Gecko_Den
New member
Well, I was scanning the reptibid Ball Python auctions to see what was being passed of as something it wasn't when I came across several auctions for 50% Het Pieds and Albinos. The sellers name caught my attention because I had answered some questions on the fauna BP forum that he had posted.
He seemed like a nice guy, just getting into BP's had a lot of questions regarding Hets and WC/CH.
I thought it was odd that he would have 50% Hets available already, considering he had only just purchased a het male, according to a post from June 5, 2005 that he was going to breed with his normal females next season. That combined with his earlier post about captive hatched babies that he recently purchased threw up a red flag.
I considered that maybe he had bought a large lot of 50% hets and was selling off extras, so I gave him the benefit of the doubt and posted in the Q&A section of one of his auctions, the transcript follows:
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Item number: 1121211794
Titled: 50% ph albino 2005 Female!!!NO RESERVE!!!
Question about this item from (buyer): Ampets
Post on: Tue Jun 28, 08:15 PM
Are you the breeder? Is the male a proven albino producer? Is shipping included in the buy it now option? Or what would shipping be to Clearwater, FL 33755? Also, could you combine the shipping if I buy more than 1 of your snakes? Thanks, Amanda
Question about this item from (buyer): Gecko_den
Post on: Tue Jun 28, 09:23 PM
Hi, who bred these, do oyu have documentation from the breeder? How many do you have available?
Thanks!
Response on this item from (seller): Xoticreptiles22
Post on: Tue Jun 28, 09:39 PM
I am the breeder of them. The documentation/feed/shed records are included on the paperwork. This is the only one i have available at the time.MABEY more to come soon. Thanks for your interest!!!
Response on this item from (seller): Xoticreptiles22
Post on: Tue Jun 28, 09:46 PM
FIRST MESSAGE------- I am the breeder.The 100% het male is not a proven albino producer, I am in the works with pied,albino,axanthic projects. The male came from a reliable breeder who is a good friend of mine.He has made me paperwork for him to.
I can combine shipping on multiple purchases.
Buy it now does not include shipping.
Question about this item from (buyer): Gecko_den
Post on: Tue Jun 28, 10:13 PM
Hmmm, that is interesting. You state that you bred them, yet here in this post dated June 5, 2005 you state:
" Are hets worth it?
Are hets worth the time and effort. Im trying to get into morphs slowly and trying the most inexpensive way. I purchased one 100% het male that i will breed to two females next season. then i will take all of the hatchling females and breed them back to the male and mabey even buy another male het so i can breed every female hatchling. Are my odds good if i do this?"
That combined with the fact that you just won an auction for 11 captive hatched babies and this post dated 6/18/05 where you bought 10 captive hatched babies:
"I purchased 5.5 captive hatched.I fed 5 of them live small mice and they ate them.The other 5 will not eat.what do i do?any tricks???
Also,The ones that have eaten are being switched to f/t rat pups. Should i continure feeding mice untill there feeding habits increase or should i start f/t rat pups now??? One of the 5 ate a rat pup but i had to leave it in over night."
So put 2+2 together; you state you are planning on breeding hets, starting next season, you buy a bunch of CH babies, then you start posting ads for 50% Hets, which are easy to distance yourself from if someone complains in the future that they didn't hit on the morphs, you can say well they are only 50% Hets.
Now I'm not going to call you a liar or a fraud, but you can see where this looks a bit suspicious. Care to clear up these discrepancies?
Thanks
(His answer is missing because for some reason the previous Q&A disappeared.
In his answer he went on about he bred hets this year plus his “friend” let him breed his normal females to his friends 100% Hets. He then went on to state that the captive hatch were all being held back for breeding to the Pastel he was going to get next year.)
Here was my response:
That explanation would sound plausible; except for these posts on June 6, 2005:
"I built plywood breeding racks for all of my balls. do i really need heat tape? the room they are in gets to about high 90's during the day and high 70's at night. is this good enough if i wannna breed them?"
"ok,thats understandable. But how would i obtain a 60 degree night time drop during the cooling period? here in louisiana during october-feb. the temperature fluctuates dramatically.some nights it could be high 20's some can be 80's we never have a solid winter."
Response from another breeder:
"Its the cooling period, not the RI period....
We use a drop of about 78-80 during the breeding months and it seems to be more than enough."
Your response:
"thats what i ment to say. Would it make a huge difference if i dont obtain those temperatures? just turning off the heat sorce should pretty much do it for breeding huh?"
Now to me you don't sound like someone who has bred ball pythons last year. That coupled with posts from March 2005 where you were selling colubrids because you were "getting into small pythons" makes me wonder how you bred them last fall, without being sure how or at what temp you needed to cool them down down. And in your own words, 3 weeks ago,you stated that you had just got 1 het to breed to normals next season.
Something really doesn't add up here...
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well, I never got an answer because Lo and Behold right after I posted that the auction which had 13 + days to go was suddenly closed.
