rocklizard
New member
Hello,
I have posted this as an inquiry because I am new to the business of breeding crested geckos and also new to ordering animals on-line. I don't want to post someone as a 'bad guy' if what happened is considered SOP.
The situation: I contacted Mr. Dunne because I had seen that his reptiles were the sires/dams of many geckos that I admired. I e-mailed and explained to him that I was new on the scene and looking for creams, reds, lavenders and harleys. I also inquired about pictures of his stock. He asked that I call him on the phone as he did not like e-mail. He also said that he sold too fast to post pics. He did send me a picture of a stub-tailed red sub-adult female with her back to the camera.
I explained again over the phone what I was looking for and that I was hoping to start a line with geckos like I had seen on a high-end breeders site who listed him as one of their sources. I also sent him pictures of the kind of geckos I was looking for from that site as well as colors. He told me he had the red female, a salmon male and a cream male for sale that would meet my needs.
We agreed on a price and shipping and I paid. He shipped on the date expected and the animals arrived alive.
1st issue: he shipped across the Southern states during the current heat wave-at the time I didn't know enough to ask whether he was putting in a cold pack and he didn't. They did arrive alive but very stressed. I know shipping stresses them but the batch I received from up North the week before were eager to get out but still curious and friendly. These guys ranged from leaping out of the container and running like crazy around the room to listless and still. Now that they have been here a while I know this is not a reflection of their usual personalities.
2nd issue: the structure on these guys is poor. Particularly the female in the picture and the cream male-should I have asked for more pictures? Yes, and I have learned that painfully now. I posted a pic of the 'cream' on Pangea and was told firmly not to breed him.
3rd issue: They don't look anything like the pictures I sent him-and the 'cream' I've learned is actually a buckskin. There wasn't a harley in the bunch but I have to admit to accuracy on his part as the colors were technically salmon, red and cream.
4th issue: The reds arrived with significant shed on their toes. The females toes weren't as bad-a humid bath and a wet Q-tip took care of it in about 30 minutes. The male was terrible. I thought his toes were actually deformed. It took me an hour of working over all of his toes after the humid bath to remove all the dirt and shed.
I know that I am a newbie and as such am likely to make mistakes...that is why (I thought) I was contacting a reputable breeder to help guide me. I was very disappointed with the results. I don't know if this makes him a 'bad guy' or if I just had an unfortunate learning experience or caught him at a bad time or all of the above. Since then I have dealt with enough 'good guys' that I think what happened was probably wrong. Perhaps some others can guide me in this regard.
Thank you,
Lorna Redmond
I have posted this as an inquiry because I am new to the business of breeding crested geckos and also new to ordering animals on-line. I don't want to post someone as a 'bad guy' if what happened is considered SOP.
The situation: I contacted Mr. Dunne because I had seen that his reptiles were the sires/dams of many geckos that I admired. I e-mailed and explained to him that I was new on the scene and looking for creams, reds, lavenders and harleys. I also inquired about pictures of his stock. He asked that I call him on the phone as he did not like e-mail. He also said that he sold too fast to post pics. He did send me a picture of a stub-tailed red sub-adult female with her back to the camera.
I explained again over the phone what I was looking for and that I was hoping to start a line with geckos like I had seen on a high-end breeders site who listed him as one of their sources. I also sent him pictures of the kind of geckos I was looking for from that site as well as colors. He told me he had the red female, a salmon male and a cream male for sale that would meet my needs.
We agreed on a price and shipping and I paid. He shipped on the date expected and the animals arrived alive.
1st issue: he shipped across the Southern states during the current heat wave-at the time I didn't know enough to ask whether he was putting in a cold pack and he didn't. They did arrive alive but very stressed. I know shipping stresses them but the batch I received from up North the week before were eager to get out but still curious and friendly. These guys ranged from leaping out of the container and running like crazy around the room to listless and still. Now that they have been here a while I know this is not a reflection of their usual personalities.
2nd issue: the structure on these guys is poor. Particularly the female in the picture and the cream male-should I have asked for more pictures? Yes, and I have learned that painfully now. I posted a pic of the 'cream' on Pangea and was told firmly not to breed him.
3rd issue: They don't look anything like the pictures I sent him-and the 'cream' I've learned is actually a buckskin. There wasn't a harley in the bunch but I have to admit to accuracy on his part as the colors were technically salmon, red and cream.
4th issue: The reds arrived with significant shed on their toes. The females toes weren't as bad-a humid bath and a wet Q-tip took care of it in about 30 minutes. The male was terrible. I thought his toes were actually deformed. It took me an hour of working over all of his toes after the humid bath to remove all the dirt and shed.
I know that I am a newbie and as such am likely to make mistakes...that is why (I thought) I was contacting a reputable breeder to help guide me. I was very disappointed with the results. I don't know if this makes him a 'bad guy' or if I just had an unfortunate learning experience or caught him at a bad time or all of the above. Since then I have dealt with enough 'good guys' that I think what happened was probably wrong. Perhaps some others can guide me in this regard.
Thank you,
Lorna Redmond
if he can charge quality price, why cant he send a quality animal.
Sorry about your headache, and good job getting that shed off.