• 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....

Contact Michael Enriquez to Buy Dead/Sick Animals

My 2nd mistake was not stating very clearly that if you choose the last offer you would cover the shipping.

Now that I have experience this with you...I am going to take the advice given from others in the forum and have me a types up TOS and send it to all potential buyers before they decide to send payment.

I believe I am right and you are wrong.

I know this is a touchy subject for many here and it sucks an animal died...I did all that I could to satisfy this customer and it did not work. I will not be walked on and bullied into something that I believe is not right.

Could I be convinced...maybe...not bullied

I am done posting on this subject...but I will continue to read and if i see something convincing or am asked a question...I will respond.



Michael,

You are living in denial. You keep talking about mistake 1, mistake 2...., but then say you feel you did nothing wrong???? At the same time, you admitted that I did nothing wrong.

Why should I pay for mistake 1, mistake 2, etc?
 
Mr. Enriquez,
If you want my advice I'd say take the high road here and pay him the shipping.
You are just trying to get started and taking the high road can establish your rep for making bad deals right.
Then look up some of the ads on KS by people like Mark Lucas, a good guy in my dealing with him, and style your TOS after his. Also study up a little on treating WC Imports for parasites.

Mr. Gach,
It seems to me it really is all about the piddly $100 with you. You scream about him shipping sick animals but you did the same thing when you shipped the non feeding sick tort back. The only real reason you are yelling is because he was not willing to pay for the back shipping.
Had he just refunded all you money up front we never would have heard a word out of you.
 
Sick Animals

John,

Would you prefer that I scream about making my family watch over Michaels Shipment for the time I was away at work on a business trip? I had every option to pass the female to my friend/customer prior to going on my business trip, and then find them a male, but I realized I did not want to touch any animals Michael has touched, and I would never do that to anyone anyway.

Would you prefer that I scream about Michael passing these off as Healthy....I even went so far as to contact Vic Morgan, the guru. Vic warned me about buying WC, but Michaels insistence that these were healthy because he had them for 1.5 years swayed my opinion.

YOU CLAIM I DID THE SAME THING TO MICHAEL?????
Do you really expect me to send his animals, one of which had already died, and one that was acting sick(Not too hard to tell a sick tortoise) to a VET? Investing my money to get a tortoise healthy that had been shipped unhealthy just days earlier?

John, Would you accept any responsibility in a case like this when you receive damaged goods???

You are correct, if Michael had done the right thing, I would not be ranting here. Because guys like you(JOHN) would say, "You've received all your money, what do you want"? I started the conversations very civilly with Michael, until I was sold a pile of crap and listened to Michael tell me I knew I was buying a pile of crap??????????
 
I still suggest that Mr. Enriquez take the high road and refund the remaining shipping..
But I also still hold that you are not completely clean in this affair either.

tortaboy said:
Would you prefer that I scream about Michael passing these off as Healthy....I even went so far as to contact Vic Morgan, the guru. Vic warned me about buying WC, but Michaels insistence that these were healthy because he had them for 1.5 years swayed my opinion.
Click to expand...
So you knew what you were getting into.
I am sure Mr. Morgan informed you the dangers associated with WCs but you chose to ignore good advice from a trusted expert in favor of what was being said by an unknown, by reputation, entity.
What was it that made you ignore an expert? A deal that was too good to be true, unwillingness to wait to get a CB breeder pair, too impatient to wait for young CB torts to reach breeding age?


tortaboy said:
YOU CLAIM I DID THE SAME THING TO MICHAEL?????
Click to expand...
Read the words I wrote, “You scream about him shipping sick animals but you did the same thing when you shipped the non feeding sick tort back.”
I did not say you did anything to any person. What you did was to ship an animal that you believed to be sick. Any fool knows that shipping can/will exacerbate existing health problems. And in reality what you did was worse.
I have not seen anything that indicates Mr. Enriquez had any knowledge of any illness in the torts prior to your informing him of a problem. It is possible that Mr. Enriquez shipped in good faith ignorant of any problem.
You knew full well that you were putting a sick animal at further risk.


tortaboy said:
Do you really expect me to send his animals, one of which had already died, and one that was acting sick(Not too hard to tell a sick tortoise) to a VET? Investing my money to get a tortoise healthy that had been shipped unhealthy just days earlier?
Click to expand...
The short answer is, yes.
The long answer is, if you were choosing the life of a beautiful animal over your pocket book you would have gotten it to a vet ASAP to determine if it was even healthy enough to ship back. At that point it was your animal not his thus it was your responsibility to see that it was taken care of in the best possible manner. You decided that the tortoise was not worth your time and seem to indicate, by the words you choose to describe it “garbage animals” & “a pile of crap”, that you are lacking in the love of the animal department.

