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Offering animals not in yor possession

April Homich

April Homich

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I've noticed that a lot of people have been trying to get adult female ball pythons for breeding, since it's that time of year.  I have a couple questions about this.  
There is a reptile shop that I frequent here and they have some adult balls.  I was wondering what people thought of advertising that you were able to get a hold of an adult female for them.  This just doesn't sound like that great of an idea, but I know the people there very well and a couple of them would actually tell me where they got them, how long they've had them, how well they're eating, etc.  Of course, unless they are eating well and everything, I wouldn't even consider this.  I know that I would be very wary of someone offering snakes like this, but then I think that if somebody wants them and I can help them out that it could be good.  I suppose the best way to do this would be to buy them first myself and then offer them, but I don't want to end up with extra snakes that I don't have room for.  Or maybe would I buy one at a time?  
Anyway, I know this just sounds like a bad idea all around - well, at least to me it would sound very suspicious, but the idea just popped into my head while looking at ads.  I'd still like comments...   Thanks!
Oh yeah, and if it's breeding season and people are buying females now, are they not quarantining them?
 
Hi April!

My personal opinion, buy the females yourself and then sell them if this is something you want to look into doing.  That eliminates the potential problem of finding someone online who wants the female(s) and when you go to pick them up, the store has already sold them.  It also allows you to see first hand how they're feeding and behaving.  As for quarantines, I personally don't mix any new acquisitions with my established stock for at least six months as a general rule unless I've got good reason to trust in thier health.  Even if I put them in the same room, they aren't housed in the same cage as any other snake already in my collection before I've had them at least three to six months (usually six or more).  I know, I'm pretty particular, but these are my babies. <img src="http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'>

Dianne
 
What you are describing is being a broker. There is nothing wrong with this as long as you are willing to put up with the pitfalls that plague brokers. How do you know if the animal is eating if you don't have it long enough? Are you going to guarantee an animal is eating, and then replace it if it isn't? Brokers always advertise animals that they don't have possesion of, but know that they can get. Do you want to deal with someone that sends you a money order, and by the time you get it, your potential animal is gone? Or do you want to go and purchase it, and then not have the money order show up? Then you are stuck with the animal. These are just all things to think about. You need to decide if these possible pitfalls are worth it for what you can make on the deals.
 
Do not sell something that is not yours or in your posession
simple ...thought so.
<img src="http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=';)'>
 
</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">What you are describing is being a broker. There is nothing wrong with this as long as you are willing to put up with the pitfalls that plague brokers.</td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'>

One additional thing on that post...

Brokers generally make it well known to THEIR vendor that they will be brokering the animal, this tends to ensure that there is either a limited pool of other brokers and/or near instantaneous communication if the animal goes off the market for whatever reason...

Unless you give that pet store a cell phone and they're planning on calling you with every sale, you're taking a huge risk of selling animals that no longer exist as a commodity and having to refund the payment. Generally once or twice and people won't be too ticked off, but a large number of transactions where people's time is wasted in the return of funds and you'll get a negative reputation.

Just how many ball pythons has this pet store got for sale at these lower prices? I've been to a great many reptile specialty stores and very few have ever had more than 25-30 ball pythons in stock at any given point, and usually juveniles... If they only have  a handful of adults, the risk increases that the animal will dissapear before you pick it up for your customer.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Do not sell something that is not yours or in your posession simple ...thought so.</td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'>

I'm inclined to agree with John... Or at the very least, don't sell anything that you don't have some contractual assurance will be avaliable. Even that really only super high end animals- (large exotics, CITIES1 animals, anything you're ASSURED of as an importer and only with a plan in place in case something goes wrong).
 
Thanks for the input everyone.  I wasn't planning on trying to actually get money for them until they were in my possession - I guess at the time I was thinking more along the lines of how to find people who would be interested BEFORE buying and selling them.  Also, I wasn't looking to make money.  They were up for $150 each and there were only 4 of them.  The reason I thought about it was because they are all very large females, ~2000g each and thought I would be helping someone out.  I spoke with the owner though and he's not selling them, which was news to me and my friends working there.  Anyway, so it was just an idea, but I am not doing it.
 
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