• Posted 12/19/2024.
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    I am still waiting on my developer to finish up on the Classifieds Control Panel so I can use it to encourage members into becoming paying members. Google Adsense has become a real burden on the viewing of this site, but honestly it is the ONLY source of income now that keeps it afloat. I tried offering disabling the ads being viewed by paying members, but apparently that is not enough incentive. Quite frankly, Google Adsense has dropped down to where it barely brings in enough daily to match even a single paid member per day. But it still gets the bills paid. But at what cost?

    So even without the classifieds control panel being complete, I believe I am going to have to disable those Google ads completely and likely disable some options here that have been free since going to the new platform. Like classified ad bumping, member name changes, and anything else I can use to encourage this site to be supported by the members instead of the Google Adsense ads.

    But there is risk involved. I will not pay out of pocket for very long during this last ditch experimental effort. If I find that the membership does not want to support this site with memberships, then I cannot support your being able to post your classified ads here for free. No, I am not intending to start charging for your posting ads here. I will just shut the site down and that will be it. I will be done with FaunaClassifieds. I certainly don't need this, and can live the rest of my life just fine without it. If I see that no one else really wants it to survive neither, then so be it. It goes away and you all can just go elsewhere to advertise your animals and merchandise.

    Not sure when this will take place, and I don't intend to give any further warning concerning the disabling of the Google Adsense. Just as there probably won't be any warning if I decide to close down this site. You will just come here and there will be some sort of message that the site is gone, and you have a nice day.

    I have been trying to make a go of this site for a very long time. And quite frankly, I am just tired of trying. I had hoped that enough people would be willing to help me help you all have a free outlet to offer your stuff for sale. But every year I see less and less people coming to this site, much less supporting it financially. That is fine. I tried. I retired the SerpenCo business about 14 years ago, so retiring out of this business completely is not that big if a step for me, nor will it be especially painful to do. When I was in Thailand, I did not check in here for three weeks. I didn't miss it even a little bit. So if you all want it to remain, it will be in your hands. I really don't care either way.

    =====================
    Some people have indicated that finding the method to contribute is rather difficult. And I have to admit, that it is not all that obvious. So to help, here is a thread to help as a quide. How to become a contributing member of FaunaClassifieds.

    And for the record, I will be shutting down the Google Adsense ads on January 1, 2025.
  • 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.

Adenovirus, Robert Wood. Everyone please give me your opinion.

mbreptiles

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I put a 7 1/2 week old male Hypomelanistic Bearded Dragon on hold for a guy by the name of Robert Wood. He told me that he lost his whole collection to Adenovirus, and what he didn't lose he sold to other people with the virus. He was suppost to pay me one week later for the dragon so that I could ship it out to him. He called me one week later and told me that he was having trouble with his paypal account. I told him that I would hold onto it for a few more days until he had it straightened out. I also went online for him and looked up the number for paypal customer service to give to him since he didn't have access to a computer at his home. This way he didn't have to take a trip down to the library or a friends house he said. He then paid me for it a about 4 days later on 8/9/04. I shipped to him that Monday, and he recieved it Tuesday morning by 10:30 a.m. As soon as he recieved it on Tuesday, he called me and told me how happy he and his partner were with it. How healthy the Dragon was and how much color it had. A few days later he called me saying that is was a different dragon that I sent him in the picture. I told him that I sent him a few different pictures to take a look at, and that the male that I sent him was the only one I had left. Therefore it is impossible that I could have sent him the wrong dragon. This phone call was on Wednesday morning, I told him that if he was that unhappy with the dragon he could ship it back to me for a refund of the purchase price of the Dragon. Even though my Terms and shipping page is very clear. I told him that I was leaving for The Daytona Florida Show that weekend and he would have to ship it to me on Monday for a Tuesday Delivery. This way I would be here to take a look at the animal when it came since I was leaving Tuesday night to take a look at property up north for our new facility.

He told me that he would ship it out on Monday. I came back from Florida, Hurricane and all. I had a message from Mr. Wood on my machine. It said that he thought the Dragon had Adenovirus and that it was showing all the same symptoms that his other dragons had. He said in the message that he wanted to ship the dragon back to me and get a FULL refund including shipping both ways. Mind you this is now a week later from when he recieved the dragons and was thrilled the day he recieved it! Now he is saying it was showing signs the day he recieved it, even though he was happy as can be and did not say anything about it until a week later.

