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Huge disparity in Breeders

dave partington said:
spend a day in someone else's shoes
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This is the only part of this thread that I wish to reply to.

Dave, feet are gross and there is no way I'm going to put on another person's shoes. There isn't enough money or pink snakes in the world to get me to do it. Not coral, pink.
 
Wow. I am 46 years old, had all kinds of animals as long as I can remember. And I am *still* NEW to alot of stuff. Snakes are my thing now, and as far as I am concerned, breeders will ALWAYS know more than me. I am constantly learning new stuff, and glad to ask questions. I know a particular breeder on this thread. :) She is awesome, and I have 3 snakes from her. She also works a fulltime job. So I bet if you wanted to shoot her an email about a snake she was selling, you might have to wait a minute before you got a response from her. Also, some people are intuitive about another simply by the way they 'talk" in an initial email. If you seem abrasive, then maybe your email might not be answered. Savy?? Bad "customer service" is across the board, unfortunately. I for one have met some amazing breeders. Expos are awesome to meet/buy/ask a ton of questions as well. Next year hopefully I will join the ranks of Hobby Breeder with some Ball Pythons and Corns. I also work a full time job, so my response to emails might be slow as well :)
 
Part of the problem, Kulprit, is that you are looking at the snakes we breed as a *product*, as if we growing fruit or making carvings.

I am not making products when I breed. I'm creating pets. Creatures that I love even if they're with me a short time. Even if I wholesale them. I worry about them when they're in my care, and when they leave it.

Insisting that they are a product like a shoe is wrong.

I'm about to go and spend several hours setting up my newest critters, giving my holdbacks their first meal, attempting to feed the deathlings and the non-feeders. Because they are my pets.
 
Babbakaboosh said:
Wow. I am 46 years old, had all kinds of animals as long as I can remember. And I am *still* NEW to alot of stuff. Snakes are my thing now, and as far as I am concerned, breeders will ALWAYS know more than me. I am constantly learning new stuff, and glad to ask questions. I know a particular breeder on this thread. :) She is awesome, and I have 3 snakes from her. She also works a fulltime job. So I bet if you wanted to shoot her an email about a snake she was selling, you might have to wait a minute before you got a response from her. Also, some people are intuitive about another simply by the way they 'talk" in an initial email. If you seem abrasive, then maybe your email might not be answered. Savy?? Bad "customer service" is across the board, unfortunately. I for one have met some amazing breeders. Expos are awesome to meet/buy/ask a ton of questions as well. Next year hopefully I will join the ranks of Hobby Breeder with some Ball Pythons and Corns. I also work a full time job, so my response to emails might be slow as well :)
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If you are talking about who I think you are talking about I agree. She is pure unadulterated awesomeness! :)


Shiari said:
Part of the problem, Kulprit, is that you are looking at the snakes we breed as a *product*, as if we growing fruit or making carvings.

I am not making products when I breed. I'm creating pets. Creatures that I love even if they're with me a short time. Even if I wholesale them. I worry about them when they're in my care, and when they leave it.

Insisting that they are a product like a shoe is wrong.

I'm about to go and spend several hours setting up my newest critters, giving my holdbacks their first meal, attempting to feed the deathlings and the non-feeders. Because they are my pets.
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I agree Megan, that rubbed me the wrong way too.
 
Starsevol........ she IS awesomesness infinity lol. She is a cesspool of information and she is not afraid to use it..or share it if I ask :)
 
I just wanted to put in my 2 cents. I come into this thread as a CUSTOMER, and aspiring to join the rank of "breeder" in the next year or 2. As you can see I got quite a little collection brewing and I expect to be fully in-over-my-head when the 2014 breeding season rolls in.

Let me say, as a customer who's made FAR FAR FAR more Inquiries than actual purchases, and pulled the famously annoying "Please hold it for me" on at LEAST 2 breeders on this website, with mixed responses of course, and I completely understand the "Not without payment", and am EXTREMELY grateful for the "sure no problem" because I know that's a massive leap of faith!

Being as annoying as I'm sure I've been, I have had such fantastic experiences with Reptile Breeders in general! Ask an educated question, and you will receive an educated response. But you cannot expect ANYONE who works with animals, to rank customer service as a top priority. The way a Breeder of any animal, reptile, dog, cat, whatever... who cares about their animals is going to think... is "If you want one of my babies.. BABIES... you need to make the effort. Because I am trusting YOU to care for this animal"

I have always felt honored to be permitted to purchase an animal from someone who took the time and tedious care to create it.

