Loooong slatemans story

[Slateman]

Africa fishhead ask me to write what was my experiences with purchasing my snakes.
My first snake was sold to me by stranger in the shop and it was the corn snake adult male. I had no idea about licencing at that time and not much knowledge about snakes. Man just took snake from the bag and i bought it on impulse. I always loved reptiles and that is how i started.
I had to learn quickly and thanks to internet communities i gained enough informations in one day to give my new pet right environment.
I find out after that corn snakes are illegal and had lot of worries what to do. On the end my first pet Conrad end up as escapee. He get out of transport box in the car of my friend who had him for the while. We newer seen him again.
Next snake was Diamond python Hatchling and i bought it from Greg Wasell. Must say that he was great man to deal with and i would recommend him any time.
My 3th and snakes was Olive python hatchling and i bought them from Bob Whity. He was healthy and i was happy with snake. Just must comment that after sale i tried contact Bob few times and left messages with his wife, and newer get call back. He is good breeder, but when money pass hand you are on your own. Olive i bought from him 3 years ago is now my pride and joy.
My 4th snake was my beloved Georgina. People who are members here remember her. She was stolen by no good individual, when i was attending APS christmass meeting. I bought her from Worker from National Park and Wildlife....NSW. She was beauty and in great health.
My next snake was given to me by members of our great APS community. I newer forget this. It was so touching.People felt sorry for me, because of stolen Georgina and they organize from Bob Whitey # year old male olive python as a gift. I came home and Adam presented snake to me with live webcam transmitting to our aps site. I was taken by surprice and that is why i named snake Surprice.
I would like to thank you to all people involved in this secret collection and thinking about me. I will newer forget this.

kv2002 Shauna Vincent
Hawkeye Glen Hawkins
Slateman_Junior Stiskala Family
African Phil Elliot
dahorse Dale Horstmanshof
Mark Mark Fitzgerald
Nicole Nicole Valmont
almaron David Stevens
James James Rae
lutzd David Lutz
grahamh Graham Harness
cooktownmick Michael & Mary
Pinkie Laura
Magpie Craig
Mel Melanie Viney
stretch Sue
cookolla Ali Oen
maybanana Maia Lumley

All my snakes was growing happily and i decided to get some older animals to be able start to breed sooner. Problem with hatchlings is the time they take to grow adults.
I bought 2 females Diamonds Pythons and i will not name the people involved. Bought females was heavily infested with parasites and took me long time to get them in to right condition. they are getting better now, but i am thinking about the risk i took. They could be seriously sick and i would had big trouble on my hand. I could infected all my snakes as i have no chance to keep the new arrivals in separate room.
For that reason i will newer buy adult animal again. Only if i know the people who i am dealing with. I am buying 2 snakes from Craigh now and i have no problem with this. I would newer buy Snake from herp shop with out close reference. Specially if inspection is not possible because of distance. One of my purchases was done in the park, and i am still worried about this snake.
So Africa fished, this is Slatemans Snake purchasing story.

 

[jake0476]

Geeze mate sorry to hear about Georgina getting stolen that is very sad and for aps mebers to help you out with the surprise that is so touching to hear that a community that we are involved in are a great bunch of people.... youve had a bit of a bad run there in your snake purchasing but im glad to hear they are all healthy and happy for you... anyway slatey thanks for sharing your story with us it was a touching story.... all the best for the future :lol: :lol:

 

[Slateman]

Thanks Jake. I am surprice that somebody find time to read this. It is to long :lol:

 

[africancichlidau]

Very interesting Slatey and also, I think, very useful information for newbies to the hobby, or should I say obsession? This will open the eyes of many newcomers to the possible pitfalls of buying herps from unknown sources and, sometimes, from known ones too. A great story mate and it is such a shame that the bad things had to happen to such a nice guy, I hope your luck has turned the corner and that from now on it is all smooth sailing and happy purchases for you. Thanks for taking the time to write this.

 

[NoOne]

Good stuff slatey, theres a wild corn snake running somewhere :lol:

I must say though it's a bit harsh to say Bob Withey won't give any help after a sale, you've obviously seen the size of his collection, the amount of work that goes into it is HUGH plus he travels doing snake shows.

Bob would get alot of first time herpers calling him about snakes they purchased from him, it would be impossible for him to remember and get to everyone. Australian reptile keeping would be very different if he never came along. I'm sure others would agree.

