BEWARE OF KEVIN SMITH "JUNGLE GEMS"

BEWARE OF KEVIN SMITH "jungle gems"
he sells b-grade snakes
he will send you pictures of a snake and send you a diffrent one.
he sent me a b-grade snake that was nothing like the picture he will not return my emails or phone calls so we can work some thing out. i don't what this snake it had mouth rot and mites when i got it and the vet bill is $125 to get it better. so just for your info beware of kevin smith out of sandy oregon

bigpimp
"big mike jones"

Hi Mike -

Sorry for your situation. Would you mind giving us a little more information so we can watch out for this guy?

Email address, phone number, address if you have it.

What kind of snake? When did you receive it? Did you notice it was sick and a different snake right away? Do you have pics? How did you pay for it (PayPal, money order, etc.) The BOI is pretty good at helping people find options for recourse in situations like yours, but we need details.

Did you already have the snake treated? Is he/she getting better?

Good luck!

Is this the same guy that used to advertise the venemoids?
Went by the screen name oreganus?
Sending out a different snake than what you paid for makes me wonder about the venemoids he sells.

OH REALLY??????

I am very curious what I sold you also! Where do I live again? What town? Hmmm, sounds a little fishy to me. Sounds like you need to do a little more research before you start badmouthing me. At least get the facts straight or better yet, be more of a man, than making up a fictionous name and taking a matter that has nothing to do with the people of this forum or the reptile business on here. I do apologize to anyone who comes across this B.S. and wastes there time even reading it. I HAVE NEVER DONE BUSINESS WITH SOMEONE NAMED "BIG PIMP MIKE JONES" and if this was truly a real name they would at least have put a little information on their profile info. This was simply a certain person(and big pimp mike jones isn't his name) that couldn't stand up face to face, instead they tried to bash me and play little games without even being big enough to put their real name and fess up to what they are doing.
Kevin Smith

Hmm.

The IP address for "big Mike Jones" matches up with only one other person on this site: casey christensen. Not saying they are one and the same, but maybe taking a look at posts made by this person will tell you whether there is any connection or not.

Kevin Smith 2004

Want to make sure that everyone knows that Kevin is up to his smale old trick and rip offs. For example:

- Buy a rodent feeding King, which never eats any rodents. And
Shipped UPS !!
- Kevin jerks you around for almost a year, tell you he will send a
refund payment. And crying about how he has no money.
- He tell you he sold the king to another person to pay you.
Then refuses to send any money and wants the snake shipped
collect.

I would not do any business with him for venomous or venomoids. He's a hack.

JS

This is not the right company...

...I now own the rights to this name. My company deals in herps, psittacines, exotic mammals and marine aquaria. I do not want my reputation ruined because someone I have never even heard of *used* to use this name amateurely two years ago. If you have any questions please e-mail mail me... [email protected]. I am in no way associated with Kevin Smith. Please make note of this for future reference.

Thank you.

Jennifer Webb
(Jungle Gems)

In response to Jeremy....

Okay, this response is for Jeremy and his little king problem. I have offered to buy the snake back continuously from him on several occasions. All that I asked was for a currrent picture that showed the snake alive and well. He for some strange reason can't supply a picture of the snake, I don't know why, it only takes a few moments to take a pic and send it to me. On three different occasions this has happened over a period of 6 mos. The snake is a rodent feeder, it was purchased from Earl Turner as a rodent feeder. But that is beside the point, he didn't like the snake, so I agreed to buy it back from him, but he can supply no proof that he still has the snake and has been quite badgering about me blindly sending the money to him with not so much as a photo showing the snake to be alive and in his care. Keep in mind, he originally said he couldn't get the snake to feed, then said he had it eating snakes, and can't photograph the snake. I told Jeremy to send the snake via delta and make it COD for the entire amount of the snake, which given the fact that he can't show any pictures of the snake, is more than fair on my part. He is for some reason refusing to do so. Why? that is my only question, it seems a fair request given the circumstances. With all the strange struggles over the little things, I am kind of left with the question of whether or not I would get the snake back if I agreed to send the money. Jeremy has the option of sending the snake to me COD, I have been more than fair and I am not going to set my self up to get ripped off, so it is up to him.
Kevin Smith

Company name...

