• 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....

Bad Guy Our 'experience' with Elliott Maddux AKA Eweezyfosheezy

There is absolutely NO EXCUSE for that kind of negligence.

The fact that you admit to shipping animals like that in the past, MULTIPLE times and see no problem with it tells me that you are someone who has business dealing in live animals. Please find another hobby where you cannot torture other living creatures.
 
I have received dozens of packages contained with tortoises shipped to me in cloth bags, deli cups, and free roam in the box. Out of the dozens of packages I have received the best results have been from free roam, the worst from cloth bags by a wide margin.

The 150+ tortoises in my possession will disagree with your torture statement.
 
Just so everyone is aware I did not just throw the heat pack in there, I taped it to the top of the inside of the box. I first put the tortoises in the box, then I put the shredded newspaper on top of them, and then taped up the box and shipped them out.
 
Contact ShipYourReptiles.com, Elliott. Show them those photos and explain how you ship multiple torts and let me know if they approve.
 
I think the only way it could have ended up the way it did is if it was turned upside down or maybe even tossed around multiple times. I have heard of plenty of cases where a delivery driver was delivering a reptile package holding it upside down as if the package didnt have multiple arrows pointing up saying keep up live reptile. Who knows how many times this package has exchanged hands after I dropped it off at FedEx. After receiving many and shipping many packages where the tortoises free roam why is this the first time something bad has happened? There has to be an added something as to why they arrived the way they did.
 
All packages are subject to being thrown, tossed around, shuffled across the floor, kicked, dropped and a variety of other things, that is why you package the animals safely.

Not only did you have these animals free room in a box that had excessive space, you had 18 animals free roaming in a box that had excessive space. Nothing "extra" or "different" happened during the shipping, it is just flat irresponsible to ship this way. I have gone ahead and e-mailed my concerns to SYR.com regarding this. I do not know if they will come here and weigh in, but you violated their policies for shipping anim

"Using your own shipping supplies

You may use your own shipping supplies, but they must meet or exceed the standards developed by ShipYourReptiles.com:
•Cardboard box is new, with no markings that indicate a dangerous or illegal item (no alcohol boxes). Box must not have any kind of warning or hazardous material markings or stickers. Box should be labeled in accordance with the Lacey Act. See more on that here.
•Insulation lining must be at least ¾ inch thick. The insulating lining must cover all four sides of the inside of the cardboard box, as well as the top and bottom.
•Heat or cold packs must be used according to ShipYourReptiles.com Shipping Standards.
• You must use a “triple container.”
1.The deli cup or cloth reptile bag.
2.The insulating foam container.
3.The cardboard box.
•You must seal the box adequately. All shipping labels must be fully legible.

If you have any doubts, use the supplies available on ShipYourReptiles.com.

Remember: What you do affects the entire reptile hobby and industry. The general public has a right to live their lives without encountering a reptile that’s escaped from improper packaging. Every time someone ships a reptile with substandard packaging, and that reptile escapes, dies, scares or harms someone, that reflects poorly on all reptile hobbyists. It also furthers legislative efforts to ban reptiles entirely.

Take responsibility. Do your part. Pack your reptile properly. Make sure it reaches its destination safely. It’s good for the reptile, it’s good for the recipient, and it’s good for you."
 
Thanks everyone for taking the time to inform this guy of his torturous, improper, and almost certainly illegal shipping practice. The fact that his posts seem to have a sense of defence for his actions make this all the more sickening.

The point is that it is EXPECTED these boxes will be subject to extremes (temperature, physical trauma, etc.) and proper shipping technique is entirely based around mitigating these inevitabilities. Yes, the box was almost certainly turned upside down (and sideways and every other direction imaginable)--that is NOT the problem.

If anyone else would like to give this guy's head a shake then please post. I really don't think he gets it.
 
Well, here's one dead. So, that's one dead, one dying, and one blind from an empty/bleeding eye socket (and 15 other question marks where only time will tell).

RIP little guy.
 

Attachments

  • photo56.jpg
    photo56.jpg
    344.7 KB · Views: 256
Damn!! What a shame. Those poor little animals. How inhumane!!! It is hard to even imagine what it must have been like for them.
 
I'm not trying to defend myself and I'm open to any and all criticism given to me because this is not at all ok by any means.

The first time I had received a package with free roam torts was over a year ago from a very well known and "high end" tortoise breeder. I was initially shocked by what I had seen when I first opened the box to find tortoises just crawling about, but they were all in perfect health so I didnt really have anything to say and I had no experience anyways with shipping babies before so I had no idea what the norm was. Maybe two months after that I had come to an agreement with a big reptile specialty pet shop to wholesale my sulcatas out to them and I was informed to ship the babies out free roam in the box. All arrived perfectly fine and I have since then shipped a few wholesale groups out to them with no problems.

I will not continue to ship like this because it obviously does not work and now some of those torts have paid the ultimate price. I'm sorry to you Mike, everyone else that was involved with this purchase, everyone in the reptile hobby, and most importantly the tortoises involved in this shipment.
 
Sorry to see this. I will contact Elliott privately.

This packaging is no different than shipping a set of billiard balls in a big giant box, letting them all smash together, again and again, until they are chipped, broken and destroyed. Very sad to see.

We cover Hold for Pickup shipments very specifically at our site. It is a common practice, used successfully all the time. This shipment was not booked for that service, to expect that it would be held at the facility is wishful thinking.

Our Hold for Pickup FAQ:

http://www.shipyourreptiles.com/en/get_help/get_help_shipping_tracking/#question-127
 
Thanks again for sharing your thoughts, everyone.

Two of the Leopards are dead. I'll spare the photos, as these ones have a pink foam coming from their mouths (disturbing). We have taken the remaining lot to our vet friend who helps out with our society. This will hopefully be their best chance, but I am not holding out much hope. We are paying for this treatment, which will quickly exceed what we paid Elliott Maddux. I will ask that Ryan contact him for a refund if everyone here agrees.
 
MFLuder said:
Thanks again for sharing your thoughts, everyone.

Two of the Leopards are dead. I'll spare the photos, as these ones have a pink foam coming from their mouths (disturbing). We have taken the remaining lot to our vet friend who helps out with our society. This will hopefully be their best chance, but I am not holding out much hope. We are paying for this treatment, which will quickly exceed what we paid Elliott Maddux. I will ask that Ryan contact him for a refund if everyone here agrees.
Click to expand...

I hope Elliot will step up and at the very least take care of the vet bills. This was, after all, his fault.
 
When I saw the picture I was astonished to see them lose and barely any padding. I've never shipped turtles or tortoises but what I read from all is common knowledge, you don't let something live roam free in a box. I've had a mis-shipment not held and shipped to me in Texas summer, so glad it was a nice morning and not to hot yet. I've also had a snake dropped on my door-step with the box on it's side. I've received shipments a number of times to know how to ship my critters and even looking into it a lot. I even bought a bunch of different containers to measure and see just what I'd need when I start shipping.

I'd spend more money then needed to make sure the creature I am shipping will get there safely. It would break my heart to see this outcome to one of my snakes or geckos because of something stupid I did and I never want to see it happen. Living things need to be treated as such, they're fragile lives and have a whole world ahead of them.

I'm truly sorry for your loss as it never needed to happen. I really hope the rest of them make it okay and survive for you.
 
No doubt there is lung and heart damage. Particularly to these little guys that still have the soft shell. What a sad event. That just looks like a 5 year old trying to ship. Horrible
 
Back
Top