warning on bakers boas!

[Miss Tuniwha]

degrees, not %

 

[jim0602]

Temperature of 74 degrees is the 1st problen i see..

 

[KelliH]

Born in May, shipped in October and still eating pinky mice? Something just isn't right about that...

 

[Wolfy-hound]

On his website:
"Breeding here at FNB will finaly start in fall 2009 with my first set of females. I will have 4 to 8 females hopfully ready to breed in 09. This will be my first time breeding, So; I lined up a great line of boas to start with."

So he was not a breeder, but hoped to breed. He does have one snake up for sale, and a great deal of information posted.
I still say he bought a snake that was known to be picky, and then refused to return it, so it's his own responsibility.
Theresa Baker

 

[far north boas]

NO his hot spot was at 94 degrees!

 

[far north boas]

Robert told me he was a picky eater 1 day before he shipped him to me and reashurd me no matter what happens with the snow I would be coverd if it died in my care. Under that asumptoin I keeped plugen away trying to get him too feed and it never did. The boa never ete on his owen is y I think he should refund my money back.

 

[lanceheads]

NO his hot spot was at 94 degrees!

I think that may be one part of the problem, outside of your admitted lack of husbandry skills.
IMO, 94 is way too hot. It also depends on the size of the enclosure, say, if you had it in a 10 gal. tank, the thermal gradient on one side is 94, the opposite side would be about 87, which is too hot either way, not allowing it a place to cool down.
So, what size enclosure did you house it in?

 

[far north boas]

Theresa, If I was your customer and I was buying 4 to 5 snakes off you a year and was 1 of your favorite cutomers would you not refund me my money back?

 

[Mooing Tricycle]

Cory, did you ever attempt feeding rats?

 

[Craigh]

Theresa, If I was your customer and I was buying 4 to 5 snakes off you a year and was 1 of your favorite cutomers would you not refund me my money back?

Or if you the seller and u sold a kid 4 to 5 snakes. Told him the last one he got was a picky eater and after he received the snake said it wasn't eating. You offered a full refund if he sent the Boa back. But choose to keep said snake and pretty much voided your TOS would you give a refund ?

 

[Uroboros]

Born in May, shipped in October and still eating pinky mice? Something just isn't right about that...

That appears to be a human issue, the snake in the picture appears big enough for much larger mice or to move onto rat fuzzies.

What kind of food was offered to the snake? You talk a lot about pinkies and brained live (ugh brain a live pinky?) pinkies and there are pinkies in the enclosure. What else was offered to it?

 

[Mooing Tricycle]

Theresa, If I was your customer and I was buying 4 to 5 snakes off you a year and was 1 of your favorite cutomers would you not refund me my money back?

Thats a HORRID excuse to ask for your money back. Talk about Greed.

YOU KNEW that snake wasnt feeding well. YOU did not have much experience with nonfeeding or picky animals, yet YOU still wanted it. YOU refused to ship the animal back, and YOU refused to bring that animal to a vet SOONER.

You are OWED nothing.

 

[lanceheads]

He was born 5-15-08, and I tried to feed him dead f/t and live and freshly killed and even whashed them off before i tried to feed him, tried even poking holes in the head of the live pinkes to get brain exsposed, and the only thig I didnt try was live rat pups because I cant get them here. Its like he didnt know what to do with his food other than snugle up to his pray and keep them worm and he was the smallest out of the 5 he sent me. And just too let you all know I got my first set of boas from robert mid november 07 and to this day I've onlye owned boas for 14 half months.

Alicia, I believe this answers your question.


Randal Berry

 

[Miss Tuniwha]

Theresa, If I was your customer and I was buying 4 to 5 snakes off you a year and was 1 of your favorite cutomers would you not refund me my money back?

I would offer to take it back, if you refused.. it would be your choice.. its called .. gambling..

you try, and fail.. you don't always get a "free card"

4 months later, and it dies.. does NOT look bad on the breeder.

as far as we have seen. the breeder tried to help.. which is far more then many breeders would.

so I do feel he DID treat you as a respected client. IMO


if you have an animal that is sick.. you take it to the vet.. you do NOT wait 4 months to do so, then say you planned to.


your loss kid.

suck it up..

