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    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....

kenneth Yates of South Carolina

exactly my thoughts....

I openly admit that I do not feel comfortable with working with a mamba. I had no idea of the situation or how Kenneth came to own all of these snakes. Why would he buy a collection of animals of this type from someone is the question I am most curious about. I would have never gotten into this situation if I would have had any knowledge of what the true situation was. I am glad that I was able to get the anmals from him, but I am sad that it had to cost the lives of so many snakes to do so. The true situation did not come to light until after he was already sent the cash or I would have backed out immediately. Some of the snakes were extremely dehydrated and it appeared that he had not taken any care of some of these since he let his employees go. I have stumpled across situations like this before, where the person that owned the hots were so scared of them that they have not even gave them water due to their fear the animals. It really makes you wonder what in the hell is going through their minds when they purchase such animals.
Kevin Smith
 
"Again, Mardi, is it possible to get a shed"

This would not be of any value, as a snakes shed is sometimes nearly 1/3 longer than the actual snake from it stretching.

Oddly enough, however, someone (possibly Ken Yates) sent me an e-mail with a scan of a FedEx mailer envelope that was addressed to Ken Yates in South Carolina, with a return address of Winnetka, California. Along with this was an e-mail stating:

"Jerry, this will prove that Kevins friend Ken sent the cash for the snakes. I dont know why Kevin is lying about him sending the money but if he is lying about that and the black mamba what else is he lying about? you can even ask mr Hunter down there in Florida who always sent the money for all the shipments he sent to kevin. if kevin has gotten caught lying about these 2 things, you gotta know he would lie about the rest also. I am sending you this becuase you were asking him to tell you who sent the money. please dont give out the rest of the information in this email."

Well, I did phone Ray Hunter today to ask him who always sent him the cash for the shipments he sent, but he would only say "No Comment!, do your homework, it's right in front of you." Ray said he wishes to respect the agreement between Kevin and himself by not saying or posting anything that could be negative against Kevin. Ray said he does sell a lot of large Black Mambas, and although he and Mardi Snipes are friends, he says that he does not know Ken Yates, and has never sold him any Black Mambas or any venomous snakes. Ray said that Mardi had told him about having been paid to pack the venomous snakes for Ken Yates, and he said that Mardi had told him of the "4-4.5' Black Mamba a day or two before this thing hit the BOI. Ray ended the call by saying "Feel free to discuss business deals with Kevin Smith with any other shipper, but not me."

Thanks for the e-mail and scans (whoever). It does leave a few doubts in my mind.
Jerry
 
The reason I wanted to know if a shed was available is to see if the scale pattern matched up. Perhaps a scar or split scoot that should not be. I am hip to the fact that both sheds and skins stretch. If there was any kind of unique scalation or deformity it would show and be an exact match.
 
ReticEd said:
Mmm...
it didn't come out in the washer...

If you were so concerned about the animals welfare, that you quickly unpackaged them all, in order to care for the living..
Putting the boxes back together and running at least ONE screw, would have been a waste of time that was needed for the animals sake.

I can however, see tossing all the screws back in the boxes, to re-attach the lids later.. but....

I don't think that's the case.

I still believe what i had stated earlier.. a scammer tries to scam a scammer and got scammed.


Simple conclusion and closure..
Both of you drop it, leave here for now and get on with life.

And KY.. I never got an answer on the earlier question, of whether Anja is still in your employ or partner in business.

You can PM the answer to me if you do not feel comfortable with posting the answer.
Click to expand...


i do not mind posting on the thread, although to answer your question anja and james are no longer with me. that is why i had to hire mardi to bag the venomous.
they were the ones that bought the vens for me with my money and once they were gone i did not have the expierence to deal with them so i sold them and hired mardi
 
seems

like this thread is ending up like a cat chasing its tail , other then the FACTS that you Ken Yates showed that you can truley pack something for shipment that will die . Now whether the blk mamba is / isnt the orginal is of no value to the claim of wanting to be paid for the greens that died due to your negligence in IMPROPER packaging.I dont think it matter what is lied about in the thread afterthat but the FACT is the greens are dead and need to be paid for ... all other is a cricle and wont ever be solved the fact that so much information from the parties involved is 2nd & 3rd hand information means that it has the ability to change from one to the other and anything copy / pasted can be edited
Just pay for the greens and let this slide into the BOI archives
 
paying for the greens

should i pay for the dead greens?

the agreement was "no live guarantee"due to the cost dropped for kevin or ken to buy and that is why this agreement was made.
if i am leaving snakes out like 4 neos then why is that not also important to kevin
by the way, besides my cellphone voicemails, where is KEN kevins buddy. the one i dealt with the entire transactions except for once we hit this boi situation?
 
should i pay for the dead greens?

simple YES

Now had you packaged the snakes in a manner in which they had 1/2 a snowballs chance in hell living then maybe you have a case for " no live arrival" But Ken that packaging was the worst i have seen anyone attempt to make a effort in .You have already stated that you knew what proper packing was maybe if you had tossed in some towels etc it would have helped out a lil but that packing was deplorable to say it nicely .Now ill be honest if it were me and even if there had been a agreement on no live arrival and i recived snakes that cost as much as this shipment was and opened it and saw that packaging you my friend would have been held responsible and if you would have taken the No live arrival road i would personally knock on your door and get my money back from you .. thats isnt a threat that is simply how I would handle it if i were the one that got screwed by that packing job.you know had you been smart enough to have had the foresight to see all the pages of BS from this and just paid for the greens you might have saved a 1/2 ounce if some dignity with many here ( maybe ) but with you flip flopping and switching blame everywhere but to who owns it ( you own this blame) then you could have argued till you were blue in the face w.o 1/2 the negitivity from others because you would have been seen as paying for you F up and then having maybe legitimat arguements .
Now if you handle eveything you do in life like this you Ken are a pathetic being who will not or will never take responisbility for your own actions .
 
