Store Policy

This is our store policy and can also be found on our MorphMarket page. Policy is up-to-date as of (01/18/2024), and will be updated at any point when the policy may change. We reserve the right to update our store policy when and as needed. 

Feel free to message us for more photos or videos of the animal you’re interested in. Any additional info not in the ad description will be available upon request.

Live Arrival Guarantee: We guarantee your animal will arrive alive and healthy. However, we must be contacted within 4 hours of picking up the animal for the guarantee to remain in place. If you encounter any issues such as deceased or otherwise ill animal on arrival, we must be notified immediately and provided appropriate proof, and we will take whatever steps necessary to rectify the situation. If for some reason the animal arrives deceased, we will issue a full refund provided the aforementioned notification was made within the 4-hour claim period. We will ship only when the weather conditions are appropriate and reserve the right to delay shipping as long as is reasonably necessary to ensure the safety of the animal. Live arrival guarantee only for FedEx hub pickups; no guarantee is offered on residential shipping.

Payment Plans: We are flexible, but standard payment plan is a non-refundable 20% down to hold the animal. We will hold for 30 days, after which time an additional 50% must be paid. The remaining 30% must be paid within 30 days after that. We will do customized payment plans per individual if needed. As always, sometimes life just happens. If we do not hear from you and/or have received no payments in 30 days after any prior payment, there will be no refunds on the previous payments made. If there is an emergency or something urgent comes up, feel free to message us and we’ll see what we can work out. Once again: sometimes life just happens. Note: in general, payment plans are not offered on sale price, only on list price. 

Discounts: We do run special deals and discounts from time to time, so be sure to stay connected with us on social media and MorphMarket. One constant discount we have is for active, paid supporters of USARK: we offer 5% off the list price of any of our hognose snakes for customers that have an active membership with USARK. Just message us a screenshot of your membership page to get the discount. 

Shipping: shipping costs can vary widely, from $45-$100 for lower 48 domestic depending on a number of factors; prospective buyers should send information to confirm this before final purchase.

Payment Methods: We accept cash, PayPal, Zelle, Venmo, or money order. With any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out.  We can also generate an invoice to be paid through our website’s ecommerce platform (for credit card purchases) but additional fees will be applied.  

Rehoming / Refunds: We will accept a returned animal and issue a partial refund on the following conditions:

• No more than 7 days have passed since arrival of shipment (at a hub or residence, depending on the shipping and insurance)

• Buyer pays return shipping cost (where applicable)

This partial refund is defined as the original purchase price of the animal less 10% re-homing fee.

Sexing Policy: All animals with sex listed are based on our experience and best understanding but have not been genetically confirmed unless otherwise noted in the individual listing. For western hognose snakes this is generally easy to tell visually from their tails. However, sometimes it can be more challenging to determine. In these cases, the buyer is advised to get a genetic test for confirmation from a company like Rare Genetics (see the MorphMarket page for more on this: https://www.morphmarket.com/genetic-tests/). 

Genetic Traits: We take pride in our breeding and we work hard to source our acquired animals from other reputable breeders as well. This helps us ensure we know the genetic traits we’re working with, both the visual and non-visual (heterozygous) traits. In some cases, however, some traits can be low-expression and may be difficult to determine. For example, we could pair our AAA het sable western hognose male with our arctic conda double het sunburst female, and produce a hatchling that is obviously conda and albino, but may or may not be arctic as well. In these cases, our policy is to be more conservative with listing the animals. In the example given, we would list the animal in question as albino conda, and note in the individual listing that it may be low expression arctic as well, but we are not able to visually confirm. We feel this policy is the most honest and transparent way of handling the matter at hand. 

State Laws: Buyers are responsible for understanding the state and local laws for where they reside as it pertains to ownership of the animals they are seeking to purchase. E. B. Exotics is not responsible or liable for buyers who purchase an animal they are not legally allowed to import to their locale. However, we do try to help guide buyers in the process if they live in a state that has special requirements. We are not lawyers and are not offering legal advice: we are only hoping to help direct prospective buyers to the information they need. 

As part of the State Law policy, we will not ship western hognose snakes to addresses in Colorado, Iowa, Illinois, or Missouri unless buyer can provide proof appropriate state permit information. For CO & IA, this will mean demonstrating proof of the proper state licensure (generally meaning an educational license or for other acceptable purposes which are rare and hard to get), and for IL & MO this is a simple hobbyist permit for ownership of a western hognose. 

Auctions (via MorphMarket): For all auctions, buyer must pay in full the amount of the winning bid within 24 hours, or else the bid is considered invalid and the animal will be relisted. As with the above section on State Laws, we do not ship western hognose to CO, IA, IL, or MO unless the buyer can produce documentation showing the appropriate permit and/or license. A buyer who resides in those states that wins a bid, but is unable to produce such documentation, is considered to forfeit the auction.