On 9 January 2016, Dave Ferguson of Hidden Herp Den posted a female Sarasinorum Gecko for sale in a Correlophus Sarasinorum Group on Facebook. He also listed her for sale here on Fauna:
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=561511
I had wanted a female WC for my male for some time, and not often seeing them for sale, I contacted him immediately wanting to purchase her. I asked a few more questions about lineage and weight. He told me she was “35-40g range, RTB in March I’d say. Already laid infertiles”. I knew she should be a bit bigger before being bred, so I wasn’t expecting to be able to breed her right away, but an almost 40g WC female for $600 seemed like a good deal to me.
He definitely wanted to ship her out quickly, as can be seen in our conversation. After some back and forth about shipping dates due to weather, she was scheduled to be shipped on the 20th of January. Right before he was about to ship her out, and after sending me a photo of her packaged, he states, “She’s looking good…. But needs more fattening up.”
Ya, that was obviously a red flag, and shame on me for not backing out right then and there. We had some back and forth, where he asked me if I still wanted her, and I told him to send her if she was close to 40g and healthy, as I was lead to believe she was. He said she was so he shipped her out.
She arrived weighing 30.7g, with what looked to me like scarring from being with another gecko, and a single well calcified egg that was easily palpated. Now, he did tell me she was laying infertiles, so maybe this is bad on me again. However, I also believed her to be close to 40g, not 30g. The scarring could also be an indication of being bred, though he insists she was never kept with another gecko. These are some photos I took today of the scarring. I did send him some from my phone the day I received her.
He says he didn’t know she was holding an egg, so I have no idea how long its been there. But it was well developed when she arrived, and she has been in my possession for almost two weeks, and has not yet laid. So, I am bringing her to a vet tomorrow. Having never been in a situation like this before, I don’t really know what to do or what’s right to bring a solution. I do know that I am not a happy customer, and have suspicions that this gecko was bred too young, and is now egg bound. Even if she wasn’t bred like he claims, there is still the worry that she is egg bound, and I don’t believe she should have been sold and shipped in her condition. But now, Dave is running away and offering no solution. He states he will not pay vet bills or give any kind of partial refund.
I do take some fault in this whole situation, for not asking for more pictures and an exact weight. If she was 30g and there was no egg, I would shrug this off as my fault and tell Dave to get a scale and stop telling people animals are almost RTB when they're not. But I am worried about the egg, as egg binding can be very serious, especially in a smaller female. This is why I am not happy with the sale, and more importantly, worried about the health of the gecko.
This is not Dave’s first BOI. In July of 2013 , he sold unhealthy geckos to another buyer. He did eventually make things right in that situation, and being a few years ago, I had given him the benefit of the doubt:
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=418790
Full conversation to follow, and Dave has been notified of this thread. Ill also post the vet results tomorrow.
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=561511
I had wanted a female WC for my male for some time, and not often seeing them for sale, I contacted him immediately wanting to purchase her. I asked a few more questions about lineage and weight. He told me she was “35-40g range, RTB in March I’d say. Already laid infertiles”. I knew she should be a bit bigger before being bred, so I wasn’t expecting to be able to breed her right away, but an almost 40g WC female for $600 seemed like a good deal to me.
He definitely wanted to ship her out quickly, as can be seen in our conversation. After some back and forth about shipping dates due to weather, she was scheduled to be shipped on the 20th of January. Right before he was about to ship her out, and after sending me a photo of her packaged, he states, “She’s looking good…. But needs more fattening up.”
Ya, that was obviously a red flag, and shame on me for not backing out right then and there. We had some back and forth, where he asked me if I still wanted her, and I told him to send her if she was close to 40g and healthy, as I was lead to believe she was. He said she was so he shipped her out.
She arrived weighing 30.7g, with what looked to me like scarring from being with another gecko, and a single well calcified egg that was easily palpated. Now, he did tell me she was laying infertiles, so maybe this is bad on me again. However, I also believed her to be close to 40g, not 30g. The scarring could also be an indication of being bred, though he insists she was never kept with another gecko. These are some photos I took today of the scarring. I did send him some from my phone the day I received her.
He says he didn’t know she was holding an egg, so I have no idea how long its been there. But it was well developed when she arrived, and she has been in my possession for almost two weeks, and has not yet laid. So, I am bringing her to a vet tomorrow. Having never been in a situation like this before, I don’t really know what to do or what’s right to bring a solution. I do know that I am not a happy customer, and have suspicions that this gecko was bred too young, and is now egg bound. Even if she wasn’t bred like he claims, there is still the worry that she is egg bound, and I don’t believe she should have been sold and shipped in her condition. But now, Dave is running away and offering no solution. He states he will not pay vet bills or give any kind of partial refund.
I do take some fault in this whole situation, for not asking for more pictures and an exact weight. If she was 30g and there was no egg, I would shrug this off as my fault and tell Dave to get a scale and stop telling people animals are almost RTB when they're not. But I am worried about the egg, as egg binding can be very serious, especially in a smaller female. This is why I am not happy with the sale, and more importantly, worried about the health of the gecko.
This is not Dave’s first BOI. In July of 2013 , he sold unhealthy geckos to another buyer. He did eventually make things right in that situation, and being a few years ago, I had given him the benefit of the doubt:
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=418790
Full conversation to follow, and Dave has been notified of this thread. Ill also post the vet results tomorrow.
