Check out this website!

http://www.usbmemorydirect.com/

They’ve got USB flash drives for all sorts of occasions, and they look great.  I mean, USB pens? Seriously?  I want one!

Sorry for the delay in updates, everyone!  I do have some good news, though.  I have a few projects in the works that sound promising and should be fun to read.

• Proper Heating Methods
• Ball Python Morphs (with pictures)
• Guest posts from people who like AND dislike snakes
• Comprehensive look at different types of snakes
• Reptile legislation

There are more, but I don’t want to list them all!  I’m especially excited about the guest posts.  It should be interesting to see what people who don’t like snakes have to say about why they don’t like them.  I’ve always been interested in ball python morphs, and I’ve even had a few people say that they’d like to read about them.  I will touch on the genetics behind them, but I don’t want my limited knowledge to be taken as ‘expert’!  Thanks for reading!

The third installment of the Breeder Q&A series is here, this time with Brian from BHB Reptiles!  You may also know him from Snakebytes TV on Youtube, great series for anyone to watch, by the way.

Ever since I could remember I have been passionate about animals, and reptiles always peaked my interest the most. I didn’t go into working with reptiles thinking it was going to be a life long thing, but it just worked out that way. 

 I always tell people there is just no way for me to pick one species or one type of snake. I love them all and I get so much pleasure out of working with a wide variety of animals. If I had to choose one, I’d be in big trouble.

 I never intending on making this my career, I was young and thought I could make a few bucks to help pay my way through college. By time I was in my second year of school, I was making more money then I could at the career I was hoping to get into. I thought, this is what I really want to do and if I can make a career out of it, why not go for it. 24 years later and we’re still going.

 Every part is difficult when doing it on the level we do. It’s about staying focused and dealing with the problem that always come with working with live animals. People think it’s easy, and it’s far from it. We’re not rocket scientist, but animals are always demanding and will always throw you for a loop. You have to love it more then anything else to be successful long term.

Again, we breed a ton of species and each one has their own set of challenges. As long as you’re dedicated and have a little luck you can almost breed anything. Of course that doesn’t mean it’s easy, because that’s not always the case.

 I think it’s just being around for 24 years. It’s not easy to do anything for that long, but dealing with the ups and downs of the reptile market, live animals and all the other things you have to deal with on a daily basis is tough and to still be here after so many years is what I’m the most proud of. 

My goals for any project are always the same. Enjoy working with the animals and do my best to produce some of the best quality offspring that I can. If I produce great animals they will sell well and my clients will be very happy and I can keep doing what I love, which is to work with animals for a living.

 With out a doubt it’s legislation. We can slowly change peoples perception of snakes, but if the laws get harder and harder for us to work with these animals it could destroy the hobby. I’m optmistic that we’ll be okay, but it’s a completely scary thing to think that people that know nothing about reptiles are making laws that could outlaw what I do. 

 Breeding season is 12 months a year for a collection like ours. I work from the time I get up until late at night. The routine changes depending on where we’re at in the breeding cycle, but it’s a on the go life style with no time for rest. I love doing what I do and I never look at it as “work”, but this life is not for everyone. I can say that with confidence. 

 We prefer frozen and 90% of my collection feeds on frozen, but I am not against live feeding for animals that refuse fresh dead or thawed. I want my snakes to feed, so I will feed live responsibly to get them to feed. 

 We buy all our food. We have a handful of different sources to suplly the demand that we require. 

17. What is a typical day like for you?  What does your job consist of? Do you do the dirty work of cleaning cages, feeding, etc or do you prefer to keep your hands clean?

I do all things here. I clean cages, I switch animals around for breeding, I pull and care for eggs, I feed snakes, I wash tubs, I answer the phone, I care for rodents and so on… There is not a job in the shop that I am not involved in on some level. 

 Just to do it for the love of the animal and never chase the money. And enjoy every moment you can when working with animals..

Thank you for a great Q&A, Brian!  You can check Brian out on Twitter as well as follow him on Facebook at:

 www.twitter.com/snakebytestv
 www.facebook.com/BrianBarczyk
 www.facebook.com/SnakeBytesTV

Thanks for reading!

Many snake owners know that sometimes, getting a snake to eat frozen/thawed (hereafter known as f/t) can be a time-consuming effort, and is sometimes just plain impossible.  Many people outside the hobby don’t realize this.  Maybe they just don’t care.  I don’t know their motives for acting the way they do, but I am fed up with it.

Today’s Q&A is brought to you by our friends Tailor Made Reptiles!  Enjoy!

1. I always liked reptiles and amphibians growing up. Of course, my parents, did not share the same enthusiasm. It wasn’t until 18-19, that I started keeping reptiles. First it was Bearded Dragon named Jack. Than Crested Geckos, Leopard Geckos, and the list goes on.

