Heavy Sigh..

[uhhlise_nacole]

My fiancé and I have been planning for quite a while now to add another 'big snake' into the group. We both had been progressively leaning towards a Retic over a Burm. Since our finances are in order and we have the extra chunk to spend, we wanted to wait for something unique that we don't necessarily come across in our area often. We had wanted to wait just one more week to finalize our exact budget since you NEVER know what life will decide to throw at you from one day to the next. Completely out of the blue, we were approached with a juvenile Pied Retic and I nearly had a heart attack, especially that it was a mere 45 minute drive to transport home. I knew that was the 'unique' we had patiently waited to come across. BUT someone beat us to the punch. I didn't imagine this happening in less than a day's time but it sure did. Something with that kind of a price tag I didn't think would sell as fast. I feel that's a hell of an oppurtunity we missed out on and I'm quite bummed. We just needed that extra week to feel 120% comfortable. Trying to tell myself he just wasn't the one. Anyone else experienced similar situations where you've gotten your hopes up?

[Scubadiver59]

Not so close to home, but I've had my eye on a Super Dwarf and a Dwarf from two different places...all were sold by time I got in contact with the sellers. A silver lining is that one of the two breeders has a clutch or two coming in June, so hopefully...

[sattva]

I live near Sacramento and I drove three hours down to South of San Francisco to pick up a Brazilian rainbow boa... The guy never showed up at the meeting place... On the way back I got a toll bridge ticket for not having enough cash for the toll... So ya... $25.oo ticket, and a five hour trip back, in stop and go traffic... I was not a happy camper...

[Tsubaki]

Wow that sucks... I once had something similar happen, but it was more that it wasn't what was advertised. Went to pick up a Madagascar ground boa, had proper pics and everything.. Drove 4h, got there.. turned out to be a Dumerils, pictures were from Google. Their excuse "we thought it looked similar enough"... twats.. not even the same species..

[akane]

I've managed to get snakes and geckos with only hours to spare of someone else claiming them. I managed to be able to show up first or sent the money first. Most of the time though I find with snakes at least (far less with geckos where breeders want to see money asap and the gecko gone asap) most will hold them a considerable time if you say you are seriously interested. I've even offered deposits and been told it's not necessary for what might be a 4month wait to ship. My sumatran python was held for nearly 2 months until after christmas when I said I wasn't sure I'd even end up with the money and ability to pick it up at that point. I'd just know if it was going to be possible eventually or not. Apparently people buying lizards are far more flaky even after they've put in some nonrefundable money. The only reason I need a couple days to decide is because all income is my husband's and he has decision making problems so I have to carefully approach the topic and give him days to find time to devote mental energy to the decision and decide if we should spend the money on that option.