About Deer Fern Farms
&
Policies
 |
| Outdoor Savannah Breeding Pens |
About Deer Fern Farms
&
Policies
|
|
| Outdoor Savannah Breeding Pens |
Deer Fern Farms is owned and solely operated by Douglas E. Dix, Ph.D., and C. Kim Dix, M.S., both professional biologists (wildlife toxicologist and molecular biologist/geneticist, respectively). Our facilities are located on 8 wooded acres in Arlington WA, about an hour north of Seattle. Doug has been working professionally with reptiles, invertebrates, and wildlife for over 25 years and consults professionally on wildlife issues.
We are avid supporters of captive propagation efforts and sincerely believe that many reptile species will be lost to future herpetoculturalists if we don't establish viable domestic populations in reputable breeding programs as soon as possible. In order to be able to setup sustainable groups, we only work with a few select species of particular interest to us. We thus offer our own in-house produced offspring plus those of affiliated breeders for sale to our customers. These tend to be a little more expensive than wild collected specimens, but if we don't support these efforts, the day will come when most of these species will be unavailable to future hobbyist and pet lovers.
While we specialize in providing superior captive bred (CB) specimens, we are still actively building up our breeding stocks and thus occasionally buy groups of select wild-collected (WC) specimens as well, extras of which we can offer to our customers (please see below to read how we handle our for-sale specimens). Thus if your goals are similar to ours -wanting the best available specimens with the best potential to thrive for you, please consider some of our stock, either acclimated wild-collected or captive-produced, for your breeders or pets.
We only sell kittens which are born here at Deer Fern Farms or sired by one of our studs. Please read over our Kitten Policies page for more information on how we handle our kittens and what we require from potential purchasers of our kittens.
For reptiles, we have long standing relationships with several major importers and most major Uromastyx breeders in the United States. As mentioned above, we discuss clutches with other breeders and routinely buy stock from our fellow breeders. We buy well started hatchlings on up and hold them until well settled in and ready for shipping before offering them to our customers. For wild collected stock, when possible we select our specimens in person or from detailed photographs. When not, we try to have on site colleagues we've personally worked with to examine and pull specimens to our specifications. We hold all individuals for at least several weeks (most for several months) while we acclimate them and monitor their food intake and weight gains. We don't release anyone until they have demonstrated a consecutive two week weight gain and to all outward appearances are acclimated and well adjusted.
We routinely examine all stock for parasites, but we do not advocate the total elimination of common nematodes/pinworms in herbivorous reptiles. Reptiles can not chew their food and do not have rumens. Thus they are relatively inefficient at digesting plant matter. They rely on intestinal bacteria and protozoa for the proper enzymes, and since they don't chew their food, the surface to volume ration of their ingested food is relatively poor. The action of nematodes helps break up the food mass into pieces with more surface area allowing enzymes more active sites to act upon for more efficient digestion. Thus in theory the total elimination of nematodes is actually disadvantageous. We ourselves have seen this in poorer growth rates in nematode-free Mali juveniles verses those with low levels of nematodes. But it's not a free lunch. Excess nematodes or non-mutualistic parasites such as tapeworms hoard too many nutrients for themselves resulting in weight loss and poor overall condition in your Uromastyx or tortoise. Therefore we monitor nematode levels in our animals and periodically apply Panacur (fenbendazole) or Albendazole. Once acclimated, we worm all wild collected stock, but again, we use dosages intended to limit but not totally eliminate nematodes. At your request, we can re-worm any for-sale specimens if you have a strong wish for us to do so, but we advise against this. Please note reptiles pick up parasite eggs from leafy vegetables (yes, even those from the store) and from insects. So even if you initially have a parasite-free specimen, it will likely still need periodic worming (we worm all our breeding stock annually prior to brumation plus all hatchlings every 2 to 3 months -both captive born and field collected individuals).
Most specimens need about a week or so to settle into a new home and we send complete acclimation instructions along with your new arrivals. We offer phone and e-mail support for any questions or concerns you may have at any time. We do insist you read our caresheets (ex:
Care Sheet for the Genus Uromastyx) prior to making your purchase and you must have their housing setup prior to our shipping to you. If you'll follow these guidelines and contact us immediately if you think there may be a problem with your new Uromastyx, we'll guarantee your satisfaction for 2 weeks from the time of purchase. If at any point during that time you are unsatisfied with the health of your animal, you may return it (in the same manner it was shipped to you, normally FedEx Express) for a refund of the purchase price minus shipping costs. The only exceptions are for specimens which have been injured by the new owner, either by improper housing, physical abuse from other pets, being dropped, burns, bites from cage mates, or crushing injuries from poorly supported rocks or similar cage furnishings. Additionally, if a specimen isn't eating after the first week, you must contact us immediately so we can assess what's wrong and instruct you on how to proceed (it's almost always a temperature/housing problem that we can fix over the phone with a discussion with you on what to change etc.). For tortoises, we guarantee live arrival of what to the best of our ability to tell is a healthy specimen. But since we can't control how you care for them, we can't guarantee them beyond that. If you are unhappy with your tortoise within 48 hours, you can return it for a refund of the actual cost of the tortoise minus the cost of shipping. Call us immediately if you have any concerns. We can't help you if you don't let us know there may be a problem. We don't cover Veterinary examinations or other bills you may chose to incur in working with your animal. We give you our time for free - please use it if needed. Please, even if you are an experienced reptile keeper, read our care sheets. Most species we sell to the public are hardy, easy keepers if you'll just follow our guidelines.