Ball Python’s didn’t come along till I was 23. Ever since than, they’ve been my favorite animal to keep.

2. The first time, was….an accident really. I bought a female and didn’t know she was gravid at the time. About a month and a half later, I was cleaning her tank, and bam. Snake eggs! Well, I thought they were eggs, but she slugged out on all 3.

3. Seeing the babies pip from the egg’s for the first time. Seeing the babies not make it. Like this year, we lost 15 snakes.

4. The wait! It kill’s me every time waiting for the females to lay eggs. Than waiting for the incubation to finish.

5. We keep Ball Python’s mainly, we currently have 30+. We also have a corn snake and a western hog-nose snake.

6. The biggest regret I have is….I don’t really have any regrets so far.

7. Anytime I see a healthy snake poke its head from the egg.

8. Like the above, health is the biggest goal I have. As long as I breed healthy, living snakes, I’m good. Short-term goal, is for this year, hoping to produce a pastel red axanthic ghost. Long-term, well…I gotta keep some secrets.

9. I can’t really think of any misconceptions when it comes to breeding. When it comes to snakes themselves, there are too many I can think of.

10. People. Specifically the anti-snake types. The one’s trying to push all these bills in the US and Canada, to ban the keeping of certain types, if not all. I understand the fears that some people can have in regards to the larger breeds, (Retics, burm’s, etc), but a lot of those fears are unfounded. I’ve seen 15+ foot reticulated pythons with better temperament than a 6lb toy poodle.

11. If you’re getting into it thinking you;ll be making tons of money, just…take your savings now, put it on the ground, and light it on fire. Breeding animals, are not for the get-rich-quick types. Most of that’s due to the demand for the animals. Reptile’s and such, are still in the dark when it comes to keeping as pets.

If you’re going to breed your snakes, do it because of the love for the animals.

Thanks, Tailor Made, for an awesome Q&A!  Hopefully your words will inspire and educate others.

The reptile world was shaken last week with a massive blow to the industry. Congress added four species of snakes to the Lacey Act - Northern and Southern African Rock Pythons, Yellow Anacondas, and the infamous (and often misunderstood) Burmese Python.  This happened because the Humane Society of the United States and other special interest groups that don’t want us to have snakes as pets.  This was a devastating blow to the industry and more snakes, boa constrictors, are in danger of being listed.

To that end, reptile lovers all over are putting their heads together for Snake Awareness Day, a day that will focus on demonstrations, lectures, and basically introducing people to the wonder of snakes.  We are doing this in an attempt to get the public to help us prevent the passing of unfair legislation concerning these wondrous creatures.

Since being introduced to snakes, I have discovered that they are wonderful pets.  They are easy to care for if the proper research is done beforehand, they make great conversation pieces, and they have a habit of helping me let the stress slip through my fingers just like their scales do as they slither across my hands or shoulders.  I am terrified that fear and misunderstanding will prevent me from breeding them or even owning them.  Would I pay for a permit to keep them or breed them?  Absolutely, as long as the rules and regulations associated with that permit were fair, I would not hesitate.

Snakes are some of the most misunderstood creatures on the planet.  Television and movies portray them as malevolent, blood-thirsty creatures that want nothing more than to dine on the flesh of the young and innocent.  This is not the case.  They are simply alien to many people, and people fear what they do not understand.  All I want, all the rest of the snake and reptile lovers out there want, is for our passion to be understood, for those who fear these beautiful creatures to leave them, and us, alone rather than try to force us to believe and behave as they do.  Please help us realize this goal by at least trying to understand why we love snakes, even if you don’t like or even fear them.  Don’t judge the entire snake population by the actions of a few mistreated, starving animals either.  It isn’t fair to the snakes, and it isn’t fair to those of us that have them as pets.

I decided a few days ago to try and do a Question and Answer session with as many breeders as I could get to agree, from big breeders to small time guys and girls breeding in their spare bedrooms.  My goal was to get several different perspectives on the breeding industry to give others like me, who are interested in breeding reptiles someday, a big of a heads up as to what to expect and what the life is like.  

The response has been overwhelming, and I have several interviews to post.  I would like to start off with a bang and post an interview with Garrick DeMeyer of Captive Reptile Specialties Inc.  I’ve admired Garrick’s work since I discovered snakes, and getting a chance to pick his brain was amazing.  The questions are below, as well as links to his websites.

Breeder Q&A with Garrick DeMeyer

One of the most common questions I’m asked is, “Why snakes?”  Many people don’t understand why I, and others, would choose to own a scaly reptile instead of a cute furry puppy or kitten.  The reasons are many.  I will list some of them here.

