It’s a sad experience to buy an animal only to have it die within a week or two. I’m sure that sometimes it is the buyer’s fault, but the seller or dealer has a responsibility to do all that they can to ensure your success. Screening out irresponsible customers really is impractical, so education and guidance before and after the sale is very important. Often, the purchase will add up to a substantial sum of money, but even a "cheap" beginner herp involves a life. A suffering, abused or neglected (soon to be dead) animal could all too often be the end result. Never release an unwanted herp into the wild, ecological harm could result if the animal survives. If your pet shop won’t take it, you may be able to find an animal shelter or a pet rescue person that can help you. I’ll try to provide some pre-purchase tips that may help you to avoid some common problems.

Research and knowledge are the best tools to aid in the purchase of a herp for beginners and advanced keepers alike. Impulse buying can sometimes be a mistake (although not always) if you are not prepared for the responsibility of caring for the animal. Some herps have specialized requirements and need proper preparations prior to bringing them home. This can greatly reduce the animals’ stress and help to ensure success with them from the start. Although helpful, you should not rely solely on information the seller gives you about the animal. Lots of information is readily available.

If possible, observe and examine the animal very carefully to look for any signs of ill health. This may be a judgement call because most people are not experts on the way a herp should look or behave. Try to find out if it is eating. Some frogs and lizards look skinny and starved but it may be normal for them to look that way. Obvious sores, missing digits or tail, cloudy eyes or a failure to react when touched are some signs of ill health. Captive bred animals are usually a safer buy than wild caught animals. Wild caught animals usually have parasites that can multiply and cause them harm by the time they finally become available to you. This may be due to the stresses of being captured, transported, transferred and shipped, etc. Some dealers will acclimate them for a time or treat for parasites beforehand; be sure to ask about it. Veterinarian help is a good idea.

Check the conditions under which they are being kept, i.e.: overcrowding, dirty/smelly cages, dead animals, etc. It’s also a good idea to get a feel for how knowledgeable the seller is. Obviously, if they can not tell you much about what they are selling they would not have cared for them properly either. It takes more than just a good sales pitch to provide you with good healthy herps. By the same token, "Mr. Know-it-all" may not be a good person to buy from either, because if anything goes wrong, it would always be "your" fault. Watch out for the "Frog Police" too, "Officer Pacman" will tell you that everyone else does not know what they are doing and that they always give you wrong information or mislead you. It may be hard to notice these tendencies at first because an overly eager seller may seem helpful and will say anything to get you to buy. If you notice him slamming the competition in order to make himself look better, think twice. If he boasts about having many, many herp breeding projects but is only selling a few common "pet shop" species, he may not be truthful. Realistically, the care involved with even a moderately sized herp breeding facility is tremendous and very time consuming.

I have never joined in on an internet herp forum or chat room but these are good sources of beginner herp information, sometimes advanced help, too. They are great places to make friends and to share your accomplishments and herp stories. Vicariously sharing the joy that others get from herps is truly gratifying. The volunteer moderators keep things pretty civil and do their best to uphold high standards. On the down side, to me it appears as if some devious members try to use them to manipulate things for personal benefit, promoting their own agenda and business. It’s a frog eat frog world out there!

Okay, you know about the animal you want and you have found one that looks healthy, the salesman is knowledgeable and seems dedicated to your success. What’s next? Definitely, find out what kind of guarantee is provided and what remedies you can expect if something does go wrong. Definitely, get it in writing; this leaves no doubts. Often at pet expo’s and shows, most of the vendors give no guarantees. They say it is because the animal might get overheated in the car on the way home. This does not seem fair and a reputable dealer should give you a guarantee if you ask for one. It may only be for credit, no cash refunds and who knows when you’ll see them next? This could help you make the final purchasing decision. On-line purchases usually have a clearly defined guarantee, at least for live arrival and sometimes beyond that. Usually only credit is given that can be used on your next order. Amphibians are often excluded, presumably because they are more sensitive to temperature extremes than reptiles. Carrier mishandling or delays are usually not included; the carrier usually will not cover animal losses but you may eventually recover the shipping charges, if you fight for them.

On-line herp purchases: Many animals can only be found on the internet. This can be tricky because you are not able to examine them and will have to rely on the seller to provide accurate information. Photos are helpful, request some of the actual animal if it is pricey. Age, size, sex and any other pertinent information should be given to you, if possible. Again, pay attention to the way things are handled, if communication is difficult when trying to order animals or get information, it will be much worse if you run into problems with your purchase. It is best to go somewhere else, even if it costs a little more. Shipping is pricey, some dealers charge for boxes and packing plus bump up the price of shipping as well. Be sure to ask. Shipping is usually overnight express and guaranteed to be there by 10:30 a.m. Some carriers are more reliable than others; they all seem to be reluctant to ship animals. Certification to ship live animals is required by the various carriers. Losses will occur occasionally. Try to order animals when the weather is not too hot or too cold at either end and keep in mind that the carriers each have a hub that all packages go through that may or may not have good temperatures. It is thought that the main danger to the animals is when their pallet of packages is left sitting out in the sun or in a hot truck or building. Cold packs could help in this case, but if they work too well and the package is never exposed to heat, it could do more harm than good. Heat packs also have their problems. No matter what, it is risky but usually well worth it.

ENJOY YOUR PET LIFE FORMS, Dave & Donna