I AM sorry for your loss, he looked to be a beautiful snake (when sent to you) and I know that's a good chunk of change..

but crap happens..

we have all had SOMETHING happen that just KILLED out wallets.. but that's part of life.

 

[Miss Tuniwha]

also, the force feeding/pump issue. Did someone teach you how to do this properly?

I believe there is a thread on this site about how doing it wrong is KNOW to kill a snake.

 

[John E Dove]

I see in one of the screen shots I saved, and blew up to compare marking with Mr. Bakers pictures, what looks to be a big rock at one end of the enclosure but where is the water?

 

[David Reid]

If you buy a high end Boa, it should feed for you. If Cory only had the Snow, that would be one thing, but the guy has several other Boas, that are all feeding fine. If Baker did not identify the Boa as a picky feeder until the last minute, the day of or day before shipping, that is not giving the buyer notice of a POOR feeder, but a PICKY feeder, once the sale has been consumated. Totally different than if the buyer was informed, via the ad, and in the first email, first conversation, etc., that the Boa is a picky feeder.There is a fine line between selling a poor conditioned animal, with full disclosure, and selling a poor conditioned animal, notifying the buyer in a manner that is less than completly up front, and done from day one, to make a buck. I have only sold two less than stellar feeders, one an Albino Ball, and one a Pastel Ball. In both ads, it was stated that they were every other feeding time feeders, or, mouse feeders. The Albino male kicked in right away at his new home, eating 4 or 5 mice per feeding. The Pastel ate right away, but then went on a few month long fast. So, new environments can have negative effects on less than stellar feeders. Niether Ball that I sold, was under 600 grams, so I can imagine, shipping stress, and new environment stress, on a less than perfect feeder that is a baby, might be detrimental to the Snake's health. Dave

 

[ophidile]

Robert told me he was a picky eater 1 day before he shipped him to me and reashurd me no matter what happens with the snow I would be coverd if it died in my care. Under that asumptoin I keeped plugen away trying to get him too feed and it never did. The boa never ete on his owen is y I think he should refund my money back.

Is this true, Rob? Did you at some point say Cory would be "covered even if the boa died in his care"?
Cory, I take it such assurances were done over the phone and you have no record of it? Anything more specific than "covered"? That could mean a lot of things

If that's the case then things are a little different, but even assuming this is true (who knows), considering the time frames involved and a polite request from Rob for some patience, etc, I really think you should have waited at least a month before deciding to "warn" people about Rob on this particular deal. Personally I think a year is a reasonable time frame to resolve this kind of thing, since you are a repeat customer and "covering" could reasonably involve deals on future offspring.

(I'll leave the husbandry questions to the boa experts!)

 

[Seamus Haley]

Just to tally them up here...

That hide is inappropriately sized without a soft substrate.

The gauges are of questionable accuracy based on the models and that is compounded by their placement up the back wall.

Color printed newspaper is often mildly toxic.

The environmental conditions are questionable. The low displayed and the high stated are both possibly not ideal, depending on the accuracy of the measurements.

A force feeding attempt two weeks after it was shipped.

Rats are apparently illegal in Anchorage. Which makes me wonder what he plans to feed them as they grow if they do not take frozen thawed.

If a baby boa eats nothing after being born, it'll likely die in around eight-ten weeks, give or take. 129 days indicates that it ate something at some point. Pinky mice wouldn't have been my choice given the size they drop at and the size shown in the photo but if that's what it decided it would take, then that's what it decided it would take. An experienced person could have worked with that.

I believe that this is a case of a buyer overestimating their own experience and skill set in taking on a trickier animal. All these little husbandry things that could have been done better certainly aren't going to help- but may not be hurting animals which are predisposed towards greater tolerance and a more aggressive feeding response (like his other snakes).

 

[Mooing Tricycle]

Alicia, I believe this answers your question.


Randal Berry

Thanks. I missed that. I was informed rats are illegal in Alaska, so i was curious if they had been "tried".