Hello, just thought this would be interesting for me to hear about your experiences, things you’ve observed while browsing, etc.!
So, I’m guilty of doing this. Almost daily. It’s a fun and entertaining thing to do for me. Please don’t judge me lol but I’ve rehomed on there. There was a time when we waited for over a year to receive a dime from workers comp for a legitimate workplace accident involving extreme negligence of a coworker that has caused my husband to have 4 surgeries so far. So, yeah.
Some observations:
There are some really shady ads, like a post in the bp for sale that were trying to rehome a bp AND a dog
I find it odd that so many people don’t even post a photo of the snake
There are many postings that the seller posted in many different regions
My post, though I 100% followed all the CL guidelines, was flagged and removed several times. With no notification of it happening, and with no explanation of why of by whom. So I had to repost AT LEAST 5 different times
Some posts have been on there for a very long time
So many sellers have no idea what the morph or sex is
Soooo many misidentified morphs!
Posts of typically expensive morphs being sold for next to nothing. Just saw a subadult or adult male pied for $125
Recently I’ve been seeing prices way more expensive than what reputable breeders on here sell the morph for, like normal hatchlings for $150 for example
Selling for a friend?
Plus the sad posts on there where the snakes are seriously sick and not properly cared for.
Do you guys have experiences or anything else to add or share?
Thanks for reading!
I actually got a heck of a deal from craigslist once.
Less than 2k for:
1.2 breeding age ball pythons
0.1 Juvi, should be breeding this year or next.
1 vivarium electronics 5 tub rack cb 70
1 homemade rack, Juvi sized sterilize tubs
Some extra bits and bobs.
This is my favorite in the group. Just a beautiful gal.
The downside is yeah, there can be A LOT of scammers. Especially in the dog and cat listings.
There’s a HUGE number of Facebook scammers using photos from some high end reptile breeders. Ball pythons for rehoming is one of the ones I see pop up often.
I usually don’t post too many pictures when I list unless needed. I’ll text or email more if asked.
Found and sold some nice ball pythons on Craigslist. I truly believe its the buyers due diligence when purchasing or selling an animal. I will not sell or buy without talking to the person first, ask them questions to see if it lines up with the ad they posted. So far I’ve had good experiences and there have been questionable ones but that never went further than a text message. I think no place is exempt from shady people and if someone judges a person for where they shopped or sold then thats there problem.
I found the first article that you posted @eaglereptiles but I have no idea why I didn’t see the 2nd one in my search. Could be that I easily get distracted by either a text message or a question that pops into my head that HAS to be investigated like RIGHT NOW lol. Thank you so much for listing these. I enjoyed reading the other topic post too. When I read through the 1st one, as a new forum poster (a step up from my long-time lurker status), I wasn’t sure if it would be weird to resurrect a post from a few years ago.
If someone who’s wanting to buy any animal from craigslist but is truly unsure of whether or not an ad is a scam, ask for a video call with the actual animal being shown during the call, learn to reverse image search, and if meeting up then do cash in hand.
Thank you so much for giving the green light for resurrection! There are a few other forums where posters are either scolded or passive-aggressively made to feel dumb for doing so. TripAdvisor even goes so far as to lock posts with no activity after a certain period of time. I agree on the continuity stance, and I think continuing posts rather than making new ones about virtually the same topic keeps the forum more clean and organized. It also keeps the person from having to read through a million different threads when searching for a particular answer or topic.
CL is honestly a daily thing for me, I also often see local breeders on CL instead of using Facebook groups or emails (my state actually has a monthly email for its reptile expo hosts that they send out “newsletters” of sorts and mention breeders) or just don’t set up websites (websites CAN be expensive and tedious but don’t have to be, although I’m recommending it as a last resort thing for a small scale seller) otherwise I have had some strange inquiries such as people backing out day before or just ghosting me, but usually I strike a good deal. Later today (it’s 12:05 AM lol, technically today) I’m picking up a banana spinner at a dollar tree for 80 bucks, confirmed male that’s pretty small for his age but still breeding size and has been checked up at the vet and everything. I’d say CL is definitely worth it even if I spend hours inquiring on snakes only to pick and chose maybe 1-2 for a couple months worth of browsing. A lot of the time the snake is also (in the legitimate posts where I got confirmation the person has the snake and they need a home) in a kind of sad or unexpected situation, most of my CL pickups are reject eaters or friends who moved away or left behind upon moving. It’s surprising to see how many snakes there are just locally, hundreds a day! Just this summer I’m actually going out to my friends cabin to see if I can find an old ball python they found behind his cabin missing an eye but still kicking (him and my other friends had no idea it wasn’t supposed to be out there or figured it would just be eaten and circle of life and all) I doubt I’ll find it or if I do find it find it alive but spending lots of time looking at local rescues is a habit of mine too lol
I do this too. Used to do it more regularly until I started disease testing my collection and wanting to buy from reputable breeders only, but I still do it for funsies and just to see if there are any good deals.