So after all of this I decided I am not giving him a refund, and would like your opinion on this. Am I crazy!?! to not want a dragon back in my collection that has the potential to wipe out my whole collection??? He is convinced that I am ripping him off, and I think that I am doing the same thing any of you would. Would you want this potentially infected bearded dragon back knowing that you don't have this virus in your collection and almost his whole entire collection was wiped out by it, and he sold some dragons with the virus. Please give me your opinion on this. It would be much appreciated.
 
I thought adenovirus was a viral infection in dogs. I'm not for sure that it can't happen to reptiles, but I know we vaccinate our dogs against it. I think reptiles cannot get the same viral infections as mammals though, consult a vet to be sure.
 
No, I would not consider taking the animal back or refunding the money.
Howard Ross
 
Adenovirus

I spent a couple hours doing some research on it last night when I got home from Florida. It seems to be one of the more common viruses with baby bearded dragons. Thank you for your opinion.
 
Hmm, definitely sounds fishy to me....probably the best route for you to go would be to tell him that you are not going to take the Dragon back due to the risk of the virus being introduced into your collection, and that he is not going to get any money back from you since he stated that his former collection had the virus and he very well may have given his new Dragon the virus himself.
 
Even though my Terms and shipping page is very clear.
You said it yourself right there. You should not have violated your own terms and conditions on this deal by offering to take it back.

However, if he received it Tuesday morning and then called you Wednesday morning, that's only one day, not a few days later.

Yet, he didn't ship it on Monday, and didn't accept your offer to return the dragon for a refund minus shipping.

I'd consider it a done deal at this point.
 
I agree with Howard on this one.... sometimes you HAVE TO take a stand and not be pushed around due to "buyer's remorse".... let him say whatever he wants.... you know the truth, and HE knows the truth.... you did NOTHING wrong in what you've done.... you went above and beyond what most people would have done to begin with.... I applaud you for that.... now, he's just trying to take advantage of your good nature.... give him NOTHING!!

Neil
 
fully agree

Neil is right on this one just like everyone else seems to be. First, if he did in fact have adenovirus in his collection and did not properly and fully disinfect all caging and he placed the new baby into a previously used cage, he may well have given his new baby the virus his own self. Also, anyone who works with dragons for very long knows that they do have a variety of color displayed in each individual animal depending upon their environment and other factors associated with their captivity.

Chalk this one up to experience and just move on. Almost every seller of animals as at one time or another experienced something similar and eventually they've all had to take a hard line with the buyer. Guess this it's your turn now. While it's not always easy, it will be in your best interest this time and for future reference. Sure, there will be times when exceptions to the rule will apply, but this time JUST SAY NO!

Good luck.

David
 
I appreciate all of your replies. I try to do my best to satisfy my customers and this is why I go the extra mile to do so. Thank you all for your time.
 
well wasnt it nice of him to sell the other sick dragon off that werent already dead to some unknowing customer.... would be nice if they could know considering it can wipe out a beardie collection...
sounds like a great guy:rolleyes: :puke:

sstand your ground you do not want back an animal that could possibly be infected with a virus he may (most likely) be harboring at his home.facility whatever. and by no means do you have to send him any refund... it not nice but sometimes ya just gotta stand up straight scratch your cajones be firm and say no, no matter what the other party says
 
If he is selling sick beardies, and trying to push you around, post his name for the benefit of the reptile community, that we do not suffer the same fate.
 
just saw it was Robert Wood
 
I believe that he did state that he notified some of the buyers of his old dragons, but not all. I have to agree with you on that one Robin. I just hope that he doesn't end up trying to sell this dragon to some unaware buyer as well. I hope that he decides to keep the dragon, and take care of it instead of pawning it off on someone else in my opinion.
 
Whoa, talk about a thread going off on an tangent that is NOT the facts and the "I think" " I believe"... giving the false impression of someone and their ethics

I am not addressing this sale, I don't know anything about the transaction but what one person is saying and if your terms of service state that, thats it as far as I am concerned.

I do know about his prior collection, sales history, the problems he had and his ethics in dealing with the situation.

He never sold dragons that he even thought was ill or sick. He bought a female, used standard quarantine and later breed her. It was not until the later clutches started hatching that he had any indicators there was a problem with her or the hatchling. He posted online explaining what the second clutch was doing, and mentioned that a few of the babies from the first clutch did not thrive well.

I emailed him as it sounded like it could be viral. Once he was aware there was a problem, he contacted everyone that he had information to reach and warned them, he offered to refunded money and offered to take back animals that showed no problems just to be safe, even though they had no direct contact with the dragon that introduced this into his colony.

