BackWaterReptiles

I purchased a Cane Toad from BackWaterReptiles. I ended up spending a little over $80 in total for the whole thing including the shipping fee. Fortunately, The UPS delivery was on time. Unfortunately, no one was home to sign it. We instructed UPS to leave the reptile at a facility for pickup that same day. I picked it up from my local UPS location. I unboxed the package only to find a dead Cane Toad. I was very upset and contacted BackWaterReptiles. I sent them all the proof they asked for of the dead reptile. I asked for a refund or a replacement. They offered a discount. That's right, a discount for another Cane Toad. Not only that, they also explained how it will only get delivered to a UPS Facility for costumer pickup. I found this to be unfair and explained to them why it was unfair. They ignored my concerns and only allowed a discount. The Cane Toad was packaged into a small cramped bag with no space or heater/cooler. DO NOT ORDER!

BUYER BEWARE! Horrible treatment of their animals during shipment. Ordered from them only to up a dead animal same day. Ordered a Uromastyx only to receive a box from fedex that had a half dead lizard in a cloth bag in a fully sealed box.

Very rude and disgusting people who flipped out after I nicely emailed them and said it's not a true Dwarf budgets frog. The photo was false they sent me via email not what I received. After a few nasty emails from them back and forth I noticed within in 1 day my FB account had private photos hacked. I unfortunately liked their FB page in the early buying process big mistake. I wonder how my photos/images were all over the web? My FB was hacked almost immediately after their horrible wods. If I Googled my full name I noticed my wife son and I had my actual personal FB photos splattered with cartoon "RAT" faces on the web as low as you can ge? I wonder how that happened after never being hacked on FB before? Bad mistake to "like" their FB page. Now if I Google their actual websitr nothing shows up they blocked me from entering permanently from my ip address not that I care.
I know my animals, and worked for Keven at NERD the best of the best in the HERP world he's as honest as they get, and left on very good terms after I moved out of state to become a commercial tuna fisherman. These people are very tricky & beware I warn you to stay away they are complete 100% LIARS.
Degenerate Low Level Reptile Bums who get revenge if you confront them nicely over a false incorrect order. To confirm this took place in october 2018 and I'm still super pissed off. The Budgets frog is over 4 inches & still alive, but no way not even close to a true Dwarf Budgets at its size and lacking the bumps on the back and pupil eye pattern. I was promised after spending over $118+ shipping for a true dwarf budgets, but Its an actual "Freddy crugar hybrid Budgets frog"

DO NOT ORDER FROM THIS COMPANY!
Almost impossible to get ahold of, they don't care about the animals or the customers.
They do care care about doing everything they can to not give you a refund. This company and these people are borderline scam artists.

I purchased a Goliath bird eater $160 it died in 2 days I was charged $90 4replacement it also died

I will share a little blame. First I ordered a wild caught, I liked the price. You get what you pay for. My Tortoise showed up missing some toes and has cuts and abraisions on his shell. Hard to tell his age but counting rings I am guessing 10 years old. I have him now four days and he finally ate so now I will give him a few more days then off to the vet we go for an exam. All this said is pretty much my fault because I let the cheap price cloud my thinking. Now their fault; To date I still don't know where they are located. I have seen more than one place. I was shocked to see that my tortoise was shipped from San Antonio Texas. I live in Washington State and I thought he was coming from Northern California.
My tortoise was in a small box with no markings that it was a live animal so FedEx took their sweet time delivering it, they took 24 hrs and I am sure they tossed the box around which was very stressful for the tortoise. 24 hours in a bag tucked in a box is borderline cruel. He was filthy and scared and I felt very sorry for him. My wife and I are seniors so we have the time to baby him. So today he is alive and eating so hopefully he will out live us. Do your reasesrch before buying.
UPDATE: Vet report. We took him to the vet yesterday. When the vet picked him up he squirted out a lot of diarrhea. They tested it for parasites and found none at all. Then we had an xray and all looked good. He was given medicine to calm his digestive system. The vet said the problem stems from stress and he will eventually calm down. She estimated his age at 2.5 years bases on lines in his beak. I learned from the vet assistant that some tortoise sellers online do not acctually have what they are selling. They buy from different people around the country and the animal is shipped from that seller using the business name of the purchaser. I believe this is called "Drop Shipping" I gave you accurate info do with it as you may but just be careful who you buy from.

Backwater Reptiles blatantly lied to me. I ordered an Amazon Tree Boa. Backwater Reptiles sent me an email indicating the Amazon Tree Boa was shipped, and even provided me with the UPS Tracking Number. It was to be delivered overnight delivery. When I checked the UPS Tracking system, it indicated that only a Shipping Label had been created but were still waiting for the package from Backwater Reptiles. Needless to say the package never arrived because it was never shipped. At 4:30pm on the day of the supposed delivery I get an email from Backwater indicating that they didn't have the ATB in stock that I had ordered and did I want to upgrade. This place is the worst piece of crap business I have ever dealt with in my life. DO NOT BUY FROM BACKWATER REPTILES. They are liars and scammers. I immediately filed a claim for a total and complete Refund via Paypal. These people are a real piece of work!

I've owned tarantulas in the past, but only adult ones. I wasn't aware they sold slings at all. I was very excited to get my spider, arrived just fine in a container that was appropriate, packaged very, very well to avoid jostling and so forth. I was very impressed. Spider wasn't eating in the first few days, which is normal for a new environment, but has started eating and has dug a burrow now, about a week later.