• Snakes don’t require as much attention.  True, temperature and humidity levels must be monitored and maintained, but this can be done easily with thermometers/hygrometers, allowing for easy reading of the temps/humidity levels, even in a hurry.  Snakes do not require the attention and affection your dog or cat requires.  In fact, they are quite content if you leave them in their safe, secure habitats for weeks at a time.  They don’t need love, they don’t need to go for walks, and they don’t expect you to play with them. (I’m telling you right now, if my snake dropped a rawhide bone in my lap, I would throw it for him!)
• Snakes eat, on average, once a week.  Compare owning one snake to owning one dog.  My snakes eat once a week or so, while my dog and cat eat every day.  I spend about as much feeding three snakes as I do feeding one dog and one cat every month.  If your snakes are eating frozen/thawed prey, the food bill is even cheaper.
• Most apartment complexes will let you keep multiple snakes.  The apartment complex I live in restricts us to one dog and one cat.  However, they have no restrictions on animals that are kept in cages.
• They are easy to care for.  This ties in with the attention point above.  On average, I clean my snake enclosures once a week.  I ‘spot check’ for waste, wet shavings, and other issues every time I take them out, which is usually 1-2 times a day for a few minutes at a time.
• Snakes are cheap once you get past the initial investment.  For a person on a budget, snakes are a great pet.  We’ve already discussed feeding, which can run anywhere from $3-$4 a week for a full grown ball python.  Many snakes are fine being kept on newspaper or something similar.  I prefer aspen shavings or cypress mulch, both of which are fairly inexpensive.
• Space.  Depending on the type of snake you own, you can keep one in a small apartment with no problem.  One ball python can happily live its life in a 20 or 30 gallon aquarium.  Many people with multiple snakes use rack systems that allow them to stack their snakes on shelves, similar to the three or four drawer Sterilite shelves you can purchase at Wal-Mart.
• Snakes are quiet!  Your snake won’t bark when somebody knocks on the door, and he won’t paw at your face, meowing in your ear to wake you up in the morning to give him breakfast.  They will hiss if startled or frightened, but with many snakes that isn’t a regular occurrence.  There is always the exception, though!  Some people have very “hissy” snakes.
• Snakes are odorless.  Snakes generally don’t stink.  The only time I smell anything other than the smell of the aspen shavings or the cypress mulch (I enjoy the damp, earthy smell of the cypress), is when my snakes leave waste for me to clean up.  Once that is disposed of and the enclosure cleaned, the smell is gone.

Hello again, everyone!  This entry will be about fear of snakes, both the rational and irrational sides of the coin.  First, I would like to thank Brian Barczyk from BHB reptiles for this topic.  Thanks Brian!

Now, let’s get down to business.  People are afraid of snakes for any number of reasons.  Some of these are:

1.  Religion:  The Bible tells the story of the serpent tempting Eve in the Garden of Eden to eat the apple.  Because of this, mankind is cast out of Eden.  Due to this, many people believe that snakes are evil and cruel.  This is far from the truth.  Snakes are not evil, but stories like this give them a bad rap.

2. The Media:  Hollywood loves snakes.  How many of you have seen the Anaconda movies?  I am not condemning movies like this, because they make for great entertainment.  However, this is all they are.  Entertainment.  Snakes are going to grow to be fifty feet long and as big around as a school bus with the desire to consume human flesh on a daily basis.  While there are some big snakes (Reticulated and Burmese pythons are a popular big snake), they do not have the desire to kill and eat humans, or anything other than the prey they are normally fed (rats or, in many cases, rabbits).

3. Ignorance:  Many people that are afraid of snakes have seen few, if any, in the wild.  Many of them have also never handled a pet snake like a ball python.  Some people have an irrational fear of snakes.  This is called Ophidiophobia.  It is a very real affliction and those afflicted by it have a very real fear of snakes.

4.  Snakes are strange:  Snakes are weird looking creatures.  From the way they move, to the way they eat (think constrictors) to their little forked tongues and their lidless eyes.  Everything about them is alien to most people.  Some snakes are even recognized by their ‘alien heads’.  Again, there is nothing wrong with this.  Humans are afraid of the strange and the unknown.  That is the reason horror stories are so wildly popular.

Many people are afraid of snakes.  Many people in my family call me weird or crazy or a freak because I love and own snakes.  This is understandable.  However, there are many excellent websites out there that are full of people ready and willing to help people better understand and, maybe eventually, banish their fear of snakes completely.  That is the focus of this blog.  I want to educate and inform you.  If I can make one person think “Huh, snakes really aren’t that bad!”, I’ve done my job.  Of course, I’d like to convert more than just one person!  Please, comment if you have more reasons for people being afraid of snakes!  I’ll do a “part two” if I get enough ideas.