• 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....

Switzer Bad to Deal with you Tell ME ?

C

Carbon-killer

New member
Joined
Jan 3, 2007
Messages
14
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Age
51
Location
CO
bought a tegu from Switzer Reptiles around the 29 of DEC and i had posted some pictures of him and right away i started getting tells that something did not look right with his mouth so i took more and posted and everyone that seen the pic's and has Tegus said that's not right its ether mouth rot or MBd so then i sent an Email telling him that and i wanted to send him back and get a refund he replied OK bill it to this FedEx account @$@#%^&%&%* so then i called him on the phone and asked him what do i need to do to send him back he said " BOX HIM UP AND SEND HIM BACK " OK so i grabbed the hot packs to see if they were still warm and they were so as i was putting the tegu in the deli cup i remembered the FedEx guy broke the top piece of Styrofoam so i put him in box with heat packs on ether side and packed the newspaper around him and cut a piece card board to use for the top piece of Styrofoam and shipped him then i called to make sure they got him and Kevin yells on the phone why is there no hot packs in there i said there is look and then he shut up for a sec then out of know where his Mommy gets on the phone yelling at me for not putting new hot packs in there and for the card board piece i put in there she said it doesnt hold heat well and i said well i'm sorry i wasn't real familiar with shipping animals and she goes and about the heat packs i said i asked Kevin what i needed to do and he said " BOX HIM UP AND SEND HIM BACK " she goes you cant blame Kevin you claim to know about reptiles and stuff but you don't yada yada i said i do know about them I'm just not used to shipping them and i asked KEVIN so she continued to chew me out and make excuses that she had to mail out 17 other reptiles that day and they cant look at all of them Etc then she told me i wasn't getting my shipping it it wasn't mouth rot i told her mouth rot MBD or genetics ether way he was messed up and i wanted my money back so then she said well i'm going to take him to the Vet and them see whats wrong with him implying that it depended on what the vet said weather or not i get my money back then finally she got so mad that she asked Kevin IS THERE SOMTHING WRONG WITH HIS MOUTH AND HE SAID IT LOOKS ALITTLE SWOLON ON THE LEFT SIDE I HEARD IT FROM HIM AND SHE GOES WELL E-MAIL ME YOU ADDY ILL SEND YOU A CHECK AND DONT BUY FROM US AGIAN !!! so the tegu was going to the vet on TUE she said but They had sent the same tegu to another person and they got it on WED i'm going to post some pics of when i had him you can see the nip on the nose and the sagging bottom lip and the kink in the tail and the white circles behind the ear and the offset Jaw its the SAME TEGU !
 
I can say, I know about this. I have talked to both parties. The one that got the tegu the first time and the one that has it now. This tegu IMO has MBD, I am 100% sure.
Here are the pics of the tegu, he is the exact same MBD tegu. As you can see by the markings it is the same tegu.
 

Attachments

  • baby7tats026.jpg
    baby7tats026.jpg
    234.8 KB · Views: 810
  • 2zxnhgp.jpg
    2zxnhgp.jpg
    35.1 KB · Views: 801
sorry for the lack of periods and spaces in my paragraphs i was a Little upset about the hole thing and I'm not used to writing this much but the story i felt must be told thanks Jim
 
I also know both parties involved, and seen all the pics. They are the same tegu, and I think it is messed up that switzerreptiles.com shipped out the same sick animal to someone else, knowing that it was not in good health.
 
Also note the gap on the right side of the mouth, this can be seen in both photos. This is not normal, it is a real good sign of MBD.

Regardless, Switzer was aware of this problem. He resold the animal knowing it was not healthy.

I am the one that told him the tegu was not healthy, my advice was to return the animal. The next day Switzer resold it again as a healthy animal. IMO, this is bad business at best.
 
