Bilby's Ballroom (Owensville) — Local services in Stonelick Township

I have been asking my husband to let me get a snake for a very long time and he finally agreed. I have owed snakes before but it’s been awhile. Billy’s was highly suggested to me so that’s where we decided to go to purchase my baby. They were very helpful the day that we went in to get him and helped us get all the stuff that we needed. With that said I purchased the snake, the enclosure, the lights, the heated mat, that substrate, the hide, the water bowl, and the mice I fed him from Billy’s. I have never purchased anything for him from anywhere else. Shortly after I got him I discovered that he had mites. Now I have a bearded dragon who is beyond healthy and has never had anything like this (also have never purchased anything for him from Billy’s) so I knew that it couldn’t have come from him. I called, mostly just looking for advice because I have never had to deal with it, so I wanted to know if they had any suggestions. I understand that they take their snakes and other animals to shows and mites are a possibility, as they are very easily spread. However when I tried to talk to them about it I was dismissed and told that “We don’t have mites”. So I consulted with a reptile vet and started treating him. It’s been a very long and daunting process, and I feel terrible for him. Recently he started refusing food, which terrified me, I again consulted with a reptile vet and she told me to try a different source of food. So giving them the benefit of the doubt I went back to Bilbys to get him a feeder rat. While I was there the woman that was working was helping someone else, so i decided to go look at the snakes while waiting. Can you imaging that I could see physical LIVE MITES on the snakes, and almost everyone was soaking in there bowl (excessive soaking can be a sign of mites). Mites are very contagious and not unheard of when you take your animals to shows, but please be honest with people. I was not trying to place blame nor was I looking for any type of refund (even though I spent almost 1000 on everything) I just wanted advice on what to do to make my snake better as it was a lot of money and I genuinely was scared he was gonna die since I never really had to deal with it so I didn’t know how bad it was for them. I’m very disappointed, I was looking forward to being a long term customer. Please be open and honest with people...

Edited to respond to owner: I have done over 1yr of research on leopard geckos and still currently as their husbandry will change on the new research studies/science done showing how to improve their ability to thrive, not just survive, in their environment. My research comes from the UK standards, which they have laws on, and through the FB groups Leopard Gecko Life and Husbandry, Leopard Gecko Advancing Husbandry(which also use the same standards), Reptifiles(which also changes their husbandry to meet the new standards), and Reptile Lighting which only base their research on current science standards to make sure all species thrive with the proper lighting. My leos start in a 40 gallon quarantine tank with paper towels to monitor their health(so there's no chance of substrate impaction) and then are put in a 4x2x2 with all the proper things they need to thrive. Using paper towels also showed that a second leo I purchased from you, a male, had parasites/Gl problems. So I hope YOU do the same research as the reptichip substrate you use is also not in their natural environment and a HUGE impaction risk, hence the picture shown from the necropsy my vet did.

Had to put down a leopard gecko I got from them because of the substrate they use. It had ingested such a huge piece and even expanded a little in their stomach it couldn't pass it. It got so weak from not being able to eat that it wouldn't survive surgery. Wish they would just use mats for all their reptiles instead of inappropriate substrate as this 100% could have...

I have bought T's and now a Honey corn snake from them for my daughter's bday present and ill buy more in the future. Its the only place I'll go for critter food as I call it and I personally think the people here are great and if your looking for certain breeds or creatures given some time they will find what your looking for. Like for example I never had or seen an Arizona Blonde and asked.. a few weeks later they had one and I was amazed. Good place to go and worth just stopping sometimes just to check out the creatures they have. On top of this for the concern of some I have personally been there enough times and hung out enough to validate that they do indeed take care of all the living things in there store with food, water, cleaning, etc. on a...