What does F.A.Q. mean?

Frequently Asked Questions. These are all related to emails or phone calls that I've received on at least a few occasions.

Why do you feed live prey items?

I feed live prey for a few reasons. First, I raise my own rodents in closed colonies, and it's very convenient to pull feeders and give them to the animals. Also, I strongly believe that live prey offers mental stimulation that is very healthy for captive snakes. I have been keeping snakes since 1986, and have never had a serious issue result from feeding live prey. Generally, I feed a portion of my animals all at once. After I have fed the last animal, I go back to the first and make sure the food item is dead. If it's not, I remove it and that snake goes hungry until the next time around. This usually gives each snake 5-10 minutes to decide to eat. If the snake is hungry, that's more than enough time. This has worked well for me for well over 20 years.

I read on InsertWebsiteHere.com that snakes need to eat every week. Why do you starve your snakes?

In general, my snakes are kept cooler than most websites/books/breeders recommend. By necessity, this means they don't digest as much food as quickly. However, my feeding practices would not change much at higher temperatures. In the wild, a snake may eat every few days, depending on the size of the meal. That same snake may spend hours on a daily basis looking for food, moving around to thermoregulate, avoiding predators, and any other physically stimulating activities. All of that movement requires energy, which in turn requires food. In captivity, snakes generally move from a warm spot to a slightly less warm spot, and that is the extent of their daily exercise. This is good, as it indicates that the snake has everything it needs in regards to heat, water and food. However, this also means that the snake is probably not exerting itself as much as it could, and as such, is not using as much energy (food) as it could. In my opinion, obesity is an enormous problem with captive reptiles, and especially snakes. While a large display enclosure with multiple warm/cool spots and lots of climbing structures is great, it's not always feasible. Instead, I opt to manage weight by way of a leaner feeding schedule. While it may take an extra season or two to get a snake to breeding size, I've found it to be well worth the trade off.

Why do you keep your snakes so cold?

I live in Maine. It's cold here. Also, I've found that every species I've kept does better for me at slightly lower temperatures than most sources recommend. I have successfully bred some pythons with Winter night time lows that some experts have claimed would be lethal! In my experience, Winter lows in the upper 50s or low 60s are not a problem for pythons, as long as they have an adequately warm (and large!) basking area during the day. I have not seen these lower temperatures to affect feeding or breeding in any way, except that my animals do both more consistently for me.
Every animal I raise is subjected to "cold" Winter temperatures from the start. For an Irian Jaya Carpet Python, this might mean Winter lows of 60°, while a Boelen's Python might see low temperatures in the 40s. In my experience, snakes have no problem with these temperatures provided they are kept cooler from the start. If you've just purchased an adult animal, don't expect them to take too kindly to a sudden night time low of 56°F.

Why don't you keep Jaguar/Granite/Etc carpet pythons?

My primary interest in reptiles pertains to natural variation. While I certainly can appreciate a Jag or Granite carpet, they just don't appeal to me. If the planets aligned, and I traded in some karma points, and happened to hatch some sort of morph at random, I would probably work towards refining the trait. Until then, my focus is on natural variation in wild-type colors/patterns.

What's all this F1/F2/Etc nonsense?

Filial: having or assuming the relation of a child or offspring.
P1 = Parental Generation. This pertains to founding stock, usually wild caught animals, but not always. One exception would be a random mutation. That animal becomes the Parental Generation, and the offspring F1. To further complicate things, the terminology and practical implementation varies from person to person.
F1 = First filial. ie; First Generation. F2 = Second filial, etc and so forth.
Whenever possible, I try to get generational information on any bloodline that I keep. This makes it easier to monitor line breeding (inbreeding), and also helps to document purity of a species or subspecies. One example of how this is useful is with Diamond Pythons. I have an F3 female from the original San Diego Zoo bloodline. By knowing that she is F3 San Diego Zoo lineage, I can select potential mates for her from different lineages to avoid further inbreeding.

I found (Insert Species Here) online for half the price that you're asking. Why should I buy from you?

The prices that I ask for my animals are a reflection of what goes into them. When you buy a snake from me, you get the full lineage, usually including photos of the parental stock. You also get full records from the day it was born. You can see what it's eating, when it shed, how much it weighs, and more. Keeping records like that takes time and effort. Getting solid breeding stock to produce those animals also takes time and effort.

I emailed you and didn't get a response. Why?

This could be due to a few things, but the most likely reason is that the email was flagged as spam and never delivered. The safest way to avoid this is by using the form on the Contact Page, or calling me directly. If your email contained horrifically erroneous spelling and/or grammar, I might not have been able to understand it, and thus couldn't formulate a response. I make every effort to respond to every email I get. There are very few that I can't/don't/won't reply to.

Why isn't there more text on your website?

This site is intended to showcase animals that I keep and (try to) breed. The majority of content is designed to work towards that goal. Whether it's detailed records, image galleries, or lineage photos, the site is about the animals. I'm not the most eloquent person around, and I'm generally blunt to the point of being offensive. As such, I've found it's best to let the snakes speak for themselves. If I were to try to get more text content up, there is a high probability that I would upset some people. It's not intentional, it's just the way it is.

I like your website. Who made it?

I did. I occasionally do website design and programming, particularly for organizations that I like. If you are looking to create a website, or maintain an existing one, feel free to contact me. I may be able to help, or point you to someone who can.

I hate your website. Who made it?

Some high school kid that owed me twenty bucks.