Freedom Breeder UK – A Clean Slate

Hi

For those who don't know me and for those that already do my name is Christopher Gard, I run Same day courier service - Pets and Parcels and Ball Python Snake Breeder UK - IGotBalls.co.uk, and now I am happy to announce that I am the new official distributor of Freedom Breeder bringing the number one name in rodent and reptile housing solutions to the UK and Europe.

A Little Background History On The Company Freedom Breeder

A pioneer in the herp industry, Lindy Johnson of Freedom Breeder was the first to design and introduce the rack style reptile and rodent systems used by today's top professional breeders and serious reptile enthusiasts. In 1991 Dave and Tracy Barker were the first to receive Lindy's prototype rodent rack system. Impressed with this new design, they asked Lindy to design a reptile rack using the same design. In 1992 Freedom Breeder was established and the racks revolutionized the reptile and rodent breeding industry!

Lindy has since started working with his son Jeff Johnson, he is 25 years old just like I am and we share many similarities in our own personal lives and I really feel I have found a friend for life in Jeff and his wife (Christina) they and Lindy all made me feel so welcome and was sad to say goodbye to them but our business relationship has only just begun as Lindy has moved away from the managerial side of the company to travel more and market the business leaving Jeff back at the facility to manage that , and he does a great job, after all we now have a distributor for the UK and Europe, South Africa and Australasia covering a global market which already know how good this product is and now its going to be easier for them to buy it and at a lower cost

All Freedom Breeder racks are hand crafted by our highly trained and skilled craftsmen in our 13,000 square foot facility located in Turlock, California. We make all of our racks and parts in-house with our own machinery. We take pride in our product and strive to be the best.

Throughout the years, many people have tried to duplicate and copy our racks. However, nobody has been able to duplicate our quality.

Beware of copy cat products on the market today

Most of the copy cat racks are made by third party manufacturers and simply sold as "their" products with most being made in China and shipped to a middle man who then sells them for a profit.
Freedom Breeder has built and modified these racks for over 19 years and are backed by industry professionals; from Zoos, Research Centers, Universities and Top Breeders around the world! We are the most advanced rack builder on the market, with a solid track record to prove it and for this proof you need but look no further than all the videos posted all over the internet by all the big breeders, if you see a top breeder hatching cutting edge morphs, chances are that the snakes they have bred and the racks that they keep and raise them up in are from Freedom Breeder and the reason why they order and re-order is simple we are “The Original And The Best”

Some of the Professional Breeders around the world who use our racks include: N.E.R.D, VPI, BHB enterprises, Pro Exotics, The Rodent ranch, The Snake Keeper, Roussis Reptiles, Peter Kahl Reptiles, Mark Bell Reptiles, Exotic Reptile Jungle, Ralph Davis Reptiles, Morton Wright Reptiles, Captive Reptile Specialties, Jeremy Stone Reptiles, and many more!


Some of the Zoos that use our racks include: Australia Zoo, Fort Worth Zoo, Amarillo Zoo, San Diego Zoo, Dallas Zoo, San Francisco Zoo, Oakland Zoo, Nashville Zoo, Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden, Magetic Hill Zoo, Sedgwick County Zoo, Veter-Zoo(Italy),* and many more!
Some of the Universities that use our racks include: University of California Berkeley, University of Arizona, Cornell University, University of California Irvin, Stony Brook University, University of Georgia, Portland University, University of Missouri, University Central Florida, University Illinois, University Northern Colorado, University of Louisiana, University of Louisiana Lafayette, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, and many more!

Not only do Freedom Breeder currently have some great products but whilst I was over there I saw some very innovative items from small to large and they will all have you queuing up to buy them before I sell out. Watch this space and when I am given the go ahead I will let you know and you.

How I Came To Work With Freedom Breeder

Now on to the negative part, and how I came to be a part of the Freedom Breeder team.

Last year Lindy and Jeff were approached by Chris Richards, who had contacted them with regards to setting up the website www.freedombreederuk.co.uk and obtaining UK and European official distribution rights of their products, all seemed fine and Mr Richards started the normal process of forum marketing and advertising to notify people of his intentions and many people(including myself) who had seen the quality of the product and thought many times about how perfect it would have been to have the rack for their collection but the prices of shipping,duty, vat etc made this thought un-realistic and expensive. So I, like the people I first mentioned relished the chance of dealing with a UK based distributor stocking these products and selling them at a cheaper price.