P.S. you think Reptile Breeders are rude? TRY getting a puppy from a High-End Top Winning AKC Multi Champion Producing DOG BREEDER. Gooood Luck talking to THEM about "Customer Service" HA! (Trust me, My mother is one, and she gives her buyers hell and then some) At least Reptile breeders don't make you fill out Multi-Page Applications and do Home-Checks and Reference Calls and make you sign proper care contracts! Just putting things into perspective
 
Starsevol...Love your snakes on your webpage. Now I want a Lavender! And a Granite! LOL. Addicted much, I am :) Said above mentioned breeder is supposed to bring me a nice sweet Butter as soon as she sheds :) ( The snake, not above mentioned breeder)
 
I am yet a breeder and I have dealt with many who have replied to this thread. I just can't see how you can make such a grand assumption with just a few dealings? It is crazy to think that breeders of animals should put the customers interest ahead of everything else. It is about the LOVE OF THE ANIMAL is why they breed and it is those breeders that you should buy from.
 
Jaded Heart... RIGHT ON about the dog breeders! As a verrrry lucky owner of a Ch. Boston Terrier...It took me TWO YEARS to aquire said dog! And his owner is a friend of mine! But she wanted to be absolutely sure he would be taken care of in the lifestyle he was accustom. AND he had to be neutered, AND I signed a contract saying I would never sell him. Sounds rediculous, but this person really, really wanted him in a great home. I know when the time comes for me to breed my snakes, I will have difficulty letting them go "to just anyone". I cannot imagine the time and effort it will take to raise babies. I know the small collection I have now takes me 6-8 hours to feed/clean/document every Wednesday. People with more snakes than me must spend a ton of time doing that. This dude that is mad at bad customer service just does not get it. Maybe with time he will understand you attract more positive responses when you act accordingly :)
 
Jaded_Heart said:
I just wanted to put in my 2 cents. I come into this thread as a CUSTOMER, and aspiring to join the rank of "breeder" in the next year or 2. As you can see I got quite a little collection brewing and I expect to be fully in-over-my-head when the 2014 breeding season rolls in.

Let me say, as a customer who's made FAR FAR FAR more Inquiries than actual purchases, and pulled the famously annoying "Please hold it for me" on at LEAST 2 breeders on this website, with mixed responses of course, and I completely understand the "Not without payment", and am EXTREMELY grateful for the "sure no problem" because I know that's a massive leap of faith!

Being as annoying as I'm sure I've been, I have had such fantastic experiences with Reptile Breeders in general! Ask an educated question, and you will receive an educated response. But you cannot expect ANYONE who works with animals, to rank customer service as a top priority. The way a Breeder of any animal, reptile, dog, cat, whatever... who cares about their animals is going to think... is "If you want one of my babies.. BABIES... you need to make the effort. Because I am trusting YOU to care for this animal"

I have always felt honored to be permitted to purchase an animal from someone who took the time and tedious care to create it.

P.S. you think Reptile Breeders are rude? TRY getting a puppy from a High-End Top Winning AKC Multi Champion Producing DOG BREEDER. Gooood Luck talking to THEM about "Customer Service" HA! (Trust me, My mother is one, and she gives her buyers hell and then some) At least Reptile breeders don't make you fill out Multi-Page Applications and do Home-Checks and Reference Calls and make you sign proper care contracts! Just putting things into perspective
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I had to rep this.
We are not talking about a "product" here, we are talking about living things we pour our souls into. Like I said before, I am not breeding this year. But if you think my reaction was extreme right now, try lecturing me about my "customer service" when I have worked a 10 hour workday at my job and come home to little ones needing to eat and water that needs to be changed and a mountain of poop. Now don't get me wrong, I LOVE this hobby, and each and every snake. But to whine and act like I owe you an instant response before ALL my snakes are clean, fed, watered and comfortable will earn you rude like you have never seen before!!!
 
I just wanted to add that every breeder I've contacted on this site (and off of it) has been polite and prompt. :)
 
Babbakaboosh said:
Starsevol...Love your snakes on your webpage. Now I want a Lavender! And a Granite! LOL. Addicted much, I am :) Said above mentioned breeder is supposed to bring me a nice sweet Butter as soon as she sheds :) ( The snake, not above mentioned breeder)
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Thank you Janet.
I have a bunch of pictures on my forum here that have not yet made their way to my (non updated yet oh noes my customer service is sooo badddd) website. Butters are really nice, the yellows can get really bright.
 
