• 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....

Inquiry Big Apple Herps - sent wrong snake?

I had a look at their site and they don't appear to list any locales except Okeetee. The other is simply labeled "normal", and doesn't say anything about what location they come from. The photo for "normal" also looks like a typical Carolina/red rat, to the best of my knowledge. I did a search for Miami and didn't turn up anything.

Maybe their normals range from Carolina to Alabama to Miami and they don't make a distinction, so when you ordered, they just picked something labeled "normal?"

Or MCMB-2 is right. I've just never seen my own classic's background to turn grey when he goes blue. His saddles will turn dull, but his background remains oranges-brown and wouldn't get him mistaken for a Miami phase.
 
Ms. Senick

I would agree that they should offer store credit or cover shipping. But honestly, nothing in the TOS says they will accept returns, let alone cover return shipping.

From a TOS point of view, they have you over a barrel. How much did you pay for the corn?
 
CwnAnnwn said:
Ms. Senick

I would agree that they should offer store credit or cover shipping. But honestly, nothing in the TOS says they will accept returns, let alone cover return shipping.

From a TOS point of view, they have you over a barrel. How much did you pay for the corn?
Click to expand...

The TOS doesn't cover a situation where the buyer purchased a specific animal, and the seller sent a completely different animal. That can easily be considered fraud. Consumer protection laws trump the seller's TOS.
 
Regarding the distinctive 'butterfly' on the miami (at least 5 saddles from the vent) yes, the snake the op has a butterfly near the vent as well (3 saddles from) BUT also has a second butterfly. The miami in the video has only one. Plus the saddle shapes are different.

The snake the OP was sent, and the snake in the video, are definitely different animals.
 
Shiari said:
Regarding the distinctive 'butterfly' on the miami (at least 5 saddles from the vent) yes, the snake the op has a butterfly near the vent as well (3 saddles from) BUT also has a second butterfly. The miami in the video has only one. Plus the saddle shapes are different.

The snake the OP was sent, and the snake in the video, are definitely different animals.
Click to expand...

Gotcha. I had a feeling based on the belly, as Deb said, but was trying to give them the benefit of the doubt.
 
As others have noted, the snake you received looks as good or better than the one in the video. If it looks healthy and it's a female why not keep it? There's the chance the replacement snake won't be as nice, If that happens you'll want to kick yourself.
 
Originally posted by JButera:
As others have noted, the snake you received looks as good or better than the one in the video. If it looks healthy and it's a female why not keep it? There's the chance the replacement snake won't be as nice, If that happens you'll want to kick yourself.
Click to expand...

Justin, I believe the issue is that she purchased a Miami cornsnake (grey background color), and what she got was not a Miami cornsnake (red/orange background color).
 
And if she's for breeding purposes, there are specific corn morphs that use Miami phase animals, which a non-Miami would change how the hatchlings look. Or, for example, Miami and Okeetee tesseras look VERY different even though neither of them carry mutations other than tessera.

Someone who wants the specific look of a Miami shouldn't have to settle for a different animal just because it's healthy. It's not what she wanted.
 
Will0W783 said:
Originally posted by JButera:

Justin, I believe the issue is that she purchased a Miami cornsnake (grey background color), and what she got was not a Miami cornsnake (red/orange background color).
Click to expand...
I'm unfamiliar with this species but I did find this:

Screenshot (140).jpg
 
Will0W783 said:
Originally posted by JButera:

Justin, I believe the issue is that she purchased a Miami cornsnake (grey background color), and what she got was not a Miami cornsnake (red/orange background color).
Click to expand...

I agree. Depends on what she wants to do at this point. If she WANTS a "Miami Phase" corn snake, in my opinion she did not get that.

Just a fyi, I actually coined the phrase "Miami Phase" corn snake a long time ago, and that label was defined by the gray background color with red or orange blotches found in the Miami Florida locale. I actually spent time in Miami collecting specimens looking for this color variation back in the late 70s even before SerpenCo was created. From those animals I selectively bred for that color variation and marketed those animals as "Miami Phase" corn snakes. Although you can find orange colored corn snakes in the Miami area (or at least you used to be able to), that was not the coloration that people wanted when they ordered a "Miami Phase" corn snake from me. I coined the phrase to specifically identify this particular color variant so people could recognize the difference and therefore be able to order THAT color variance specifically.

And the animal sent shown in the photos here, in my opinion, is not the "Miami Phase" corn shown in the video as being offered for sale.
 
JButera said:
I'm unfamiliar with this species but I did find this:
Click to expand...

In the Miami/Miami-Dade location (for Miami locality corns), there can be some specimens that are not quite the same as we would expect in a "Miami Phase". However, that area (and some surrounding) is known for the Corns with silver/grey backgrounds.

In captivity, the coloring was simply further perfected via selective breeding (breeding specimens, together, with the better silver/grey backgrounds). Although, some awesome wild caught Miami Corns can/could be just as nice, or even better, than some captive bred Miami phase corns.
If two Miami phase Corns are bred together, they will breed true

Unless somebody specifically states that a Corn that they are selling is a Miami locality animal, everyone will expect the well known silver/grey background of the Miami phase.

....
 
Like Rich and Deb stated, though, someone looking for a Miami phase corn is, 99% of the time looking for an animal with silver/grey background color. The animal in the video has that grey background associated with Miami phase corns. The one she received is not grey.
 
Oh I agree, you should get what you paid for however, the op did receive a Miami corn snake, just not the color she wanted, IMO better coloration than the one she requested, but I know that's not my call.
 
But she didn't receive a grey Miami like is in the video. I also don't see how an orange background snake makes a "better coloration" if a Miami. I am super confused. If you want an orange background, you would be very unlikely to seek out a Miami. Just because they CAN have a more typical color does not change that they are known and valued as grey. If it didn't matter, she could have bought a Carolina, Alabama, or Okeetee. She chose Miami for a reason, the snake she got does NOT look like the one in the video.

You might think a big standard orange colored red rat is better. That's clearly not what the OP was looking for when she specifically ordered a Miami phased, linebred animal with a grey background.
 
I spoke on the phone with Gina in customer service twice and placed the order directly with her after she confirmed that the snake in the video was the actual snake for sale. The snake is very pretty and extremely sweet to handle so I am keeping it. I don't believe it's the Miami because of coloring (could have been very poor lighting...though he described it as I saw it) and the ventral markings are completely different.. There is some question on CS.com forum as to whether or not it's even a female. Big Apple insists it is the exact snake from the video. I don't know... This is my second snake. My first was purchased from Don at SMR, from his surplus list, and she was exactly as pictured.
 
Ugh, my Kindle "helpfully" corrects my posts so they don't make as much sense. ""Better coloration" of a Miami" and "bog standard orange colored red rat."
 
DLenaRuth999s said:
I spoke on the phone with Gina in customer service twice and placed the order directly with her after she confirmed that the snake in the video was the actual snake for sale. The snake is very pretty and extremely sweet to handle so I am keeping it. I don't believe it's the Miami because of coloring (could have been very poor lighting...though he described it as I saw it) and the ventral markings are completely different.. There is some question on CS.com forum as to whether or not it's even a female. Big Apple insists it is the exact snake from the video. I don't know... This is my second snake. My first was purchased from Don at SMR, from his surplus list, and she was exactly as pictured.
Click to expand...

I'm glad that she's a nice snake even though she's not what you wanted. It's frustrating but if they refuse to relent then I don't know what recourse you have. I really don't agree it's the same animal.

I don't know if it's as important to you the snake's sex, but probe kits aren't very expensive.
 
Back
Top