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Tim Rainwater: anyone had any dealings with him?

Ken,

Your kidding right? If you e-mail Webslave I am sure he can let you know to view the old BOI which had quite a few posts about Tim and his dealings.
 
Rob, I understand the old BOI has a lot of stuff on it about Rainwater. However, I'm looking for current opinions about him from current members. Good or bad, new history or old. Thanks.
 
Well, I think you are answering a question many people have asked. That is, does he still deal in reptiles?

I personally have not bought from him and with the countless stories I have heard, I would rather drop a bunch of money on the street as opposed to giving it to him.

So where is he at these days? Still in Vegas? What name is he going under?

Just curious.
 
There was a thread on here a while back about him getting into the high end ball python market. I'm sure some keyword searching will turn it up pretty easily.
 
If you know a way to contact him, please let me know. I need to get a hold of him for an interview for a book. I just need to talk to him about his albino line. Please send me his contact info, or tell him to get a hold of me.
 
Justyn, what albino line are you talking about? Surely not the leopard geckos?

And yes, Rainwater is still around, just now getting back into herps, along with the ball python scam. What I'm still looking for is anyone that has done business with him in the past. Good or bad.
 
Ken,
My curiouisity has peaked here. If you know of his past, know of him just getting back into reptiles, and you are calling his ball python deal a 'scam', what more info do you need? Not sure what the point of the thread is.
 
Last thing I heard, which may or may not have been strictly a rumor, was that he had associated himself with a petshop as their resident "expert"

If this is the case, even if he's only doing it when he's not selling insurance, then everyone who's got a business and everyone who's a potential customer has a vested interest in knowing what he's been up to. I've met a few people who seem, quite unfortunately, to think he still has some kind of credibility within the industry. This makes him dangerous. Perhaps not as dangerous as he once was, but dangerous nonetheless.

I'd also be very interested in knowing if anyone has had any dealings with him or anyone who he has chosen as a business partner within the last couple months. It never hurts to keep tabs on the bad guys.
 
I've heard through the grapevine that he has alot of rare Ball's and some rare Bloods. Some really nice animals from some of the bigger breeders. I do not know him, never have seen him, but did hear this rather recently and could possibly be a rumor also.
Thanks, Tom Baker
 
OK...he ripped me off and many others

Are you happy now? He never sent the animals I paid for and never sent a refund and disappeared. If you know where I can find him, please let me know. I would be glad to visit him. Since I know what he looks like, I will look for him at Daytona and some of the other big dollar shows. But I doubt I will get to him first as there are a lot of people looking to "even up" with Tim. I also know of two people that he ripped real big time. One in Canada for $9000 and Denise at Golden Gecko (now out of business much thanks to Rainwater). He sold Denise het for albinos (something like 30K worth) and none were het. She bought the male albino he sold to (I think it was) prehistoric pets and when mated to the definite hets Rainwater sent her...nada...no albinos. He sent her "new" hets and guess what...one albino baby. His answer to Denise was "he was sorry she even got one het" he must have screwed up and accidently sent a real het.

Don't deal with him. You (and many vegas dealers) may not like this, but I will not buy anything from a vegas address. Too much of a chance that Tim or his old partner are involved. I also tell people to stay away from vegas dealers unless they deal in person, no mail order, no phone orders. Too much crap came from that town courtesy of Tim and his partner.


John
 
John,

I take exception to your remark regarding reptile breeders living in Las Vegas. My family and I reside and do our business in Vegas and will put our reputatation up against anyone in the business. I understand your feelings regarding Rainwater but please don't include an entire city, it's childish!

Tad Fitzgerald
Captivebred.com
 
OK, I told you you wouldn't like it. Sorry but Tim and his partner had many "companies" they did business as. If I deal with you personally first, then I will consider phone/mail order from your vegas addy. For a while there, vegas was a hot bed of ripoffs. Not sure if all came from the Rainwater camp, but there sure were a lot of them. Yes, this hurts legit dealers in vegas but then any mail order ripoff does the same for all mail order sales (people will only deal in person).

Get the police in vegas to deal with it and maybe your local industry won't suffer further. We (local herpers/dealers/enforcement agencies) readily point out bad operators in our area, even going so far as to bring prosecution. Also, as you get a reputation for good dealing people we be less "suspicious". It may take you longer to build your rep than other locality dealers thanks to Tim. Face it with the rumors that Rainwater is resurfacing, any vagas dealer that is new is going to be suspect.
 
John,

I'm sure Ken has a good reason for asking if there is any NEW information floating around on Rainwater. Your comments didn't respond to Ken's question, you simply dug up some old personal grieviences. Then you attempt to put a guilt trip on us (local dealers) as if it's our fault for not keeping an eye on the Rainwaters or any other shady businesses.

We have been doing business for 14 years so are not newbies. Unfortunately we have seen many shady dealers come and go in this business. Since I don't normaly have the time to participate in these forums, word of mouth has been my way of making others aware of these scam artists. But, I am very careful when making these accusations and would never knowingly hurt anothers business so I could vent my own frustrations. Be good to youself John and let it go.


Tad Fitzgerald
 
Well

A few months ago someone contacted me about the Albino male Ball I had for sale. We talked about a trade for an Albino Blood python. It turned out to be Tim, I explained that if we did a trade, he would have to ship first, or we meet in person....he ended up selling the Blood, which was no big deal. We did not have a firm agreement. He did send some nice pics, Albino blood, two in fact, and a new line of pastel, looked very nice....

Dave
 
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