• 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

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    Posted 08/15/2025
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    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 Boamaster (Mark Venhorst)

Guess I'm not done here, after all.....
Being thin from breeding is not an illness.
Click to expand...
Show me where it said the jungle was thin from breeding. The buyer was told that the jungle was thin, and not eating consistently (Yes, the opening post contradicts that; but the buyer recanted when questioned, and stated that she made a mistake when typing).

The point that seems to be lost here is that sepsis, renal failure, liver failure are not generally visually diagnosed by the average person. Buying ANY snake with disclosed problems carries an inherent risk, especially when one is not examining the snake in person, because there is ALWAYS the chance that things may be worse than they appear. A "swollen gland" is, IMO, as likely to be a sign of infection as some benign process that will just go away. And a local infection - left untreated - can easily become a systemic infection. That, more than anything else, is why reptiles with problems are best kept until the issues are resolved....and, if they are purchased, then the buyer takes on the responsibility of addressing the health concerns.
Mark was wrong with his diagnoses - that is unfortunate for the buyers; and subject to anybody's opinion whether he intentionally downplayed things (lied) or was simply mistaken. Given that I know more than a few experienced keepers that have misdiagnosed their animals, and underestimated the severity of problems (including mistaking sepsis for minor issues), I can only say what I have said all along - the animals should not have been sold/shipped.
Had the buyers taken the het albino to the vet in a timely manner, and contacted Mark with a legitimate diagnosis, I would probably be more accepting of the idea that some compensation is due. Instead, the buyer - perhaps surprised by the appearance of the snake - gave their own interpretation, stating that the snake needed surgery...yet still failed to bring the snake to the vet.
 
If I sold someone 3 snakes and they died within a month I would immediately refund their money or ship them some snakes that were of a comparable value. I would want to make my customer happy as soon as possible. That's just how I do business and you can quote me on that.
 
hhmoore said:
Guess I'm not done here, after all.....

Show me where it said the jungle was thin from breeding. The buyer was told that the jungle was thin, and not eating consistently (Yes, the opening post contradicts that; but the buyer recanted when questioned, and stated that she made a mistake when typing).

The point that seems to be lost here is that sepsis, renal failure, liver failure are not generally visually diagnosed by the average person. Buying ANY snake with disclosed problems carries an inherent risk, especially when one is not examining the snake in person, because there is ALWAYS the chance that things may be worse than they appear. A "swollen gland" is, IMO, as likely to be a sign of infection as some benign process that will just go away. And a local infection - left untreated - can easily become a systemic infection. That, more than anything else, is why reptiles with problems are best kept until the issues are resolved....and, if they are purchased, then the buyer takes on the responsibility of addressing the health concerns.
Mark was wrong with his diagnoses - that is unfortunate for the buyers; and subject to anybody's opinion whether he intentionally downplayed things (lied) or was simply mistaken. Given that I know more than a few experienced keepers that have misdiagnosed their animals, and underestimated the severity of problems (including mistaking sepsis for minor issues), I can only say what I have said all along - the animals should not have been sold/shipped.
Had the buyers taken the het albino to the vet in a timely manner, and contacted Mark with a legitimate diagnosis, I would probably be more accepting of the idea that some compensation is due. Instead, the buyer - perhaps surprised by the appearance of the snake - gave their own interpretation, stating that the snake needed surgery...yet still failed to bring the snake to the vet.
Click to expand...

Correct if I'm wrong, but I thought the buyer was "soaking" the het with the swollen scent gland as was instructed by Mark. It wasn't until the animal ddin't improve that the buyer took it to the vet and found out the real issue. I can see new keepers relying on "experienced" keepers on dealing with health issues.
 
I didn't do necroscopies on the snakes. Both of the snakes were on very powerful medications. I don't know if that had something to do with it or not. In the end I don't think the hypo could breathe because of the pneumonia and with the het albino I guess it was just that the infection was too far along. She had that abscess for awhile, way before I bought her. The het albino was an awesome snake. I was going to keep her as a pet just out of respect for what she had been through. Some snakes don't have much of a personality but she definitely had some spunk and fire left. Joseph and I were really upset when she died.
 
I know it is too late now, but with all 3 snakes dying with different issues, that is just weird. I would have done the necropsies and pathologies because it would be worth knowing if they had any underlying issues going on that could affect the rest of your collection. While I never would dream Mark would sell snakes that have an underlying issue knowingly, if he got them in a trade, you just don't know.

Star
 
apreske said:
I didn't do necroscopies on the snakes. Both of the snakes were on very powerful medications. I don't know if that had something to do with it or not. In the end I don't think the hypo could breathe because of the pneumonia and with the het albino I guess it was just that the infection was too far along. She had that abscess for awhile, way before I bought her. The het albino was an awesome snake. I was going to keep her as a pet just out of respect for what she had been through. Some snakes don't have much of a personality but she definitely had some spunk and fire left. Joseph and I were really upset when she died.
Click to expand...

Such a shame. Really. I'm just glad you practiced good quarantine practices.
 
Seriously I hope he puts a proper set of cold packs in the box to keep the snakes alive. With a heat wave this nasty and bad storms going on I can't see why any reputable person would even be risking shipping at the moment. All it takes is one bad storm caused by the heat wave to delay shipment somewhere around a hub and allow the box to sit for hours/more than a day and bake the animals to death.
 
I just received the snakes from Mark. They seem to be healthy and happy and are full of energy. We got the 2 DH Sunglows that we agreed upon but he also put 2 66% Het Snows in the box as well! We weren't expecting this and it was a welcome surprise. Mark didn't have to do that since that's not what we agreed upon but he did and we really appreciate it.
 
Big Smile!! I am so happy he compromised some more and went extra on this one and sent you 4 snakes instead of 2. Impressed that the BOI helped rectify this situation at least as much as it could. V/R Paige
 
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