To put the icing on the cake, I believe Carbon said in our chat that they said they'd get it to a vet. People continue to amaze me :rolleyes:
 
They vended right next to us at the IRBA show in Pomona Ca this past December 9-10. I have to say that the reptiles they were selling at their table were all in really good condition. They did have 2 monitor lizards of some sort(sorry cannot remember exactly what kind) that were marked down due to loss of nipped toes and fingers. All the rest appeared to be in really good condition. It was the husband and son selling that day and when we spoke with them they seemed very knowledgeable on what they had available. It seemed like they were stand up people but there is obviously wrong with that cute little fellow and for them to re-sell it flat out the next day is 100% crappy!!
I am sorry you had to go through that. Does anyone know if the second party is sending him back or has there been any correspondence with the seller and the second buyer? Just curious to see what they had to say a second time!
Shanell.
 
ravensgait said:
For us now lizard folks what is MBD???? and Randy
Click to expand...
Metabolic bone disease. Generally caused by improper calcium and Vitamin D intake and metabolism.
 
I have known Carbon-killer (Jim Rich) for a short while. I recall the issue he recently had with Switzer.

My understanding is that they sent him a hatchling that had a visible issue with it's mouth, very likely Metabolic Bone Disease.

Jim contacted Switzer and was told to return the lizard in the packaging it arrived in. Jim did, but Jim replaced the top foam piece with a piece of carboard since the foam cover was broken into pieces during shipping.

Jim has never shipped reptiles and wasn't told very clearly how to return the tegu, so he did the best he could be expected to do.

Jim was given a hard time over the shipping, when I feel Switzer should have been sure to explain the proper method to return the tegu.

Jim was then told he would not get his check until the tegu was vet checked and confirmed that it did have an issue with it's mouth. At this point, if Switzer did as they claimed.. there would be no issue in my mind. I'd say it was a simple mistake.

Then someone else came forward who just bought a tegu from Switzer and it also had a mouth issue, upon inspection it was noticed that it's the same tegu that Jim was just told would get inspected by the vet, but instead the tegu was just resold.

To me, this is very poor business practice. I am not saying everyone will have a bad transaction with Switzer. I have heard both good and bad in the past, but in this circumstance.. I clearly agree this was a bad choice on the behalf of Switzer.

Rick Sisco
 
Sorry but why an I not getting an e-mail informing me of responses? Do they not do that any more? Sorry off topic I know but had to ask.
Shanell.
 
BTW, there are some rumors going around that Switzer got his tegus from me. This is not at all true, I have never dealt with them.
 
I have met Kevin before on several occasions, never purchased from him. I have seen his stuff at the IRBA show myself as well. I could not gauge the health of the animals as I was just passing thru, but to hear that he did that is rather sad to me.

He seemed like a stand up young man, but actions speak louder than words.

Poor Tegu. I hope it will be well taken care of where ever it is...

And Jim, it seems like you did your best in the situation, and I am sorry you have had to deal with it. Have your received your refund yet?
 
i have an update. the Tegu was taken to the Vet. and the new owner spent 32 bucks. to see what was wrong with him. and Guess what they found ? they Found that the Baby Tegu had Splinter in his mouth ! ........and after Linda chewed me out and Told me he would be going to the Vet on Tuesday. it looks like he Never made it ! but he did make it to the UPS agian to be shipped out ! Well the good news is the Tegu is in a loving Home now and will not Be noglected agian ..ps still waitng on my Refund
 
Great news Jim!! I am glad to hear the little guy is going to be ok. :)

I am also glad it was not MBD.

This still does not excuse the actions of the seller one bit.
 
Great to hear the little guy is going to be fine. :)

I have one thing that bugs me though......if the critter obviously had something wrong with his mouth.....why did no one think to open it up and look around in there?? Could have saved a lot of time and hassle, not to mention getting the poor little Tegu feeling better a lot more quickly...
 
As a respected breeder of tegus, I can understand your question, but if an inexperienced keeper tried to pry open a tegu hatchlings mouth, there would have very well likely been a lot more damage done.

If a tegu hatchling is sold and returned with an obvious mouth issue, it should have been inspected by the seller or taken to a vet. At no time should an animal that is returned with a obvious issue, be immediately resold.

I'm personally curious to see if Jim (Carbon-killer) is given his refund. I would also think it would be very professional of Switzer to make a partial refund to the new owner of this tegu to cover the vet fees, but that is not any of my business.

Rick Sisco
 
My question was primarily aimed at Mr. Switzer, assuming he had some experience with the animals, and as to why he didn't bother to check the animals mouth when it was returned to him.

I appreciate your answer though Rick, as I honestly didn't know how challenging it would be to open one of those little buggers mouths. ;)
 
Back
Top