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Allen Belcher / Big Daddy's Wholesale ... WARNING

Jon Mitchell said:
Is there anyone who has anything good to say about Big Daddy Wholesale? I am having all kinds of trouble with a spider male I bought from him and now he is asking me to send it back to him so he can get it to start feeding. Just curious what others think.

Could there be a possibility he just wants the evidence back?
 
Bob......I think we all realize that, but how would you suggest going about doing this? Believe me, if it were as simple as that, he'd already be long gone.
 
I want to thank you for the info. I live in Georgia and don't want to buy anything from that guy
 
This is so wrong

Just want to say a quick thanks to Ron for bringing this to everyones attention. I was just perusing the KS ads today and looking at some of Alan's stuff completely unaware of the impending storm. I cannot believe that with this many people now aware of the problem that nothing can be done. Isn't there someway we can notify KS? I would think they would want to know if someone was potentially unleashing a plague nationwide.

At this point, even if his facility was eat off the floor clean and every single snake cleared I would not look twice. The dishonesty and Alan's complete disrespect for everyone here has completely soured the milk. Surely there must be a way to get the word out on this guy. I would think other vendors and show officials would want to be aware of the situation. This guy needs to be stopped before he hurts more people.

My two cents. Kat
 
Kat, I have been in contact with the show director, and he in turn has been in contact with at least some of the vendors. He has also been provided with a copy of the vet report, and link to this thread. He also (by chance) is meeting with a DVM working with IBD research this week, and will be getting more info on IBD testing, hopefully there will be some good knowledge there to share.
 
I am new here and just wanted to say I have had a few dealings with Mr. Belcher on behalf of myself and a dear friend of mine.

1.my friend purchased a burmese from Big Daddy's Wholesale.Wouldn't eat and when it did it regurged.The poor thing died almost 2 months ago.We went to the next show(which was a few days after death)because Mr. Belcher did not return our calls.I was trying to handle things because my friend was so upset over the death of her snake and her husband was to livid to speak to the man.
We walked up to his table and started explaining the symptoms and what had happened(there were 2 men at this table "working",one was Allan and the other was a younger guy with alot of piercings on his face)Allan just looked at us and said "ok,it happens".That is all he had to say after listening to our sad story and seeing her crying over the loss of her pet.Granted she only had the snake about 18 days before it died,but she was still attatched.Luckily,I had convinced her to keep it in quarintine.

We asked if there had been any other deaths and he shrugged his shoulders and litterally walked away.The guy with the piercings said "sure,all breeders and dealers have deaths ' cause they deal with so many at one time".We waited for Allan to come back to the table for 30 minutes and we left,he didn't want to face the music.
 
burmlady said:
I am new here and just wanted to say I have had a few dealings with Mr. Belcher on behalf of myself and a dear friend of mine.

1.my friend purchased a burmese from Big Daddy's Wholesale.Wouldn't eat and when it did it regurged.The poor thing died almost 2 months ago.We went to the next show(which was a few days after death)because Mr. Belcher did not return our calls.I was trying to handle things because my friend was so upset over the death of her snake and her husband was to livid to speak to the man.
We walked up to his table and started explaining the symptoms and what had happened(there were 2 men at this table "working",one was Allan and the other was a younger guy with alot of piercings on his face)Allan just looked at us and said "ok,it happens".That is all he had to say after listening to our sad story and seeing her crying over the loss of her pet.Granted she only had the snake about 18 days before it died,but she was still attatched.Luckily,I had convinced her to keep it in quarintine.

We asked if there had been any other deaths and he shrugged his shoulders and litterally walked away.The guy with the piercings said "sure,all breeders and dealers have deaths ' cause they deal with so many at one time".We waited for Allan to come back to the table for 30 minutes and we left,he didn't want to face the music.

Im figuring you did not persue the cause of death? I think allen should re-name his business "BUY & DIE" "three week turn around"
 
Bill,

It was almost two months ago.

I wish that I could say that I am surprised but I am not.
 
airtrixx said:
Im figuring you did not persue the cause of death? I think allen should re-name his business "BUY & DIE" "three week turn around"
It wasn't my snake or my choice.I reccomended they have a necropsy performed but they declined for financial reasons.

I had 2 ball pythons that came from there and they both became very sick within days of getting them home(this was in the beginning of September).I did not buy them from him,I got them from a friend right(as stated before,within a few days after purchase) after purchase.She purchased these two BP's from Big Daddy's Wholesale for her teenager and thought they were just underfed and stressed.She called me 3-4 days later and asked if I would take them because something was wrong and she couldn't take them to the vet.I picked them up and took them with me to work.One had Blister Disease and the other had a serious RI and mites.One was Neg. for IBD,the other was inconclusive results,but no evidence was seen to imply IBD was a factor in the death.We treated them and I was continuing meds at home(luckily,i have a tiny spare room that i was able to quarantine completely) and then taking them to the Hospital during the day for further observation and treatment.Both snakes died.
I can't say what condition they were in when purchased from Allan,but i can say what condition they were in 3-4 days later.

That is basically all the facts i have,anything else I add now would be hear-say from people I know.
 
We walked up to his table and started explaining the symptoms and what had happened(there were 2 men at this table "working",one was Allan and the other was a younger guy with alot of piercings on his face)Allan just looked at us and said "ok,it happens".That is all he had to say after listening to our sad story and seeing her crying over the loss of her pet.

