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Inquiry Deborah Broadus-Muskauski

Oroborous

Oroborous

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Has anyone else heard of her, and or bought snakes from her? I recently received a pastel ball python from her. He is in great health and is a gorgeous little guy. The only problem was he was frozen like a rock when he arrived via Fed Ex. I wasn't home at the time but my mom signed for him for me while I was at work. My mom, who is terrified of snakes actually put the tightly balled up creature in her arm pit with a heat pad over her for a few hours. She said she was scared he was going to die. His head finally immerged from within his stiff coils and he looked around. She told me it was another hour before he began to move. He's doing great now, besides being a little snappy and nervous.
Deborah told me this was the first time she has ever misjudged the timing of an arrival. I'm sure that she didn't mean for that to happen, but I'd like to hear about anyone else's experience with ordering snakes online from her. It was the first time I've ever ordered a snake online and it wasn't the greatest experience. It's also been over eight days since he ate last in her care and he hasn't accepted food from me yet which is worrying me a bit as he's only eaten five times in his life.
 
The heat pack taped to the lid of the box only worked for four hours and it was shipped from Maryland to Oregon. Deborah IMed me before I went to work saying another customer had his snake arrive cold. She said she'd have to start using 12 hr heat pads. She told me I should hold the snake against my skin and have a warm place ready for him when he arrived, which I did. But as I was going to work someone had to take the snake out of the box, and my mom knew that. When she saw him all stiff and balled up she knew he was near death. She knows my other snakes are docile and friendly, but still isn't fond of holding or being around them. I've tried for years to get her to love my snakes like I do, at least a little bit. And she told me she actually bonded with the little guy as she tried to save him. But once he was warmed up and in his cage he started striking and that was it, she's scared of him again sadly.
 
Oroborous said:
The heat pack taped to the lid of the box only worked for four hours and it was shipped from Maryland to Oregon.
Click to expand...
How do you know the heat pack only worked for 4 hours? (That's a pretty interesting claim.) If you don't mind - what is the brand name of the heatpack (it should say right on it)
Oroborous said:
Deborah IMed me before I went to work saying another customer had his snake arrive cold. She said she'd have to start using 12 hr heat pads.
Click to expand...
She IM'd you before you went to work when? Before you received the animal? What was her response? (You have notified her of your concern, right?) Have you notified her of this thread?

Deborah...
What was the brand and type of heat pack you used?
Did you state that you would have to start using 12 hr heat pads??
 
The minimum you should use is a 36 hour heat pack, because shipping companies have frequent mental meltdowns, and you have to plan for their mistakes should they occur.

I'll PM her about the thread if nobody else has.
 
Thanks for the heads up guys.

In this case the OP is technically right. The heat pack did run out. If this is who I think it is, the person didn't get their shipment at 10/or 9am as most shipments are delivered but at about 4pm or 5pm.

I used 10 hour packs, Harald. I got them from Home Depot. The amount of time was insufficient for this length of time before arrival and actually...I wasn't paying attention to the time of arrival (that's no excuse cause I was out of 48 hour heat packs anyway). I have since ordered the 48 hour reptile heat packs and picked up some 18 hour heat packs from Walmart till they arrive.

To the OP: Which animal do you have? All of my animals have eaten more (way more) than 5 times before I let them leave. You may be assuming that he has only eaten 5 times because the cage card (Diegi) only prints out the last 5 dates of meals.

If you would post the animal's weight and his morph I could better determine which of the buyers you are.

The other buyers animals were not "near death" but they did get a bit cold, however none of them have told me that the animals were too cold to move..they were all active out of the box. I got in touch with each of the buyers as soon as I realized the weather forecast, and expecially this OP (if it's the right one) because of the length of her delivery before arrival.

I really am sorry.. this is the first spate of shipments (3) in which I have had trouble due to the weather change and had any snakes get cold.

I did offer, when she told me that it was cold but finally moving, to replace it if it came down with an R.I.
 
crotalusadamanteus said:
The minimum you should use is a 36 hour heat pack, because shipping companies have frequent mental meltdowns, and you have to plan for their mistakes should they occur.

I'll PM her about the thread if nobody else has.
Click to expand...

:thumbsup:Thanks for that information. It's been difficult trying to determine how much heat and lenght is enough or too much. I have also taken into consideration that they might be in a heated truck.
 
hhmoore said:
How do you know the heat pack only worked for 4 hours? (That's a pretty interesting claim.) If you don't mind - what is the brand name of the heatpack (it should say right on it)
She IM'd you before you went to work when? Before you received the animal? What was her response? (You have notified her of your concern, right?) Have you notified her of this thread?

Deborah...
What was the brand and type of heat pack you used?
Did you state that you would have to start using 12 hr heat pads??
Click to expand...

Harald, I used some Walmart hand warmers. I was out of the Reptile heat pads. I don't recall telling her that I would have to start using 12 hour heat pads, that would be illogical since 2 more hours wouldn't have been a big difference in her case. I believe I either said 24, 48, or 36 depending on which ones I ordered.

I am really sorry that Alexis got upset. I would have been too and have been upset since I realized how stressed they would get from being shipped around from their nice warm spot and cold on top of that. I am so sorry Alexis. You do not know how sorry I am that I put those animals though that. He is very stressed right now, and needs time to warm up and adjust to this new environment before you even think about handling him.

All animals are different, but this is the first one that I have received a complaint about not eating (but he has been under some extreme stress and I do not know what kind of environment he is in).

