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Inquiry "REPTILES ETCETERA" out of Kansas

Yes, we have vendored at some of the same shows and have just completed a huge trade of animals........Taron is very knowledgeable and more than willing to spend the time to answer any question to the best of his knowledge........plus his dart frogs and custom made vivariums are the BOMB!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
vended next to him as well. nice selection of animals and allways look good.

got my group of bumble bee toads from him as well
 
Do more research on Taron before you buy from him.. He has a bad reputation under other business names. He had one or two companies before Reptiles Etc... I think there is a very old warning her on the BIO, but not under his current company name. Try his actual name and see if it pulls up.

A few years ago I purchased MANY animals from him at a local show not knowing about his reputation and every single animal I bought from him died. Dart Frogs I purchased from other local sources are still alive. ( I am not sure about my total loss but I made numerous large purchases and probably came to around 1000 dollars or so). He flips animals and some are probably okay, but many are destined to die.

After my bad experience, I did some research and found info about Taron that disturbed me. (It is on another computer and I don't have the links atm, sorry) Google his whole name and his last name, it may pop up some stuff. During my fishing around I found threads containing posts by his own brother which claimed that Taron had ripped off his own family. Taron and a former friend stole stock from his brother's petstore or something to that affect and he ripped off customers using his brother's business connections. His brother's reputation was dirtied because of what Taron did, but he was forgiven...blaa blaa blaa, put the family through hell but it's okay because GAWD fixed him. *gag*. The brother admited Taron had done horrible things but wanted everyone to forgive him. It was ridiculous.

Taron was arrested (or ticketed, I forget) for wildlife pouching in some state a few years ago, I forget which though. That and some other arrests came up under criminal background searches. You may be able to find it if you search well enough. I did my research a few years ago so I have no idea what else you may find.

At the time I tried to bring all this to the attention of local herpers and a show owner, but they blew me off and didn't seem to care. It became apparent that some of them knew all about his past but didn't care, some didn't know, but didn't seem to care much. That bothered me and makes me wonder about the ethical standards of the whole industry. That is the main reason I decided not to get involved with any local groups or go to any more shows.

I don't understand why Taron is allowed to vend at shows when they know of his past. That bothers me greatly and makes me wary of the shows. What a bummer, I used to love going to the shows and I tend to spend a lot of money at them. Taron plays the uber religious card to convince people he's changed and IMO, they either fell for it or they are as unethical as he is and don't care since he brings people to the shows. (He is the only large quantity dart frog vendor there). Whatever the reason is they defend him, it makes me want to stay away from them all.

I am sorry I can't provide the links I found during my research. They are on an old computer, in fact, I am not sure if I even still have them, it was so long ago. If you do some digging around though, you can probably find most of the same data yourself. All I did was some creative googling and I spent a few days wading through the useless fanboy crap to get to the truth.

I noticed that people who vend at shows or are in herp groups tend to protect each other, so don't take a few good comments as proof that a vendor is honest. Not all show vendors are bad people, I still buy from some but I don't do it through the shows anymore. Some just kind of keep quiet about a known or rumored bad guy because they don't want to be ostracized or end up in the middle of drama.
 
Yea, Alexandrina, I think if you dig into anybody to the point where you are doing criminal background checks, you are a little paranoid. Ticketed for "poaching" could be as simple as he caught a fence lizard in Arizona without a hunting license. "Family stuff" is "Family stuff" and really, none of our business either. You are the only person I have ever heard of bitch about Taron. And really, once the frogs are in your possession, your kind of on your own. It could very well have been you cross contaminating the frog tanks. When it comes to dumb shit in Poison Frogs, I have pretty much seen it all.

The Amphibian side of the industry is extremely difficult. You rarely see anything offered from breeders other than a live arrival, and many wholesalers won't even offer that.

I have bought numerous poison frogs from Taron, and have never had a problem at all. I will put my good name behind Taron any day.
 
Wow, talk about a knee jerk fanboy reaction. LOL (Are you a friend of his or is this yet another fake account created by Taron? He has a habit of making fake accounts and posting in every thread about him. He impersonated a doctor once. It is here in the BIO someplace.)

If you're Taron, nice try.

If you're not, then let me say this...We were asked for opinions, I gave mine. You are free to give yours.

People can google his name and make up their own mind about him. I wish I had thought to google his name and not just Reptiles etc... before I bought from him. Lesson learned I guess.

BTW, from what I read, the "family stuff" wasn't just family stuff. It involved his mother paying back the people he ripped off so they wouldn't go to the authorities. If he made up fake names and blatantly ripped people off the way they said he did, he committed many federal offenses and may have ended up in prison. He's lucky as hell his mother bailed him out. It was some serious stuff, not just "family stuff".

Like I said, anyone wanting to learn more can google his full name. The criminal records are easy to find, no paranoia or much effort needed. Every state has a website where you can look up criminal records. I only looked at a couple of them, one of which happens to be where you live. I do agree that pouching can be misconstrued and a person didn't do much more than innocently collect a horned lizard, not knowing the law, but that added to everything else just kind of looked bad. It didn't appear to be a minor offense though.
 
