Double "D" Reptiles
New member
Well, mixed review is truly the best statement I can make here for the following reasons:
1. 12-10-06 Answered an ad on KS for '06 male balls that were advertised as eating (I didn't care live or thawed as no big deal to change them over if needed.) Were posted at $25 ea. or 5/$15 ea. Since we were getting one for a niece for Christmas we just ordered 5 in hopes of getting 1 or 2 we might like to hang on to and sell the others later. Didn't expect CB this late in the year at all but since it showed them to be feeding, thus at least a bit acclimated, figured I'd go ahead.
2. Had sent payment to Exotics Express and then learned that they were using Exotics Millennium but went ahead, perhaps idiotically.
3. 12-11-06 received notice that the package had been sent...prompt though I did have to ask twice for a tracking number...but no big deal.
4. 12-12-06 UPS driver brings the package to my workplace since he knows me and didn't know that oldest daughter was at the house waiting on him...just shook his head & chuckled when nobody else would touch the package. Went into my office (actually neighboring office as the guy I share an office with was ready to bolt and run like a scared little girl ... he hates spiders also)and opened the package to make certain that all were alive and healthy since it is wintertime though the weather was exceptionally and unseasonably nice. 4 ball pythons came out of the bag (were well packaged and all looked healthy)...not the 5 I was expecting (definitely not the 5 in the photograph he was advertising.)
5. Wrote AJ from work (may have been the reason I received no reply) that one was missing and later had to write again from home. AJ said that he'd shipped multiple packages that day and that I got the wrong one and that he could either refund the cost of the snake or I could have one hand-picked with a future order. (wife took offense at this one because if it had been the other way around I'd have shipped the missing snake the next day available and eaten the shipping cost because it was my screw-up and she'd have reamed me good for days on end over it.) I told him to give me a couple of days to decide.
6. Immediately upon getting home a couple hours after delivery I got them into quarantine and began settling them down so that we could begin getting them on a feeding schedule.
7. Found the thread on the Calabars and little red flags began flying so watched carefully.
8. I decided on taking the refund a couple of days later and that evening found a $15 refund by e-check on the PayPal account for the missing snake.
9. Tried feeding thawed mice and rats on Saturday the 16th and not a one fed...didn't expect all to eat yet but didnt' panic or anything. Wrote AJ and asked if they were used to feeding on live or thawed and whether he had them on mice or rats. Guess what....NO ANSWER.
Since we've had these problems I haven't probed to determine that all are male as advertised and not too worried because if we end up with a female or 2 then I'll just consider it a bonus for the BS.
Have since tried again with no success at feeding luck so far but have been through lots worse and since they still have good body mass am not overly concerned yet. Will know more after they feed some and shed, but may have gotten a least one morph in the bunch but even that will require test breeding in a couple of years to prove/disprove...and that's providing that they feed and thrive in captivity (may have to resort to hamsters or even gerbils to get them to start feeding and move on from there...we'll see.)
So, to recap, snakes not as advertised, non-feeders, wrong quantity sent, did send payment for missing snake (hit with fee, no big deal to me) and went into silent mode when asked about their advertised feeding routine.
So, not a totally bad experience, but not a totally good one either...thus the "mixed review." If I had known that these were fresh non-feeders I'd have figured that they were worth closer to $10 each rather than the $15 we paid in hopes of having 1 or 2 survive (But single price of $25 ea. for a feeding WC '06 wasn't bad and qty discount sounded decent at the time...still not as bad as it could have been, but still shady.)
Eventually, when I have them feeding and doing well in captivity, I may go ahead and sell one or two of them...but you'd better darn well know that they'll be advertised correctly as WC '06 (m/f known w/ certainly) in captivity since approx. Dec. '06 and with a date of acquisition posted as well as how and what their feeding is like. These we got look healthy and have good size, so I do have high hopes for them. I'm just not sure I have high hopes for AJ and Exotics Express if they don't develop truth-in-advertising and better customer service, especially post-sale when questions or issues.
