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Bad Guy Ed Clark, again

You know Ed this is why I choose to never do business with you. You come across as an expert yet take no responsibility for shipping in those conditions even though you have way more experience in this hobby still pass the buck as that is the risk you take.
Since she doesn't have the experience you have how is she to know what to do with a sick snake other than to take it to a vet, not everyone treats their own animals they don't have the experience you have. Had you replied to her earlier you probably could have saved her some money and communicated with her about what the appropriate steps (according to you ) should have been.
You make it sound as if it is common occurance for all snakes to have internal parasites. Is it Ed?
With your wealth of knowledge and many years of experience you shipped in temps that you should have never shipped in regardless of what the customers wants (in this case she didn't even insist and you never questioned the temps). You miss sexed your snake and they had internal parasites. Yet you still accept very little if any responsibility. One wonders what the outcome would be if this thread had not been brought up. You have a history of bullying inexperienced customers when they have questions or concerns and I still seeing you do that, tick tock.

As a veterinary technician at an exotics-equipped animal hospital, saying that it is "common" for snakes to have intestinal parasites is not the word I would use, but yes... If you feed snakes live prey you risk intestinal parasites every meal. And yes, parasites are seen quite often in live-eating reptiles. In my opinion, I as the buyer am responsible for testing and de-worming my snakes, not the seller. If you buy a puppy, and it tests positive for intestinal parasites, the breeder will not re-reimburse you this money. Maybe this is a bad metaphore, as this is the reptile business and people expect more from us... My opinion.
 
As a veterinary technician at an exotics-equipped animal hospital, saying that it is "common" for snakes to have intestinal parasites is not the word I would use, but yes... If you feed snakes live prey you risk intestinal parasites every meal. And yes, parasites are seen quite often in live-eating reptiles. In my opinion, I as the buyer am responsible for testing and de-worming my snakes, not the seller. If you buy a puppy, and it tests positive for intestinal parasites, the breeder will not re-reimburse you this money. Maybe this is a bad metaphore, as this is the reptile business and people expect more from us... My opinion.

Parasite ova can survive in frozen rodents, and their ova can be passed to a snake. It may be less likely but it's still likely. I use to work with a lot of snakes (as a licensed vet tech) that were dewormed repeatedly and STILL had parasites, and they were not fed live rodents. So I would say it IS common in snakes, maybe not AS common in ball pythons that were captive bred. And I'd say at least 85-90% wild caught snake fecals I looked at were positive for at least one parasite, and many times, multiple parasites. Like you said, puppies have them (all the time!) and breeders DON'T cover that under any guarentee because they can be picked up in the environment. It's a standard thing with all pets to be dewormed on a regular basis. It does however look better on a breeder to have parasite free animals. If the animal isn't exhibiting clinical signs (a positive fecal is not a clinical sign) then I don't think a breeder should be held responsible.
 
Both had parts in it, both took responsibility

I agree that both parties had parts in this but I disagree that both took responsibility. I'm sorry but I must have missed where did Ed took responsibility for shipping when he did. I did see where he blamed the buyer even after he first offered and clearly stated "I can ship right away".

It is obvious that Ed doesn't take the animals welfare into account after the money is in his hand. NOW, after this has been brought here he is willing to wait until the weather gets warmer. Some people don't work well without supervision. Bringing this to the BOI is providing that supervision that Ed apparently needs.
 
I would never ship geckos in weather that cold. I'd refund the customer's money if they insisted rather than ship. You can professionally pack using the highest quality thick brand new styro boxes and 60 hour heat packs but what if the heat pack(s) fail? This happens sometimes! What if their are flight delays due to weather or what if the package gets lost for 2-3 days (that happens sometimes too!)? It's just not worth risking the lives of our animals by shipping in temps that cold! Ed is not a stupid man and is well aware of all of the above facts. I'm really not sure why he did that.
 
sounds right

I would never ship geckos in weather that cold. I'd refund the customer's money if they insisted rather than ship. You can professionally pack using the highest quality thick brand new styro boxes and 60 hour heat packs but what if the heat pack(s) fail? This happens sometimes! What if their are flight delays due to weather or what if the package gets lost for 2-3 days (that happens sometimes too!)? It's just not worth risking the lives of our animals by shipping in temps that cold! Ed is not a stupid man and is well aware of all of the above facts. I'm really not sure why he did that.

