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Strictly Reptiles inc. (Inquiry)

I saw an article relating to Strictly Reptiles, seems they might need to work on their methods for handling hots:
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-0926snake,0,5364930.story?coll=sofla_tab01_layout (contents of this link listed below).

Davie snake store employee bitten by rattler; hospitalized
By Andrew Tran and Sallie James | Sun-Sentinel.com
1:16 PM EDT, September 26, 2007
DAVIE - A snake store employee was sent to the hospital this morning after he was bitten by a western diamondback rattlesnake.

Tony Cruz was bitten at about 10 a.m. at Strictly Reptiles at 6450 Stirling Road while he was cleaning the snake's cage, said owner Mike Van Nostrand.

The Miami-Dade County Venom Response Team was called in to treat the bite, officials said.

The reptile import/export business has been around since 1990.

The 2-1/2-foot-long snake crept to the top edge of the cage and bit Cruz, 37, on his left ring finger.

"It was already turning black and blue and he was bleeding," Nostrand said. "It got him pretty well enough that I knew to send him to the hospital."

The victim's hand was swollen and discolored by the time he reached Memorial Pembroke Hospital, said Al Cruz, special operations chief for the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department. Cruz said the man was initially treated with six vials of anti-venin and would likely receive six to 18 more vials to counteract the effects of the bite.

"The biggest problem with a western diamondback is the potential for internal bleeding," Cruz said. He said the venom can also cause tissue destruction. Western diamondbacks are known for their nasty dispositions, he said.

The snake's venom affects the blood's clotting factor, Cruz said, and can cause uncontrollable bleeding without treatment.
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I have to agree with most everyones comments on this thread. I live in Florida and have been to strictly's a few times. I have also ordered from everyone under the sun here back in 2001-02 when I just moved here and my breeding colony was broken up and I was doing a lot of reselling.

If you hand pick anyone you will get better animals. Every animal dealer in the world has that one animal that is indestructable and will thrive anywhere, that one animal that is a failure to thrive and couldn't be saved by a miracle and everything in between. But what thier willing to throw in you rbox you may not have been willing to poke with a stick.

The wholesalers revolve those animals out for several reasons: to get your money, to clear out junk, maybe it will live past the guarantee period, and keep orders flowing-they can't pick thier animals when Tik-Pa boxes them up in indo, or leticia, so they sell what they get.

I'm sorry that some people get burned but as a guy who sells 98% cbb I kinda have to laugh sometimes. I have been selling a lot of gtp's and brb's lately. These animals can get imported in great shape and some orders really suck. But about 4 out of 5 people when resonding to my ads of cbb animals expect me to compete with Ray's prices.

Why complain about the quality of junk if your only willing to pay for junk.
As the old adage says "you get what you pay for".

I personally like Ben Seigal reptiles- he may be a middleman on some species, but everything is ready to sell, has a guarantee, and you can be assured he has seen the animal himself. He is quick to reply to you, and has never undercut me once when we have been at the same shows with animals purchased from one another.

I also have to say that I have worked with several tree monitors and frilled dragons from Mike Cole (no relation) of Ballroomsouth and Neil Golli, and these animals were always great, were sold fresh so you got the best chance at acclimating them, and they also made efforts to keep in check with pricing of thier buyers if they happened to be at the same shows.


Thanks
ben cole
 
I have dealt with Strictly and have had not a single good order. I would highly urge u not to waste your money with them. Deal with Ben Siegel or Xtreme Reptiles. I have had nothing but good experiences with them and they are very well known and reputable. I have spoken to several people and even other very well known breeders and wholesalers and none had a single good thing to say about strictly, quite frankly they are known a lot as " sickly reptiles" and I personally know why. Remember, you pay for what you get!
 
