I also had a horrible experience with Terri. In the mid 2000's, I was for the first time the general manager of a local pet store. We sold all kinds of animals, including the animals I was most passionate about, reptiles. I wanted to do something important with my new found "power," to do something cool that big competitors like Petco weren't doing. I decided that we should breed, in store, our own line of our most popular reptile, the bearded dragon. I wanted the most colorful breeders, and I wanted to keep them in the most prominent display cages that could be seen just by walking by the store. After lots of convincing, my boss agreed that this idea could work, and that I could have a fairly large amount of money to execute it. I already knew how to house and breed bearded dragons, so the first step was to make sure the window cages would work for them, and with a few changes, it was determined that we would. Next step, find the breeders. I was very aware of who was producing the most colorful dragons in the world, and one of the first breeders I ever reached out to was Fire & Ice, specifically for the citrus line. I sent an email to Terri, explaining to her that I wanted to purchase the best male she had available, no expense spared. I told her my pet store wanted a few outstanding breeder dragons, that these animals would receive lifelong homes with us, have professional care around the clock, have the best caging we had, and become ambassadors for reptile pets in general, showing the public just how beautiful a friendly lizard can be. I even sent her a few pictures of the palatial homes we were preparing for these special dragons.
Yeah, I know that some people who are serious about reptiles hate all pet stores. I thought that if I explained just how passionate we are about the care of our animals and our hobby, maybe she'd be as excited as I was. I was sooooo wrong. She sent me one of the longest emails I had ever received about how evil pet stores are, how evil I am for working at one, insulting me personally, really ripping me apart. She also said that she would contact every notable breeder of bearded dragons that she knew, which of course was everyone, and personally warn them that I was a horrible person and their animals would suffer terribly in her care. I was stunned that she would trash my personal reputation that way without knowing anything about me. I was relieved that I hadn't given her the name of my store, so she could not deal damage to our business and ruin any chances I had of being successful in making reptiles more important there. I didn't respond to her in any way, but she sent me several other angry and personally insulting email, some of which described in graphic detail the torture that I was surely inflicting upon animals. I should of saved these as proof of how unprofessional she was, but honestly, I was much younger and more vulnerable back then, and even thinking about having these on my computer made me feel bad.
After recovering for a while, I decided to reach out to Sandfire, since I knew they did wholesale and therefor probably didn't hate pet stores. I thought of misrepresenting myself as a private hobbyist just to get the animals, but in the end, I wanted to give my store's hard earned money to a company that shared our values. Anyway, Sandfire was extremely excited by this idea, so much so that they offered to sell me three Sandfire x Blood subadults that they had intended to keep and breed themselves. These amazing animals became the cornerstone of our breeding project. They did great in the window units. People would come to our store just to see the cool lizards in the window, and the dragons would come up to the glass and ham it up. Everyone loved these animals. Their offspring sold like hot cakes, and many individuals who bought them later bought other reptiles as well. In the end, this experimental idea of mine was my first ever unqualified success as a manager of anything, despite the close-minded and hurtful treatment I received from Terri Sommella.
PS: I asked some higher-up people in the reptile community, whom I had met and knew who I was, if she ever warned anyone about me, and I never heard of any evidence that she had, thank God.
