• Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

  • IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!! About the Google Adsense ads being displayed

    =====================
    Posted 08/15/2025
    =====================


    Yeah, I know. They are a pain in the butt. But they pay the bills to keep my server running. Just a fact of life, I am afraid.

    Want to get rid of them? Simple. Just become a Contributor level member or above and they will be gone. -> Please click HERE."

    Is that too much for me to ask of you to keep this site running? Well, sorry about that. I too wish I could get everything for free. But alas.....

    =====================
    Addendum: 01/10/2026
    =====================


    Google Adsense ad revenue for December, 2025 was just $30 over the cost of the lease for the server running this site. So, in effect, the money providing the incentive for me to continue running this site is coming SOLELY from the paid memberships and sponsorships here. Which honestly ain't much....

Bad Guy a4strick, Sydney Michelle Strickling, terrible chameleon transaction

How awful :(

I had inquired about some geckos from her a while back, and ended up not being able to get them, but we did chit chat for a while and I pointed her to another site to help her sell her geckos. She seemed like a nice and caring person.

I will point out that she did mention that she will no longer be dealing with herps in our messages. Maybe that's why she isn't commenting?
 
LauraB said:
Just a little recap of the outright lies and scam of Syndey Michelle Strickling (or is it Sydney Meyers?)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
May 12 .. I know they are from wild caught parents and unrelated but that's all the info I have on lineage

May 13 .. i think i purchased the female from scremealons and im having problems finding paperwork on the male i am moving next week so all my stuff is in boxes

May 19 (after delivery) .. She came to me with those marks ... they were confiscated from a friend of mine due to them not being cared for you should have seen them when I got them

May 19 .. I am sorry I wasn't more specific on exactly were I got the chameleons and on how they looked

May 20 .. if the female dies or gets sick in the first 5 days i will give you a refund but i gave you current picture and i didnt lie to you at any point i may have not told you the whole story only because i didnt think it was important, but that still doesnt negate the fact that you got beautiful chameleons.

May 20 .. but its your own fault for not asking more questions and asking for more pictures

May 20 .. I have no idea were he got them I am just telling you when the first time I saw them was and I told you their ages all I can go on is what I was told and what little paperwork I have for them
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There is no way the photos sent to the buyer were current .. especially of the female. The buyer's photos show no fat reserves at all on her tail and hind leg and her spine is way more prominent in the post-delivery photos. You can clearly see the difference in body fat from the seller's photos to the buyer's photos!

The fact that she so blatantly lied & backpeddled, had the unmitigated gall to charge $800.00 for those chameleons (and even said they were worth more), tried to shift fault to the buyer for "not asking more questions" is dishonest, unprofessional and unethical enough.

And despite their poor health and knowing the very fragile nature of chameleons overall, she still chose to "dump" them for top dollar and lie about them every step of the transaction. That tells me she only cares about the money, not the animal, not the customer and not even her own reputation.

PS ... Re: "If the female dies or is sick" ... SHE IS ALREADY SICK! You owe the buyer a hefty refund! The buyer did NOT get "beautiful chameleons", she got chameleons she has to nurse and hope they survive! :angry: Refund her!
Click to expand...

Very well said!
The one thing that I still am having trouble getting over is how she seriously told like 10 lies just about where the darn chams came from!!!! It is seriously sickening to read them over again because I don't even understand how somebody could even think about throwing out lie after lie especially when all of her lies are in writing!!!! Man I am all pissed again from reading this for a 3rd time!!!!
I hope that she posts here.. I would love to hear if she has anything to say for herself. And I really hope that the OP gets her money back... I think she deserves all of it because most of it if not all or more will end up going into the females vet bill just to get her to a stable or healthy state!
 
alee said:
I've always received chameleons shipped in boxes with punched holes. I would assume the boxes with styrofoam liners breathe very little. When I opened the box, the inside was very, very warm. It is actually in ship-your-reptile's directions to punch holes in the boxes.
Click to expand...

SYR is hardly the end all of reptile shipping (they fail to mention proper federal labeling requirements on their video, a big no-no). That company has had a lot of problems, search hear on Fauna.

But no, you do not have to damage the box to ship safely and the styrofoam liners are not air tight. I've received maybe two shipments with holes punched in the 9ish years I've been in this hobby...and I myself never damage the boxes in shipments going out.



If she is actually ignoring this, don't wait, file the credit card charge back now. Waiting on a response from Paypal will just delay getting a resolution.
 
That male is 100% "NOT" a Oorena Mena's (Nosy Faly). No paperwork is needed to verify that.

If it is even a pure local it is maybe an Ambanja. To me it looks like a cross of Ambanja and Nosy Be.

File for a full clame ... shame on the seller.
 
Wow this is horrible and handled entirely the wrong way.

I'm sorry you received those poor chameleons in that condition, but I am also glad they are in your care now. You 100% deserve a refund.

I completed a crested gecko trade with Sydney 2 weeks ago with no problems. Everything went well, but she did not handled this transaction well at all.
 
Wow...ever heard the term "Full Disclosure" before? Because this transaction had none...It is NOT the responsibility of the buyer to ask questions relating to the health, or method of acquisition of these animals if they are presented as healthy captive bred specimen...especially considering the purcahse price. Who in their right mind would pay $800 for "resuces"???

Best of luck to the OP at coming to some sort of resolution.
 
a4strick said:
I am not ignoring this i am moving and do not have access to the internet or my computer i will comment more fully at a later date
Click to expand...