If you would like to ship him back at my expense and have your money refunded, I can do that.
 
sounds to me like she didnt know the weather was going to change for the bad and thought shipment would be earlier. then she spoke to you and told you it might be a problem and she would replace it? sounds to me like she did and tried to do the right thing except weather didnt hold. she had spoke to you and told you all of this and told you she would replace it so my question to you is.... why is this thread here? why would you ask about her when she was doing what was right and was willing to exchange if you wanted it. i personally think this thread is a complete waste of time and should not have been made when you have no problems, you have the reptile and it is well. i have recieved a few that were could and believe me its been cold here in ohio and i have recieved one that didnt even have a heat pack because shipper thought he had it in and didnt but the snake wasnt near death and it was 37 degrees outside all night. point being a simple mistake with weather but was told she would make it right and exchange if you wanted one sounds to me like she was working with you to keep you satisfied so i see no use in this thread being made.
 
xanaxez said:
.... why is this thread here? why would you ask about her when she was doing what was right and was willing to exchange if you wanted it. i personally think this thread is a complete waste of time and should not have been made when you have no problems, you have the reptile and it is well.
Click to expand...

The thread was an INQUIRY. Not a bad guy thread. So what's the problem? People are not allowed to make inquiries to see if others had similar experiences? Or make inquiries for any reason? I dont see inquiries ever being a waste of time.

If anything maybe Deb just learned a valuable lesson about using BS hand warmers instead of proper shipping heat packs. And no, running out is not an excuse in my mind. If you run out then you wait to ship until you have the proper shipping materials.
 
i guess we see things different. to me to make an inquire about someone after a purchase is made is kind of late. i would think one would check before hand. as far as shipping goes i agree if you dont have the right materials just wait but they have already spoken and and both party where aware of the fact and the seller tried to do right by it. so why come on here making gestures of the animal was near death. whe n in fact she wasnt even there to recieve it someone else recieved it that was terrified of snakes but still put it under their arm? i mean no disrespect and others may feel the opposite of me but the inquiry with the point of a near death snake and they were dissapointed would kind of go closer to saying shes a bad shipper then just an inquiry in my opinion. but everyone has them we all want agree on the same things.
 
I'm not necessarily buying the near death thing....BPs might be difficult in some ways, but they can handle getting cold on occasion. "Frozen like a rock" is definitely an exaggeration. I've gotten some pretty cold snakes...they tend toward limp when they're really bad off.

I'm not saying that Deb used the best judgement...but I agree with Sammy in that she did learn from this. I've spoken with her privately, and she now knows to check the weather both in Memphis & the destination city before shipping (sometimes weather related delays can catch us off guard, but it is often possible to anticipate the problem and avoid it - if that means shipping another day, well, so be it...it's in the animals best interest)
 
Alexis,
Was the package delayed, or do you live someplace that doesn't receive Priority shipments early in the day?
 
I've received a couple of BP that were indeed almost "rocklike" (one was in transit for over 2 days in the middle of winter, with insufficient packing to begin with....ugh, another story I think I discussed on here before). They had balled up very tightly, and wouldn't move. Not that I'm questioning you, Harald...but I have had that experience.

One more thing I would mention in caution....some of those cheapo handwarmer/heat packs from Wallyworld heat up REALLY hot for a short time (most I've looked at are anywhere from 135-150 degrees, whereas the 40 hour reptile packs reach a peak temp of 110), then die out quickly. As was already said, I'd hold off shipping at all before resorting to using one of those. I won't ship unless I have a 40-hour heat pack, at minimum.
 
hhmoore said:
I'm not necessarily buying the near death thing....BPs might be difficult in some ways, but they can handle getting cold on occasion. "Frozen like a rock" is definitely an exaggeration. I've gotten some pretty cold snakes...they tend toward limp when they're really bad off.
Click to expand...

How can you even begin to say that? Were you there? I have had more than one ball come in that was like a rock. One of which went on to develop an RI.

You may have gotten some cold snakes, but the reaction to the cold will vary greatly based on the species, whether the species naturally occur in areas that get cold and how long they have been exposed to cold temps.
 
Fair enough, Sammy...I stand corrected.
I'll admit that I haven't received any BPs in very cold weather.
 
I'll admit that I haven't received any BPs in very cold weather.
Click to expand...
(at least I don't think so :shrug01: )
Sorry, Cat, didn't see your post til after....
I did neglect to consider that BPs tend to play rock anyway

The near death comment wasn't made by the OP, and that was the one that initially got me started.
 
Lesson learned, don't trust those handwarmers ever. #1 they don't last long enough, #2 according to one poster they heat up WAY past safe.
Sounds to me like a simple mistake, and since she's offered everything possible to make the OP happy(i.e. replacing if it gets a RI, and offering to refund and take it back), then it's still not a Bad Guy post.
I've gotten the cold rock ball pythons too. It's really scary, because they "feel" frozen, because they ball up so hard, and are so cold to the touch. If you haven't seen it before, it's scary, because you just KNOW it's dead/gonna die. After drilling into people's head how important proper temps are, I can easily see someone thinking it would be "near death", as it's a tramatic sight.
I hope that it all works out, I'm sure that Deb will make you a happy customer.
Theresa Baker
 
Thanks everyone for the advice. I actually was advised to use them in a pinch and that they would be ok (this is my first winter shipping).

I have ordered the REPTILE heat packs, and may have to hold off today's shipping if they haven't arrived when I get home. I did go find some 18 hour hand warmers from Walmart, but judging by the responses regarding experience with them..(hand warmers) they aren't a good idea.
 
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