tortaboy said:
John, Would you accept any responsibility in a case like this when you receive damaged goods???
Click to expand...
Would and have. I have purchased WC/LTC animals in the past. Each and every time they were seen by a vet ASAP. I have lost one or two as well but did not even consider blaming the seller. Said it before and will say it again, When you buy a WC/LTC you should expect an animal that has health problems. They were taken from the wild, stressed by capture, improper keeping, and shipping at least twice. Stress can & will exacerbate existing health problems. I know this and try to schedule vet appointments for them the day I am given a shipping date so when they arrive they can get an exam as soon as they arrive so they are not stressed further by putting them in an enclosure then packing them up again in a day or two to take to the vet adding more stress.

tortaboy said:
You are correct, if Michael had done the right thing, I would not be ranting here. Because guys like you(JOHN) would say, "You've received all your money, what do you want"?
Click to expand...
Ah yes, the old “Let’s try to throw the blame for apparent greed and lack of caring on someone else.”
I don’t remember ever making a statement like that on the BOI or anywhere else. Of course I am getting old so I may have forgotten. Why don’t you go through all my past posts and find something like that for me. Face it had you gotten your money up front you would not have cared one wit about;
tortaboy said:
EVERYTHING BAD ABOUT THE REPTILE INDUSTRY.
Click to expand...
or
tortaboy said:
IT IS IMPORTANT THAT WE DRIVE PEOPLE THAT SELL SICK AND DYING ANIMALS OUT OF THE BUSINESS.
Click to expand...

I've had my say on this and made clear my thoughts and opinions, now I am through with it.
I hope everything turns out alright for both of you and the poor tortoise.
 
John,

If you read my comments, yes, I knew that there was a risk with WC Burmese Browns. That was why I kept asking Michael about their apparent health. Don't try and be so silly to think that Michael shipped animals over via Delta Dash(Same Day Delivery), and all of a sudden the animals got sick.

It is not my responsibility to save every animal in the world. When my tortoises have problems, I take them to the most respected vet in the state...and pay huge money doing so. I'm not going to keep one of Michaels animals at my home where they could possibly infect one of my tortoises. If I wanted to rescue sick animals, I would operate a rescue.

This whole thing is about a guy shipping bad animals. Once again...READ DELTA DASH. We both paid top dollar to have the animals shipped back and forth within hours. It's a 6 hour plane ride. Do you really think any halfway healthy animal could not survive a 6 hour plane ride?

If you think I had any role in this because I ordered two tortoises, you need your head examined.
 
MICHAEL!!

Michael,

In my opinion you are 100% wrong!! You owe your customer $100 for the return shipping cost on the sick/dead animals you knowingly shipped out to him.. Now stop trying to justify your side of the story and the "options" you set for him and REFUND HIS MONEY RIGHT NOW!!

~ Mike Russo
 
Some Background

In my mind, none of this matters, but I am going to give some background here.

I am amazed at all the responses from people saying, C'mon Jerry, you bought a LTC animal, and you should expect to be throwing your $700 away(Even though Mike kept bragging about how healthy they were after 1.5 years). Or, you should expect to be incurring some huge vet bills as soon as you receive the animals.

Yes, Mike refunded my original purchase immediately, but he knew horrible condition of the animals that he sent out just 6 hours earlier!!!!! If an animal cannot survive a Delta Dash flight, there should be no question, that animal has problems.

I even got blamed here for not buying cb babies and raising them up. My friend/customer was looking for animals to bring him and his family feng shui. I tried to convince him to buy cb babies. I even tried to get some larger torts from Vic Morgan, but he did not have a pair available.

The bottom line is, if you attempt to sell bad animals over the internet, where people rely on your description for the condition of the animals, and your description is 180 degrees different from the ACTUAL condition, expect to pay for any and all fees when the deal goes belly up.

Do I think Mike actually knew just how sick his animals were? Maybe not. Does his inexperience relieve his liability? Absolutely not.

Until Mike Enriquez gains some knowledge about tortoises, he should stick to selling animals where people can look at what they are buying(Instead of shipping), and then his customers can judge for themselves whether or not they want the animals.

Finally, if you support a complete "Buyer Beware-Expect to be screwed" atmosphere when ordering off the internet, go ahead and support Michael here.
 
once again another overstatement. I never bragged about the health of these animals. I said nothing more than they where LTC and doing well. I said they have good weight. We spoke and I said they where "NEVER TREATED".

I actually told you to contact Vic Morgan.

After you spoke with him...we spoke and I agreed with him and I only said that these where LTC and doing fine.

In fact the Female is in my possesion right now and appears as healthy as could be. All you had to do was keep it and you would have had another male sent to you.

