or not.
 
I just wanted to post an update that I have gotten just about all of the mites under control as of now so I'll continue to treat them to be sure all eggs are gone and they'll be sure to have preventative steps taken to ensure they never get mites again. They have both also gotten much better with the respiratory infections. I have gotten their breathing almost silent. No more wheezing. Amazing what proper care can do.
 
Back
Top