I was the first person to hand over any money to Chris Richards for a rack, he drove down to my house and I paid him cash, money that I had earned from breeding of my snakes and funds that would otherwise had been unavailable as I am just like the vast majority of breeders who use their snakes and the moneys from their breedings to further enhance their projects, collections and breeding equipment/facilities.

All seemed well, Chris Richards seemed like a decent guy, like myself really keen on reptiles and the industry on a whole, he seemed to have a good head for business too claiming to be sucessful in the stock market and trade in currency, and also had the backing of Freedom Breeder so he must be ok and I handed over my money.

A few weeks went by and I spoke with Chris Richards on the phone sometime for hours at a time talking about snakes and what he planned to do with regards to importing and business growth and I learned that he was going to meet Jeff and Lindy over at Freedom Breeder HQ and then travelling on with them to the Daytona show in Florida.

During this time I, like many other customers did not receive a single communication from him at all, I tried calling texting and emailing, finally having to resort to calling Jeff direct in America to confirm that Chris Richards was even there at all, and when he got home I called him and he was tired but managed to talk and said that everything was fine and that the container would be on its way soon.
I was pretty casual about the whole thing at first and a week would go by and I would ring again and he would say another week etc etc then I went away to Spain for the week on holiday and I was sent an alarming email by a good friend on the forum and also someone who is well connected in the UK breeding circle informing me that the whole thing with Chris Richards was a scam and I was warned to try to get my money back, so naturally I contacted Chris Richards and he said that it was someone trying to set him up and was due to sour grapes over some money to do with website design bills, assured that everything was still fine I was happy and left it at that.

A few more weeks went by and then I received a call saying that the container was on its way and that I would have my rack soon, the date came close and I contacted him to ask the obvious questions and he said that there were problems on what I dont remember exactly but basically the container had not even left and after this kind of trouble for a few more weeks I was told my rack was going to be sent by air.

To cut a very long story short I received my rack, but my order was not complete even then still, the thermostats were wired wrong and I had to wire my own just to get my rack working and get my animals in to it as having two racks in my lounge was so stressful and I could barely move.

Chris Richards made fundamental mistakes setting up and running www.freedombreederuk.co.uk firstly he took money before he had even been promised stock by Lindy and Jeff, when he arrived in America he did not have a penny to his name and Jeff had to pay for everything, this and other personal things which I wont divulge out of respect to Chris Richards made Lindy, Jeff and their travelling friends who include some of the biggest breeders and names in our industry very suspicious of Chris Richards and they were advised to put a stop to the distribution but by this time it was too late, money had been taken for racks (including mine) it had been wrongly used to set up a fancy website, freephone number and pay for expensive adverts in top magazines (still 3 months bill outstanding) so the wheels were in motion and Freedom Breeder USA had to try to work with Chris Richards but it did not happen and luckily I was one of the very few who did receive their racks but many people are still waiting and they are going to be honoured even thought NONE of the racks being sent out have been paid for.

So owing Jeff and Lindy a massive amount of money and having racks sent to him for other people and using them in trades for rodent racks and other things Chris Richards has seemingly disappeared off the radar with a large debt and cloud of shame hanging over him and hopefully big regrets that he had his foot in the door to a industry people dream of working in and the only reason he didn't flourish was due to his deceit, poor communication and management skills and overall shoddy running of a reasonably easy business with regards to the processes involved.

The reason I was asked to come to California to visit Jeff and Lindy and work with them for the ten days of my visit is that I had been there from the start of this whole charade involving Chris Richards, I had got my rack and I there through the whole process so I knew it inside out and off of my own back with no profit or request from USA helping those less fortunate to not have received theirs, even when I was in America I managed to convince both Jeff and Lindy to honour two more orders, meaning they lost out on another $500+ but they were happy to do it as they are decent people who want a good name in our community, not just on this forum or that forum but I mean the whole European community of reptile keepers, breeders, enthusiasts, rodent breeders and anyone else who has anything to do with the whole industry, those two guys have put up with a lot of upset and stress from the previous distributor and they don't deserve it they are very hard working people who get up at 5am every day, drive nearly two hours to the facility work till 7pm sometimes and then drive home, I was knackered every day, Chris Richards has terribly damaged their business and they are now through the worst of it and i'm going to do my damned best and better and then a little bit more to get the name Freedom Breeder a name on our continent that people want to associate professional reptile keeping with and they will be soon.

