• 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....

Info Monster Cages aka Matthew Martin - frozen feeder experience

blueapplepaste

blueapplepaste

New member
Joined
Jun 1, 2005
Messages
185
Reaction score
1
Points
0
Location
Dallas-Ft. Worth, TX USA
This isn't a bad guy post, but definitely not a good guy post either. I just wanted to share my experience buying feeders from Matthew Martin of Monster Cages.

I was looking for an alternative to Big Cheese for my rodents - nothing wrong with them, just shopping for alternatives and a better price. A buddy of mine told me about Matthew at Monster Cages. The quote he gave me was competitive so I decided to give him a try. I ordered 200 small rats and 50 rat pinks. I sent money and the order was shipped the following week on April 23.

I never got a tracking info, and asked about one and when they'd arrive. He told me (via Facebook) that he sent one and the package would be there either Wed or Thurs. I'm sure he did send one and it just ended up in my junk email. I was concerned when he mentioned Thurs as a possibility as I've always gotten frozen feeders with 2 day shipping standard. I guess it's my fault for not inquiring.

However, the package did arrive on Thursday April 26th three days later. To my surprise when I opened it, there was absolutely no dry ice or any cold pack to keep it frozen. Just insulation around the outside of the box. Needless to say, everything was completely thawed inside. The rat pinks and several bags of rats were around room temperature, the rest were still cool, but not cold.

The bags that were cold I put in the freezer and will probably use. The RT bags, I put in the freezer but marked them separate - I'm still not sure if I'll use them after being thawed for who knows how long.

While the rats do look nice and healthy, the fact that they arrived three days with no cold source means I will be going back to Big Cheese (or someone else). I definitely will not be a repeat customer if my orders are going to arrive completely thawed out.
 
Well if you would have contacted me about the mishap as they should have arrived fine since I have shipped numerous orders to TX with no problem. We would have sent more right back out to you. You have not even contacted me about this at all before this post. Like i said we are happy to ship you some new ones right out on our next feeder shipping day.

Matthew Martin
Monster Feeders
 
While it's admirable that you are willing to replace the order, How in the world can you defend your shipping methods? Without dry ice, those feeders started to thaw before they even left your facility.
 
I have been shipping this way for the last several years and build my own very insulated boxes.
I have also tried contacting Matthew on Facebook three different times to see when he wants another box shipped and not getting any responses back. So what to do next then, sit and wait or just ship another box?
 
I am assuming from your post Matthew that the buyer made no attempt to bring this error to your attention before this post? If not, I do agree that the shipping method is not up to par with the industry standard, but it does appear that you are trying to make good on a bad situation.
 
joshjtd said:
I am assuming from your post Matthew that the buyer made no attempt to bring this error to your attention before this post? If not, I do agree that the shipping method is not up to par with the industry standard, but it does appear that you are trying to make good on a bad situation.
Click to expand...

How is not including dry ice an "error?" It's not the buyer's job to teach the seller how to ship correctly, and just because no one has complained before does NOT mean that his shipping was acceptable to all (addressing the seller's previous excuse of having shipped before without issues).

I probably wouldn't have contacted him either, if I have to complain to a seller about something this essential to make them do what they should have done in the first place, I probably would not have bothered either.
 
deborahbroadus said:
How is not including dry ice an "error?" It's not the buyer's job to teach the seller how to ship correctly, and just because no one has complained before does NOT mean that his shipping was acceptable to all (addressing the seller's previous excuse of having shipped before without issues).

I probably wouldn't have contacted him either, if I have to complain to a seller about something this essential to make them do what they should have done in the first place, I probably would not have bothered either.
Click to expand...


I do agree that the buyer should not have to tell the person providing the product how to ship. I also agree that shipping method used is not suitable for the product being sold. I do however believe that the seller is making an attempt to make good on a bad situation.

I agree that the seller stated this is the normal shipping standard for him (which again needs to change as that is not the correct way to ship) but if he had not stated that, it could have been a simple oversight and I would have given the seller the benefit of the doubt.
 
I have ordered from Matt a few times and every time I have ordered everything was still cold and solid, maybe its because I ordered a lot of larger rats and they take longer to thaw but I have never once had a issue, that is the way he ships and it works for him without issues, saves on shipping as well, I always recommend Matt Martin and will continue to go through him. I would rather pay cheaper shipping and get starting to thaw rats then pay $80 on shipping, which is just under what I pay on the rodents alone! If you don't want your rodents shipped that way I am sure if you want he will put some dry ice in the box for that extra fee.
 