I dealt with him once and would not deal with him again. I purchased a female Ambanja panther chameleon a few months back from him. He advertised her as being a Dr. Gonzo baby. Upon receiving her I noticed she had no visual reaction to anything and sat in one place. After about 3 days and some advice from members on Chameleon Forums, I came to find out she was absolutely blind (a sure death sentence for an animal that relies on its sight to feed). I sent him messages regarding her condition and said I would like to send her back for a refund. He agreed but then dodged me for a few weeks. His only response was he was waiting to be paid for some dart frogs and would refund me once he got that money. Another week passed and still nothing. Luckily I paid through paypal and requested my money back through them which they then put a hold on his account and refunded my money. Otherwise I don't think I would have been paid. The chameleon ended up dying as well. Tread cautiously. As I also read the previous BOI on him and this obviously isn't the first time he's unloaded a sick or lame animal.
 
csmgibeau said:
Yea, Alexandrina, I think if you dig into anybody to the point where you are doing criminal background checks, you are a little paranoid. Ticketed for "poaching" could be as simple as he caught a fence lizard in Arizona without a hunting license. "Family stuff" is "Family stuff" and really, none of our business either. You are the only person I have ever heard of bitch about Taron. And really, once the frogs are in your possession, your kind of on your own. It could very well have been you cross contaminating the frog tanks. When it comes to dumb shit in Poison Frogs, I have pretty much seen it all.

The Amphibian side of the industry is extremely difficult. You rarely see anything offered from breeders other than a live arrival, and many wholesalers won't even offer that.

I have bought numerous poison frogs from Taron, and have never had a problem at all. I will put my good name behind Taron any day.
Click to expand...


Is this person who was convicted of forgery you? If so, no wonder you like Taron so much. Let me say something to you that is unrelated to Taron. If you are pretending to be a retired CMS and were not one, I take great offense at that. My husband IS in the military, as was my eldest son. Pretenders infuriate me to no end. If you are indeed a pretender I would advise you you to cease and desist.

http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/04/29/1644979/man-charged-with-submitting-forged.html


http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1411972#post1411972


http://208.74.204.150/t5/In-The-New...l-Words-from-the-Sergeant/td-p/3681047/page/4

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http://www.davmembersportal.org/chapters/in/77/Lists/Announcements/DispForm.aspx?ID=3930

A 42-year-old man has been charged with forgery for filing with Pierce County Superior Court a letter that allegedly falsely claims he received a domestic-violence evaluation from a local Veterans Affairs office.

The letter contains other falsehoods, prosecutors contend, including that John Paul Gibeau retired from the Army as a senior enlisted man with multiple deployments to the Middle East after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Judge Susan Serko on Tuesday issued a warrant for Gibeau’s arrest.

Prosecutors wrote in court documents filed Monday that Gibeau submitted the letter to the court in December, claiming to have received a domestic-violence evaluation from a doctor at the American Lake Veterans Affairs office.

The letter indicates Gibeau was a sergeant major in the Special Forces who’d been deployed to numerous combat zones overseas. It also states Gibeau’s only child died in a car wreck in 2006.

Gibeau provided the letter as part of his sentence from a 2009 fourth-degree assault conviction.

He was sentenced to one year in jail, but the sentence was suspended provided he maintained law-abiding behavior and sought a domestic-violence evaluation.

The letter, signed by Dr. Thomas Smith and stamped with a VA seal, states that Gibeau is not dangerous and that requiring him to attend anger-management classes could “retard his progress with his depression.”

“Medication and individual therapy is the recommendation indicated by both testing and myself after five one-on-one sessions and a review of his military and military medical record,” the letter states.

A Pierce County court commissioner relied on the letter in closing the case and terminating the court’s supervision of Gibeau, court records show.

A witness later informed the Pierce County Clerk’s Office that the letter was a fake and that Gibeau’s child was alive and well, court records show.

That tip was turned over to Veterans Affairs investigators, who discovered Gibeau received a bad-conduct discharge from the Army in 1996 with the rank of specialist.

“In an email, the VA police officer who investigated the matter indicated that the document is definitely forged and that the MD who signed the document does not exist,” deputy prosecutor Grant Blinn wrote in a declaration of probable cause.

Adam Lynn: 253-597-8644 [email protected] blog.thenewstribune.com/crime


Read more: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/...ged-with-submitting-forged.html#ixzz1KvD3uCwE
 
lmfao!!! nice one sandra!!! as former US army i salute you.... anything else you want to say in defence of this known scammer, specialist gibeau?
 
I really enjoy forums like this, because you can sniff outhe posers. They're outhere. All I will tell you is what I know from personal experience. Reptiles Etcetera has consistently blown me off. I met him at a reptile show and wanted to buy some Lygo williamsi from him, which he claimed to have back in Kansas. Nevereally heard from him again. Maybe answered once or twice. He also told me he moves his Lygodactylus williamsi eggs by using a razorblade to cut them off. [They'regggluers.] Righthere I found that hard to believe. The idea of trying to cut off an egg that small and fragile sound ludicrous. [But always stay opened minded.] I am having trouble finding Lygo williamsi, but won't be dealing withim, partially from this thread, and partially because it's ridiculous to blow off potentila business.
 
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