Aim As Distributor

My aim as distributor of Freedom Breeder of the UK and Europe brings with it a great opportunity to get in to an industry that I whole heartedly love, and I am going to grasp that opportunity with two hands and put my heart and soul into making this business a success, the amount of orders Chris Richards took could have made him a decent profit and he also has orders from overseas and those buyers were going to buy more from him so the business is there I just need to revive it.

Now when things were going pear-shaped with Mr Richards I had started conversing with Jeff and he has mentioned that they were not going to be using Chris Richards anymore as soon as they had their money so I did something cunning I bought the web address FreedomBreeder.co.uk - Coming Soon it only cost a small amount as they usually do and it was just a failsafe that if I ever did get asked then I had the right tools for the job, well fate did me well and I got the job so please keep checking back on our new website for Freedom Breeder Products, I will have a page up on tuesday with contact details for those who do not use the forums and European customers and also this will display a few prices and pictures.

For those of you who like to touch and see and test a product before you see it this will not be a problem at all, I will be attending all UK and European shows once I receive my racks I bought for myself to display on my table and I look forward to speaking to you all at these places, please feel free to call me anytime day or night i'm happy to take your calls and answer any questions relating to discount or functionality or just for a natter about the racks, I am also going to be getting a small rodent breeding facility set up too but this is just in its foetal stage and im not going to run before I can walk, I want to get the stock here first.


Prices Of Key Products

Small/Hatchling Rack £2550
Medium Rack £2150
CB70 Compact (single tower) £900
CB70 Triple (30 tubs) £2200
Large 17" Single Rack £900
Large 17" Triple Rack £2250
Large 27" Single Rack £1200
Large 27" Double Rack £2250
Jumbo 48" Rack £2250
Jumbo 66" £2550
Jumbo 96" £2600
Mouse Breeding Rack £1900
Rat Breeding Rack £1700
CB70 Single Tubs £12
Small/Hatchling Tub £10
Digital Ranco Thermostat wired for 240v with power strip to plug in and UK regulations £120

Priced below are for the products that will be coming on this shipment and are all inclusive of vat, shipped at buyers expense or collected from my unit in Hampshire.
I expect these to go very quick, I can take deposits to secure and would like to be contacted privately to arrange this please by email chris@freedombreeder.co.uk (working from Friday 18th) or christophergard@btinternet.com or alternatively by phone on 07872045611 multiple discounts are also offered upon request

Please enjoy this video I made, im no Steven Spielberg and it was my first try. also youtube made me change the music, pantera sounded alot better



Final Word

So that is the current situation and I hope you all know where things stand, Chris Richards has gone, most orders are going to reach their final destination and I ask that we now please wipe the slate clean and focus on this as a new start for Freedom Breeder in the UK,Europe and beyond.

Any comments or criticisms are appreciated and taken in and please feel free to write whatever you feel, this is is of course a business aimed at you guys i.e. the consumer, so I want to know what you think, I have tried to be as honest and I thank you for taking the time to read this and I hope you enjoy the videos, pictures and information provided and I look forward to doing business with you all in the future and making these awesome products available to you, after all, your snakes deserve it.

Kind Regards
Chris

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great write up chris

cant wait to see your website up and running

Hi Chris,

Unfortunetly i am not in the market for a new rack of this sort at the minute, but still found this a very interesting and absorbing read.

Thanks for posting the video, i found it really cool to see how these racks are made, and pu together, and it really makes me think about Freedom Breeder for the future!

Cheers

Sam

Cheers Sambo we are here for whenever you need, holding stock and doing things the right way, im up your way this weekend at colins place

hope your well and your desert is doing great

chris

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Good luck. Brave man starting a business in today's Market never mind how much Richards damaged the name.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

All the very best of luck..


Jo

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www.josexotics.co.uk

Yep my desert is doing fine, possibly not eating as regulaly as i might want, but still gaining weight steadily.
Im sure ill see you saturday:)

How is your desert doing?

Good luck with the venture!

On the plus side, pretty much however it goes you will do better than the last chap

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Indian Stars on Facebook

Best of luck!
Nice to see that FB US $895 can = UK £900.
Rather than Visions $599 = UK £870.

Competitive prices and one of the best made racks you'll find.
I'm sure you'll make a success of it!

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Good luck with the this, I have followed the freedom breeder saga for a while and it's good to see that someone has rescued the situation.