...I do agree that *if* you made this offer to Jeremy, this is more than fair on your part and I understand your plight (if you deal in live animals, you will never satisfy your customers to the fullest extent no matter how hard you try). You still need to discontinue use of my company name (Jungle Gems). My company is a legitimate business (not a hobby) with a federally recognized tax ID number and you will have some copyrighting issues if you continue using it. Please remove it from your shipping forms.

Have a nice evening.

Jennifer Webb
(Jungle Gems)
[email protected]
www.JungleGemsExotics.com

final words

Now some of what Kevin states is true, but if you leave out all the details then, you can make any story sound good.

Fist the king ( a six footer) was shipped UPS some thing that is very illegal and very dangerous, kevin states " I have never had a problem before". Delta shipping was included in the price of the snake, not UPS.

After asking the about the snake in April, I was told that it was eating frozen thawed rodents. By mid May he wasn't eating after I tried every rodent available, with no luck. kevin was informed of my failing progress. He advised me to try snakes, why do I need to feed snakes to a guaranteed rodent feeder???

Early June was the first time that Kevin made an offer to get the snake back from me, but didn't have the money and wanted to sell the snake fore me or trade for other snakes he had. He also was expecting some money from other sales to pay me back, it never showed. Then he blamed the snake not eating on Earl, it was supposedly his snake first, and was eating rodents. My new rodent feeding king finally eat a snake, I was happy that it was eating but still not interested in rodents.

In July I asked for the money again, and again he didn't have it. He requested a picture, so he got one. I was told he was going to sell the snake to some one else using the picture. Still no money by the end of July. August, I was again promised money from another sale and then Kevin got bitten by a puff adder. Guess where my money went....

Then his friend, who was the "owner" called me, said he was sorry and would buy the snake back as soon as his settlement went through ( a week or two), money never showed and the phone number I was given was disconnected. Kevin told me his friend had left town and he didn't know what happened to him.

Now we are in October ( 8 months later) and now he has the money, but doesn't want to be ripped off. Giving his past track record, you make your own judgment. I have every e-mail that was ever sent between us, so all of my statements can all be proven. I'm not sure when Kevin offered to buy the snake back from me, based on the e-mail he never had the money to do so.

I have been requesting my money back for 8 months for a snake that was miss-advertised and have been blown off every time. Now I'm the one trying to rip him off. I think the rip off happened in April.

Jeremy. Please Post all the e-mails as proof of what your saying, Also I see your from NY and as such wont the new law affect your ability to keep the snake?

Not that I enjoy defending a venomoid hacker who ships king cobras UPS, but here's a plausible scenario.

I have successfully switched kings onto rodents, only to have them start refusing rodents and accepting only snakes after something they decide is a stressful event. Eg, restraint for eyecapping, a vet exam, being taken out and handled for photography, etc. Shipping is definitely a stressful event to a king.

So yeah, I could believe that a formerly rodent eating king would decide to switch back to its old habits after it was disturbed and stressed enough. I have seen it happen personally and heard from other handlers in similar scenarios.

*Anything* can make a king go off its food. They're stress puppies and their behavior gets all weird when they decide that they've been traumatized. One of their stress behaviors is rejecting formerly acceptable food. I hesitate to ascribe "personality" to a snake, but I have seen what I could only term personality changes in kings in response to stress events. The term "neurotic" also comes to mind to describe them, if that's not anthropomorphizing too much. It seems like they can go weird and picky on you if you clean their cage wrong or look at them funny, and it can be frustrating.

It is wise to eliminate possible underlying medical causes before you decide that what's wrong with the snake is stress related or behavioral. Your king *has* had a vet exam or at least a fecal, right? If not, why not?