1. 12-10-06 Answered an ad on KS for '06 male balls that were advertised as eating (I didn't care live or thawed as no big deal to change them over if needed.) Were posted at $25 ea. or 5/$15 ea. Since we were getting one for a niece for Christmas we just ordered 5 in hopes of getting 1 or 2 we might like to hang on to and sell the others later. Didn't expect CB this late in the year at all but since it showed them to be feeding, thus at least a bit acclimated, figured I'd go ahead.
2. Had sent payment to Exotics Express and then learned that they were using Exotics Millennium but went ahead, perhaps idiotically.
3. 12-11-06 received notice that the package had been sent...prompt though I did have to ask twice for a tracking number...but no big deal.
4. 12-12-06 UPS driver brings the package to my workplace since he knows me and didn't know that oldest daughter was at the house waiting on him...just shook his head & chuckled when nobody else would touch the package. Went into my office (actually neighboring office as the guy I share an office with was ready to bolt and run like a scared little girl ... he hates spiders also)and opened the package to make certain that all were alive and healthy since it is wintertime though the weather was exceptionally and unseasonably nice. 4 ball pythons came out of the bag (were well packaged and all looked healthy)...not the 5 I was expecting (definitely not the 5 in the photograph he was advertising.)
5. Wrote AJ from work (may have been the reason I received no reply) that one was missing and later had to write again from home. AJ said that he'd shipped multiple packages that day and that I got the wrong one and that he could either refund the cost of the snake or I could have one hand-picked with a future order. (wife took offense at this one because if it had been the other way around I'd have shipped the missing snake the next day available and eaten the shipping cost because it was my screw-up and she'd have reamed me good for days on end over it.) I told him to give me a couple of days to decide.
6. Immediately upon getting home a couple hours after delivery I got them into quarantine and began settling them down so that we could begin getting them on a feeding schedule.
7. Found the thread on the Calabars and little red flags began flying so watched carefully.
8. I decided on taking the refund a couple of days later and that evening found a $15 refund by e-check on the PayPal account for the missing snake.
9. Tried feeding thawed mice and rats on Saturday the 16th and not a one fed...didn't expect all to eat yet but didnt' panic or anything. Wrote AJ and asked if they were used to feeding on live or thawed and whether he had them on mice or rats. Guess what....NO ANSWER.
Since we've had these problems I haven't probed to determine that all are male as advertised and not too worried because if we end up with a female or 2 then I'll just consider it a bonus for the BS.
Have since tried again with no success at feeding luck so far but have been through lots worse and since they still have good body mass am not overly concerned yet. Will know more after they feed some and shed, but may have gotten a least one morph in the bunch but even that will require test breeding in a couple of years to prove/disprove...and that's providing that they feed and thrive in captivity (may have to resort to hamsters or even gerbils to get them to start feeding and move on from there...we'll see.)
So, to recap, snakes not as advertised, non-feeders, wrong quantity sent, did send payment for missing snake (hit with fee, no big deal to me) and went into silent mode when asked about their advertised feeding routine.
So, not a totally bad experience, but not a totally good one either...thus the "mixed review." If I had known that these were fresh non-feeders I'd have figured that they were worth closer to $10 each rather than the $15 we paid in hopes of having 1 or 2 survive (But single price of $25 ea. for a feeding WC '06 wasn't bad and qty discount sounded decent at the time...still not as bad as it could have been, but still shady.)
Eventually, when I have them feeding and doing well in captivity, I may go ahead and sell one or two of them...but you'd better darn well know that they'll be advertised correctly as WC '06 (m/f known w/ certainly) in captivity since approx. Dec. '06 and with a date of acquisition posted as well as how and what their feeding is like. These we got look healthy and have good size, so I do have high hopes for them. I'm just not sure I have high hopes for AJ and Exotics Express if they don't develop truth-in-advertising and better customer service, especially post-sale when questions or issues.
