Inquiry On Herpetological Breeding Research Online

I'm interested in purchasing some snakes from Herpetological Breeding Research Online and would like to know if anyone has ever delt with them. Any help would be greatly appriciated.



Thanks,
Dan Pitre

Dan.... If you do a search on here, you will find a LOT of good guy posts about Ray.... he MIGHT be a little slow in answering your emails, because his computer is one of the WORST out there, and he does a LOT of field work, so he MIGHT not answer the phone the first time, but that's the ONLY problems he has.... You would NEVER have a problem with his honesty or animals.... GO FOR IT.... you won't be disappointed.... I've purchased THOUSANDS of dollars worth of animals from him over the years and have never had a problem that wasn't fixed immediately....

Neil

Ray seems like a good guy. I have only made one purchase from him, and it worked out alright, but had some major kinks. The animal was shipped second day, by USPS instead of next day by UPS, which I paid for. My street address does not receive mail, so I had to hunt down the postal workers before they shipped it to a mail recovery center (in Minnesota, I think). I managed to do this, but I had taken a day off of work for the delivery, and I spent a nearly sleepless night before I finally got it the second day, only to realize that the post office hadn't messed up, HBR had. In fairness, it was a staff member who made the gaff -- Ray himself seems to be extremely busy, and when people are really busy, more mistakes happen. The PTS survived fine, they are tough critters, but I was pretty upset about it. Again, not to rip on HBR, nothing died, but I would have appreciated a little more concern on their part. I didn't ask, so its my fault, but I wouldn't have minded a refund considering I sent them money for next day, and they did second day mail. Oh well, just my experience. I would call, rather than email, and make sure all arrangements are very clear before purchasing.
Take care and happy herping,
-Saul Allen

Saul, it must have been some time ago????We quit shipping with them years ago? We have not shipped USPS in quite some time. 99% of our shipments go next day air UPS only. I don't like to ship any other way. Maybe it was a UPS delivery that came late? Or a UPS address that offers only 2nd day service? I cannot recall this event but, it's not impossible that it happened? We only ship occasionally on USPS and that is generally products or plants. However, i'm not saying we don't make mistakes. If this were the case I would be happy to offer a full refund on shipping even at this late notice. If you find something else we offer that interests you feel free to order and we will pay SHIPPING ON UPS NEXT DAY AIR FOR YOU!!! LOL's!!! Or I will send you the shipping costs. I assure you that we are concerned wether we ship a single anole or an albino python. They get the same care. Why does your street address not get mail? Just a question. Either way the offer still stands. Keep in mind that communication is a skill both seller and customer need! I'm still perfecting mine! Just tooooo much to do!!! Neil,Tinas gunning for you after the last comments on the other thread!! LOL's!!

Thanks for the offer -- seriously, it shows what kind of seller you are. I would find it inappropriate to ask for any sort of refund at this late notice. This occured on or about October 5th 2003. You were away, and I belive it was someone named Greg? or Brian? who shipped USPS 2nd day delivery, apparently over some confusion as to whether the shipment contained live animals. It was for a single adult import PTS, and in the aftermath we spoke on the phone. I doubt you would remember it, but we talked about your PTS set-up, and their uncanny ability to escape: waking up to find them somewhere else in the room. Again, I am not trying to insinuate that you or anyone else at your facility is a "Bad Guy," (I have never yet had to call anyone that, in part because of this site), merely that a mistake happened in the midst of what seems like a busy period.
I live in a small town in New England, a former milltown called Housatonic, on the banks of the Housatonic river. It has since been incorporated into a larger township, but still has its own zipcode and post office. P.O. Boxes are available there, and that is the closest to street delivery we get. Because of where my job is, I keep a P.O. Box in the neighbouring town, the one that "owns" us. Since UPS/FED-EX don't ship to P.O. Boxes, I use my street address for live animal shipments, and my P.O. Box for supplies. More than once someone has told me they were shipping via UPS/FED-EX/Airborne, only to ship USPS, in which case I don't get it, because there is no mail delivery in Housatonic. You would think the local Post Office would know me by now, but just last month they sent a DVD I had shipped to me to a mail recovery center, from which I have yet to extricate it. I know...confusing situation, but there's really not much I can do about it.
Communication is the highest priority for me when purchasing, but you are correct, it is also the buyer's responsibility. At the time I was also incredibly busy, and since the animal survived (and has since thrived) I didn't bother to follow-up more thoroughly.

saul, wow........he offered you a full refund and does not even remember the transaction. thats very impressive and good business. i also commend you on declining the full refund and being so honest on how long ago this took place. i usually just read on here and do not post on the BIO'S, but i just had to give both of you 2 thumbs up for being such great people in the hobby world of reptiles!

kevin love ( stingray )

i have bought a few emeralds from ray over the last month
all have been very outwardly healthy ( i have only had them maybe less than a month) but i dont see any problems they were just like he described them and they were my first emerald purchase so i was a little worried about buying imports but ray said the first pair i bought were ltc and by the way they looked i have no reason to doubt , i was so happy with my purchase i bought the large female he posted and i am going to make an offer on the other large one he has posted now

i have purchased a few things from ray and he has been very professional. i bought a pair of chondro's and there was a cold spell and one ended up dying. the problem was with the shipper not delivering before 10:30 am not ray. i called and emailed pics and he replaced the chondro with no hassel. they are both doing great and are approaching breeding size. i will definitly buy from ray again.
charlie

Hey, Charles.man that was not good that they left the poor GTP's out to freeze!!!! By far an exception but, I was not happy with that!!! If you get a chance I would love to see how they turned out!

My wife hates Ray!!! She says that everytime I talk with him on the phone, a "moving package" arrives days later! And then I disappear to the basement for hours, playing with my new "toy". Seriously, I've known Ray for 15+ years (yes, we're old!) and he's always supplied my herp habit with quality animals. And he can be hard to catch, but if you do get him, you'll find him to be one of the most knowledgeable herp guys around, with hands on experience with a WIDE range of herps, as well as wildlife in general. So, definite thumbs up from me, but my wife may want to post her own version later.

Doug Chin