Baue6879
New member
In January of 2018, I spoke with Nicholas Rahban of Brentwood Iguanas about purchasing a group of iguanas that he had posted on Fauna. We negotiated the following deal regarding all the iguanas: they’d be in good health without any toe nips/intact tails/no health issues; the group would be a breeding mix with all sexes guaranteed (7 females, 5 males); they’d be of Tom Crutchfield lineage. As Brentwood iguanas didn’t have a huge following at the time, I took a risk with entering into an agreement with him. However, he spoke very knowledgeably on the subject of iguanas and was very confident in his offering. He sent beautiful pictures of the crimsons looking healthy and the rest of the stock with vibrant pictures and chubby bellies. The Iguanas we negotiated were: 1.1 crimson pair, 2.5 red 66% het, .2 2016 100% het, .1 2015 100% het.
The issues began when we agreed upon a shipping date that would accommodate the iguanas in winter in Buffalo. He missed the original date and made several excuses as to why he couldn’t get them in the mail. I became nervous as I had already paid $6,800 in full. Three weeks later, on Friday, January 26th, they were finally shipped. However, he neglected to ensure the iguanas would be delivered Saturday morning. When you ship overnight through FedEx you must be sure to check a box for Saturday delivery, this was not done. They ended up sitting in a cold warehouse in Buffalo until Monday, January 29th with 12-hour heat packs. I was very nervous for the health and wellbeing of the animals at this point.
I took off work on Monday and went to the airport to pick them up first thing Monday morning. I rushed them home to a heated room as there was a good chance they wouldn’t make it. Upon receiving the box, I was instantly alarmed at the size (16in x 16in x 8in) of the shipping container, as it was much too small to house 12) 24"-36" Sub-adult iguanas. I recorded the opening of the box and realized 5 iguanas were packaged in the same snake bag and 7 were roaming free; no attempt was made to isolate any of these. All 12 iguanas were extremely lethargic and freezing to the touch. They all appeared to be extremely malnourished with little-to-no fat reserves in their tails. One red het had a broken ankle; (Pictured) nearly all of them had at least one broken toes and infections; the male crimson had lacerations to the face and leg and had an infected front finger that seemed to be infected for weeks-months before the shipments, both crimson females had what seemed to be chronic skin issues that looked like a fungus.(pictured) The only iguana that appeared mildly healthy was the 2015 100% het female, but she was still extremely skinny.
My partner and I took several pictures and took our concerns to Nick. Many of them required a vet visit, but his response was to just send them back. I expressed concern that they were not healthy enough to ship back to California from Buffalo and I wasn’t confident in his ability to give them the care he needed to revive them. Nick told me to look at them as more of a commodity and to care about them less as individual animals. Although he advised not wasting money on a vet visit, I took 7 of the worst iguanas to a local reptile vet for a check-up. An upper respiratory infection, several broken toes, a broken femur and some fungus later, I ended up with $400 in Veterinary fees and medication for both old (pre-shipment, pre-existing) and shipment-related issues. Nick offered two options: send all the sick iguanas back for a refund or get a discount on my next order. I wasn’t comfortable sending them back, as I didn’t think they would survive the trip and I was not going to order any more animals from him. He ended up covering the bills and we pretty much ceased communication, even though I had to put the male crimson iguana down a few weeks later because of how unhealthy he was and hand-deliver antibiotic medication to several iguanas for weeks after for their infections.
Fast forward 10 months, and I find out (2) of the 66% red het females and (1) 100% het females I was guaranteed turned out to be males. Nick’s ads say he doesn’t guarantee gender, but I have a text screenshot where he promised to make sure he sends 5 females. He placed the blame on Tom Crutchfield for inadequately sexing them for him and did not take responsibility. At this point, my chances of recouping the cost of this project are slim to none. Nick has refused to do anything about the issues as he claims he made partial payment back to me because of the $400 vet bill payment. Beware of purchasing reptiles from this person. Pictures + Video to follow.
I have record of all correspondence as well as pictures of all stated issues.
The issues began when we agreed upon a shipping date that would accommodate the iguanas in winter in Buffalo. He missed the original date and made several excuses as to why he couldn’t get them in the mail. I became nervous as I had already paid $6,800 in full. Three weeks later, on Friday, January 26th, they were finally shipped. However, he neglected to ensure the iguanas would be delivered Saturday morning. When you ship overnight through FedEx you must be sure to check a box for Saturday delivery, this was not done. They ended up sitting in a cold warehouse in Buffalo until Monday, January 29th with 12-hour heat packs. I was very nervous for the health and wellbeing of the animals at this point.
I took off work on Monday and went to the airport to pick them up first thing Monday morning. I rushed them home to a heated room as there was a good chance they wouldn’t make it. Upon receiving the box, I was instantly alarmed at the size (16in x 16in x 8in) of the shipping container, as it was much too small to house 12) 24"-36" Sub-adult iguanas. I recorded the opening of the box and realized 5 iguanas were packaged in the same snake bag and 7 were roaming free; no attempt was made to isolate any of these. All 12 iguanas were extremely lethargic and freezing to the touch. They all appeared to be extremely malnourished with little-to-no fat reserves in their tails. One red het had a broken ankle; (Pictured) nearly all of them had at least one broken toes and infections; the male crimson had lacerations to the face and leg and had an infected front finger that seemed to be infected for weeks-months before the shipments, both crimson females had what seemed to be chronic skin issues that looked like a fungus.(pictured) The only iguana that appeared mildly healthy was the 2015 100% het female, but she was still extremely skinny.
My partner and I took several pictures and took our concerns to Nick. Many of them required a vet visit, but his response was to just send them back. I expressed concern that they were not healthy enough to ship back to California from Buffalo and I wasn’t confident in his ability to give them the care he needed to revive them. Nick told me to look at them as more of a commodity and to care about them less as individual animals. Although he advised not wasting money on a vet visit, I took 7 of the worst iguanas to a local reptile vet for a check-up. An upper respiratory infection, several broken toes, a broken femur and some fungus later, I ended up with $400 in Veterinary fees and medication for both old (pre-shipment, pre-existing) and shipment-related issues. Nick offered two options: send all the sick iguanas back for a refund or get a discount on my next order. I wasn’t comfortable sending them back, as I didn’t think they would survive the trip and I was not going to order any more animals from him. He ended up covering the bills and we pretty much ceased communication, even though I had to put the male crimson iguana down a few weeks later because of how unhealthy he was and hand-deliver antibiotic medication to several iguanas for weeks after for their infections.
Fast forward 10 months, and I find out (2) of the 66% red het females and (1) 100% het females I was guaranteed turned out to be males. Nick’s ads say he doesn’t guarantee gender, but I have a text screenshot where he promised to make sure he sends 5 females. He placed the blame on Tom Crutchfield for inadequately sexing them for him and did not take responsibility. At this point, my chances of recouping the cost of this project are slim to none. Nick has refused to do anything about the issues as he claims he made partial payment back to me because of the $400 vet bill payment. Beware of purchasing reptiles from this person. Pictures + Video to follow.
I have record of all correspondence as well as pictures of all stated issues.