All very ethical actions, more than was required of him. He followed advice that was recommended by Dr Elliott Jacobson for cleaning after a viral ourbreak. He did put down his entire collection, to not spread this any further.... and that was heartbreaking. This was several months ago, not something recent and he is very cautious now, maybe a bit gun shy after what he went through.

But PLEASE, do not accuse him of selling sick animals or causing others problems when in fact he did the exact opposite, did the responsible thing and then some regarding that situation.
 
Note: For general information, it was last September/October he had a problem in his colony.

I am sure of this, as Webslave gave us permission to post an opinion inquiry about people that find out they have infections in their colonies and where their responsibility begins and ends to pst sales.

The breeder in that thread was not identified, but I will tell you now since you have made this information public about Robert Woods. He was the breeder in that thread about the dragons and adenovirus. If you read it, you will see he did not sell any knowingly sick animals, once he knew there might be a problem he contacted all he could that ever bought from him, from the time the female who introduced it into his collection arrived at his home. That was even BEFORE it was confirmed, just to make sure others did not exposed possible infected animals to other animals.

Very ethical, very honest and caring, not what he has been presented to be in this thread... just wanted to clear that up before he was branded something he is not.

The prior thread from October, 2003 on BIO

Need opinions, where does responsibilty of the sale end?
 
I must say that Robert Wood did tell me that he sold some of his collection, when he was having problems. This is what he told me himself. He also stated that he did not contact everyone that he sold them to, and let them know that his collection had come down with Adenovirus, and the animals that he sold might have been infected with it as well. This is what he stated to me directly, in my opinion that is not the right thing to do. He did not say that he was unable to contact them because he didn't have the contact information to do so. I hope that what you stated is true, and that he just didn't have the contact info do to so. If not, that is just not right.

Please tell me what you would do though? Knowing that he had Adenovirus before, if it was last week, or over a year ago. Would you want to risk your animals, your whole business, and the only way you make a living on taking back an animal that could potentially be infected with a virus if the disinfecting of everything was possibly not done to everything in the facility of someone elses? Or if someting so simple like a water dish was not washed and disinfected because they forgot? I am not saying that he has adenovirus, I hope for the dragons sake and his, that he doesn't. I am just saying that it is to much of a risk to me. In my opinion the majority if not all of you would agree.

I am not out here to put Mr. Wood down in anyway, I am just letting you all know what has happened, so that you may give me your opinion so that I know I have done the right thing. If all of you had come on here and said that I should have refunded him all of his money, than I would have done so. My reputation means a lot to me and my business. I have come to you all for your opinion and help. I appreciate all of your time and opinions. Please don't take what I am writing as an insult to anyone. I am just laying it all on the table from my point of veiw and the information that I have been givin. Please feel free to reply.
 
I do not know what the facts really are. But if you have a healthy collection; and he has had a virus in his collection; and you sell him a dragon and it arrives well, healthy, and he states he is happy, and a bit later it shows symptoms of an infection that was in HIS colony, common sense tells us the source of illness is most likely in his collection, and common business dealings say that YOU are not responsible; even though it has been recounted that he took care of the infection in an ethical way, if the facts are truly as you lay them out a request for a refund and shipping both ways is simply not an ethical thing to do.
 
Sounds like a classic case of "you broke it,you bought it".
You do not owe this guy anything.

Andy Sury
 
Matt

If the facts are as you say, the realisticly you owe him nothing.

However I, like yourself, always worry about my reputation. As such if you think you should do something here is a suggestion.

Refund the cost of the dragon, no shipping, and let him keep the animal. This does a couple of things. One it makes you look like the "good guy", even if it costs you a bit of cash. Two if the animal is at risk of the virus, It allows you to clear the air soo to speak, without putting your collection at risk.

Im not saying this is what you SHOULD do, its just an option. Sometimes in business its better to cut your losses at a point and then move on. However giving away hard earned money to what COULD be a scam always burns, I know.

I have to feel that your pretty confident its not in your collection, or you wouldnt have posted the info on a public forum. As such I have to say something sounds fishy here. I have to wonder if the guy doesnt have a streak of paranoia after the whole virus incident. Ive seen it before, guy has a bad or very bad experience with reptiles. After that they are never the same, been there myself.

Hope it works out for you in the end. May be worth a vet check up on a small group just to be able to show clean papers. I would hate to see a guy with nothing to fear/hide loose out due to another guys claims.
 
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