Terms & Guarantees

Live, Healthy Arrival Guaranteed!
Live, 100% Healthy arrival is guaranteed.  The only two "rules" are that temperatures have to be safe (explained on shipping terms page) and someone must be available to sign for the package on the first delivery attempt...we can't have animals being trucked around on the back of a hot or cold UPS truck all day!

In the case of a DOA or unhealthy arrival (very rare) you must notify me within 12 hours of receipt. In this unlikely event, photographic proof will be required, regardless of how well I know you (sorry, but I have to be fair with everyone).  If you cannot provide photographs, you will be required to send the expired/sick animals back via next day shipping at your own expense. Who doesn't have a camera phone or a cheap digital camera? :-)

30 Day Health Guarantee
Every animal I sell is guaranteed to be in 100% perfect health.  I now offer a *30 day health guarantee on all reptiles.  I can do this because 99% of the animals I sell are produced here and I know they're in perfect health.   In the event that an animal begins to exhibit signs of a health issue, you MUST contact me immediately so that I can try to help you remedy the problem before it is too late. 

In the event that an animal needs to be replaced, a photograph of the animal and a letter from an experienced herp veterinarian detailing the illness and/or explaining the cause of death may be required.

Gecko Tails
Geckos drop their tails from time to time, often times for no apparent reason.  This is a natural occurrence and I personally do not consider it a defect.  In fact, I don't generally discount geckos that have dropped their tails.  As such, I cannot be held responsible tails dropped during shipping.  I've shipped hundreds of geckos and have yet for this to happen, but I feel that it's important to be clear about it up front.

Sexing Policy
When an animal is sold as a male or female, I offer a 100% guarantee to that effect.  However, you must double check the sex of the animal within 72 hours of arrival.  In the event an animal appears to be the wrong sex, I must be notified within 72 hours. Otherwise, I will consider our transaction complete.  If an animal arrives incorrectly sexed, the animal will be replaced with one of the proper sex or store credit will be issued.

This policy is a tough one for me personally.  An incorrectly sexed animal is an incorrectly sexed animal, regardless of when you find out.  However, many animals I sell are available only a few times each year, so it's important that I find out as soon as possible if an animal needs to be replaced.  In order to ensure that someone doesn't wait several weeks or months to verify the sex of an animal, I feel that this policy is for the benefit of everyone involved.

Live Animal Shipping Terms
Shipping is a subject all by itself! All live animal shipments must adhere to the policies and procedures explained on the SHIPPING TERMS page. Please carefully review this page before you place an order. After seven years of shipping reptiles on a regular basis, I think this page pretty much covers it all.

In order to ship live animals safely, which I believe is our moral/ethical obligation as pet owners, we must adhere to the policies that I have outlined here.  No exceptions will be made to our shipping terms, period.  If you think I told you something differently, one of us may have been confused, but there are no exceptions when it comes to shipping my reptiles safely.

All Live Animal Sales Final - No Refunds - No Exceptions
You order it, you own it.  This is pretty much industry standard when dealing with pet purchases, but I want to be absolutely clear about it up front.  I'm all for the right for one to change his or her mind, but over the years I've had a handful of customers make a purchase, have me care for their animals (sometimes for months on end!) and then eventually ask for a refund because they've decided they can no longer care for another animal (amongst other reasons).  This makes for extremely risky business on my end because I end up feeding and caring for animals that would have otherwise already been sold and shipped out.  I don't mind holding onto animals for customers, even for several months, provided they'll eventually take them.  That said, holding animals becomes a financial liability if I may end up having to issue a refund later.  As such, I cannot offer refunds unless I can no longer provide the animal(s) purchased. 

Every year we have a number of customers purchase animals on impulse and then ask for a refund when the new wears off of their "new toy" before we even have a chance to ship...usually in the winter or summer when temperatures make it unsafe to ship.  Bottom line, I don't want your business if you buy living animals on impulse, so please do us both a favor and waste someone elses time. I promise you'll have a much easier time getting a refund. :-)

Again - Animals that arrive DOA or with outward health problems will be replaced or store credit will be issued at our discretion.  No payments will be refunded under any condition unless agreed upon prior to sale.