 

[Stevethepom]

ah but a proffesional appearance requires a proffesoinal attitude to the people keeping food on ya table eh?, URS would have the same amount of trade etc but have never failed to give follow up advice (imo)

cheers
pom

 

[africancichlidau]

Yes indeed if you sell stuff ya should back it up ! JMO

 

[Slateman]

Sorry noOne. You are right , he is big breeder and all this, but i was telling my story and that is what happened. I have nothing against him and i will buy from him again if the opportunity would come. But I had trouble to get him on the phone after sale and that is not only once.
I am sure that 2 messages with miss asking him for returning call should be answered at least once. Specially when original call to him was picked by Bob and he told me that he have no time to talk to me right now but he will call me back later . Well later is now 1 year and still nothing. LOL Must be busy a lot not to return call to buyer who spend $1200 , I felt offended.. I Must say that he is expert in the field and his collection is great.
If somebody is new in the game, i think it is useful to consider this and make agreement with seller about some future advice if needed.

 

[olivaceus71]

Sorry noOne. You are right , he is big breeder and all this, but i was telling my story and that is what happened. I have nothing against him and i will buy from him again if the opportunity would come. But I had trouble to get him on the phone after sale and that is not only once.
I am sure that 2 messages with miss asking him for returning call should be answered at least once. Specially when original call to him was picked by Bob and he told me that he have no time to talk to me right now but he will call me back later . Well later is now 1 year and still nothing. LOL Must be busy a lot not to return call to buyer who spend $1200 , I felt offended.. I Must say that he is expert in the field and his collection is great.
If somebody is new in the game, i think it is useful to consider this and make agreement with seller about some future advice if needed.

I have just been speaking to bob, and sent him a copy of your email as I feel he has the right of reply....
this is only a few lines

." Most people do not release I do reptile displays all over NSW and I am rarely home. Even when working closer to home, most days I dont get home till late and do not have time to return calls.

Even when I advertise my stock on Australian Herps I state it is hard to catch me home, and its best to email me."
Speaking as a friend of Bobs, have to say that I have never not had an email replied to (and this was a fair few years back when I was getting started), I have found it hard at times to contact him via phone and to be honest if I am the one asking for help I have no problems phoning him back and will do so numerous times if it means that I will gain the info that I need.
I think if you have a personal problem with someone, you should contact them personally, rather than bag them on a public forum, whether by phone or email. Am glad people have had no probs with URS and tim is a pretty decent guy, but am sure if you asked around, you would find people that have been unhappy with animals they have brought while others are perfectly happy, probably just depends on what you are looking for in an animal.

 

[kitty_wench]

I think if you have a personal problem with someone, you should contact them personally, rather than bag them

I don't think he was bagging him, in fact he said "I have nothing against him and i will buy from him again if the opportunity would come", he was just making a personal observation from his own experiences.
:wink:

 

[NoOne]

Good one meg.
He always replies to me, I find when at his place he's hard to get away from, he just loves talking about reptiles more than willing to show any new stuff he's got or whatever your interested in.

 

[Guest]

Bob always returns my calls....

SS

PS, have i mentioned how much i hate cats???

 

[Slateman]

Do not take my story out of concept. He is great guy and he is busy. I just think that is nothing wrong to have this written so new people who making decision to buy snake can talk to him about future support and demand some way of future contact.
LOL i am not bag him. And i don't think that he care to much anyway.
I just written my story and i written exactly what happen. And he personally is publishing same thing on internet as he written......Even when I advertise my stock on Australian Herps I state it is hard to catch me home, and its best to email me."..... I Better shut up next time.
Give me a break people. I written well known thing about him. Same as he is publishing him self,and i think that this can be usefull information for young herpers.
I hope that people find some other think in my story interesting then Bob not returning calls :lol:

 

[python_guy44]

I enquired to him about if he had an ackies and he replyed about 30 minutes later. I then emailed him again because i forgot to ask him if hew knew anybody selling them and he again em,ailed me about 10 minutes.

note= email is the way to go

 

[Stevethepom]

slatey was referring to after sale enquiries, not pre-sale enquiries...these i`m sure he would respond to immediatley as would anybody else wanting to sell stuff.

 

[frodo]

i got my little guy from URS and have had no problems contacting tim after my purchase.

cheers frodo

 

[ReptileRascals]

All this talk about "This person took my money but wont talk to me after giving me herps" is very concerning lol...

IMO stricter safety measures should be enforced by these people that call themselves pro's if members of this community are to hand over their money for their services.

PS
We are discussing brothels arn't we?

 

[africancichlidau]

I know what you mean Slatey old boy, looks like a case for the old saying "don't shoot the messenger" Come to think of it, what I just said makes no sense whatsoever but nevermind, I know what I meant LOL.