You had time to view this thread. You had time to type that one line moronic response. You are trying to wait this firestorm out and hope it all goes away. Thats not a professional way to deal with this. Give the buyer her $$$ back. You lost nothing in this, YOU got those chams for free!

Buyer: I agree 1000% with Ryan J that male aint a Nosy Faly. I have 4 seperate faly bloodlines and thats not even a faly cross. This seller needs to be roasted for pulling this BS! Ive bought from hobbyists and from large breeders no one has sent me boxes with heat packs and holes punched during summer months. In another few weeks you'll need cool packs not heat too ship. Lucky they even made it to you alive.

I wouldnt worry about anything now except getting them hydrated. Mist those suckers as many times a day as possible. Showers on weekends the whole nine yards. Then try giving them some fat juicy horns & silks to get some weight back on them. If you have dubia try mixing those in also. I wouldnt worry about checking them for parasites til you get em acclimatted and get the weight back on that female.

If you want REAL falys check with me. I have one clutch just starting to hatch now. So I'll have cb PURE falys from my cb male & cb female. My male came from Chuck G/Heroic Chams line. My female came from Kaleidoscope Chams/Blizzard Line.

Sorry you got swindled. Its going to happen to all of us at some point. ive been sold stuff that wasnt as advertised also. So I feel your pain.
 
I sold a pair of chameleons to Amy, yes I had only had them for a month and yes they were a rescue, no they were not stolen my circumstances had changed and they had to go, I had gotten the ok from a vet that with proper food and care they would fine. Now as far as lineage I could only go by what I was told. Now if that was wrong I am sorry, but we were both lied to if that is the case. Now they were under vet care when they were in my possession, so its not like they were neglected or just thrown in a cage while in my care. As far as the shipping goes I have never had an issue with my packaging, I have also never put holes in the box and I am not going to start now. After doing a lot of research I was wrong putting a heat pack in the box they can really withstand temps a lot lower than what I was told. Now as for the burns I will not take responsibility for them unless she has a vet report stating that they are fresh. Also she is making it seem like I knew about the burns and that is why I did not take pictures of her other side, but how would I have known about them if she is claiming they are from my packaging? Now had I known she was injured I would have taken a picture of it but since the vet didn’t notice them why would I. No when I said I remember her having dark spots on her knees and on her side if you look at my picture that I sent she is almost completely dark brown/black. Also those pictures were taken the day Amy contacted me but yes maybe I should have gotten a lot closer of a picture to show her exactly what she looked like, but I did not take pictures the way I did to hide things from anyone. Yes maybe I said things that shouldn’t have been said but under stress mistakes were made on my part. As far as having the time to read it yes I have access to the internet on my phone however I do not have access to any proof
 
Sydney, two of us have pointed out Amy's misunderstanding of proper shipping procedure. No one is questioning the lack of holes in the box.

The problem is, the Chams you sent pictures of look much more healthy then the ones she received. They look down right fragile and sick. You should have disclosed their health and care issues prior to shipping. I highly doubt she would have paid $800 for them knowing they were sickly.
 
You sold animals that you got as rescues for 800 dollars? That doesn't seem right. You exploited animals that you knew were not 100% at the time you sold them.
 
Sydney,

A huge part of while Amy is upset about this transaction is because she was supposed to be receiving a female Chameleon from Screameleons and a male from another breeder. She did not expect two "rescue chameleons" that have only been in your possession for a month (which were in horrible condition previous to you). You even stated that you had paper work that proved they were from that particular breeder.

You misrepresented two animals, plain and simple. A refund is definitely in order in this situation.
 
i do have paper work to prove were they came from but now i even doubt that it belongs to them also as she stated i am moving and all my possesions are in boxes on their way to our new destination as soon as i find the box and paper work as i told her i will be sending them
 
no holes in insulated box + heat pack + 70 degrees weather = heat exhaustion

Do you get it? The heat pack was NOT needed!!!

GREED + LIES = DISGUSTING + DEAD WRONG
 
I sold a pair of chameleons to Amy, yes I had only had them for a month and yes they were a rescue, no they were not stolen my circumstances had changed and they had to go, I had gotten the ok from a vet that with proper food and care they would fine. Now as far as lineage I could only go by what I was told. Now if that was wrong I am sorry, but we were both lied to if that is the case. Now they were under vet care when they were in my possession, so its not like they were neglected or just thrown in a cage while in my care. As far as the shipping goes I have never had an issue with my packaging, I have also never put holes in the box and I am not going to start now. After doing a lot of research I was wrong putting a heat pack in the box they can really withstand temps a lot lower than what I was told. Now as for the burns I will not take responsibility for them unless she has a vet report stating that they are fresh. Also she is making it seem like I knew about the burns and that is why I did not take pictures of her other side, but how would I have known about them if she is claiming they are from my packaging? Now had I known she was injured I would have taken a picture of it but since the vet didn’t notice them why would I. No when I said I remember her having dark spots on her knees and on her side if you look at my picture that I sent she is almost completely dark brown/black. Also those pictures were taken the day Amy contacted me but yes maybe I should have gotten a lot closer of a picture to show her exactly what she looked like, but I did not take pictures the way I did to hide things from anyone. Yes maybe I said things that shouldn’t have been said but under stress mistakes were made on my part. As far as having the time to read it yes I have access to the internet on my phone however I do not have access to any proof
 
a4strick said:
i do have paper work to prove were they came from but now i even doubt that it belongs to them also as she stated i am moving and all my possesions are in boxes on their way to our new destination as soon as i find the box and paper work as i told her i will be sending them
Click to expand...


You need a new vet and a new excuse.
 
Back
Top