I am surprised to hear about all the negative reviews, but there also seems to be a degree of buyer error involved in some of them. I read their warnings about shipping before I purchased. They warn people that the animals will die if they are sent to an unheated mailbox or doorstep and left out in freezing temperatures. They also said that these kinds of deaths will not be covered by the Live Arrival Guarantee. Also, when you get your animal, you should know how to care for it and have an environment set up esp if your house is not the appropriate temperature or humidity. Although the small amount of bad reviews they seem to have are horrendously bad, it must represent a tiny fraction of their actual transactions, meaning most people get what they expected and are not compelled to leave a review.

Personally, I will be ordering from them again, although next time I will follow a youtube tip and order more than one sling. I paid $50 shipping on a $40 spider. I could have bought like 5 of them and still only paid $50 shipping. That being said, I don't regret it bc it was my first tarantula in 15 years, and my desire was high for this particular breed.

I can't comment on customer service bc I didn't contact them, but everything they said in their literature was accurate in my case, so there was no need. I knew when my spider was coming, that I would have to sign, and it needed to be above 40 degrees out to guarantee live arrival.

I ordered six leopard geckoes. All arrived safely and on time. Eating within 2 days. I was worried because of all the poor reviews, but the quality of the animals I received I would have expected to pay 50-100% more. Thank you Backwater.

I ordered Nile monitor lizard from backwaterreptiles.com. The lizard arrived at the promised time, and looking healthy.
They have affordable prices compared to the other websites, which made it possible for me to get this exotic animal.
Thank you guys very much!

Please don't order from these people. No working phone number on the website. I was emailing someone for two days about a dead turtle they gave me. Once I provided all the information needed for my refund they went ghost…… Straight Danny phantom

… wish I had googled the reviews first. Images are too grotesque to share. Live guaranteed only works if you can contact seller.

Ordered a snake. Arrived DOA. Had multiple puncture wounds on it and was crammed in a plastic container that was way too small for the size of snake. It was so hot in the box when I opened it. These people should be in jail for animal abuse and this includes Backwater as the broker and the supplier who killed this snake. Backwater won't issue a refund. Instead, they want to scam more money out of me by charging half for a replacement plus full shipping cost. The animal arrived dead! Plus, it was sick and in a too small container. How is this my fault? Beware of their warranty. That is how the scam people.

I bought several animals from them. Most were sick and/or dying. They don't communicate and they don't honor any return policy. Beware, these guys are "drop shippers" and are known to post their own reviews. IF YOU ARE SMART, STAY AWAY FROM THEM!

I was provided with great service, I ordered a Big Baby Red Uromastyx. He arrived in healthy condition with heat packs newspaper the inside of the box was very warm and well packaged. They even provided helpful information about having the reptile held at the shipping center because it was 39 degrees out today and the passing between multiple trucks could get pretty cold. He arrived right on schedule like the website says. I dont write reviews but I saw so many bad reviews I had to post this. From my experince this is a trust worthy site and I would buy again if I had to.

I placed an order for 2 3/4 inch wild type axolotls and 4 eggs. On the day before they were supposed to ship, I got an email saying they were out of eggs but they could send a Lucy to replace them, so I agreed. Then the next day I got an email saying they had no Lucy and they had no 3/4 wild type only 1/2 wild, so they would send the 2 tiny ones and refund the eggs, I was fed up so I just agreed. The package was supposed to be signature on delivery, it wasn't, they were sat on my porch and caught on video doorbell, but that's no fault of the seller, I was at home all day. I opened the box only to find sheer disappointment. 2 babies in the same bag. Neither one of them was a full inch. The lighter one had no front legs, not a big deal and the darker one was just a tiny hard ball. I can't tell how long it was dead. I added the little armless one to his bowl and he was curled up and dead within 4 hours. Originally I paid 175.41, I was refunded 39.99, I was given nothing for 135.42 but 2 very unhealthy pets. I read the reviews on the place after ordering so I didn't even bother contacting them for replacements. I'm pretty sure, they should just stop selling and focus on the overall health, then update the site to reflect exhaust they have in stock and brush up on customer service. My number was added to my order but they chose to contact by email, which is rarely checked and very impersonal. I would be willing to accept 2 babies from the company again but I wouldn't waste my money on the shipping because the animals are not healthy. Tara Austin

They were terrible at communicating with me. They told me the day i was suppose to receive my turtles that the address was messed up, then the day of shipment they tell me they dont have the type of turtle i ordered in stock (which the website said they did), when i reached out for a number to contact they responded by saying they dont have one and stopped responding, until the next day to then inform me they didnt have 3 other types which once again they said had in stock. I then received an email saying we are going through with sending my one turtle and later sent a email saying to pick it up at the facility due to weather might be cold, which i did not see until to late. I received this poor dead turtle, that smells like its been dead for a very long time, in a box marked "perishable". I received a response pretty much saying sorry for your luck, you agreed to our terms and your "guarantee live arrival" is voided. DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THEM

I have purchased 3 leoard geckos from them. All 3 came healthy, on time, and packaged appropriately. Got the desired gender wrong on one but that wasnt a big deal. They were tiny and it was hard to tell. Their communication was good. When I needed to back of an order they responded promptly and refunded my money within 24 hours. Would do business with again.

Ordered a Uro last week, asked for a male, they sent me a female. Dehydrated and with tail rot. All the negative reviews are spot on…never again! Order from another place.

I ordered a ball python about a week ago, I had never shipped a live animal and assumed the breeder would put some care into the shipping. I live in northern Michigan and it's February meaning the temp is barely ever over 20°F…a single hot hands warmer was in the box. There was inadequate ventilation as well. Luckily my snake is alive but I find it disgusting they didn't put more effort. I would happily pay more to ensure safe and comfortable delivery for my pet.