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Inquiry Dean Moebius

T

taraheli

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I am posting in order to find if anyone has either done business with, heard of , or other wise had any dealings with a "breeder" of U. phantasticus named "Dean Moebius".

This individual has made 6 listing in the kingsnake.com classifieds claiming to have 6 pairs of U.phantasticus available for purchase. After close examination of the photos provided in the listings several of them were noted to have masses located around the neck. In addition one of the males appears to be extremely emaciated. Contact was initiated via his provided email address which resulted in the receipt of this suspicious response ;

On Thu, Nov 17, 2011 at 4:13 PM, Dean Moebius <[email protected]> wrote:
T****,

Have 9 pairs, might hold back 3 pairs yet not sure, currently 6 pairs for sale, 1 is pending, If you got a pair for $300.00 you did great, being that there not probably going be exported anymore, species wasnt even on CITES for 2011 Madagascar. I live in Charlotte, NC, probably ship UPS Overnight 10:30AM. I had over 80 at one time, have been breeding them since 2004. Great majority or these are Capitive hatched.

Thanks

Dean Moebius
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Now what makes this so suspect to me is that last checked U. phantasticus had been placed on CITES appendix II listing as of 2005, and also that I believe Madagascar had ceased exportation of them. He also states he breeds them but labels them in his email as "captive hatched" not "captive bred" as they would/should be if he is in fact breeding them.

If you ask me this smells fishier than a fish market in the summer.
 
He sent me a contradictory response, that seems odd too.
Here's what he said;

Hello B****,

I have been breeding phants since 2004. Most of these are CB and about 1 1/2 to 2 years old. Average life from my experience is about 6-8 years. There are a couple of the females in these pairs that have produced good eggs. At one time i had easily over 80 phantasticus. I started years ago obviously with a great majority of WC when they were available. The problem is getting hatchlings to live past 6 months. From my experiences over the years, about 1/3 make it adulthood and its usually is the males. As far as the sacks around the necks, those are good calcium sacks. A few i noticed are quite large and i started giving them alittle less calcium powder. Usually once they start dropping eggs the sacs immediately go down. The tails are dropped usually from one of two reasons, either the female dropped it from aggressive breeding/ fighting/or egg laying stress at one time. All the stub tails dropped along time ago and are all healed up. As of this year ,CITES for Madagascar doesnt even have Phantasticus on the export list, but have greatly reduced Ebenanui to qouta of 250. Since 2009 it was almost impossible to get any. I dont think they will be exporting these anymore, thus the rarity of them. Let me know, In a few weeks when it really gets cold ,i will end up just keeping them, as I will not ship below 45 degrees average. I think their the coolest geckos in the world, but i have two little kids now and time is waning to take care of all my critters. I live In Charlotte, NC.

Thanks

Dean Moebius
 
[email protected]

"Brian,

I know that 2 males are WC and one female in these pairs. I use to get really young /small WC from the importers since I bought so many of them from them. As far as the exact hatch dates ,i use to keep accurate accurate dates ,but kinda gave up on that since most of the CB hatchlings dont make it. I know most of these are young and if taken care of should live 4-6 more years. Three pairs are both CB males and females. Pairs 2, 4 and 5. Id take off $60.00, so $740 a pair."
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So he doesn't keep accurate records or keep them at all. So there's no guarantee an in related pair
and it also makes it pretty difficult to prove that they are in fact captive bred. Also $740.00 for a pair with wc specimen? Really?
 
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