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