• 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....

www.serpenco.com (INQUIRY)

I like most will side with Rich on this one.
I have only bought one snake from Rich. I e-mailed Rich asking for a morph that he didn't have listed. In the reply I received Rich was upfront informing me that if he had one, it would not be cheap. I had no problem with that and as such Rich took photos of the snake for my approval.
A straight forward deal, no hassle, no BS! And one very fine snake to boot!
I myself have a large investment in racing pigeons in my back yard. Would I let strangers into my yard and look around my birds? No way, I don't even like to let people handle my birds on race night as it has been known for the "jealous" type to injure birds in this way to ruin the chances of a good race. In every hobby/sport there is always the few that spoil it for the majority of decent people. Can we try to remember it is only a few?

Mark
 
Hello,
I appreciate the input from everyone. As I had stated, I did indeed post this for a friend. This is why I posted the questions and not her. (I did invite her to post here, and this was the reason I was given.)

The web site for the breeder I mentioned is at www.serpenco.com if you'd like to take a look. I didn't want to post it publicly since it gives away my exact location...I don't want that publicized because I'm trying to teach my children to never give your location to strangers on the internet, and my daughter frequents this forum. Thank you for your input.
Click to expand...

I have never used the BOI for any type of inquiry, and yes, I did bypass the rules page. (Though I did make it as far as posting my real name! lol)

I was trying to help a friend with some questions she had, so I asked those questions on her behalf. I apologize for posting 3rd party and can assure everyone that it will not be a repeat offense.

Just an FYI. I posted here in the BOI because I knew Rich owned Serpenco. Presumably, I also knew that I would get the best responses here, since he would be posting the explanation. :D (Thanks Rich.)

I suspect that she visited Pet Paradise on an off day, as the housing and conditions of some of the reptiles that I was informed of seemed less than adequate. The state that she found the store in however left a large enough impression that she will not be returning there. Again, perhaps this was just an off day for them. I personally do not know.

Thanks again everyone. She has read the responses in this thread, and thus the information was passed along. I appreciate all the feedback.
 
Ummmmm.....Let me get this straight.
Her beef with Rich is that he won't give her his address and invite a stranger to his home.
Yet this was her exact reason for not posting herself.
Anyone else see the hypocrisy here?
 
I realize that I am a little late to the party and I don't want to be repetitive, but I would never hesitate to do business with Rich Z/Serpenco.

On another note, I live about fifteen minutes from Pet Paradise. It is a family owned and operated business and I have seen nothing that would indicate the animals are not being cared for properly. To the contrary, I have never seen a mite (or any other parasites) on any of the animals, and the owner is almost always cleaning cages or feeding when I drop by from time to time.

My $0.02,

Lauren Rost
 
Hello,
She didn't perceive it like that. A majority of new reptile owners perceive the idea of a "storefront" or something to that fashion when they are dealing with reptiles and their sales.
Larger breeders,like Rich, give that false presumption to many people. (Not intentionally.)
It is perceived that since they breed on such a large scale, they "must" have some sort of selling area that isn't connected to the internet.
We know that this isn't the case, but not everyone realizes that. It wasn't a case of hypocrisy. It was a case of ignorance.

IGNORANCE : The condition of being uneducated,unaware , or uninformed.

Though I have explained this to you, what relevance did this have on the questions at hand? Everyone that has responded to this thread prior to you did so in the fashion that I had expected. They responded TO the questions. They didn't attempt to stir the pot with some unneeded post regarding hypocrisy without including something that was contributing to the conversation.
Hopefully this clarifies things for you.
 
I really feel like I need to step in and say something since I'm the one who was originally quoted and for whom the question was asked in the first place. I certainly never meant to start anything uncomfortable or accusatory. It all started with a post I made on another forum where I was admiring someone's Okeetee hatchling and lamenting the fact that I couldn't find one locally. Someone suggested I try a local breeder, and I made the following response:


Actually we have a breeder right in the town where I live, and he has about 40 Okeetees! He won't sell me one though. He says he's not zoned for retail sales, and the only way to buy from him is to buy $100 of snakes from his web site and have them shipped! It's so frustrating! First of all, I can't buy 5 snakes all at once to spring on my husband, as much as I'd love to have them. Secondly, I'm VERY reluctant to subject an animal to the stress of shipping, especially when it would be so unnecessary because he lives in the same town I do!

Then I received several responses that if that were true then the zoning laws here were unusual. That's when RichB suggested inquiring about the laws. I offered Serpenco's web site URL to him so that he could look at it. I think RichB misunderstood me a little because I didn't want to post Serpenco's URL on the other forum for fear of others on that forum learning where I live (guess everyone here knows now!:D) ...I think he thought I was afraid to post here for that reason, but that wasn't what I meant in my communication to him. He very kindly offered to inquire for me, which I thought was very nice of him.