You freaked...and have decided all animals I have must have parasites and will die when recieved...in fact you have attacked me on the for sale forum and posted on my ad that all my animals are sick and diseased. You overreacted...way overeacted.

You have gone too far and have really become a genuine @$$ hole.

Do you belive in Karma...I think Karma has come to haunt you.

good day
 
Mike,

Every time you open your mouth, you show your stupidity.

In your simple mind..."LTC and doing well" and "having good weight" and "Doing Fine" means something other than...they are healthy????

You did say they were never treated...Which goes to show what a loser you are, considering the parasite load you shipped. Most people would assume "Never treated" means there was no obvious need to be treated, you SIMPLETON. Otherwise, you purposely shipped a diseased animal.

You are correct, I did freak. Diseased animals spread disease. I want none of that.

The only Karma here is that anyone that reads about you and your animals will likely reconsider buying from you.

Hope it was worth not refunding my $100.
 
well worth it...since you bumped my cherry head ad...I sold them...They may not have sold since the ad had fallen down and I never got around to bumping the ad. Thanks Jerry!! :)
 
Wow. So you are selling sick and potentially sick animals, and you are proud of it.

Anyone impressed with Michael? Would YOU buy animals from this guy?
 
I have dealt with Michael before and got exactly what I ordered. Cheaper wild caught torts that were not the quality of captive bred (as expected). You get what you pay for. Anyone ordering wild caught should be intelligent enough to know there could/will be problems with saving money and going with this option. He made it clear they were not treated. You knew in advance you were bringing animals into your collection that had the possibility of problems. He refunded 100% of your money on your purchase. If the female is alive and well then the way I see it is you got what you paid for (wc) and the female should have never been returned therefore he doe’s not owe you the 100 bux.
Bottom line to me is if you order wild caught crap you do so at your risk and hope it survives. I do not know either of you and have only ordered 1 time from Michael but after reading this garbage I know if ever needed again I would order from Michael but never even consider ordering from the poster..
 
Jim first the rules here require you full name in each post you make. Your post will be deleted without it.

Receiving a dead animal is not what I expect when I buy LTC animals and doubt anyone else expects that either. The seller paid for the dead one but doesn't want to refund shipping for the one he got back. The way I see it the buyer paid for two live outwardly healthy animals and didn't receive that. He shouldn't have to pay to return a product that wasn't what he paid for. Sure Jerry has been a bit of an ass about this but he is still owed for the shipping.

I'm with Steph, I wouldn't do business with either one of them. Michael pay the money you owe and end this and Jerry get a freaken grip.. Randy
 
Not sure why my signature is not there it has been for the last 6 years.
The buyer paid for two live outwardly healthy animals and didn't receive them. He received 1 alive and 1 dead. The way I see it is the live supposed healthy one (later statement from seller) should have never been returned. The seller offered to send a replacement male at his cost. It was going to cost a hundred bux either way shipping so in hind sight would have been much better to have just forked it over on the return.

Jim burns
 
Jim, if you sent me a pair of animals and one arrived dead with parasites falling out of it I'd have the other one on the way back to you ASAP. I've dealt with many WC animals over the years, it is one thing to get an animal from a importer or whole seller that has a load of Parasites but something else to buy a LTC especially one that had been a captive for over a year and have them show up in the condition these animals did. I would have sent the other one back like Jerry did though I would hope I wouldn't make such as ass of myself in the process..

Buying WC means your likely going to have to deal with Parasites it is part of dealing with WC animals. Heck I've seen CBB animals with Parasites it happens , I've had Chondro babies that were being a real pain to start and more than once have given them frogs and lizards to get them going. Any that I have sold I have informed the buyer of this so they know to keep an eye out just in case. Parasite happen but animals arriving dead and sick are a whole different thing.. Randy
 
Pretty much in agreement with what Randy has posted, but I *would* like to see any photos of both of these animals.

The descriptions given are pretty subjective. Taken at face value, one party is calling them obviously diseased and the other is claiming that the animals are outwardly healthy. These seem mutually exclusive to me and I'd be interested in taking a look for myself- judging the outward appearance of the animals as healthy or unhealthy.
 
Seamus,

Send me your email address and I can send you pics.

Not sure what you expect to see.

I have one dead tortoise that could not even live through a 6 hour Delta Dash Flight. What does that tell you?

Anyone that thinks $100 is no big deal and should be given up to hold these animals for a couple of days can send me a check. Whether or not I need the money is irrelavent. I don't appreciate receiving animals that died due to lack of care.

Unless some of you people cannot read. This was listed as a 18 month LTC. Big difference in expectations between one that just came off the boat and this.
 
You can email me through these forums or, as a much simpler solution, just post them in this thread- since that is exactly what I would do once you sent them to me.
 
Back
Top