A few days ago, I got some very sad news. A call came in from Florida early one morning from Bobby Hill, my tegu breeder. He told me that he had lost over 800 eggs during incubation, apparently the chemicals being used to treat the water there had been changed without notice and had harmed the incubating babies. Bobby was deeply apologetic and told me that I could have my deposit back. After thinking for a second, I decided to keep my deposit down and wait until next year's clutches arrived...
Let me tell you, this was hard for me! I'm not a very patient person, and I had everything (down to food) purchased for this little tegu baby I was expecting to hatch any day now.
Here is my reasoning... Bobby has been there for any and every question I threw at him. If I sent him an email, I got an immediate response. When I was uneasy about a purchase, he phoned me personally and talked me through everything, giving me information to do my own research and make my own decisions. When I was first decided on buying a tegu, I was unsure about giving $75 to some random person via paypal, to turn around and wait 6 months before giving him another $75. AND THEN waiting even longer for them to ship at 3 weeks of age... So Bobby asked permission to call me and tell me about his business, introduce himself, and point me in the direction of hundreds of people who have bought animals from him in the past (www.TeguTalk.com).
I found that everyone I talked to had a very high opinion of Bobby, and the animals he bred. I looked at all of the youtube videos he had uploaded on the Varnyard channel and felt very confident that he wasn't a scammer!
After I put my initial $75 deposit down on March 16th, I waited until the eggs were laid, and then for them to hatch. When things seemed like they were taking forever, I got the phone call with the bad news. Though I was bummed out, I felt a new and even greater respect for Bobby Hill. For a week, he contacted every individual on his order list personally, and spoke with them about the accident and the options.
Though a part of me REALLY wanted a baby 'gu, I couldn't push myself to deny Bobby my business. something had happened that was beyond his control, why punish him for an accident? Especially after he had been so kind!
I am realizing that the world desperately needs more people like Bobby. He was honest, sincere, and a wonderful person to talk to. I'm afraid to say that anyone else in his position would have merely sent out a mass-email stating the bad news, they wouldn't bother contacting all 800+ people!
Thank you Bobby Hill, for being such an honest person! I can't wait until the babies arrive next year!!!
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