Hi guys.
Now I read the rules and I believe (hope) that this post is not in violation of any.
Ok here is the story. I am tired of having to deal with high end animals that have been stuffed up by so called breeders/traders just cos they do not give a dam about the animals (I cant see any other reason).
I LOVE the labyrinth gene in burms, a nice albino labby is in my mind one of the best burms out there. I have a nice full grown proven breeder male and have been looking for a female for about 3 years now. In Feb. this year a good friend of mine informed me that Pierre at Reptile Wonders (in the Cape) had some “hatchlings” for sale. Now I have had problems with this guy in the past and was very reluctant to buy from him again, but I was desperate and needed that female so I took the chance…again. I paid the full amount, as apparently a deposit would not do (dodge bit no1…) and then I waited….about 3 months later after being told numerous times that the permits was going to be approved “THIS” week I phoned Nat Con myself, only to find out the permit had been rejected…this apparently was News to the seller and he then said to give him I think a week or whatever. This we gave him and still nothing. I then told my friend to please take the burm into his care as I was concerned that the animals were not being cared for, I have seen some of the “voetstoots-cheep” animals that have come out of Reptile Wonders and I must admit they were shocking, so I was concerned that this baby was heading the same way…
Well when my friend took them into his possession and he was mortified… they were now AT LEAST 7 months old and still only about 30cm!!!!!!!! He said they were so weak that they could not right themselves if placed on their backs, had to be force fed, had scars and lumps from who knows what on them and their skin was like wax paper…My friend immediately smsed mr Joubert and said that we were not happy with these animals and all we got back was a “sorry to hear that” reply. Now I do not understand how one lets this happen to one of the rarest and most expensive burm morfs in SA, and to a burm non the less, who will eat almost anything????? They just basically were not fed….
I moved down to Ct about a month later and took possession of my little gal, now she looked A LOT better then what she looked like when he first got her, but still TERRIBLE compared to what she should be.
She is about 9-10 months old now and I have honestly seen bigger hatchlings before their first shed, I am not exaggerating, she fits on the palm of my hand with room to spare when coiled up.
She ate like a champ last night and I will have her up to size in a couple of months. I am just GATVOL of stuff like this. This guy would have been out of business in a week in the USA, but for same strange reason he keeps getting rare stuff, and people keep buying cos we want the rare stuff.
There are guys out there that really care for the animals and have high end stuff (A lot of them are on here), I would spend more to buy from them then other people, but I still do not understand how this happens….
I feel that this is a cancer on the hobby and needs to be said. The views in this post are solely my own and have no bearing on this site or the mods. If this post still needs to be removed I apologise for the inconvenience and sincerely hope that somebody about to support this vender seriously reconsiders before doing so.
Regards
DAN