Warning: Long Post! My Experience with "Matt"
Wow, I just got done reading all of "Matt Williamson"'s pages and I'm completely and utterly shocked. Before I knew anything about this guy, he emailed me asking about a Reticulated Python I had for sale. An 11 ft normal male. He said he had previous large snake experience and had no other snakes at the time. This was mid summer I suppose. We exchange emails and IM's and decide instead of accepting cash, I'd take a computer he had instead. He claimed this computer was worth $1000, which I didn't buy (I know a little about computers
) but it was no big deal since I was only asking $250 for the snake. The specs on the comp were good so I wasn't worried about it. So we meet up and we do the trade. I warned him of the temperament of the animal and if he had ANY trouble I would be more than happy to trade back. I made sure to tell him not to sell him before notifying me. He agreed. First thing is first, once I cracked the computer open it was DISGUSTING. It looked like a nasty dog that smoked 10 packs of cigarettes a day lived in there. It actually SMELLED. It took my father and I 4 hrs just to get it clean. Luckily there was nothing wrong with it other than the grime, but come on. Since I didn't need another computer I ended up putting it up for sale. It took months to sell and I could've sold the snake for more than what I got for the computer - but that's no big deal.
About a week after we met up, he emails me telling me that the snake bit him the day he got him. I told him to just leave the snake alone so he can get settled in and not to be afraid. He wouldn't admit he was scared, but I could tell. A couple days later he says he's been leaving the Retic alone and he is still aggressive. I offered to take him back. He declined my offer and said he really liked him and is willing to work with him. Just a quick note - I'm about 5'7" and 130 lbs and I handled this snake with no problems. Most of you following this guy know he's much bigger than 5'7" and 130 lbs
I told him beforehand the snake is flighty and not what I would consider tame, but he insisted he was ready. Apparently not. Next thing I know I find out he traded the snake without even telling me. I was upset about this because that snake was special and obviously had some stress issues and I didn't want him to keep getting passed around.
Later, Matt emails me about wanting some Ball Pythons I had and to check out his new website (the LAWreptiles domain). I looked at his website and was immediately turned off by the fact that I recognized several pictures on his site that I knew weren't his. And considering that just a couple weeks before he claimed to have NO SNAKES, how was I supposed to believe he now had thousands of dollars worth of morphs? It just didn't make any sense. I didn't call him on it, and I wish I did. One night he left me an email asking me to call him - It was like after midnight. I got on messenger to see what he wanted, because I'm not phone savvy and figured any details he needed on my Balls, he could ask me on the messenger. So I get on, and he was obviously drunk. The entire time all he did was flirt and be crude, begging me (pathetically) to call him because I quote "Needed a big tattooed man". I'm currently engaged and was definitely NOT interested in Matt's sad little games, so I declined and signed off. After that, I was done with him. A professional NEVER acts that way to a fellow breeder, or any human for that matter.
I guess I got off lucky, because I didn't really get ripped off. But he definitely put up plenty of red flags. I figured he was new to the game so I could cut him some slack. After coming across the multiple BOI threads on him, I am so glad I had the foresight to cut things off. Thank you guys for all you've done! You're really great! If anything new happens, please keep me/us updated, people like this need punished.