:iagree:.
i am currently holding dragons from dec. because temps havent been right in both places to ship. An holding dragons is alittle different then holding snakes. But i will not ship in these temps and my customers have no problems letting me call the shots when it comes to shipping. Besides who better to hold there animals then me. Customers seem to love it.
 
I agree that both parties had parts in this but I disagree that both took responsibility. I'm sorry but I must have missed where did Ed took responsibility for shipping when he did. I did see where he blamed the buyer even after he first offered and clearly stated "I can ship right away".

It is obvious that Ed doesn't take the animals welfare into account after the money is in his hand. NOW, after this has been brought here he is willing to wait until the weather gets warmer. Some people don't work well without supervision. Bringing this to the BOI is providing that supervision that Ed apparently needs.

No one is arguing that Ed is not responsible for shipping the snake. He knows that, we all know that. It is however, it is ridiculous for the OP to assume she had absolutely no idea shipping in lower degree weather could be harmful to her snakes. As I said before, Ed is very much responsible for shipping this snake in the current terrible New Jersey weather, but the OP claiming "ignorance" and "not knowing better" is insufficient, and would not hold up in court or anywhere else - it just an attempt to remove all blame from herself with the snake's illness and the bills involved. Kmarsh said it better than I can:
It is obvious if you read this whole thing that the buyer isn't just someone that just bought her first snake. She knows morphs and pastels, willing to pay 300.00 for a snake to breed, weights in grams, and this particular parasite. Yet she doesn't know the temp outside is too cold for a snake to be shipped in? She is about to begin a breeding project yet has failed to even think on shipping temps to get the snake safely to her? I think not. I think both thought it would be ok and he took what he thought would be enough protection with the heat packs and both did the deed.
 
"When did Rich make YOU a moderator? "
__________________
What part of "wish" didn't You understand Deborah. Last time I looked neither are You a moderator. I am entitled to my opinion just as you are.

Yes I did mean Mr. Clark and not Mr. Moore. Sorry got my train on two different tracks.

I know others say Mr. Clark didn't admit fault but I just didn't see it that way. IF he didn't feel he was at fault to some degree then the generous offer to get this resolved wouldn't have taken place. People that feel they aren't at fault generally don't give solutions. They stick to their guns and send nothing.
I just feel that at a time when the reptile industry as a whole is under attack we need to focus on fighting peta and laws that would seek to take away our rights to own our reptiles NOT fighting each other when things like this are already resolved.
 
No one is arguing that Ed is not responsible for shipping the snake. He knows that, we all know that. It is however, it is ridiculous for the OP to assume she had absolutely no idea shipping in lower degree weather could be harmful to her snakes. As I said before, Ed is very much responsible for shipping this snake in the current terrible New Jersey weather, but the OP claiming "ignorance" and "not knowing better" is insufficient, and would not hold up in court or anywhere else - it just an attempt to remove all blame from herself with the snake's illness and the bills involved. Kmarsh said it better than I can:

I'm sorry but Nicole (OP) did accept responsibility for her part in allowing the snake to be shipped!

I totally agree with you! I realize I was stupid in having the snake shipped, I just foolishly assumed since it's offered, it must be okay. I did not use common sense and wish I had!

That sure sounds like her accepting her part in this to me.
 
Oh, I know... she did accept her part and than asked for vet bill money right before she accepted Ed's offer... but it is no longer Nicole I was referring to. I assume she understand as she stated. My response was third party opinions and those I quoted who is still attempting to cast blame when the situation has been made good already.
 
Glad everything was resolved but I was wondering throughout reading this as to how experienced this Vet was in probing balls. Not the easiest snake to probe IMO. Before the OP gets "another" male she may want to get a second opinion.
 
