|
 
 
Our Advice To All Herpers When Buying Any Reptile:
Whether you buy from us or from any other breeder, if you truly care where your snakes come from and the history of the animals, you should follow one rule of thumb. Always ask the breeder/dealer, point blank, "Is this animal captive born and bred?" and if so, "Who produced the animal I am buying?" Now, the scam artists that are so plentiful these days will lie anyways when already misrepresenting their animals. But when a reputable breeder that may be brokering the offspring of another breeder is asked this they are usually honest about it. Why is this relevant, you might ask? Because you are supposedly buying THAT breeders personal offspring. Often, to get animals from a big name breeder you are paying a lot more for the same animal you can get for half the price elsewhere. Youre paying extra for the name, for the reputation, for the "label". So if that breeder did not produce it, then why should you have to pay his or her prices? If you are wanting stock from that particular breeder then it SHOULD BE his or her stock, produced from his or her animals. If it is someone elses stock then it should be cheaper and advertised accurately as the offspring of another. And if it is in fact someone elses stock you have no real way of knowing how that unknown person runs their facility, how healthy their breeders are, if they practice respectable husbandry and proper quarantine measures, or if even they too are brokering some other, third partys animals. The short version of what I am trying to convey here is that brokered snakes are, in my opinion, dishonest and downright risky. And you may be very surprised just how many big name breeders do this dishonest act daily.
 
Now, as to the despicable scum that pass off imported animals as "Captive Born and Bred", I dont know what to advise on how to avoid them other than to be 99% sure of just exactly who you are buying from. Get references. Ask for pictures of the parent animals breeding and of the eggs hatching. Most every good breeder takes pictures of their breeding and hatchings. If no pictures, something's fishy. Research the history of the business. Run a background check on the BOI search function. Find out if the same dealer-breeder also sells imported snakes. If they do then there is a good chance that they are passing off an imported snake as a captive produced snake. Another indication that it is imported is if the animal is surprisingly inexpensive. Cheap snakes reek of "Imported Animal!" If there is no guarantee beyond "Live arrival", it very likely is imported.
 
The dangers of an imported animal, you might ask? Quite simply, if they just came from another country, snatched from the wild, they are likely carrying external parasites such as ticks and mites and any number of internal microbial parasites in their intestines and other organs. They may be hosts to deadly viruses from that country that domestic snakes or snakes from yet another country have no immunity to. So when you get a tick or mite infested snake and the ticks or mites bite your healthy snakes they may develop a strange and deadly disease that the imported animal is immune to and shows no signs of having. Internal parasites are also something you should be very concerned about. Not only are they a serious risk to your captive produced animals but they can suddenly thrive in a snake experiencing severe stress and can kill it as well. Also, imported snakes, even if otherwise disease-free, may have other issues and problems. Very irritating problems, such as severe aggression. Imported snakes can be incredibly aggressive. They also may have problematic feeding issues and may slowly starve to death due to having no interest in the domestic rodents we have available to us to offer them. They may be very stressed out and rub their noses raw trying desperately to escape their cages. Stress can kill even a snake that eats well most especially if it has internal parasites which imported animals invariably do. There are many reasons to shy away from imported animals if you are not the proud owner of a degree in veterinary medicine. Third, find out just how "covered" your investment is. Get it in writing even if it is in email form. Ask point blank, "How long is the guarantee on this animal? What exactly does the guarantee cover?" If there is no guarantee other than "Live arrival" then something is wrong and I suggest finding the same reptile with someone that will back their animals with a good, solid guarantee. A week or two would be pretty good. If you find a guarantee for 30 days you are doing incredibly well. Longer is even better of course. (Hint hint)
 
Find out if their guarantee covers mites. If they cant guarantee against mites and you dont already have them in your colony then RUN. You dont want mites in your colony. Once mites are firmly established they are next to impossible to get rid of. Some brokers/breeders/pet shops are notorious for shipping a free batch of mites with every snake. I avoid these people like the plague. Mites carry deadly diseases. Personally, I feel it is nothing short of despicable for any breeder, even if infected with mites, to ship them to other people. Mites carry deadly viruses and will bite and infect healthy snakes when transferred into a pristine, mite-free colony. And when shipping a snake or two it should be relatively easy to kill at least the mites on those few snakes. There is really just no excuse for sending mites to unsuspecting, trusting folks. Its comparable to a person giving someone a potentially deadly venereal disease when they know they themselves are infected.
 