For those out there looking to buy reptiles, be very cautious of STRICTLY REPTILES. I just recently placed an order and advised them to make sure all was in nop notch condition because my first order was not very good ( this was the 2nd time I ordered and will be the last.) I was told they would lower the price on their albino burms because they were just a bit skinny. I made it extremely clear I did not want mal-nourished reptiles. They guaranteed they were eating and healthy. I received an albino granite burmese that was completely covered in mites( hello, this is a light colored snake I noticed it as soon as I pulled it out of the bag, they knew it had mites when they sent it.) The 3 albino burms were not skinny, they were mal nourished. I would be surprised if they ever had a single meal, they would not eat anything that was offered to them, they acted as though they never seen food before. The poor things did not have the strength to eat or even digest anything. Two have already died and the 3rd is barely hanging in there. After contacting Strictly, I was told they will not credit anything back and that they did their best ( I would hate to see what their best is) and that I can go elsewhere. Just a heads up, I have spoken to several very well known and reputable companies about Striclty since and not a single one has anything good to say.
Report
 
I won't sell a single thing to them anymore. If you seen the way they keep their stuff you would feel the same way. All of the babies are kept in deli cups and soaked once a week if they remember. There is also a ton of dead animals all over and to top it off Mike is the biggest richard cranium around. Most of the wholesalers down here are a pain in the rear and I wont collect anything or dump anything off to them. I would give it to Ben Siegel for free before I dealt with them. Ben is also a great guy to do business with and I have known him for a very long time. He always treats everyone with respect unlike Mike and a couple other dealers down this way.
 
This last Daytona Show I got 300 yellow bellys from them, and so far I have lost more than half of them. They were sick when they sold them to me. I did not call them, because of how they treat you and just trying to give you a credit. I will never buy from them ever again. I would looke elsewhere.
 
Been there...

I have purchased from Strictly a couple of times in the past. They truly are the epitome of the "caveat emptor." The best I can say about them is that you definitley get what you pay for, and to get the best from them you need to hand pick your own. Be prepared though, to spend a good amount of time doing that. I did not like the sanitation conditions at all. Don't know if they've changed in that respect or not; sure hope so...:shrug01:
 
It's been over 10 years, and my last purchases were so poor that I probably will never risk it again. I got 2 different batches of adult WC cornsnakes. They arrived with such a parasitic load in the GI tract that you could see them in the back of the throat when the snakes tried to breathe through open mouths and you could watch them "crawl" out the vent with defecation attempts. In other words, these were literally loaded from one end to the other. Not all were this sick, of course, but over 50% were full of internal parasites (I mean full - not what you expect even in communally housed wild-caught snakes) and many of them were excessively skinny. Mortality was exceptionally high, and we had to go with another supplier for our needs. We weren't reselling them (it was far a digestive study), but it would have been months before they could have been brought up to good enough condition for sale in a pet store. I doubt that is what most people want when they buy from them.

I can't say that my situation was typical or atypical. They had the "all sales are final" rule, so I didn't even waste my time to contact them about it. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt: maybe they would have replaced them if I asked, but I never gave them the opportunity. I didn't want more from them - even if free. In other words, I'm not saying that they have bad customer service - I don't know: it could be perfect.....but the animals I got were NOT outwardly healthy at all!
 
FYI:I just recently finished the book: TheLizard Kingby Brian Christy:here's a short synopsis:
Undercover agents.
Criminal masterminds.
Turtles.

In his new book, THE LIZARD KING, Bryan Christy tells the true story of America's biggest reptile smuggler, Mike Van Nostrand, and the federal agent who risks his career to stop him. Van Nostrand's company, Strictly Reptiles of Hollywood, Florida, is the world's largest reptile import-export company, selling hundreds of thousands of snakes, lizards, frogs, turtles, scorpions and other creepy crawlies to zoos and pet stores each year.

To Special Agent Chip Bepler of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, however, Strictly Reptiles was the brains and bank behind a vast criminal network run by Van Nostrand and his father.

Christy takes readers on a wild ride into a criminal jungle extending from South Florida to Europe, terminating in a Southeast Asian mastermind who uses reptiles as a front to traffic the world's most precious species.

THE LIZARD KING is the story of crafty smugglers supplying rare reptiles to collectors and zoo curators worldwide; it is the story of an amazing multi-million dollar industry in genetically-designed pythons selling for $100,000; and it is a story of obsession.

And not just the bad guys'. In researching this book, Bryan Christy was bitten between the eyes by a blood python, chased by a mother alligator, sprayed by a bird-eating tarantula, and ejaculated on by a Bengal tiger. The result is a story that will fascinate and amaze you.

