New Member Thanking Old Members / Any Rococo Toad owners out there?

[Kimee]

Thanks for moving the post. It's been a few years since I've been anywhere near a forum setup, and starting up again was a little confusing. ^^'


i'd love to post photos, but I'm working on a borrowed ipad as I'm away from home right now. should be back on my actual computer tomorrow.


I got my Rococo toad (CocoLatte) at a reptile expo in Hamburg, and I seriously got burned on buying her. - LESSON LEARNED: When buying any exotic, especially if paying good money, DO NOT LET IT OUT OF YOUR SITE. Ask to pack it in a box YOURSELF.


I went to this expo and actually found a booth that had two on display, and two others back behind this wall they let me see when I asked about it. i looked at all four of them CAREFULLY, I swear I did. They all appeared to be female, and all pretty big, Like a dinner plate. I picked one out for its plump look and physical weight. it wasn't the biggest, but she had no problems that I could see, and had plenty of energy to try to squirm away from me.


They took my toad behind their wall to find a box, and brought her back in a cardboard box with a screen window (she was just too large for any of those plastic tubs they use in abundance at expos). she immediately scraped her nose on the cage. I told the guy thankyou and figured I'd take her to the car and shove a cloth in front of the window for transport when another worker at the booth stopped me and told me he noticed her nose was scraped to and wanted to make sure I saw it. I thanked him, told him it JUST happened in front of the other associate, and this guy offered to throw some clean napkins in there to block the mesh. I said Okay, so he took my box, ducked under the table with it, and popped back up after putting napkins in. I took her home and plopped her in a 75 I had set up originally for my Cane Toads.


THEY SWITCHED MY TOAD. The toad that came out of that box was way underweight, her skin just hung limply in folds off her belly. she had some kind of a cyst or lump behind her right eye that was oozing a bit, and had a few open lesions where it appeared like someone had installed a port window in her skin and muscle was exposed.


Tried calling the people from the booth with their business card. they assured me it must have been some mistake, that they would gladly refund or exchange it, They were open 7 days a week at their home store in NEW YORK. I told them I could not travel so far, and they suggested I wait for the next expo in 3 months. "If she doesn't survive, just be sure to freeze her carcass and bring it to us. I believe you, but our boss will want to see it. Have a great day!"


I was kind of stunned. I could not afford a vet bill at the time. i cleaned all the substrate off her and plopped her in a clean 40 gallon. And for the next three months it was a cycle. pick her up out of her crapped-in water dish, wash her, put fresh gauze bandages and neosporin on any wounds that COULD be wrapped, and just lay a little on the wounds that couldn't, wipe off any ooze from the cyst, place her in a clean 30 while I bleached and cleaned her 40, then cleaned and nuked her water dish. forcefed her nightcrawlers every week. she refused to eat voluntarily, though I continuously left a dish of superworms for her to snack on if she wanted (None ever dissapeared). The cyst eventually broke open and dissolved, leaving a lot if goo behind. after a month, her lesions healed. She remained a totally sedentary animal and she refused to eat, though she'd gained a little weight and didn't feel so saggy with my forcefeeding.


The expo date finally came around, and I loaded her into a cat carrier, feeling guilty all the while. I brought her back to the booth. The guy I talked to there claimed they COULD NOT give me a full refund, only a half, or I could get 100% store credit (Like I wanted to buy another animal from them...). He took my carrier behind the table and made no move whatsoever to put her in an empty tank. I don't know if he expected to keep my carrier or what. I felt royally ripped off, but at the same time helpless. I felt like I'd tried taking care of her as best I could and thought maybe she was just a lost cause. Before I took any money, the guy picked up the carrier and looked inside, "Yeah, we'll definitely take her back. She looks like a good toad. Good weight on her!"


I came to my senses and asked for my carrier AND toad back. She was still UNDERweight and still had a lot of loose skin. told the guy who originally packed the toad 3 months prior behind the wall a few choice words and took my toad home. put her in her empty 40 and tossed a few crickets in and.... she ate them. ALL of them. She ate the next day too. and after a week with no other trouble, she got her 75 back with some substrate. She's now fairly plump.


She's never been an active toad though. She is the most sedentary animal I have. I don't know if she's a good representative of her species behavior... but I don't think so. for her size, she eats comparatively little to maintain her weight, probably because she moves so little. I probably spend $10 a month on her crickets at 10 cents apiece. she loves to sleep in her water dish (regardless of humidity) and otherwise she's either in or on top of her log.


Also, a cute note, she scraped her front ankle and knee on the log hut when she fattened up a bit more (since been replaced). I treated it with neosporin, and she seems to like the ointment feeling. on the third day it was healed, but when I checked on her, she held her front foot up at me, no joke. xD My cane toad Ginger is very smart and stomps in her food dish for food, but I'd never seen Coco do anything particularly smart before.


i treat her like a fat cane toad. same housing and temps.

[Mentat]

Thanks for the story Kimee; that was very nice read. Some sellers are very strange in the way they treat their animals; but to actually switch an animal after it being bought, is a scam. If desired you can use this section Testimonials to identify by name, reptile expo show, and tell your experience with them sellers. It will help prevent other members from falling victim to them. Imagine the nightmare you went through; but at least you saved out the toad and gained great Karma for yourself .

[Kimee]

Coco at the Animal Rescue league fundraiser for Halloween. Too cold to keep her out, so she spent most of it indoors, but she joined the costume contest (and peed on the stage). I attended to do pet portraits for adopters and split profit with the league. Was the only non-canine there. xD

[Kimee]

Totally looks thrilled, right?

[Mentat]

Can someone please take this fancy hat off me !

[Kimee]

Surprisingly she didn't seem to be too bothered with the cape, but she hated the hat. Every animal I have usually has some unique personality. Ginger, like I said, is very smart, and she bullies my other cane toad Derp (steps on his head, pushes him around). Derp's "not all there" and constantly gets himself stuck behind the water filter. Kirby (cane toad) will not eat alone and becomes very lethargic when kept by himself. He sleeps next to either of the others or under them. Coco's lazy. My pacman George has a "hungry dance" that he does when he smells my breakfast in the morning and I cook bacon (never fed him any of course, but the smell drives him nuts). Somehow I end up with the odd ones.