Sex the snakes you buy the moment you take them out of the shipping box. Let the breeder/dealer know you intend to sex the snakes upon arrival. Then they will be sure to double check the sexes so as to avoid any additional costly shipping they will be responsible for if the animals are mis-sexed. Or, if buying in person, have the breeder sex them right in front of you. A common "mistake" in this profession is mis-sexed animals. And if you are investing in snakes with the intention of breeding them in a few years you dont want to wait three long years to find out that youve been sold 5 males and no females. It can also be harmful or potentially deadly for your snakes. With some aggressive species, such as retics, this can be a deadly "mistake" as male retics can and will kill one another when mature and housed together.
 
Find out if the breeder/dealer will be helpful. Ask before you purchase for breeding tips on the species you are purchasing. If the breeder/dealer lacks enthusiasm to help you with this before the sale you can bet your bottom dollar you wont likely get any help with things AFTER the transaction. Helpful breeders are a rare commodity these days. Emails are generally short and very much to the point, only pertaining to the sale. How often have you written a long email asking multiple questions about the snake, its behavior, its caging needs, its breeding habits and other pertinent information only to get a one sentence reply, "Yes, we have that and can ship it to you. ROb" To me this is very rude, condescending and even insulting to the person spending their hard-earned money, a person that may need serious advice and experienced knowledge. And the personal touch is nice to have too. If you keep looking long enough you can find the nice and helpful breeders that dont mind taking the time out of their day to respond with long, helpful and even friendly emails to their paying customers or even non-paying, potential customers or inquisitive herpers. Breeders that are not hesitant to build a positive relationship with their customers, to get to know them. To take time out of their day for them. Breeders that actually care about their customers and their particular needs. Breeders that actually respect their customers. That go the extra mile. We do it and Im sure there are others out there too. You just have to look hard to find them.
 
We hope this advice helps even just one herper to not make a bad mistake. If it results in that then it was well worth it to take the time to write it and post it.--David and Tawni Beauchemin
 
Want to be a professional breeder?
Breeding snakes is a lot easier than most people think it is. Whether one wishes to breed part time so as to supplement their existing income or to breed full time as a chosen career, it can be surprisingly easy and relatively inexpensive to start. Any person with virtually ANY budget can begin a breeding career that can expand to mammoth proportions within just a few short years. While it is fundamentally true that one must "spend money to make money" it can require a lot less money than most people imagine to launch and sustain a lucrative, successful career in snake breeding. What one needs the most in this occupation is cast-iron Patience and unyielding Determination. Even more important than vast quantities of investment money or overall space one just simply needs a good, solid, comprehensible plan. That's where we come in.
 
We offer our breeding plan services and informed advice to ALL of our customers, regardless of the size of their purchase. And whether one has 500 to invest or 50,000 we will take the same time to help outline a viable, intelligent plan, custom-tailored to each individuals specific needs, capabilities and budget. All advice is drawn from our many years of personal breeding experience. Included in this we will outline every foreseeable expense and every potential hardship. Interwoven into this will be a very realistic timeline showing when you can expect to see profits and how much to realistically hope for. While our advice can never be exacting "rocket science", it is very sound advice drawn from many years of our own experience and years of our own trials and errors. The cost to you... nothing extra. Just being our customer qualifies you.
 
What is our motivation you might ask yourself? Not only to go the extra mile for our customers but also to try to shape the future of the reptile market. With so many scammers and shady brokers selling inferior animals, we feel that the more honest, wholesome private breeders that we can help to establish the more it will edge out the less desirable greedy wheelers and dealers that only damage the reptile market and compromise its core integrity because they are only concerned with turning a buck. With more honest breeders to go to the future reptile buyers have a much better chance of obtaining only top quality, captive bred, healthy animals at reasonable prices. This is our eventual goal.
 
For helpful tips on becoming a breeder please visit our "Become a Breeder" page. (pg-8
 
|
