• 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....

Heartless New Yorker

S

Sidd Reptiles

Blocked because of INVALID email address!
INVALID email address
Joined
Jan 30, 2003
Messages
10
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Age
48
Webslave, please feel free to move this if it is in the wrong spot.

First off. I am Sidd Sheppard. Recently I sold a venemiod cottonmouth to one Hal Brown. Due to an error on Airborne's behalf, the animal is no longer with us. Airborne was kind enough to smash the box (i do have pics) kill the cottonmouth and bring the box back to me. Since I did not have another venemoid cottonmouth, I offered Mr Brown his money back plus a hot cottonmouth. Mr Brown was not interested in the FREE cottonmouth, no big deal. However, life likes to through us curve balls and shortly after this happened my brother was killed in a car accident in TX. I am the only surviving member of my immediate family so I was the only one able to make the arrangements for my brother. I have every intention on refunding Mr Brown. Mr. Brown however feels this is not so. While I was in TX Mr Brown felt it neccessary to THREATEN my PREGNANT wife and call through out the night. She told Mr Brown all would be made good, yet he still contintued the harassment. Again, Mr Brown will be refunded. I have asked him to call me at a decent hour so as not to disturbe my wife. He calls at 2:00am. I tell Mr Brown he will receive his refund. He continues with the threats. I do not appriciate his attitude and threats, especially towards my future child. I have been polite with Mr Brown only to be accused of that which I am not. I would like everyone to know today that Mr Brown WILL recieve his refund and I apologize for the unfortunate and unavoidable situtation which has occured. In the future however I will not do business with Mr Brown.

Sidd Sheppard
Siddartha Reptiles
 
Shipping of Venemoids

Mr. Sheppard,
I'm very sorry for your loss. The loss of a loved one is never a good thing to deal with.

As far as Mr. Brown is concerned I believe that if he lives in NY as you are indicating then unless he has permits to keep venemous snakes, that he may be breaking the law. I believe it is also against the law to ship them into NY without the proper paperwork and that Airborne has rules against shipping them. You may want to check their site. It would also seem that in this case any venemoid should have been shipped in a special case, preferably wooden to avoid crushing and escape which is a rule for the proper shipping of reptiles through any shipper.

I live in NY and I may be wrong on all this stuff but I don't believe I am. Anyone out there with any info on this, please chime in.
Mel Wright
 
Pics of the box

I am aware of the Laws, and I do admit that I was in the wrong about the shipping. This was the only venemid that I had, and I am not a registered shipper thought Delta. Now then He has refused to send me a copy of his venomous perment, and I do think that it is odd. I have tryed to make arrangments with him, But he has stated till he gets his money, he will continue to harass me. I also try to offer him some of my breeder colubrids.


Sidd Sheppard
Siddartha Reptiles
 

Attachments

  • airbornfuckup.jpg
    airbornfuckup.jpg
    33.2 KB · Views: 752
Is that a box that you reused? If not, the tape is priority mail labeling, through the Post Office.

I personally don't feel boxes should be reused for shipping animals, as being bounced around during shipping the first time, tends to decrease their stability...this could have led to part of the problem, though whichever it was shipped through should have been much, much more careful.
 
Not to be accused of being another heartless New Yorker, but this deal sounds as if it went bad before your brother's untimely and sad passing. I can understand that the passing of a loved one upsets the balance of everything in your life and it takes a while to get back into the swing. What I am wondering is how much time passed after the crushing of the snake and your brothers passing? Was there sufficient time between each event that would have made this other guy from NY think you should have already sent the refund? By sufficient time, I mean immediately after he told you that he wanted the refund and not another snake. Once he told you that, I would think you should have sent the refund immediately - yet you have indicated that you make repeated offers of other snakes. Other snakes are apparently not what he wants, he wants his money. You keep offering something that he apparently does not want.

If you do not have the money to refund because of funeral expenses, I can understand why, but must admit that the money for this particular snake should never have been spent on anything until the customer was satisfied with what he received. Since he did not receive the snake at all, that would mean, the money was not yours to spend, in my opinion. This may sound harsh. I am not trying to be harsh, but rather just stating what is a good business practice.

New Yorkers (especially from around the New York City) are used to all sorts of people trying to scam them with all sorts of scams. They have heard it all when it comes to excuses about why someone cannot come through with money. I am not saying you are dishonest, but that the buyer may have been scammed before and thereby have little tolerance, if any, for something that smells of a rat once again. (And again I am not even implying you are dishonest, just that the buyer may perceive you as such.)

I do agree, that calls at 2AM to your pregnant wife, and threats are not to be made in any case. A dead snake is no excuse for him to do such, if that is what he has done. If he has made threats of violence, I advise contacting the local authorities and possibly the FBI since the threats are being made interstate.

As far as I am aware, a permit would have been required in NY for venomous species, but I am not certain that a permit is required for venomoids.

Hopefully all will work out for the best. My sympathies about your brother's passing.

Best regards,
Glenn Bartley
 
Sidd,

Sorry to hear about your loss. I agree with Glenn that it would have been interesting to know how much time elapsed before any contact attempt between you and Mr. Brown.

What Mr. Brown is doing is not appropriate, she should not be harrassing your wife.