Contacting Us
Please note we are not a "Pet Shop" or "dealer",
but private breeders. We do not have hired help, thus all aspects of
our breeding work and daily husbandry as well as the business (sales,
shipping, customer service) are run primarily by just one individual (Doug). When you contact us, you're talking directly with Doug, not a hired helper. So
the information is coming straight from the horses mouth! On
the down side though, that limits how quickly we can get to everyone who is
asking for our time. In the interest of helping the most people as
efficiently as possible, please read the appropriate care sheet for your
animal (ex:
Care Sheet for the
Genus Uromastyx (http://www.deerfernfarms.com/Uromastyx_Care.htm) or
Care Sheet for Chuckwallas (http://www.deerfernfarms.com/Chuckwalla.htm) or Care Sheet for Tortoises (http://www.deerfernfarms.com/Tortoise_Care.htm)
first before calling to ask for advise. Most answers are already
there.
Likewise, we are willing
to help anyone regardless of where you bought the animals but
PLEASE contact the person who supplied them
to you first. They took your money so they should be responsable for
helping to resolve any issues with your purchase. Please use e-mail when asking for help with a specimen you
purchased from someone else. We simply physically don't have time to
answer phone calls from people with problem animals purchased elsewhere
(emergencies are obviously an exception but in most cases, if you feel it's an
emergency, you should be contacting your local Vet). We strongly
recommend your finding a local Vet you trust (one experienced in reptile
care) as soon as possible - ideally before you purchase a
pet.
For e-mails: Our e-mail address is at the bottom of every page on our website. Please put the word "Uromastyx" or "Tortoises" or "Cat" in the subject line to help our Spam filter save your e-mail. We receive a large volume of phone calls and e-mails each day so we can't always get back to everyone quickly and still do our normal husbandry chores. Please be patient and try again if you don't hear back from us. Odds are your e-mail got lost in the sea of Spam we have to wade through each day! E-mails without subjects or simply - "please reply" or similar cryptic subject lines are eaten by our filter and lost. We literally get hundreds of these per day as spam and can't open each one looking for the stray legitimate e-mail. I try to check e-mails twice daily (mornings and evenings).
For Phone calls: Note we are on the West Coast (Pacific Time) which runs 3 hours BEHIND the east coast. Our number is 360 435-2679. When you call us, you are calling our home, so please no calls before 7 AM PST or after 8PM PST. The best time to catch a living being (Doug, verses the answering machine) is between 3 PM and 5PM. Before and after that I'm out preparing shipments or doing husbandry chores and generally can't get to the phone. Our outside buildings are heavily insulated, blocking portable phone transmission, so the answering machine answers most calls during the rest of day. Leave a BRIEF message with your Name and Phone number first in the message and please say the number slowly and clearly! It also helps if you tell us where you're calling from so I know how late I can call you back.
To place an order with us, please go to our Ordering and Pricing page then call us [ (360) 435-2679 Pacific Standard Time ] so we can best help you with your needs.
Payment Options
We accept
Cashiers checks or Postal money orders, and are set
up to accept Visa, Master Card, American Express, Discover and e-checks through Paypal (click on the "Buy Now" button below the Paypal
banner).
If mailing a Postal Money Order, please send it to:
Deer Fern Farms,
27610 Whitman Rd.,
Arlington, WA. 98223
Our Essential Supplies page is setup as a shopping cart so you can order directly off the website as needed without having to call us first. We try to ship all supplies orders the next business day by FedEx Home Delivery after receiving payment. You MUST contact us directly (by e-mail or phone) before we will ship a live animal to you. You can then pay for your animal purchases by clicking on the Paypal "BuyNow" button above. This button is NOT a shopping cart so you must add up what you want and put in the total (animals + shipping) in yourself. Then list what you're ordering in the memo section of the next page in the form. We do it this way in part to insure you contact us first before making an animal purchase. Once we've received your payment and verified you have their habitat ready, we will make arrangements with you to ship to your home or office via FedEx Overnight service. For most Uromastyx and rare lizard shipments, this runs $39 to $45. We need you to be home (or at the office if delivered there) to accept delivery of your new companion.
For reptiles we use insulated boxes designed specifically for live animal shipping and add heat and/or cold packs as needed. Each specimen is bagged with sufficient padding to insure a safe trip. We need you to be home (or at the office if delivered there) to accept delivery of your new companion. Kittens are shipped by Continental or Delta Pet's First Same Day Delivery - airport to airport only. Costs averaged approx. $225 + a $50 Veterinary Health Certificate fee depending on the final destination.
Note: Our shipping rates are sometimes slightly higher than the import houses/jobbers/ general animal dealers on the internet. This is primarily due to our only using guaranteed Overnight services such as FedEX that have accurate real-time tracking. The US Post Office USPS Express does not actually track the packages in route regardless of what they tell you at the Post Office. They also have a terrible track record for on-time delivery. We will not use them for live animal shipments so please don't ask. Secondly, we are meticulous in our packing, so you can be assured they will arrive in good condition. We use specialty manufactured boxes with Styrofoam insulation and 48 to 72 hour extended run heat packs. We have probably the best live arrival rate in the business, in part due to shipping less stressed animals but also because we ship under less stressful conditions relative to many others in the reptile trade. We pack assuming everything will go wrong, thus helping to insure your new arrival will travel in comfort even if somehow delayed (very rare w/ FedEx). We ship at cost (we make no profit off the shipping fees). Our normal fee for FedEx just barely covers our side expenses (shipping boxes and heat or cold packs).
Email:
douglasdix@deerfernfarms.com