The "Chargeback Shenanigan" Policy
Let me explain the "chargeback shenanigan", as I call it. We've had a small handful of customers decide that for whatever reason, they no longer want the reptiles they've ordered.  They get impatient with the weather, have their dog eat their rent money, wreck the car, get arrested, you name it.  Knowing we have a strict "all sales are final" policy, these folks have come up with an ingenius (or so they think) plan to get their money back.  They file a non-receipt claim with PayPal, basically telling PayPal that we took their money and didn't send them their "product".  In other words, they're just taking advantage of the fact that we can't always ship live reptiles immediately.

As PayPal has stated on more than one occasion, this is a gross abuse of the buyer protection system, but it is also a situation unique to our industry...meaning they're not going to change their terms to accomodate reptile breeders.  As such, we only "win" a little over half of these claims (apparently it depends on who reviews them and the customer's credit card issuer).  This is entirely unfair for me as a reptile breeder, and as such, I maintain a strict policy of contesting all unwarranted chargebacks for as long as I possibly can, meaning even if you do win, it will be approximately 90 days before a refund is granted.

What if they side with us? For starters, filing any type of dispute or chargeback is a direct violation of our Terms and Guarantees page and as such, all guarantees are null and void.  In other words, our industry leading 30 day guarantee is  only valid if you comply with the rest of our terms.  Should PayPal side with us, you will be purchasing your animal(s) with NO GUARANTEE whatsoever.

On top of that, we never knowingly sell to a customer who has done this to us, or a customer who has done this to another breeder.  Should we find out you're guilty of this, your customer account (and IP address) will be flagged, so that you can no longer access our website (let alone waste our time placing another order).

I apologize to the thousands of honest customers who have to read this when there are only about a half dozen people who've actually tried to do this.  Please do not let this make you nervous (unless you're one of the above mentioned dingleberries).  I have been selling reptiles online for nearly a decade and I've never even come close to ripping anyone off - and believe me, this will never change.  In all honesty, I have refunded payments and cancelled order for folks in special circumstances, and will always do so when I think it's the right thing to do.

A Note About Gecko Color
Depending on factors such as environment, stress and the presence of food, the color and/or intensity of the color on most geckos does change drastically.  Of course I try to photograph geckos when they are looking their best, but they don't always cooperate.  Additionally, monitor settings vary from computer to computer (even my own laptop and desktop computers look a lot different from each other), so it's literally impossible for me to make each photograph appear the same on everyone's computer monitor.

However, there is a "fail safe" in every photo.  If you have just a basic understanding of the color spectrum, you can use the grey plastic turntable (which we photograph almost all available animals on) to judge the accuracy of the color.   Even with the same settings, the presence of sunlight coming into the room will affect the color of the photos, so that's one thing to consider.  As such, you can also use the turntable to judge the brightness of the photo.  If the grey looks darker in one photo, then you know the photo wasn't as well lit as it should have been. If the grey starts looking closer to white, then you know there was a little too much light in the photo.

I cannot offer refunds due to lack or misinterpretation of color.  However, should you receive an animal whose color is not to your satisfaction, you may exchange it for store credit within 3 business days (customer will be responsible for actual shipping costs both ways).  In over five years of selling my reptiles over the web, I have never once had a customer complain about the color of an animal purchased from me.  In fact, I get several emails every week telling me that they look far better in person.  This actually drives me crazy because I try so hard to take photos that captured the true beauty of my animals!  That said, I still feel that it's best to avoid any confusion. I believe that my animals are some of the finest available in the world and I honestly do make every effort to represent them as accurately as possible.

I've spent a lot of money purchasing and time learning to use professional photography and lighting equipment, so that I can represent my animals in the truest light possible.    The only changes I make to my photographs are cropping for size and adjusting the white balance settings (if it comes out too red, too blue or too green).  That being said, if a gecko's color appears "blown out" or fake in any way, it is most likely due to your monitor settings.  The reason I bring this up is because I recently purchased a new flat screen monitor and it makes my pictures look horribly oversaturated when I leave it on the automatic settings.