What I do with the reverted snake eaters is to let them have their snakes for awhile, then I start cutting off a piece of frozen snake and shoving it over a rat's head, then I just scent or marinate a rat in ground up roadkill snake juice, then I scent a little less, until the picky bugger is eating plain rats again. I also leave them strictly alone for awhile with a nice dark hide box that is small enough for them to curl up in while touching all of the sides.

But I don't ship them via UPS or chop pieces out of their heads with no pain medication, and I don't advise doing business with people who do.

once again Jeremy....

Jeremy,

Although that is a lovely long and fictionous story that you weave, for the most part it is babble and lies to hide the strange circumstances that seem to keep arising from you. I never said anyone left town or someone else was the owner or anything else you claim. I simply had a friend that wanted the snake and I figured it was easier to have you talk to him, since he was going to buy it and you possessed it, but what you fail to point out once again, is why you can't provide a current picture of it, that was his only request before sending you the money. Yes, you did send a pic, but it was a pic of the snake that you sent right after you recieved the snake. With all the effort you have made to come on here and slam me over and over again, you could have snapped a hundred current pics of the snake and this would have been done and over with, but for some strange reason you can't do that. I posted right on this forum for everyone to read, that I WILL TAKE THE SNAKE BACK IF YOU SEND IT DELTA COD. You say you want to get rid of the snake, but yet you won't do anything but bitch and whine to get the situation handled.
Kevin Smith

All you folks who are annoyed at Kevin,

You may be able to get a little bit of satisfaction by discussing matters with UPS Oregon. They would probably be quite interested to know that he is shipping king cobras illegally.

Perhaps you could find other local authorities and discuss with them how Kevin is selling snakes that have been "operated" on illegally with no pain medication by profiteering amateurs who are not licensed veterinarians.

So was the king a venomoid? If it was, then no big surprise that it wasn't eating. And my only sympathy in this instance is for the snake, not any of the people who think it's acceptable to take enjoyment or profit from this reprehensible practice.

why don't you give it a break....

This isn't about your little speal about how you hate venomoids. I know you just love to try and prove your point, but I think you are getting a little senile because you have forgotten that you have ranted and ranted the same old lines, except for every once in awhile you pull some new amazing fact/fiction about venomoids to try and prove them evil. There are plenty of forums dedicated to antivenomoid views, so feel free to go and rant on them and keep this one on subject.
Thanks
Kevin Smith

Reply to Scotts question on the NY Reptile Ban

Scott,
I too am from NY and the reptile ban if signed will only affect anyone who wishes to apply for a new permit. Assuming you have a permit already, you will be allowed to keep what you have, but not breed any that you own, and not be able to purchase any new ones. I know this is off the topic, but I was just answering your question. I have a ton of venomous, and luckily all have been bred this season, so I hope to have a few more before this bill becomes law. I dont know anything about this guy in the thread, so I cannot add anything to the original post.
Chris Santamarina

Re: why don't you give it a break....

Originally posted by oreganus This isn't about your little speal about how you hate venomoids. I know you just love to try and prove your point, but I think you are getting a little senile because you have forgotten that you have ranted and ranted the same old lines, except for every once in awhile you pull some new amazing fact/fiction about venomoids to try and prove them evil.

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Venomoids aren't evil. That term would better describe people who illegally mutilate snakes for profit by cutting into them at home with no vet license, no pain medication and totally inadequate tools.

And yes, I think that whether the snake is venomoid or not is relevant to the situation, both because of the animal's health and feeding status and because people who are in open violation of animal cruelty laws seem likely to display contempt for other laws as well. You have finally denied that you shipped a king cobra illegally, after dancing around the subject for a few pages, and after your customer posted an email of yours where you made the arrangements to ship the animal by UPS.

Frankly I'm a bit skeptical. You'd pretty much have to deny it, given that there are a number of unhappy people on this thread who would very much like to see you in jail. It will be nice to see the result of a UPS investigation on the subject, if someone will be kind enough to get that formally started.

There are plenty of forums dedicated to antivenomoid views, so feel free to go and rant on them and keep this one on subject.

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The topic here is to put abusers, crooks, scammers, ripoff artists and scumbags in jail where they belong. Welcome to the BOI.