THE LIZARD KING. Imagine The Sopranos...with snakes!

Read More Behind The Lizard King ››
Click to expand...
 
charleshanklin said:
I won't sell a single thing to them anymore. If you seen the way they keep their stuff you would feel the same way. All of the babies are kept in deli cups and soaked once a week if they remember. There is also a ton of dead animals all over and to top it off Mike is the biggest richard cranium around. Most of the wholesalers down here are a pain in the rear and I wont collect anything or dump anything off to them. I would give it to Ben Siegel for free before I dealt with them. Ben is also a great guy to do business with and I have known him for a very long time. He always treats everyone with respect unlike Mike and a couple other dealers down this way.
Click to expand...

Just one thing on Mike's character...He has ALLWAYS treated me with respect everytime I have been in his store [once every couple years or so] let me rummage thru the spiders[my thing] and made me feel very welcome.
Ray senior and junior have also treated me well. Once down there a few years back Ray gave my son a very nice collared lizard male that he still has.
I can call them decent folks..at least to me.
 
Let's see if I got this straight.
1. Mark Lucas " cherry picks " reptiles...at a higher price than Strictley's.
2. Mark Lucas works at Strictley's.
So if I follow this through, if you order stock from Strictly's , not Mark, there is a very good chance that the exceptional / good reptiles have already been taken before they were even posted. If you want a good looking reptile, you have to pay a higher price to Mark.
I'd say, depending on the price difference, it might be wise to go through Mark Lucas. As for Strictley's, I'm surprised that retailer's who buy from them would allow this practice.:NoNo:
Rich Ryan
 
I have completely stopped doing business with Strictly. After recieving 3 consecutive shipments with snake mites, as well as recieving exceptionally skinny savannah monitors after specifically stating that I did not want them if they weren't in top condition. There was several other things that occured, but I would not purchase from them again.
 
My recommendation, its better if you can hand pick, I have a few animals here that came from Stricklys but my ex hand picked them. You might get lucky, you might not.
 
strictly

I dealt with them 2 years 2-3 times a year with the petstore I worked at as the reptile specialist. I did all the unpacking, acclimating etc.

They are a wholesaler. They deal in bulk, you will get garbage, but you will also get a few fine pet store quality animals. It depends on what species of animals and what time of the year you get them. When they get fresh shipments its seems like the fresh WC or farm raised was a lot healthier then somthing they have had more than a few weeks. I do recall getting a shipment that was split between our stores of about 200 balls all in all. Most of them lived/ate/and was of healthy weight. We once again ordered in the "off season" that order only had 100 at most to be split up between our 3 stores and that time we received what seemed like bottom of the barrel left overs from the spring/summer. Looking like they had 1 meal at best. In a 6 month period, with few healthy animals. But in that same order we got some bangin spider slings, and a few others misc animals.

My supervisor told me they have been dealing with them 10+ years and will throw garbage in the mix here and there, but it had seemed like they threw enough better quality animals to keep the buisness.

One reason why I dont work at petstores anymore. Just dont expect healthy animals, but hope for them when dealing with them....
 
I've been trying for several years to buy from them however they never have what I want in the Venomous section, never. (Just bad timing I guess)
 
Kingetula said:
I've been trying for several years to buy from them however they never have what I want in the Venomous section, never. (Just bad timing I guess)
Click to expand...
Yes, but they have plenty of mites for you, probably enough for your whole collection. 'Get'em while the gettins good'
 
ForkedTung said:
Yes, but they have plenty of mites for you, probably enough for your whole collection. 'Get'em while the gettins good'
Click to expand...

That's a chance you take with most those large reptile Dealers/shops, that's why I like to get there when they get their stuff in.
 
Kingetula said:
That's a chance you take with most those large reptile Dealers/shops, that's why I like to get there when they get their stuff in.
Click to expand...
Gotcha...before they have a chance to infect them, like that woman who used to work at the pet shop said they're better the shorter time SR has them.


BTW: They're making that book, The Lizard King into a movie. You think they can get DeVito to play Mike? lol
 
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