Backwater ReptilesReviews of backwaterreptiles.com

I ordered a black rat snake from this company on a Saturday. Monday, I was contacted via email stating they were out of stock. No apologies. Fine. The agent offered a grey rat snake instead. I told them yes and to process it. I never heard back that they were processing the order. Wednesday, my snake should arrive. Nothing. I email them at noon. I don't get a response until 3pm. I explained that l the compatible on Monday. They stated that they've been offering the grey rat Snake since Monday. No apologies for anything. I stated that I still wanted the snake plus some kind of confirmation it was being done this time. They stated the order was being processed and my snake would ship Thursday. Thursday. I receive another email stating they couldn't send they're grey rat snakes at 5:30pm. No apologies. I made multiple attempts to call the company but they never answered their phone. Never once did they apologize for any inconveniences or trouble caused. I requested a refund and have heard no word back about it. Do not order from them.

In my opinion they have horrible customer service. Also a pretty lousy website. I placed an order with them for dart frogs that were listed on the site. The next day they emailed me saying they didn’t have those frogs but gave me a list of ones they did have. So I picked out new frogs and was told they would still give them to me at the same price. Then the next day AGAIN emailed me saying those were out of stock! So once again I picked out new frogs. Then I receive an email saying I would owe an additional $100. Just forget it. They could have still honored the sale price for jerking me around for three days over these frogs. Especially since I already spent over $100 on their tank setup. Very very disappointed.

I decided to order through Backwater as they are inexpensive and had a reptile I have always wanted, a Sunbeam snake. After ordering, I decided to read the reviews...and I was terrified. Many reviews state their reptiles/spiders coming malnourished, sick, or dead/eventually dying shortly after. So, of course, I was anxious. The only complication I had was the shipping/billing address being “flagged by their fraud team”, so I had to send proof of residence. Whatever, customer service (I believe meg) was super nice and helpful informing me about my reptile. She arrived today, as I write this review, and she is BEAUTIFUL. The packaging, in my opinion, is as good as it can get for the price of my reptile ($50). It consisted of no heat pad, no “live animal” label, and my snake was in a mesh bag with a piece of newspaper. Newspaper and styrofoam insulation was also present, but still, not a reliable source of heat through travel. I should also mention their “live arrival” guarantee. I’m pretty sure their team members have read the reviews, so I got an email the day of arrival saying that: Live Arrival is voided if temperatures drop below 40 degrees over night. Therefore, if you live somewhere that temperatures drop, then the reptile could arrive deceased and you would not get refunded. I live in CT. So this would have been nice to know before, just in case my snake did arrive dead. I inspected her for little mites/parasites, as these animals are wild caught, but she seems healthy with shiny scales, and is very much alive and well. She burrowed herself in her new habitat, and even drank from the bowl, so I figure she is adapting well. Though too soon to tell, it seems that I lucked out with backwater. I truly believe that that circumstances are based on the animal, since they are all so different. Being my first time ordering from them, I am satisfied with the arrival and condition of my Sunbeam snake. So, I hope you read the reviews before ordering. If you’re like me, however, and read them after, you may just be lucky as well!

Id give them no stars if possible. It turns out they wild catch the cane toads... the worst part is before they send it to you, they don't even make sure the creature will eat..so I was sent a toad that refused to eat to the point of death...I've had nothing but problems with this company. Dont buy!!

I bought a bearded Dragon a little more than a year ago. The lizard came healthy and is thriving until today. Last week we order 2 other lizards, unfortunately my boys were behaving badly and I had to cancel the order. Backwater reptiles allowed me to cancel and refunded the full amount within and hour. I find Backwater reptiles to be an excellent source of good healthy reptiles and a pleasure to deal with. I would ONLY buy from them.

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.

Just received the baby kingsnakes in the mail few days ago very active and healthy looking forward to buy more reptiles from this place👍👍

This is by far one of the worst places to get a pet from smh . i order some turtles on a monday, i get an email tues about we need a picture of your i.d and your credit card ok thats still weird never went threw that with any other turtle place but i did that emailed it back . now Wed they said we have to email to the address on your id like what ??? Send my package to the address i told yal you don't know if its a gift or anything smh . then told me it was protocol smh never heard that in my life of buying pets . i just ask for my Money back cause its clear they don't want my business and I'm not going threw great leaps and bounds to get what i want I'm not deal with that or this company