Reptile Basics

"They say I'm lazy, but it takes all my time"- Joe Walsh

Archive for April, 2009

Update on my last post-

Apr 29

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It has come to my attention that PIJAC and a few larger “mass breeders” who I will not mention here (yet- it is not really relevant at this time) are working out their version of a compromise to the HR 669 bill.  I will be talking to a few of the relevant parties this weekend in person and will report back on my findings.  If the rant I got directly  from one of the Florida breeders a couple of years ago is any indication of what he/they are trying to cook up with PIJAC I will have to suggest you make any and all donations to USARK.  I am still a bit unclear as to what is going on with PIJAC but I am VERY clear on Andrew / USARK’s positions.  Play it safe for now.  Hope I have more for you in a few days.   If this turns out to have some truth to it I would be very disappointed with PIJAC.

Meantime you can follow along on about any reptile forum.  I would suggest the thread by Tom Crutchfield in the Kingsnake Ball Python forum.  Seems to sum it up.

Interesting week

Apr 24

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Well, looks like through all of our hard work and efforts HR 669 has gone to the great beyond.  I do not think any of us will miss it.  It would seem that it died about the best death possible for “our side”- it passed the sub-committee and was killed from above.  Seems someone didn’t want 50,000+ letters on their desk in the next 10 days while it made its way up the ladder?

I would like thank PIJAC and USARK for their job very well done.  Now it is time to reflect a bit.

There will be some type of significant (to us) legislation passed on the federal level regarding this issue in the next couple of years, likely sooner.  It is my opinion that it is inevitable.  There are too many very vocal groups calling for it and too many animals making the news.  Frankly, some areas (like Guam) probably need it.  The trick is to get something through that makes at least a little sense and that is where organizations like PIJAC and USARK come in.  Due in large part to the reptile communities efforts with HR 669 these two organizations now have the lawmakers ear.  The House sub committee, especially its Chairwoman will not be foolish enough to try this again anytime soon without our input.  This drew way too much attention and the Representatives behind it got crushed.

It is also very disappointing that the USFWS is not a little more on the ball.  These guys enforce these regulations and most of the time do not seem to have any idea what is going on or how they would even hope to enforce something like this.  Anybody home??  The USFWS should have been among the most vocal against this silliness- It is beyond unenforcable even with 5 times their current budget.  An unenforced or unenforcable law is much worse than no law at all.

Everybody- re-up your PIJAC / USARK memberships and give them some encouragement to put this thing to bed.  While most of us would prefer not to have the government meddling in our lives more than they already do the best way through this is to get them to meddle in a constructive way with our input.  To hope they will just go away is naive.

White Plains was a pretty good show, again.  New security guy?? Seems like the usual obnoxious guy was not to be seen??  Maybe I missed him?  Either way, went off without a hitch and we had a good time.  Dr Lew managed to come a long as he had a business trip to NYC that Monday doing Dr stuff.  Always good to have him on the team.  We will be up there again in July and hope to see all of our regulars again.

After much debate I am moving out all of my Ball Pythons and going all “brumatable”.  Nice word.  I need to be able to pull the plug for three months and go with all frozen food.  Practical issues that can not be avoided any longer.  If you are interested in Poss het clown female subadults, Pieds, albinos or female pastels and spiders give Frank a call at 336 880 4238.  He will be doing the dirty work!

Daytona is creeping up on us quick!

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Updates

Apr 12

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Not been a lot to write about so I have been a bit lazy on the Blog updates.

Shows have been pretty good all around.  Most have been very good.   Both Richmond and Columbia were surprisingly good for us.

Next weekend is White Plains NY and Frank will be in Birmingham AL.  Trailer is about sold out already.  Pre orders were plentiful!  We still have a little room for Birmingham.  I should have a few racks for sale up in NY for “walk ins”.  I will know a little better come middle of this week when the trailer is fully packed.  Kind of hard to predict how much room you will be left with once all of the pre orders are packed.  We shall see.  I look forward to this show in NY- snow is done for the year!  Had a couple of close calls this season up north, another few hours later and we would have been staying up there for a couple of extra days.  Been lucky with the weather.

Of course the big news on the net is the HR669 bill.  I get about 20 emails a day on it so the word seems to be out.  All of us here have written letters to all of the appropriate committee members and I will be bugging them on the phone this week.  Hopefully this works out in our favor.  If you have not heard about it or need further info I would recommend PIJAC’s website.  www.pijac.org

Our new 2×4 cage with a single, full size door will be available immediately following the White Plains show.  Same price, heat options and dimensions as our standard double door.  We have reinforced the top of the cage with 1/8″ aluminum from end to end to give it the strength it needs.

Back here at home, I am bailing out on the Ball Pythons.  Not really a reflection or commentary on the BP market (I have actually done pretty well with them) but more a time and convenience factor.  Due to space constraints I have to keep the whole collection in a single room.  That is pretty tricky to do when you have other sprecies of pythons and especially with colubrids.  Brumation is a pain with the colubrids and it is hard to temp cycle the balls.  Just a tough situation.  So, away with the BP’s and on to something new.  The goal is to ba able to just “pull the plug” on the whole room for brumation in the winter months and forget about snakes for about 12 weeks.  I had that luxury many years ago and am starting to miss it. Actually been missing it for awhile now!  That and it won’t be so damn hot in the room!

With that new concept I started accumulating some rosy boas.  Got some real nice stock from a few different breeders and should start producing in small numbers next year and be very strong the following year.  Still looking around for some more as well.  Got some holes to fill in with the group.  The rest of the kings, rats and bulls will be coming on line over the next 2-3 seasons as well.  Look forward to it, lots of fun and lots of variety.

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