What a story he could tell...

We acquired this animal about 20 odd years ago.  He is a success story from the Sweetwater rattlesnake roundup.   Possibly the only animal to survive that awful experience.  His story is unique.


We had just opened our reptile exhibit and a guy came by with a rather nice wooden box that he said he transported snakes in.  He had a diamondback that he brought back from Sweetwater, thinking he wanted to keep it himself, and then second thoughts.  He wanted to know if we were interested in the animal. Of course we said yes. 


Now this guy was not the average spectator.  He had an "official' red vest and patches galore from all the roundups he had participated in.  He was more than proud of that fact, and it was all we could do to be civil and "visit" with him until he left.


The animal was thin, as to be expected, and not all that big, probably a couple feet.  But he didn't show any outward signs of noosing, manhandling, etc which could have been present.  All we could do was set him up, and hope for the best.


Fast forward those 20 odd years and here is his picture!

 

Yes, it's a close up, but he doesn't look underfed,does he?


We've moved since then, changed our business name, etc, but we still have the snake.  He's "happy", healthy and a great display specimen.  He's well over 5 feet. He virtually never strikes when people tease (and we haven't gotten to them first) and he rattles almost on command.  

Texas Rattlesnake Festival

I wrote about this in an earlier post, but here's a nice "poster" describing the event.  There will also be vendors selling goodies, such as Neodesha cages, the BEST venomous cages!

 

So come on down!  What else do you have to do that weekend?  Might be a nice change of pace from the nasty weather that's been plaguing us this year.

 

Here's your sign!

After retiring, I decided that I needed more signage around my place, to attract business to the Serpentarium, since I was finally in a position to work with my favorite animals, full time.  This is one of the signs. 

Think it draws attention?  I also had another made, for my other passion...

 And this is how it looks, mounted on the fence.  The "open" sign goes up and comes down, dependent upon the weather, etc.  As people may know, this has NOT been a herp-friendly winter!

For the really observant, notice the t-shirt I'm wearing is the same one as Jim Harrison is wearing in a recent video on Facebook, of him milking a timber rattler.  (He had just been through hip replacement surgery.)  Obviously we run around in the very same, elite (?) circles! 

Texas Rattlesnake Festival

And awaaaaaaaaaaaay we go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Ya'll come down!!!

Have you heard the news???!!!

Finally, there's gonna be a "rattlesnake festival" for the family, AND the rattlesnakes, to enjoy.  This is an EDUCATIONAL event, a REALLY educational event, not a blood-letting with total misinformation, and the needless destruction of hundreds, or even thousands of hapless animals. who were probably NOT collected legally, locally, logically, etc. 

 

Even if you're not a snake-lover (and who isn't???) this is your chance to be well-informed on the positive side of snakes and their place in nature and our lives.

 

Lets drop the word "round-up" from our vocabulary once and for all!!!

Blast fom the past...

Since the weather has been absolutely miserable, I've been cleaning out drawers, etc, and came across some old, OLD price lists.  This is not the oldest, but one of the more interesting for a variety of reasons.    In its "hey day" the Philadelphia Reptile Exchange was owned and operated by Hank Molt (name ring a bell to some of you?)!  He was one of the more infamous reptile dealers at the time. 

If you look at some of the prices, you almost wish you could go back to those days, but then again, your income was probably much less than it is today.  Captive breeding was in its infancy, so all those were probably imports and mortality could be very high. 

Many of these animals are not even available to the general public any more.  Prices have risen and fallen.  Color morphs were not anything people worried about, with the exception of yellow Eyelash Vipers (B. schlegeli.)  At that time the majority that arrived in the U.S. were green, (even though the price list has "yellow" indicated as being available) and we were happy with those!  Some of the scientific names have changed.  But remember, this was over 40 years ago. 

Guess that makes me one of the "old timers!"  But then I've been collecting price lists practically since my "infancy!"  Enjoy the read!

 

 

Translation Guide

I was cleaning out some of my files today (trying to turn over a new leaf for the New Year.  (Don't have to keep everything!)  I came across this list.  The "Translation Guide for Herp Price Lists."  Don't know where it came from originally, so I'm sorry for not giving credit, where credit is due.  Whether you get a price list through the mail (does anyone send them out any more?) on the internet, or even get this information in person, at a show, from the seller, a lot of it rings true.  

What the seller REALLY means:

butter yellow, lemon yellow, high yellow phase :   tan
cranberry red or bright orange phase :   brown
jet black or snow white :   gray
possible het :   everything is possibly het
albinistic :   has one scale that is lighter than the rest
hyper-hypo-amel-xanthic-anerythristic :   looks slightly different from normal
possibly gravid :   a male was kept two cages away
breeding pair : there are two animals
best we have ever seen :   since last week
so nice we almost kept them ourselves :   we have no idea how to breed them
we were the first to breed them :   we imported the first hatchlings
this species is hard to obtain :   until next month
we have CITES paperwork :   just don't expect a copy
zoo bred :   but you can't know what zoo
well started hatchlings available :   the eggs were just laid
large juveniles available :   the eggs just pipped
subadults available :   anything not large enough to breed is a subadult
pick of the litter :   the first one they pick up
hand-picked :   someone's hand touched them at some time or another
well-established import :    one week in the U.S.
long-term captive :   two weeks in the U.S.
very hardy species :   they take at least a month to drop dead
inquire about price :   they want to see what someone will offer them
dog tame :   only bites if you try to touch it
aggressive feeder :   flicked its tongue at a mouse
deparisitized : a jar of flagyl was waved in front of the cage
farm-raised :   think of the world as a giant farm
extra nice or immaculate :   has all its body parts
slight scar :   missing an eye
imperfect :   missing a limb or tail
large scar :   missing its head
proven breeder :   actually referring to the adults that produced the animal
sale-sale-sale :    no one wants these, and they're dying on us
investment quality :   please buy these so the dealer has some money to invest in something else
chance of a lifetime : buy these and have a possible lifetime of trouble with the authorities

And always remember to multiply any listed lengths by 2/3 and listed weights by 1/2.  EXAMPLE:  a 15 ft. 100 lb. Burmese Python is really 10 ft. and 50 lbs. 

As for the last comment, for many people, when describing an animal they saw some place (especially in the wild), the opposite rings true.   A 3 foot snake becomes a 6 footer, and was as big around as your bicep, (rather than your thumb!)
  
 

Field collecting absolutely everything???

Some of you may never have field collected.  Some of you may only field collect.  Some of you are doing this for new bloodlines.  Some of you are doing this to increase the variety of your collection.  BUT, some of you are doing it to increase the number of dollars in your wallet.

This post is directed towards those who are collecting every living animal just to make a dollar.  Perhaps your excuse is that you're just trying to recoup the cost of your trip.  But when you take animals that have little or no chance of survival outside their respective niche, then that is totally irresponsible, and you may be contributing to the loss of a species.

This rant comes from seeing some Horned Lizards being exhibited for sale at a recent reptile show that we attended.  Most people know that Horned Lizards (horny toads to most people) almost exclusively eat ants.  So...new owner...did the seller tell you that?  Do you know where to get ants?  And how many ants does it need to keep weight on and thrive? 

If you see this at a show, perhaps you should tell the show sponsor that this is not appropriate.  But the damage has already been done when the animal is removed from its habitat.  The person who took it is not going to drive back to return it.  They're probably not going to try to find those ants for its diet either.  They'll just try some other insects and let it languish and die while in their "care" if they can't find someone to buy it.

So, field collect if you want, but with integrity.