Ken, why don't you quit.....

spewing forth nonsense and irrelavent facts with lies mixed in? Why don't you simply pay for the greens? I offered to settle this and let it be done and over with, but you are not being man enough to admit you did something wrong. Instead you keep coming on here and making piddley little claims that are just plain not true. There was never a mention of no liva arrival garauntee, even if there was, that is simply thrown out the window when you admittedly shipped the snakes in unsatisfactory conditions that resulted in their deaths. I don't want to argue, I simply want this settled. If you are not going to pay any of this back, leave it at that, shut your mouth, and call it good. Why would I pay you over $3000 for dead animals?????? Stick to the topic, I know you have an attention span of a goldfish, but come on, quit getting sidetracked and give an answer, stick with it, and disappear. I have been more than calm, fair,and reasonable. Your only point in this whole thread seems to be to keep pushing until you find a way to weasel out of paying what you owe for a mistake you made. This is just rediculous, this thread should be locked and left at exactly what is here. There are more than enough pictures,emails, and facts posted in this entire thread to show As far as people showing criticism and bad mouthing you, you bring it all on yourself. You have changed your story so much through this entire thread that how could anyone believe anything you say. You have said that you were going to make it right, then you switch to your split personality and say there was no live arrival garauntee. Leave it at that, I will file a lawsuit against you and it will be up to a judge whether you are a thief or not.
Kevin Smith
 
Ken

"ElapsMan
i did not send you anything
this makes me real curious of your info and thank you for sharing this"


i did not say the e-mail was from you, in fact other than an e-mail address, I really do not know who it is from. But somebody must have access to your stuff to scan it and send it out. Anyway, is the information correct? Did you in fact receive the cash from someone in California in a fedex mailer envelope? Did the writing appear to be that of a 5 year old (poor handwriting)? If this is the case, it makes Kevin's story of him having sent you the money instead of Ken in CA untrue.
 
Jerry....

Did it have a post mark?? date?? curious? that sounds pretty fishy(not on your part) that someone would privately try and prove me wrong. Sounds like someone is up to something, not sure what, but definately is weird. I believe that you are telling the truth, but Kenneth on the other hand, I wouldn't trust as far as I could throw him.
Kevin Smith
 
Kevin as much as I hate to say this... In this thread you are... little evil... LOL's!! Good luck even making a compromise. We've seen how Ken is going to handle this. It's a shame... Part your fault though... DONT DEAL WITH KEN YATES!!!! Ken don't deal with Kevin! (Well that was minor in comparison) Good luck. In Cherokee.... old proverb... Beware the smiling pig....Opossum in English.... Something like that!!!
 
Thanks Ray....

good advice. Little late, but still good advice, lol. There are a few good big dealers, so I think I am going to stick with them and leave the private parties alone, it just really isn't worth the risk.
Thanks
kevin Smith
 
One question....

"Beware the smiling pig"

isn't that "beware the smiling pig after too many beers"?

That could be a humbling experience,LOL
Kevin Smith
 
too bad for you good for the snakes

The pic looks like the evil one mr. richey,
dont you think its better the snakes were dead than to have them go through your primitive hacking venomoid process?
would not death be preferable?
you guys are not vets and work out of a garage with news papers and playdough.
what goes around comes around.
still it sucks getting ripped off dont it.
budman

:D
 
Don't you have some frankenstien injections to do???

Find a hole. What? Is there not enough people paying attention to your rediculous posts on the kingsnake forums??
Happy Hollidays,
Kevin Smith
 
Kevin

There is a stamped post date, but it is unreadable. It looks like DEC 10 or 11, but can't be sure. The writing on the address looks like a child wrote it. Ken Yates SAYS he did NOT send it to me.
 
"I could do no better."

That right there ought to tell us all we need to know about dealing with Ken Yates. He did his best, and his best killed those mambas. Anyone who deals with him is assinine from the outset.


"i will NEVER be back on this site again"

Ken, for once, please keep your word! If we never hear from you again, it will be too soon.

Kevin,

Stop saying you're going to sue him and get the papers filed! Or don't ... it's really up to you, but posting here about it is not doing any good at all. If you're going to sue, you need to be prepared for the inevitable investigation by whatever animal control agencies are in power in your area, because the venomoid issue WILL come out in the trial. But, "you pays your money, and you takes your chances," as they say.

Regardless, this whole thread deserves to sink to the bottom of the sea like the whale waste it is . . .
 
thanks....

Jerry,

Sounds very fishy like I said before. Sounds like Kenneth was trying once again to gain some face with lies. Go back to the 2nd post I made where I posted the entire thread of emails between myself and Kenneth, notice the dates? Guess this is just like the rest of the deal with Kenneth, lots of shady gray areas that are unexplained. But just like everything else with him, he didn't do anything wrong as far as he is concerned.

Darin,

Good points and I plan to file papers after the first of the year, it would do no good to do it right now with the hollidays. I agree that this thread has went on entirely too long. I have just basically been trying to answer everyone's questions, with a few replies to Kenneth. I am sure this thread will be over soon and then it will go into the great abyss. I am not worried about the venomoid thing, it is really irrelavent, although I am sure Kenneth will bring it up. The only facts relavent are what was originally purchased, what actually was delivered, and the condition under which the animals were shipped. It is basically a case of neglect and fraud. If the rumors about Kenneth's other business are true, I am sure that will come up and help to show what kind of business man he really is.
Thanks
Kevin Smith
 
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