I wasn't aware cutting corners to save on shipping was an ok thing to do. From now on I'll force my animals on the hot side to warm them up really good so I can save on a heat pack when I ship. Or maybe get smaller foam to save on room. Thanks for ideas. :rolleyes:
 
Utta said:
I wasn't aware cutting corners to save on shipping was an ok thing to do. From now on I'll force my animals on the hot side to warm them up really good so I can save on a heat pack when I ship. Or maybe get smaller foam to save on room. Thanks for ideas. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

:rofl::iagree:

I was just thinking what a bad marketing idea that was: "Buy from me, and for a few dollars more, I'll even include dry ice!":rolleyes:
 
I have been ording feeders from Matt for yrs now and I live In oklahoma and have never had any problems,I have ordered his feeder pigs along with his rats and I go use alot of them..
I have also got feeders from big cheese and from rodent pro and its not unusal not to get dry Ice with ever order..
I also have had them shipped in dead of summer when its topping over 110 degs..Never had anyproblems..and thats a good thing for going on close to 18 yrs keeping reptiles!!!
 
I just wanted to throw in my 2 cents.. I have been purchasing frozen mice from several different companies and they ALWAYS include dry ice and it's certainly not for the decor. Also just a thought but cutting corners on the shipping of feeders has the potential to put our snakes health in jeopardy.
 
First off I haven't used dry ice since i freezer my feeders alot colder than most and i certainly don't do it to cut corners and save money, when it comes to raising this many rodents there isn't a effective way to cut corners and the best place to cut corners would be on the feed for the rodents since we go through alot of it (4 tons a month roughly), but we don't cut corners there like some others. Just ask anyone that has gotten feeders from Monster Feeders, considering i use expensive styrofoam for the insulation of the box also. I have been shipping feeders for the last almost 8 years now.
Matthew Martin
Monster Feeders
 
First off I want to say that I have gotten feeders from several companies.... Bushhill Rodents, Rodent Pro, Big cheese, Mice Direct, and Monster Feeders (Matt Martin) I also want to say that my most recent purchase of feeders was in the $1000-1200 range and came from Monster Feeders. Matts Quote was nearly $300 less than rodent pro.

That being said, No there was not dry ice in any of the 4, 60lb boxes that I received... Neither were there any thawed rodents. The quality of what I received was far superior to anything that I have received from any major rodent supplier and the equivalent of the product produced by Colby @ Bushhill. As far as cutting corners the insulation used in shipin my packages was FAR superior to what I have received from anyone else. There were none of the black skinned stinkey rats that I used to get so many in rodent pro orders.

Bottom of the line I dont necessarily understand how some people post negative experinces on here before trying to get things hashed out with the seller and get bashed, yet there were no attempts by the buyer inform the seller of any issues. Bottom of the line you may not understand it, but packing large groups of frozen items together does usually work. And the seller has made a standing offer to correct any losses.

Reguardless of how this situation turns out my snakes eat Monster feeder rodents and will continue to do so.......
 
PS being in New Mexico my order went into Dallas Texas before coming back to Lubbock Texas and then delivered to me, so the time in transit was a minimum of one day longer than any order delivered inside Texas
 
Rat delivery

I can say that this post was premature. I feel that Matt (the poster) should have contacted Matthew Martin before posting so this situation could have been taken care of before it came to posting on the BOI. I have recieved frozen rodents from Matthew Martin for about 5 months now and I have never had an issue.

I am the one who sent Matt (the poster) to Matthew Martin to purchase rodents. I would never send anyone to anyone that I didn't think was on the up and up. I know that everyone has there own way to ship things, some people use newspaper, some use paper towels. He uses his own style of shipping.

Brad Willoughby
Serpent Syndicate
 
I've done about 5 or 6 fairly large order's with 2 of the big names and only once was there dry ice and that was a mid August delivery from Fl to Ohio. Never had any thawed items.
 
JColt said:
I've done about 5 or 6 fairly large order's with 2 of the big names and only once was there dry ice and that was a mid August delivery from Fl to Ohio. Never had any thawed items.
Click to expand...

I have never received an order without dry ice, and even if they had been big names, I would not want an order of prey for my snakes that had been unthawed/melted/or warmed along the way to me. I would never even consider shipping dead animals without dry ice. It's nasty, unsanitary, and cheap, imo to even risk them melting or leaking over anything else during the trip (Styrofoam is not waterproof).

I would not appreciate being the recipient of such a purchase that I had paid good money for, and I definitely would not bother contacting the seller because I wouldn't WANT anything further from him (except perhaps a refund), but I'm glad the buyer went ahead and posted a BOI to alert anyone else that may feel the same way.

The seller doesn't include dry ice? I am glad that I was warned.:ack2:
 
People's opinions will always differ Matt. Some will be judgemental and some won't. Some like to be forgiving and some don't. Some would like for you to handle YOUR business according to THEIR standards. I used to be one of those.

I am not here to nitpick you on how you do your business. I am no longer here for that stuff.

In the end, the only thing I am conscerned about is honesty, transperancy and making good when something goes wrong. You are doing that.
 
HerpVenue said:
People's opinions will always differ Matt. Some will be judgemental and some won't. Some like to be forgiving and some don't. Some would like for you to handle YOUR business according to THEIR standards. I used to be one of those.

I am not here to nitpick you on how you do your business. I am no longer here for that stuff.

In the end, the only thing I am conscerned about is honesty, transperancy and making good when something goes wrong. You are doing that.
Click to expand...

Good for you.
 
Back
Top