Having said this I can certainly understand why he did not want the replacement snake. You were shipping with a carrier that will not knowingly accept snakes. The box was not properly labeled. The packaging was not adequate for a venomoid. Can you imagine what would have happened at the AE depot if instead of killing the snake, the box was only ripped apart setting her free? Yes, it was a venomoid, but the employees at AE don't know that. After all this you offered sending a hot cottonmouth using the same carrier.
 
The point is he will get a refund

Mr Brown will get a refund. I told Mr. Brown he would get his refund, not five minutes later I got my bad phone call. I just wanted Mr. Brown to know that I am not trying to pull one over on him.
I know how to ship and how not to ship hot animals and NO it was not going to be shipped the same way. That would be silly. -He did not want it anyway.
 
Sidd,

Don't get me wrong, I was just reading what you wrote. You offered Mr. Brown money and a hot cottonmouth as compensation. You were going out of your way to compensate him for all the trouble. That's great.

But when you said:

This was the only venemid that I had, and I am not a registered shipper thought Delta.
Click to expand...

and

I know how to ship and how not to ship hot animals and NO it was not going to be shipped the same way. That would be silly.
Click to expand...

As far as I understand hots can only be shipped through certain airlines (Delta for example) and only if you are a verified shipper. From what you wrote it seems you were also planning to become a verified shipper just to make Mr. Brown happy and send him the hot cottonmouth in compensation. Am I in the right?

Regards.
 
No, That is not correct. The hot was to come from another individual who is a registered shipper.


Sidd Sheppard
Siddartha Reptiles
 
Just because it is possible that my question may have gotten lost in the shuffle, I'll ask it again . . .

Could we get a closer, clearer picture of that shipping bill on top of the box, please? Thanks.
 
Sidd,

Thanks for clarifying that. So even though you were going to send Mr. Brown a free hot cottonmouth (cost??), that it was going to be sent through Delta (I assume that for approximately $80-100, for a wooden box of the type required to ship venomous) he still declined your offer?
 
Question

Has Hal Brown been informed of this thread? Seems only fair he gets to state his side. Guy wants his money. Threats of course, especially at such rude times, are certainly uncalled for. Your unfortunate loss also , I would imagine, is a rough thing to deal with. I would think from what I have read here he will probably leave you be once paid.
 
I agree with Rich, we need Mr. Brown to post in here. He should not be harrassing Sidd. Particularly when Sidd has offered not only a full refund, but also a hot cottonmouth from another company/herper at his cost who is also a verified shipper. What else could Mr. Brown be asking for? If someone offered me all that (full refund + free snake + free shipping through delta) I would be more than willing to accept.

Regards.
 
Sidd,

I just noticed you are logged in. Did you have a chance to notify Mr. Brown about this thread? He should be made aware that a lot of people in this board know that he has harrassed you.

On a different subject, could you post the tracking number Airborne Express gave you? They keep those records available on-line for a long time. It would be interesting to check what they had to say about this "accident".

Thanks.
 
Alvaro,

I think I maybe able to answer your question:

Particularly when Sidd has offered not only a full refund, but also a hot cottonmouth from another company/herper at his cost who is also a verified shipper. What else could Mr. Brown be asking for?
Click to expand...


From what I can understand of this situation, the buyer wants his money back and has not yet received it. It seems that maybe, and this is an assumption on my part, that the seller, Sid is or has been unable to make a prompt refund. I think the buyer does not want promises of a refund or of other snakes, but wanted his money promptly. So I guess the short answer would be a prompt refund.

Best regards,
Glenn
 
UPDATE!!!!!

Here is a copy of the money order, The matter is now closed!!!!

Sidd Sheppard
Siddartha Reptiles
 

Attachments

  • hal brown moneyorder web.jpg
    hal brown moneyorder web.jpg
    139.2 KB · Views: 141
OK, the matter is now closed, according to you. Fine. But you know, I have to ask myself why some clear-cut questions never got answered. Questions such as:

1. Was Mr. Brown ever notified of this thread in order to give his side of the story, or to, at the very least, make a public appology for the harrassment you say he enacted upon you?

2. Why could we not get a clearer and closer picture of the top of the box in which the snake was shipped?

3. Why was the tape on the box obviously from the USPS Express Mail?

4. Why did you never address whether the box was re-used from a previous shipment?

5. Why did you never post the tracking number from Airborne Express?

You say it's now closed? OK. But you left me and several others hanging in the wind about some important issues concerning your shipping practices (especially when "hots" are involved!). That being the case, I wouldn't expect this issue to be nearly as "closed" in our minds as you might have liked for it to be!
 
I kind of wonder if interest was included in that refund. That took a very long time. I do not condone anyone making threats, as it was alleged this guy did, but on the other hand, I can understand he must be furious because he did not receive the money sooner. I don't know about anyone else, but if I had $150 owed to me, I would be pretty upset, maybe even outraged, that it took so long to get back to me. I for one could always use that much money on something else, like my mortgage payment, the telephone bill, the electric bill, for food, for another snake, maybe just to keep the wife happy.

This whole deal pointed out some good lessons to be learned, not the least important of which is: It is not your money to spend - no matter what - until the deal has been culminated.

Best regards,
Glenn B;)
 
Back
Top