LLL Reptile Review

[TaraDodrill]

I had such an awful experience with these people.

Little Hondo arrived with eyes swollen shut.The breeders were no help after multiple phone calls and emails. The girl on the phone told me sometimes they take a week to adjust to new habitat and maybe I had the light too bright. He ate a day later, but that was it, refused to eat at all that I could see for almost two weeks. Different girl at store said to feed him strawberries and bananas, that he would love them because they had them daily. Seriously, fruit daily for a Sulcata? Reptile vet at OSU was big help, but he said Hondo arrived sick and did not have a good chance at survival without treatment. Drove the 80 miles to get treatment, bought Vitamin A drops for follow up and kept calling breeder to tell them what was going on. They said to send him back, he would have died for sure that way. It was a heart wrenching experience to watch him get sicker and know there was nothing more to do. I must have called the breeder 10 times for advice the first week and they were so clueless about Sulata care it was pointless.
The Sulcata arrived late, Fed Ex fault not theirs. Hubby had to go track down the overnight truck in town, thankfully small town so he only spend about 30 minutes longer than promised on board. LLL would only give us a store credit even though Fed ex refunded their shipping cost after I called to complain.

 

[CGKeith]

Gosh, I am so sorry that you had to go through all of that.

Let me point out 1 thing. You keep calling them the "breeder". They are not. They are a "dealer" or "retailer", just like a big pet store. They buy most of the animals that they sell from actual "breeders" in large groups or wholesale lots, then sell them from their web site. They also sell a number of imported wild caught animals. So, the tortoise you got was bred somwhere else, sold to them, shipped, kept at their facility (probably with many others) until sold to you and shipped again.

Makes for a rough way to start a little guy off.

 

[TaraDodrill]

Gosh, I am so sorry that you had to go through all of that.

Let me point out 1 thing. You keep calling them the "breeder". They are not. They are a "dealer" or "retailer", just like a big pet store. They buy most of the animals that they sell from actual "breeders" in large groups or wholesale lots, then sell them from their web site. They also sell a number of imported wild caught animals. So, the tortoise you got was bred somwhere else, sold to them, shipped, kept at their facility (probably with many others) until sold to you and shipped again.

Makes for a rough way to start a little guy off.
Thanks for the info. I found them in a tort breeder listing and when I talked to them on the phone they said they were breeders and raised their own torts, obvisoulsy a lie. I saw an ad on another forum where they were offering to buy any and all torts. Def a buyer beware situation. I would never knowingly patronize anyone who used captived wild animals. How awful.

 

[TaraDodrill]

This thread is for vendor reviews. So negative comments will occur. Honest reviews help others seeking to purchase torts. When a baby arrives witheyes swollen shut it is a seller issue. Hondo was two months old, so they said. I only wanted a tort from someone who is a captive breeder. Apparently from what seasoned members from this forum have posted, as well as well as posts on other forums, LLL is not. They told me they were. I have seen their adds seeking torts in bulk from anyone willing to sell. They have no idea about the husbandry practices of the reptiles they resell. Very poor customer service during my experience as well.