• 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.

When to cull, need advice please

Focal said:
Back when I use to browse craigslists for snakes, I came across a pastel and inquired about the price on her. She was a fair deal and come to find out was het for albino. I sent him an email asking when we could meet up and while I was waiting for a response, I went back to craigslist to browse some more. I found a new ad burning the seller of this snake from the actual breeder. Come to find out, the seller was over this breeders house the night before and was offered a free pastel female because it had been X amount of days and would not eat. This person was told by the breeder that they could have it if they wanted to work with it under the condition that they kept it, but instead listed it for sale the very next day. I emailed the breeder and found all this out ... the seller was unethical and a liar. Even the "het albino" part was a lie.

This is the reason why I would never give a non-feeder away. To many people are fly-by-night and just flat out shady in this hobby. Unfortunate but true.
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Not trying to stir anything up here, but, then we should all stop selling normals as people will be selling them as hets.
 
stevek said:
Not trying to stir anything up here, but, then we should all stop selling normals as people will be selling them as hets.
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That's fine, I understand your point, but that's a different scenario. There is nothing wrong with normals, health-wise, and I would never buy a het without paperwork and/or verifying with the breeder. When buying a non-feeder, it is very hard to gauge the eating habits other than the sellers word (which I guess is close to the same). Lying about genetics and selling an animal that will most likely die are quite different to me.

Everyone has reasons why they don't want to sell non-eaters and my decision is based on that experience.
 
stevek said:
Are you saying that a person who was a premature baby should not be breeding?

I can agree with keeping deformed snakes out of the gene pool, absolutely, but again where do we play GOD and decide if 5 assist feeds is too much? and yes, any snake I did sell would be disclosed as being assist fed, even it it was only a single time.
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Well, humans are awarded the freedom to choose, captive snakes are not. It sounds wrong, but it is the truth. You are free to do as you wish with your non-eaters and I don't think anyone is saying you are wrong, but stating their opinions and practices. I respect your opinion to allow the snake to survive, however, I personally would not buy a snake if you disclosed that it had been assist feed 5/6/7 times. If I can get a great eater at the same price, I will.
 
OK just to clear up a few things. First, I would never sell a non-eater. I would sell an assist fed BP that was eating 100% on his own. I would also be 100% clear to the buyer that the BP had been assist fed and for how long.
 
stevek said:
OK just to clear up a few things. First, I would never sell a non-eater. I would sell an assist fed BP that was eating 100% on his own. I would also be 100% clear to the buyer that the BP had been assist fed and for how long.
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I apologize if I implied that anywhere. Not my intention.
 
No apology needed Nick. I'ts all good conversation. I just wanted to throw that out so everyone knows it's not what I would do. And I respect everyones decision to cull assist fed BP's or to keep them, or to give them a new assist fed home (not sell them).
 
To be honest, I don't think I would cull an assist fed snake unless it got really bad. I have never been in that situation so it's hard to say how I will truly handle it. I have two this year that I am keeping for many years that had to be assist fed once (not the reason why I am keeping). One day they will most likely be sold and I personally don't consider them genetically flawed, although, some might. I have one snake that has been assist fed six times. She just started eating yesterday on her own and I honestly don't know what I am doing with her yet. I will most likely sell her with this problem disclosed, but someone will most likely buy her and breed her. Kind of funny because, given the option, I would not purchase a snake in this situation. I will make sure that she eats good before she goes and she might make a lovely pet for someone, but there is no way I could cull her after she started eating.
 
stevek said:
I hope I did the quote thing right. Of course we all want to breeding strong healthy snakes and do what we can to keep the gene pool healthy. BUT who's to say an assist fed snake is not healthy once it starts to eat on his own? Is a BP that started to eat on his own after 6 assist feeds any less healthy than a BP that started to eat after 5 assist feeds. Any less healthy than a bp that was never assist fed? Why is a snake that was assist fed as a baby not a good candidate for breeding?
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I think you answered the question yourself. Who really knows, so why risk it when better stock is available?


stevek said:
Are you saying that a person who was a premature baby should not be breeding?

I can agree with keeping deformed snakes out of the gene pool, absolutely, but again where do we play GOD and decide if 5 assist feeds is too much? and yes, any snake I did sell would be disclosed as being assist fed, even it it was only a single time.
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It's your call, you must decide the fate of that animal and money shouldn't factor in. In my particular situation the only reason this animal was not culled sooner is because as one member pointed out, I started too late. I agree with that, I waited to long to start assisting and felt responsible. I will make sure that she is given a pet only home. While it's true I can not ensure it will always stay a pet, I feel it's the right call for me. It would be better than staying with me, If anything ever happened to me it would probably get sold by my family to another breeder not knowing her background.
 
When purchasing a BP from a breeder, I never thought about asking questions about past BP generations and if they were assist fed. And actually I never asked if the snake I was buying was assist fed. I never felt it was a determining factor as long as it was healthy, a good weight for its age and eating. So many BPs are bought and sold so I'm sure there are plenty of offspring out there where the parents, grandparents and actual snake being purchased were assist fed and no one is the wiser, including the person selling them. Maybe it's a good thing to ask?
 
stevek said:
So many BPs are bought and sold so I'm sure there are plenty of offspring out there where the parents, grandparents and actual snake being purchased were assist fed and no one is the wiser, including the person selling them. Maybe it's a good thing to ask?
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That's why it's so important to build your personal breeder stock from people with a proven track record...because so many people don't care, they just see dollar signs. Why risk haphazardly throwing together a collection?
 
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