Backwater ReptilesReviews of backwaterreptiles.com

Not sure if I got extremely lucky or if a lot of the bad reviews were the buyers' fault. I ordered an albino ball python hatchling around late April and it arrived next day as promised. I was glad they didn't put a heat pack due to weather being in the high 80's/low 90's. There hasn't been really anything wrong that I could tell after having him for 6 months. But I do have 3 major complaints hence the 3 star review. 1st, my python appears more like a yearling than a hatchling, I'm no expert but I doubt ball hatch a little over 2 feet long. 2nd he was not emaciated, but he was skinny, even for a "hatchling" I could see some of his spine and his stomach was nearly flat it was almost like a triangle shape. 3rd which didn't affect me but might affect others is that they are a drop shipper, they are the middle man and more often than not they have never interacted with the animal being shipped or possibly the shipper, resulting in a mixed bag of reviews due to the mixed bag of care taken for the animals. After 6 months of love and care my snake has put on some weight and muscle ans appears to be healthy though I'm still planning on taking to a vet just to make sure nothing is wrong with it. I might buy from them again, I'm not too sure.

I ordered a red bearded dragon, expecting it to be just that, a full rich red all over. What I received was healthy but only really has some red stripes down it's back. Nice, just not what I expected from the description. Oh well. He is still good, I just will not buy from them again if I wanted something specific. Should have known that sale price was too good to be true.

I just received my Savanna Monitor in the mail this morning. Opened the box and thought he was dead he wasn’t moving and was freezing. No heat pack anywhere. Put him in his enclosure and he’s just now starting to move around and explore. He spent about 20 minutes drinking so I don’t know if he was thirsty because of the stress of the shipping or Backwater didn’t provide them with water. Has some stuck shed but nothing bad. He was way smaller then I expected, only looks a couple days old. Just mad about how cold he was, now just hoping he pulls through.

I just order a snake from them yesterday I’ll be back in touch with u guys and let you know shortly my review on this company promise to be honest.

I was afraid my experience would be worse after reading some of the other reviews, but it actually wasn't terrible. Ordered a Borneo short tail python from them a week ago. Now I live in WA so a short trip from CA(where their website states their business is located) seemed alright. However, what the other reviews say is correct, THEY ARE A DROP SHIPPER. So the animal shipped from a third party vendor in FL. Big difference. It was a good thing the weather didn't drop much past 40° overnight or else I feel the snake wouldn't have survived the trip as there was absolutely no heat source included, despite the packing slip claiming to have included a heat pack. And it did ship FedEx, which is in my opinion a far worse carrier to ship live animals than ups, as they missed the guaranteed delivery window by 15 minutes and couldn't tell me the location of the vehicle due to "technical difficulties". So all of those unfortunate circumstances aside, the animal did arrive alive, though very stunned and weak. It is a hatchling, so I understand the size, but even so, the snake is slightly underweight and has poor muscle tone. Once again, all that aside, it survived its shipping ordeal and I did manage to get it to eat a f/t rodent, so that's an excellent sign. Overall I feel the prices are justified as long as you realize the reason for them being so low is that you're dealing with a middle man company which doesn't necessarily have all the animals listed at their physical location, and does not disclose who you're actually getting your animal from, so you can make an educated decision on the risks.