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We are private reptile keepers who have worked with and kept dozens of different reptile species (see my reptile story below) over the past nearly 40 years.  We currently maintain a small private collection of ball python & dwarf boa constrictor mutations, morphs and hybrids plus a few select colubrids. We also strongly support captive propagation and are totally against wildlife exploitation.

* We strongly encourage people to only ever purchase captive bred reptiles from a reputable private breeder or specialist reptile pet store. We do not believe its necessarily to import farmed ball pythons, boa-constrictors or any other species as most are captive bred in sufficient numbers.

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My reptile story (John)  I’ve had an active interest in wildlife and reptiles since childhood. Growing up in South Africa gave me the opportunity to catch, keep and breed numerous Southern African reptile species, both venomous and non-venomous. For most of my childhood my bedroom resembled a zoo with all the different reptiles & amphibians I kept. (I had very understanding parents!).

As a teenager I spent most of my free time looking for snakes in the wild. Weekends were spent wrangling snakes and improving my herpetoculture skills at the Transvaal Snake Park , which at the time housed one of the largest and finest collections of captive reptiles in the world. I did an apprenticeship and was mentored by Rod Paterson, Austin Stevens and Karl Switak (three giants in the world of herpetology). Eventually joining TSP as a professional herpetologist. I spent several years collecting venom from numerous species of venomous snakes (puff adders, cobras, mambas, rinkhals and boomslang), giving educational talks, caring for and helping breed reptiles from all over the globe. This was a fun job !

During my time at TSP we had several notable captive breeding successes, including the first ever captive breeding of Angolan pythons (Python anchietae), Lesser African Rock pythons (Python sebae natalensis) & Madagascan Ground boas (Acrantophis madagascariensis) among others.

My travels then took me to the Nordhardzer Schlange Farm in Schladen, Germany, a private reptile park that provided snake venom to medical research facilities (more cobra & viper venom extraction !!)

After 18mths in Germany and wanting to travel to the Amazon, I needed to raise additional funds. So I attempted to beat the then 64 day world record “snake sit-in”. This consisted of living in a room with 24 venomous snakes. My good friend, Austin Stevens (of Animal Planet and Discovery TV fame) held the world record at that time. I spent 69 days at Dudley Zoo, UK in my “snake room” to claim the crazy title, sharing my space with 12 Asian Cobras (Naja naja), 4 Egyptian Cobras (Naja annulifera) and 8 large Puff Adders (Bitis arietans). At the time it seemed like a good idea, looking back I wouldn’t recommend trying it!

 

After several more years of travelling to wild places, I switched gears and started working in the IT software industry.  I've spent nearly 20 yrs as a software company executive working for several different international firms (In addition to be involved with a number of technology start ups). Lots of fun but too much business travel! (airports and hotels all look the same no matter where they are in the world). During this time however I was fortunate enough to travel the globe and to take photos of and capture reptiles on several continents during my all business travels. (plus do a bit of scuba diving and kayaking along the way :-)

During the early 2000's while living in the USA,  together with my wife Mel, we started to build our reptile collection again with a focus on ball python, carpet python and dwarf Central American boa morphs. In 2004 not finding a decent overall book covering the popular python and boa morphs we were working with, I decided to write one. As a result in 2006, Designer-Morphs (1st edition) was published.

It went on to become a best selling morph guide for ball pythons, carpet pythons, blood pythons, boa constrictors and rainbow boa morphs in over 20 countries, selling out very quickly.

In 2010, we released the 2nd edition of Designer-Morphs (Ball pythons & Boa constrictor morphs) (available from www.bigreptileworld.co.uk).

Over the years we have contributed to and written articles for numerous publications with a focus on python and boa morphs and husbandry.

In addition to keeping our own high-end collection of snakes, we own Big Reptile World, distributing reptile and pet products in the USA & the UK as well as speaking at herpetological expos, conferences and events in Europe and the USA.

For our latest news and updates on the several new book projects we are involved with follow us;

on twitter:  http://twitter.com/jberryreptiles

or see our news blog: http://www.johnberryreptiles.com/newreleases.htm 

cheers, John & Mel

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Random images of snakes I have owned or worked with, field herping and travels.

   

   


 

 

 

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