Glad everything was resolved but I was wondering throughout reading this as to how experienced this Vet was in probing balls. Not the easiest snake to probe IMO. Before the OP gets "another" male she may want to get a second opinion.

This fact was brought up to the OP and we were told that the vet knew what he was doing and sexed it correctly. I know as well as anyone else that noone is infalliable and that vets can and often do make mistakes but i left it alone.
 
Just wanted to update. I hate to bump this up to the top of the list, but...
after giving Ed multiple times to keep his word and ship the replacement snake that he publicly promised, he is now ignoring my emails.

I contacted him in April (4/5) when we had a warm spell of 80 degrees all week. He said he had been meaning to contact me to get this taken care of and that he would like to wait a few more weeks just to be sure the weather was okay and he would get back to me, (Again - weather for the whole week was beautiful, but didn't want to push it).
So I waited expecting to hear from him. I sent another email requesting we get this taken care of and arrange a shipping date on 5/20. No reply. I sent another on the 24th and 29th.
The one on the 29th I stated that I would give him until the 5th of June, before I posted on here letting everyone know that he did not keep his word. I also contacted him via the form on kingsnake last night hoping that maybe it is a computer glitch (as he stated the last time it seemed that he was ignoring my emails), and that he would receive the email from them. So far nothing. So to recap - Ed Clark in my opinion deserves his bad guy rep, and again I wish I had known of the BOI before I bought!

P.S. Spyder79 the snake IS female, I've had her sexed mulitple times by different breeders since the vet visit. :)
 
Just wanted to update. I hate to bump this up to the top of the list, but...
after giving Ed multiple times to keep his word and ship the replacement snake that he publicly promised, he is now ignoring my emails.

I contacted him in April (4/5) when we had a warm spell of 80 degrees all week. He said he had been meaning to contact me to get this taken care of and that he would like to wait a few more weeks just to be sure the weather was okay and he would get back to me, (Again - weather for the whole week was beautiful, but didn't want to push it).
So I waited expecting to hear from him. I sent another email requesting we get this taken care of and arrange a shipping date on 5/20. No reply. I sent another on the 24th and 29th.
The one on the 29th I stated that I would give him until the 5th of June, before I posted on here letting everyone know that he did not keep his word. I also contacted him via the form on kingsnake last night hoping that maybe it is a computer glitch (as he stated the last time it seemed that he was ignoring my emails), and that he would receive the email from them. So far nothing. So to recap - Ed Clark in my opinion deserves his bad guy rep, and again I wish I had known of the BOI before I bought!

P.S. Spyder79 the snake IS female, I've had her sexed mulitple times by different breeders since the vet visit. :)

It appears ed's sabbatical from here hasn't achieved the desired self-reflection one would hope he would have used this time for as he appears to be displaying the same lack of business ethics he always shown. Surprising? No, not really. :nonod:
 
Here's a 2006 photo of Ed, maybe you'll catch up with him at a reptile show.
 

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I'm a bit confused about the confusion. Males probe deep, and females don't. Why is it being said that ball pythons are difficult to probe?

I've probed around 150 corns, and balls since January and haven't missed one. I'd hope a vet would get it right.
 
Ed Clark is one of my prefered sellers

I have purchased everything from frogs to snakes from Ed Clark and he always has provided me with excellent, robust animals in a very timely fashion. He never makes excuses, he just does what he promises. I think the origin of this thread represented an unfortunate event, but it in no way is, in my opinion, reflective of the level of outstanding service I have received from Ed Clark. Thanks. Steve Fluty
 
Seriously? We still have these random first time posters coming out of the woodworks attempting to defend him? Ridiculous.
 
I agree

I'm a bit confused about the confusion. Males probe deep, and females don't. Why is it being said that ball pythons are difficult to probe?

I've probed around 150 corns, and balls since January and haven't missed one. I'd hope a vet would get it right.

I agree I love to probe once you get good at it its very accurate!:D
 
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