Sorry to keep bothering you with questions, but is your dog ok?
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No don’t worry about the questions at all. I completely love the support. My dog is completely fine thank god but this all happened really quickly because me and my dog were out when this happened.
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I’m so glad your pup was with you when this happened, I’d hate for anything to happen to him as well. I feel like this has to be targeted, especially for it to happen so fast and for them to go after snakes. That’s so crazy. I’ve been scouring craigslist and will continue to get the word out
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You have no idea how much that means to me. Thank you!
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Dude that sucks if I lived closer i would beat the person that did that…
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You don’t have cctv? Its absolutely imperative to have a system especially when you got ball pythons man. I am from souther ca in Los Angleles/Orange County area. I let you know. Bro you should be on eyes in craiglisy or offer up. Also, let your local pet shops know. These criminals tend to sale the goods asap.
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yeah i contacted all the local pet stores in my area and they are aware of what happened. my apartment complex also has not installed any security measures because they are cheap even though i pay nearly 2k in rent. the whole thing is just ridiculous and the manager wont take responsibilty at all
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Damn. Thats heart breaking. Sick to my stomach just thinking about it. You are a good dude. One of the first folks on here that offered advice to me. I wish I was further along with my plans for bps so I could send you one. If you ever do a gofundme or kickstarter please message me or find me on FB as Gumbeaux Gregg. I will happily contribute.
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Ive been thinking for months about slowly starting a breeding program to supplement my income. I have pages and pages of notes. On everything from equipment needed, operating expenses, which air bnb to make into a herp room, to what genes I want in each line and what I want to achieve with them. I got the bug bad but still waiting on my first VE-6 combo rack to get here, lol. Baby steps. Give me 6-8 years and see where Im at.
When you get to the point where your heart and mind are right and you are ready to get back into your routine I will definitely help support the effort. Nobody on here has to share tips on bps, genetics, husbandry, experience, etc. But you do and youre cool about it. Keep me posted, and in the meantime take care.
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I am so sorry to hear that this happened to you, I can’t believe how horrible people can be to do something like this. I’m guessing that you hadn’t noticed anything out of the ordinary before everything happened? Like a car you have never seen before parked in front of your building or maybe some shady people walking around that you never saw before, that was gone by the time you got back to your apartment? Have you talked to your neighbors to see if they saw or heard anything out of the ordinary?
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my neighbors are of no help at all and apparently lack common sense because when i asked them if they saw anything while i was gone they said “Yeah i saw your car doors open but i didn’t call the manager.” like what were you thinking? of course i wouldn’t just leave my doors open, and why wouldn’t they call anyone if my car was also going off? the whole thing is a mess and no one has been of any help at all. my best guess as to who could have done this was probably the people who dig through our trash. But the bright side to this is that i am going to try starting to rebuild soon and will use this thread to document my process in rebuilding back to where my collection was
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Wow, that’s crazy. My brother lived in an apartment and saw some young teens about to steal a package from their neighbors and stopped them, it’s too bad not everyone can be like that. At least you haven’t given up though, you seem like a really nice person and it would have been a real shame to see you leave the hobby because of this. I’d invest in a camera like some others have suggested, you can never be too careful these days.
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so far im doing everything i can to try and recover them and i also did purchase 3 nest cameras as well as a dash cam that stays on when the car is off and it records audio too. Since ive had time to think about this i do not plan on leaving this hobby anytime soon and since i have already built up a collection once then who is to say i cant do it again? The overall support from everyone has been overwhelming and extremely appreciated and im glad to say im part of such a great community.
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My question is whether they stole anything besides the reptiles. I hate to say this, but you probably know the person that took them. You should think long and hard about anyone that may know you have reptiles in your house. Think of neighbors, coworkers, family, friends, past customers, etc. Did they get the key to your car from your home or the other way around? Who knew that you weren’t home? Usually when someone’s car is at their home, they are home. Someone knew otherwise.
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I honestly couldnt tell you who i think it was. my snakes werent the only thing taken, my Xbox and laptop were as well
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I am so sorry I can’t even imagine what your going through! I live just outside of la and will be on the lookout!
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Hi, I’m totally new here, only own 2 snakes and was just surfing … But I work with animals professionally and have had them stolen and joined just to help you try to recover them, because there IS a good chance of recovery!!
You have to apply pressure. Take these steps;
*Contact the local law enforcement AND the departments in the 5 surrounding counties. Give them a list of all the animals taken.
*Contact EVERY animal control office, shelter and rescue in the same radius. These are different things, you’ll have to hunt every one down.
*Every pet store. Ask them to put up a flyer. Create flyers and mail them out.
*Every local herp club and breeder. Ask them to be on the lookout.
Tell EVERYONE that you speak to that you can 100% identify these individual animals. There are a lot of people who think a snake is a snake, no one will know. Put the word out that you KNOW and have pictures.
Next, get the word out. Put an ad on every Craigslist, call the local radio stations and local papers. Don’t forget the pennysaver/thrifty nickel type papers. Your local area has a neighborhood FB group - everywhere you can think of online, make it sharable. Whatever ads cost you, it’s cheaper than rebuilding your collection (not to mention your heartache).
The ads have to say that you CAN identify the animals
That law enforcement is looking for them.
That YOU have a reward and no questions asked for anyone who drops them off (have a list of 3 locations)
That charges will be pressed if they are not dropped off.
Listen, it’s work. I had a gray (white) horse stolen from a friend who was watching her while I moved. She called the cops, filed a report, nothing. I was across the country going nuts. Weeks passed, nothing. Finally I talked to the right people who showed me how to light a fire under it and I was on it, letting the world know that I could pick THIS white horse out of a million others and I was after her, she “just happened” to show up outside my friends fence The Next Day. No joke.
Since then, I’ve seen it happen a couple of tests with various animals and unless someone has a buyer who doesn’t care (rare, people like to show off their collection) lined up, or has taken them to keep, these steps get the animal back.
Good luck!!!
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Nate,
I am so sorry this happened to you buddy. I will keep my ears open if I hear of anyone selling in your general area. I cant imagine the pain you’ve gone through.
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Dont worry about me leaving cause ive decided to still stay invested in this hobby that i love so much. this definitely wont be the last post of mine you will see
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So I don’t know if this helps but there was a guy selling like a whole collection of snakes on Craigslist and they aren’t the cheap kind so maybe that might be a lead i dont know i did want to buy a snake but i backed down due to COVID 19
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