I would suggest anyone planning on buying his "50% Hets" not pay more than the price of a 2005 CH normal.
He seemed like a nice guy, just getting into BP's had a lot of questions regarding Hets and WC/CH.
I thought it was odd that he would have 50% Hets available already, considering he had only just purchased a het male, according to a post from June 5, 2005 that he was going to breed with his normal females next season. That combined with his earlier post about captive hatched babies that he recently purchased threw up a red flag.
I considered that maybe he had bought a large lot of 50% hets and was selling off extras, so I gave him the benefit of the doubt and posted in the Q&A section of one of his auctions, the transcript follows:
------------------------------------------------------------
Item number: 1121211794
Titled: 50% ph albino 2005 Female!!!NO RESERVE!!!
Question about this item from (buyer): Ampets
Post on: Tue Jun 28, 08:15 PM
Are you the breeder? Is the male a proven albino producer? Is shipping included in the buy it now option? Or what would shipping be to Clearwater, FL 33755? Also, could you combine the shipping if I buy more than 1 of your snakes? Thanks, Amanda
Question about this item from (buyer): Gecko_den
Post on: Tue Jun 28, 09:23 PM
Hi, who bred these, do oyu have documentation from the breeder? How many do you have available?
Thanks!
Response on this item from (seller): Xoticreptiles22
Post on: Tue Jun 28, 09:39 PM
I am the breeder of them. The documentation/feed/shed records are included on the paperwork. This is the only one i have available at the time.MABEY more to come soon. Thanks for your interest!!!
Response on this item from (seller): Xoticreptiles22
Post on: Tue Jun 28, 09:46 PM
FIRST MESSAGE------- I am the breeder.The 100% het male is not a proven albino producer, I am in the works with pied,albino,axanthic projects. The male came from a reliable breeder who is a good friend of mine.He has made me paperwork for him to.
I can combine shipping on multiple purchases.
Buy it now does not include shipping.
Question about this item from (buyer): Gecko_den
Post on: Tue Jun 28, 10:13 PM
Hmmm, that is interesting. You state that you bred them, yet here in this post dated June 5, 2005 you state:
" Are hets worth it?
Are hets worth the time and effort. Im trying to get into morphs slowly and trying the most inexpensive way. I purchased one 100% het male that i will breed to two females next season. then i will take all of the hatchling females and breed them back to the male and mabey even buy another male het so i can breed every female hatchling. Are my odds good if i do this?"
That combined with the fact that you just won an auction for 11 captive hatched babies and this post dated 6/18/05 where you bought 10 captive hatched babies:
"I purchased 5.5 captive hatched.I fed 5 of them live small mice and they ate them.The other 5 will not eat.what do i do?any tricks???
Also,The ones that have eaten are being switched to f/t rat pups. Should i continure feeding mice untill there feeding habits increase or should i start f/t rat pups now??? One of the 5 ate a rat pup but i had to leave it in over night."
So put 2+2 together; you state you are planning on breeding hets, starting next season, you buy a bunch of CH babies, then you start posting ads for 50% Hets, which are easy to distance yourself from if someone complains in the future that they didn't hit on the morphs, you can say well they are only 50% Hets.
Now I'm not going to call you a liar or a fraud, but you can see where this looks a bit suspicious. Care to clear up these discrepancies?
Thanks
(His answer is missing because for some reason the previous Q&A disappeared.
In his answer he went on about he bred hets this year plus his “friend” let him breed his normal females to his friends 100% Hets. He then went on to state that the captive hatch were all being held back for breeding to the Pastel he was going to get next year.)
Here was my response:
That explanation would sound plausible; except for these posts on June 6, 2005:
"I built plywood breeding racks for all of my balls. do i really need heat tape? the room they are in gets to about high 90's during the day and high 70's at night. is this good enough if i wannna breed them?"
"ok,thats understandable. But how would i obtain a 60 degree night time drop during the cooling period? here in louisiana during october-feb. the temperature fluctuates dramatically.some nights it could be high 20's some can be 80's we never have a solid winter."
Response from another breeder:
"Its the cooling period, not the RI period....
We use a drop of about 78-80 during the breeding months and it seems to be more than enough."
Your response:
"thats what i ment to say. Would it make a huge difference if i dont obtain those temperatures? just turning off the heat sorce should pretty much do it for breeding huh?"
Now to me you don't sound like someone who has bred ball pythons last year. That coupled with posts from March 2005 where you were selling colubrids because you were "getting into small pythons" makes me wonder how you bred them last fall, without being sure how or at what temp you needed to cool them down down. And in your own words, 3 weeks ago,you stated that you had just got 1 het to breed to normals next season.
Something really doesn't add up here...
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well, I never got an answer because Lo and Behold right after I posted that the auction which had 13 + days to go was suddenly closed.
I would suggest anyone planning on buying his "50% Hets" not pay more than the price of a 2005 CH normal.
Here's to hoping my 66% GS male proves out!