The biggest thing for me is how many people treat their animals like “investments.” Which we do in breeding, but for pets, it’s a completely separate story. Can’t tell you the number of times I see a normal or single gene ball python listed as rehoming for $200+ because “all of the equipment and cage and heating and food cost me that much for the last months/years I’ve had it.” Sorry fam, I don’t care how much you spent on it - that’s the basic requirements to keep the animal alive. If you’ve got a normal or single gene ball python I’m not paying you more than $50 for it, I literally could not care less how much you spent on the setup. You were keeping the animal alive, it’s not an “investment” you get to get back.
That rant over, I do ask a lot of questions on CL. I ask for pictures and videos with dates or other specific things in them, ask about husbandry and for pictures of enclosures, etc. Occasionally you’ll find someone who really doesn’t know or care about the value of something and get a really good deal - or connect with another local breeder in the area.
We have an equivalent or worse in the UK. ‘Gumtree’.
But I would never risk my collection with it, no mater how silly cheep.
I will stick to MM.
No offence to to others that use it, that’s just my opinion.
This is more how I feel about it too. It can be entertaining (or sad) to scroll through, and I think the number and morphs of the ball pythons is a good litmus test for the state of the market and what is/isn’t really selling, but overall not some place I’d buy from at this point. Even with a careful quarantine, I’d still worry about bringing in an animal with mites or nido, and it’s just not worth the risk to save maybe $50 on a low end combo. I’ve put way too much effort into the animals I have now to risk everything
I surf through CL and have found one stunning super stripe banana male that way (in my EARLY acquisition of snakes). Because of my rural area, there is not a lot to see or choose from. What drives me bonkers is ads like this: “Im looking for a ball python all pay 100 or 150 with tank and bc I don’t have car u have bring all pay gas money” Either from this person wanting to buy one or from people like this trying to sell one. Mostly I use it as a tool to see what people in my area are selling and for how much so that I can better gauge my audience/customers.
Ooh, I just saw what I think is a pastel leopard bamboo clown on there based on MM searches (which is mislabeled as a pastel bamboo leopard) for way cheaper than it probably should be, especially if it really is a female…I really like looking around on there because it helps me get better with identifying morphs, and picking out which ones are mislabled. It feels like a little game for me, and I have MM pulled up at the same time so I can go back and forth seeing if my guesses are right.
Same. When I first started out I picked up two snakes on CL (from breeders, just listed on CL) but I really probably wouldn’t want to do it now. I do sell on CL though! Especially my lower end stuff I list on CL and have made some good sales through there, I just do a lot of vetting for who I sell to (and it’s harder, because if I include rehoming fees in the post it automatically gets flagged and removed, so I get a lot of ‘how much for x’ messages that ghost as soon as I send a price back. But that’s fine!
It’s also entertaining for me from a morph standpoint. Lots of instances of “I bought it as a pastel lesser leopard” (me: lmao, it’s NONE of those things) and “I bought it as a bamboo” (me: ooh, it’s actually got a couple extra things).
I’ve worked in pet retail, veterinary and in animal diagnostics labs for years… The one that always gets me is the number of people selling pet quality chihuahuas or whatever the current fad of bully breed is at crazy prices. Just because. Yeah I’m not spending 1.2k on a chihuahua who weighs 7 pounds, has an underbite and no papers.
I guess ‘micro bully’ red or blue nose are the current thing in my area.
They see rescue groups or stores selling at high prices with health guarantees and vaccines and such. then offer none of that at the same price @_@;
A few breeders for BPs in my area though sell some nice morphs. Prices are okay. Otherwise there’s the same normal phase ball python they got tired of with shed blown up everywhere in the cage, a 20 gallon long with a poopy water bowl. Maybe heat source for at least 200. lol. I run from those ads so fast.