Starsevol...shame on ur baddddd CS lol. This will be my 3rd from *ahem*...Awesome Breeder Woman lol...this butter, and amel, and a super-cool Blizzard. I have nothing but thumbs up for everyone she has put me in contact with. I have gotten no 'tudes from anyone. And sometimes I ask some doozy questions. ( Latest one: 'How long does a corn retain sperm and keep laying eggs???' After my corn laid her 2nd clutch this year, and has NOT been with a male in exactly a year!) LOL
 
Babbakaboosh said:
Starsevol...shame on ur baddddd CS lol. This will be my 3rd from *ahem*...Awesome Breeder Woman lol...this butter, and amel, and a super-cool Blizzard. I have nothing but thumbs up for everyone she has put me in contact with. I have gotten no 'tudes from anyone. And sometimes I ask some doozy questions. ( Latest one: 'How long does a corn retain sperm and keep laying eggs???' After my corn laid her 2nd clutch this year, and has NOT been with a male in exactly a year!) LOL
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No question is too doozy when you really don't know!
 
I didn't take the time to read this entire thread, but I would invite the OP to live a single day in a breeders shoes. When you have a lot of animals it takes a massive amount of time to take care of them. Sometimes I don't get to emails, PMs, voice mails, etc until 2-3 days after I receive them. Breeding reptiles is no an easy task, especially on a medium-large scale. Most breeders I know, do a stellar job with customer service. I would say about 99% of the folks on this particular forum to a spectacular providing customer service. So if you're tiff is with this forum, I doubt you can be satisfied.

There are some breeders who aren't very good at communication, and sometimes that's not their fault. You don't know if they're phone went dead, computer broke (a recent situation I faced, my life was saved thanks to Blackberry), or any other array of potential issues. Breeders live crazy lives, and most of them have a full time job on top of their breeding operation.

I'm 18, I work full time and will be attending college in the Fall. I have 75+ breeders, and that's not including babies, pets, and animals I have bought to resell. I get anywhere from 5 to 50 emails, texts, or PM's a day. That's not including phone calls (I'm on the phone about 2 hours a night).

I'm not trying to toot my horn, but these are the things breeders have to do to maintain they're operation. I don't know what breeders you have an issue with, but take into consideration how much they have on their plate before calling them out.
 
When I get off work from my real job, usually the first thing I do when I get home, after checking on my critters, is reply to any email inquiries about snakes. I'm a hobbyist, I like to think I have decent customer service at least I try my best to answer questions and match people to snakes that would work for them etc. But to me and a lot of folks this is a hobby and there are times when life just gets in the way of things like updating your website. I am guilty of still not having listed my 2012 hatchlings on mine because I was having some problems but anybody who wanted to buy a snake from me would have easily been able to look at my iherp page, my ads here on cs or at least sent me an email asking what I have available. What can I say, some of us are technologically challenged. But I think any serious buyer who put a bit of effort and contacted me instead of judging me by my website, would have found me helpful and cordial.
 
I can only think of one Cornsnake breeder who doesn't have outside employment; Don Soderberg.

I'm pretty proud of my website. I knew a professional site was beyond my capabilities, and I have done web design under supervision by a pro. But not many people have the nearly $1000 it took to build it laying around. That took a large chunk of a tax return and was only possible by skimping on everything for the whole next year.

Every penny and more I make from snake sales is reinvested back in racks, mice, shipping supplies, thermostats, furnishings, etc. Breeding snakes, for most of us, is a labor of love. A hole we pour money into chasing a dream. My snakes are my babies. When I say I do a background check on potential customers, I am only partially kidding.

I'll do my best to make sure a potential customer has all questions answered, and to make sure I feel good about one of my precious babies going to live with that person. But I won't sell to a person I perceive as a di*k no matter how much I'd like the cash, or the one less mouth to feed, or the space :)
 
I think everyone on this website gives the best customer service they can. I check the BOI for others if I'm considering buying somewhere else. I get irritated when I try to sell a snake and people email me, ask for pics, and lots of questions then I give them a wonderful reply with great pictures.. and never hear from them again. It gets old, fast.
 
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