I'm very new to herping, and I have no knowledge of Florida's zoning laws or the business practices of breeders. I never meant for it to be thought that I think Rich and Serpenco were dishonest. Until people on the other forum questioned Florida's zoning laws, it never occurred to me to question what I was told by Rich. Thank you, Rich, for your wonderful explanation of why you won't sell directly from your place of business. It does make sense. I really appreciate your taking the time to explain it so throughly.

About Pet Paradise...in a message I sent to RichB I said,

As for Pet Paradise, someone strongly defended that too...Maybe we were there on an off week? We've only been the one time.

Also as I said before, I'm extremely new to herping, and it's entirely possible that I was seeing Pet Paradise in the wrong light, and either it was an off day or my expectations were way too high for a pet shop, which is transitory housing for animals rather than a permanent home, and probably should be viewed as such.

Rich, I think your web site and the pictures of your snakes are absolutely beautiful, and I hope one day to meet you at a show where I can see first hand how wonderful they are. If they're half as wonderful as all these enthusiastic descriptions, I certainly hope I'll be able to buy one some day. It's obvious you're a well-respected and well-liked breeder of corn snakes.

I'm sorry for any bad feelings my questions have caused.

Sincerely,
Juliane
 
RichB said:
She didn't perceive it like that. A majority of new reptile owners perceive the idea of a "storefront" or something to that fashion when they are dealing with reptiles and their sales.
Click to expand...

Exactly...that was my original impression...which has now been clarified.

I don't have a "beef" with anyone. There's no hypocrisy here either. It's my fault for not communicating clearly to RichB that it was Serpenco's URL that I didn't want to post to the other forum, not that I never intended to post here. I never meant to create any kind of "situation".

Rich's explanation on this forum of why people can't come to his place of business makes perfect sense. As I said before, I'm brand new to herping and as such I have a tremendous amount to learn. I can't tell you how much I appreciate all the advice and encouragement I've received from experienced herpers like the people here and on other forums.

Thank you RichB, too, for your help. :)

Winter, thankyou, too. I really appreciate the reassurance about Pet Paradise. I'll go back again and try look at it with a different perspective.:)
 
Out here in CA the zoning laws can get very particular especially if your within city limits (have to deal with city issues as well). One city limits the amount of customers that can go to your door or the number of employees you can have (to limit traffic). Others don't allow you to sell product to walk in customers but you can provide services. Then you can deal with all the Home Owners Assocations BS as well if you live in the right area.
 
She didn't perceive it like that. A majority of new reptile owners perceive the idea of a "storefront" or something to that fashion when they are dealing with reptiles and their sales.
Larger breeders,like Rich, give that false presumption to many people. (Not intentionally.)
It is perceived that since they breed on such a large scale, they "must" have some sort of selling area that isn't connected to the internet.
We know that this isn't the case, but not everyone realizes that. It wasn't a case of hypocrisy. It was a case of ignorance.

IGNORANCE : The condition of being uneducated,unaware , or uninformed.

Though I have explained this to you, what relevance did this have on the questions at hand? Everyone that has responded to this thread prior to you did so in the fashion that I had expected. They responded TO the questions. They didn't attempt to stir the pot with some unneeded post regarding hypocrisy without including something that was contributing to the conversation.
Hopefully this clarifies things for you.
Click to expand...

That's fine Rich, but your original post was not just a harmless inquiry. You insinuated that Rich Z. was trying to manipulate his customers into making larger purchases by requiring a $100 minimum on mail order purchases and that he was unscrupulously selling his animals to a store that provides substandard husbandry to it's animals.
Insinuated : To introduce or otherwise convey (a thought, for example) gradually and insidiously.

You seem a little sensitive considering that those publicly posted derogatory comments about two businesses could have been damaging had Rich Z's customers not come to his defense.
Generally, an inquiry would be worded like " Has anyone done business with Serpenco and if so, how did it go? "
Your post was written more like a bad guy post.

Regardless of what you read into my post, I don't have any animosity towards you or your friend and I wish her luck with finding a nice cornsnake.
 
I just read this, I guess I need to read what is posted more often than just searching for what I need to know.

Rich Z is a stand up guy and has helped me with getting my site transferred and up and going on his server.

He was never been anything but, HONEST, HELPFUL and completely UPSTANDING!!!

Id have to say that when it comes to any type of reptiles that Rich has done this for a long time and I would take his knowledge to be a great help.

Im sure that he says he knows, means and completely understands. Id never second guess him on any transaction at all!
 
Sorry I came into this one late. I'll not read all of it, but I will say that as far as I can tell Rich Z is a great guy!. Never done business with him myself but I would not hesitate based upon his reputation and upon our communications over the internet both via emails, on this site and on other sites.

Rich Z. is a gentleman of high caliber!
 
Back
Top