Seen that quite a few times.At the Birmingham show I did with Allen more than a few folks showed up with animals in freezer baggies.

We asked if there had been any other deaths and he shrugged his shoulders and litterally walked away.The guy with the piercings said "sure,all breeders and dealers have deaths ' cause they deal with so many at one time".We waited for Allan to come back to the table for 30 minutes and we left,he didn't want to face the music

Part of my job with Allen was to go through the tubs and pull the dead animals. He had me toss them in the woods behind his neighbors house. If he can't respect the folks that live next to him its doubtful he'd respect anyone else. He respects the snot out of your money tho.
 
burmlady said:
It wasn't my snake or my choice.I reccomended they have a necropsy performed but they declined for financial reasons.

I had 2 ball pythons that came from there and they both became very sick within days of getting them home(this was in the beginning of September).I did not buy them from him,I got them from a friend right(as stated before,within a few days after purchase) after purchase.She purchased these two BP's from Big Daddy's Wholesale for her teenager and thought they were just underfed and stressed.She called me 3-4 days later and asked if I would take them because something was wrong and she couldn't take them to the vet.I picked them up and took them with me to work.One had Blister Disease and the other had a serious RI and mites.One was Neg. for IBD,the other was inconclusive results,but no evidence was seen to imply IBD was a factor in the death.We treated them and I was continuing meds at home(luckily,i have a tiny spare room that i was able to quarantine completely) and then taking them to the Hospital during the day for further observation and treatment.Both snakes died.
I can't say what condition they were in when purchased from Allan,but i can say what condition they were in 3-4 days later.

That is basically all the facts i have,anything else I add now would be hear-say from people I know.

Angel, I'm sorry to hear about this...but as Jim said, I'm not surprised. What kind of testing for IBD was done? Was it just the blood tests?
 
burmlady said:
It wasn't my snake or my choice.I reccomended they have a necropsy performed but they declined for financial reasons.

I had 2 ball pythons that came from there and they both became very sick within days of getting them home(this was in the beginning of September).I did not buy them from him,I got them from a friend right(as stated before,within a few days after purchase) after purchase.She purchased these two BP's from Big Daddy's Wholesale for her teenager and thought they were just underfed and stressed.She called me 3-4 days later and asked if I would take them because something was wrong and she couldn't take them to the vet.I picked them up and took them with me to work.One had Blister Disease and the other had a serious RI and mites.One was Neg. for IBD,the other was inconclusive results,but no evidence was seen to imply IBD was a factor in the death.We treated them and I was continuing meds at home(luckily,i have a tiny spare room that i was able to quarantine completely) and then taking them to the Hospital during the day for further observation and treatment.Both snakes died.
I can't say what condition they were in when purchased from Allan,but i can say what condition they were in 3-4 days later.

That is basically all the facts i have,anything else I add now would be hear-say from people I know.

On the two balls (no pun), what kind of tests exactly were preformed? Did they just run blood tests or did they actually take the stomach heart and liver for tissue tests? The reason i ask is because simple blood tests do come up neg for ibd, its when they take the actual tissues of the organs they find ibd. Also it doesnt surprise me that one of the snakes had mites but it does surprise me that they both didnt have mites. As we have seen many cases of ibd the presence of mites. If i were to guess the snake with mites came back inconclusive for ibd, but also may not have had the tissue tests required. All in all it doesnt surprise me that these animals had all these problems, the funny thing is is that they had different problems and came from the same guy, more than likely if one snake has mites the other would, if one snake has a RI and the other one doesnt most likely the RI doesnt originate from someone who has few snakes in the same ambient conditions. I dont know but allen really knows his stuff (pun).
 
The fact that this man is still out there doing business like nothing has happened infuriates me. I'm nearly apoplectic at his loud, exclamatory ad postings on KS! It actually said today "OUR PRICES WILL GET YOU OUR SERVICE WILL KEEP YOU!" How many innocent people have purchased snakes from him at shows only to have them die? I would imagine that for every one person who finds this thread there are quite a few buyers who would never even know that it wasn't just a freak accident that their snake died.

I simply cannot believe that this man is allowed to continue selling potentially sick (and deadly) animals with no restrictions and no warning to potential customers. It makes me sick to think about the possibility of a sick animal infecting someone's entire collection when the seller could have prevented it. I cannot believe that Mr. Belcher will not even answer to the charges against him.

Kat
 
No,it was not just blood tests.I will locate the lab results if I can(if i don't have them here,then they will be in my chart at work) to elaborate on exactly what was done.I know tissue samples were collected and sent to the lab,but i was severely distraught and left the surgery room,so I can't really tell you honestly what they removed and what they didn't,but i can tell you it was a vet I trust and he knows I have snakes at home and would take all means necessary to help me protect all of them and to know what I am up against.A friend of the vet i work for is an exotic specialist and was doing me a huge favor.I know they tested for IBD because it was one of the suspected culprits and we discussed it in depth later that week while awaiting results.

Yes,the snake with mites is the one that was inconclusive for IBD.The other one did NOT have mites and it could be they were from different breeders etc. My friend had them housed separately and I did as well.
I hope this all works out without any more deaths and infections and broken hearts..:(
 
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