COVID 19 and shipping... heres my 2 cents

Hello to all,
This is a topic that desperately needs to be addressed and it concerns everyone, sellers and buyers.
Durring this trying time we have all been faced with tons of challenges, new problems, new fears, and new anxieties. Many snake breeders and keepers have had to refigure the logistics of many aspects of keeping our beloved scaled beauties .
We all love our animals, with a passion and are heavily invested emotionally and finacially in our projects. Which leads me into my topic!
According to Ship-Your-Reptiles, due to Covid 19, (as would be expected) some potential delays are likely. A 24-48hr delay to be exact! Well from 1st hand experience i can attest that I’ve experienced both delays and on-time shipments within the past 2 weeks.

SO HERE ARE MY MAIN POINTS OF CONCERN!!!

  1. If you are a breeder/seller, and you personally don’t feel comfortable shipping your animals due to the possibility of issues with shipping, then you need to communicate this to potential buyers upon their 1st inquiry!!! Don’t wait until the customer has paid for the animal to bring up your fears and then refuse to ship. Ive heard fellow breeders say, that their concern is for the animal and that they will continue to care for the animal as long as is necessary and if the customer cant comply, that they will refund their money.
    As a seller it is your responsibility to announce this UPFRONT!! Personally i think that a snake
    staying breeder this is fine, and i prefer it (IF) the breeder has a backup plan in case he or her gets sick themselves, and if they get sick likely so will their family…so who will send the animal then? How will they have access to the records to know who gets what…?? This is a real concern, because everyone seems to think that they wont get COV 19,. Or that if they did that they would survive…however this isnt necessarily the case, anyone can die from this regardless of your age or health.
    (Here comes the controversial part)
    Now lets say you are fine with the animal that you paid for, continuing to stay with the breeder and they have sufficient (worst case scenerio) plans that are acceptable. Now comes the 2nd and equally important topic of husbandry practices. (This in particular is my biggest pet peve with many breeders.) Now lets be honest, alot of breeders for a couple of different reasons choose to in my oppinion underfeed the hatchlings that they have for sale… their is absolutly no excuse for a 10 month old ball python to be 300grams! Whether they’re attempting to retain the vibrant colors that a hatchling has in order to be maketable for longer, or reducing feeding costs, or perhaps trying to slow down the competition… whatever, its BS! I certainly don’t do it, and their are many others that dont as well, but ALOT do. So if youre going to keep it there til things clear up with shipping issues, feed the animal like you intend to breed it! Because thats what practically everyone intends to do when they purchase an animal. If necissary volunteer to pay for the additional food, to insure that your animal grows at a desireable rate.
    Depending on how long this Covid issue lasts, sellers that retain animals should voluntarily give regular progress reports. If youre going to accept payment, you shouldnt have any issue doing this.

Anyway, im sorry if ive upset anyone, but i wanted to put these ideas in the forefront of your thoughts. These things should definitely be considered by any breeder that continues to accept payments for animalas durring this time. Im a breeder, and i think we all ahould attemt to be on the same page.

You guys take care of yourselves and with any luck from the Odds Gods we will make it through this trying time!

Thanks for reading, and would love to hear your thoughts on the matter,

Cameron

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2 posts were merged into an existing topic: Shipping with Covid-19