Hey guys - thought I'd hop on and make some clarifications.
Anyone who knows me or has done business with me before (which is at least a third of the contributors to this thread) knows that I deal with some really nice geckos (quality and not quantity) - and that I have a lot of connections with important gecko people worldwide. You'll also know that my customer service record is pretty darn good (if not close to perfect), and that I've been doing international gecko sales/trades for a while now - and was at the Hamm, Germany show this last June. And unless you have connections - you don't often get the opportunity to get pictures of yourself with a $6,000 USD
Naultinus gemmeus neonate like the one shown here...
Geckos are my life (and carnivorous plants to an extent) - I work in a gecko adhesion research lab for THE guy who discovered how geckos stick to walls (Dr. Kellar Autumn) - and do a ton of academic stuff relating to geckos in addition to all of the herpetoculture/hobby related stuff I do. Heck - I even did my own Phylogenetic study of the three endemic New Caledonian gecko genera a few months back. I can email you the word doc if you're interested.
Basically, I just want to show everyone that I'm in for the long haul - and most people like me or at least are happy with the business they've done with me. There are people who don't like me - but in all honesty, if I don't get treated with respect by someone - I won't give it back. I almost always try my best to treat anyone I don't know with respect. I refuse to kiss up to people just because they think they're hot stuff. I will admit that a lot of my posts on any forum make me look like a bit of a jerk and a know it all - so therefore I feel like clarifying that my posts aren't ever intended to be taken personally in any way (even if they do sound "snooty" or "overly academic"). But at least I know how to admit I'm wrong about something - and that I definitely don't know all that there is to know about geckos! So as I result of all of this - I have great personal relationships with a lot of people in the community - and not so great relationships with some. Everyone who has met me in person usually likes me though (apparently I don't sound like such a stuck-up jerk in person lol).
Sorry about the long rant - but this thread took me three hours to read - and I feel like I have some important stuff to say - so establishing my credibility was necessary.
Mmmk. Chad doesn't own Max or Six - and I don't appreciate people assuming that he does. I sent him Max for a breeding loan a couple months back - and he's back in my possession now and doing just dandy. I've also sold him a lot of nice geckos that weren't at all cheap (which do include a lot of Max x Six offspring). And just like everyone else I've ever sold high end stuff to - he held up his end of the bargain well and responded in a timely manner, etc. He's bought more than $3,000 worth of geckos from me - and I got all of the money just fine. Just so everyone knows - the only reason Ryan even sold Max to me in the first place was because I'd been by far his best customer over the last few years - and spent over $10,000 with him during that time.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that I didn't know who he was before I did business with him - but everything ended up going just fine for me. I didn't look him up before selling to him because (as Alinda put it)...
I haven't had an issue I couldn't resolve on my own in 5 years, and most people I have purchased from aren't on the BOI, good or bad... so I quit checking.
Half the threads here get so ridiculous it takes 5 hours to make heads or tails of anything anyway... so it didn't seem worth my time anymore. I didn't even read the entirety of this thread... just the first and final 3 pages or so...
Oops, my bad... guess I will check before I send money now...
Anyway - I'm not saying that any of the stuff he pulled on a lot of my friends was in any way ok - because frankly I don't think it was - I'm only saying that my interactions with Chad have all been smooth ones so far. Also I'd like to add that this is probably the longest BOI thread I've ever read or seen - pretty impressive!
Now on to one part of the thread I just couldn't help but commenting on... (sorry Chad

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But I do have many friends who are first generation Americans who've changed the spelling of their names just b/c they're so different and difficult for Americans. Some do and some don't go through all the hoops it takes to change it "legally," though.
As someone who speaks pretty darn good Spanish and German - who has Dutch friends both in Holland and the US - and who has been to the Netherlands personally - the whole "Dutch name being too hard to pronounce" thing really cracks me up
