Welcome to our news blog, where we chat about our snakes, environmental issues, movies, etc and whatever else we are thinking and involved ...

You can also following our latest reptile updates on Twitter  http://twitter.com/JBerryReptiles

cheers, John & Mel and the team ...

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Note: all images on our website are covered by copyright and may not be used without permission. Just send us an email if you want to copy or use an image, thanks.

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Most of our hognoses are currently in hibernation. This young Toffee-Belly male however is probably too small to breed this year so I left him out. Toffee-bellies are a type of a paradox T+ mutation. (so they have no black on them at all). They come in multiple colours. This one is a very pretty yellow and orange. Here is a bad photo of the toffee coloured belly markings. Can't wait to see some of these sticking their heads out of eggs later this year !

Our Ball pythons have also started to breed ...looking to produce some interesting new morphs again this year.

cheers for now, John

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Over the last few weeks the tragic story of babies dying from bacteria infections in a Belfast Hospital has been playing out. The culprit is a common but very tough bacteria, Pseudomonas aeruginosa . 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-16645957

Pseudomonas can cause disease and death in animals, humans and reptiles. Its a common bacteria, but very opportunistic and able to survive on infected surfaces for several days. The sad thing about this story is that it could have been avoided with the proper disinfection.

Reptiles, birds and other animals are just like people. When their immune system is weakened, they are susceptible to disease. Regular disinfection, will lower the amount of opportunistic bacteria in the environment.  Many captive reptiles (and birds) in particular become infected and die from respiratory infections (RI), caused by Pseudomonas. Regular use of F10 in the environment is a good way to fight back against this often harmful bacteria.

The F10 range of disinfectants and hand-gels are certified to eradicate Pseudomonas with regular use. For regular disinfecting of animal housing, cages, water bowls and cage furnishing, nothing beats F10 SC veterinary disinfectant. Its used and trusted by thousands of vets and zoos world-wide. Furthermore, the F10 range of antibacterial hand hygiene products - hand-gel, hand-soap and hand-scrubs are also all certified to kill Pseudomonas and provide ongoing residual protection on your hands.

For more info or to purchase F10: http://www.bigreptileworld.co.uk/f10-products-9-c.asp

cheers for now, John

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Our last litter hatched on Christmas day, 0.3 special females (1st below). I'm happy with that. Specials of course, produce crystals when bred with a Mojave/ Lesser or Butter *. Of all the snakes we produced this year, I think my favourite is our crystal male (3rd below). His colour is very hard to capture in photos.  Plus we hatched a paradox pastel super-special male (2nd below), that is also started to colour up after a few shed, with lots of pink and yellow coming through.

Going forward, we aim to add sulfur, vanilla and enchi into our special & crystal breeding project. I see lots of great new combos in the future !!

 *(mystic x special didn't produce a crystal, but a new combo which we hope to copy but with a phantom instead).

All the best for 2012.

cheers for now, John

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Happy Christmas and all the best for the New Year.

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21 December 2011 update : Update on "Designer Morphs: Western hognose snakes" book

Wow, this year has flown past. Over the past 12 months, I've been writing a new book, a complete guide to Western Hognose snakes (including care, breeding, mutations and morphs). My original goal was to have it finished in time for Christmas. Unfortunately I got bogged down in several other projects and haven't managed to make my original deadline. I'm now aiming for the first half of 2012.

Front cover (not final artwork)

As a lot of people have been asking, we have started a book waiting list for those who wanted to be informed when the book is printed. If you would like to be added, just drop an email to: hognose@bigreptileworld.com and we will put you on the list.

PS: If you keep hognose snakes and think you have some unique animals or great photos and would like to see them in print, please contact me via email. All photos included in the book will have the snake owner and photographers name printed underneath them.

cheers for now, John

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Around this time of the year, I start looking at potential breeding pairs for our snakes for early 2012. If you have several multi gene snakes to breed with, figuring out all the possible outcomes can take hours. To make things easier for myself, I keep a running list through out the year (on a spread-sheet) of who I want to pair up, to produce which morphs. I decided long ago, that I would only produce morphs that I liked and wanted for myself. If there are surplus babies, or I don't hit the multi gene combos I want, those are the ones I sell ... yes, I'm my one best customer ! This in no way implies I sell junk snakes ... not at all, I simply know what I want and keep those I like for my own collection. This is a hobby to me so I had better enjoy it. Having a bunch of really neat morphs I've produced is something I enjoy.

Here are a few new breeder males we have been getting ready for this year. A nice Butter/ Enchi, a Sulfur /Calico and a Jungle type dinker with marble/ shatter pattern markings.

cheers, John

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We have just received our stocks of the new "Complete Carpet Python" book. Wow, its a great book.  The authors have done an outstanding job. I'm only part of the way through it, but I can see the amount of work they have put into this. If you keep or like carpet pythons, then this book is a "must have".

So if you need to buy yourself a Christmas present, or one for another reptile keeper, this is it !

 You can click this link for the store:

http://www.bigreptileworld.co.uk/the-complete-carpet-python-390-p.asp

cheers, John

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After receiving tons of emails asking "what size hide box do I need for my XYZ reptile, etc", here are some better photos with a standard sized pen. Should give a better idea of what size hide box for which reptile. Really glad so many people like them !

cheers, John

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For years people have asked me where I got my black plastic snake hide boxes from.  So we have introduced a range of new tough, plastic black hide boxes. All reptiles feel more secure with a dark hide box (hence the black plastic).

I also don't like the ridges and cracks that hold dirt and hide bacteria on naturalistic hide caves, so these hide boxes are smooth and easy to clean and disinfect.

We have four sizes available exclusively in our Big Reptile World UK store:

 http://www.bigreptileworld.co.uk/reptile-hide-boxes-37-c.asp

Treat yourself to an early Christmas present ... your reptiles will thank you !

cheers, John

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Just when we are getting to the end of our 2011 snakes hatching (still one last clutch in the incubator), our Central American boas are breeding for 2012 ! .... this is a never ending cycle.

CA Hypo het Blood boas breeding.

We have also added several new ranges of products to our Big Reptile World Store - Repashy SuperFoods, Vetark professional vitamins and minerals plus adding all the Exo Terra vivarium light fittings and canopies. They are the only way to light Exo Terra vivs. Here is the link:

http://www.bigreptileworld.co.uk/lighting-fittings-36-c.asp

We will also shortly be adding our own range of reptile hide boxes (especially made for racks systems) and some new books in time for Christmas.

cheers, John

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I'll be speaking at the Aquatics Live expo at London Olympia this weekend. While mainly a fish show, there is a reptile sector as well. I'm giving several presentations on reptile keeping in the Reptile theatre on both Saturday and Sunday. If you are in or around London this weekend, it looks like a great show to visit with two floors of aquatics and reptiles on display.

For more info visit the website: http://www.aquatics-live.com/index.html

cheers, John

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5 November 2011 update : Pastel Super-special

2nd last clutch of the year and finally produced a super-special male (paradox). Seen with regular special male above. Oh yeah !

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After seeing the very cool looking "black potion" (Mojave x mahogany) produced by my friend Marc Bailey, it got me thinking about future breeding projects for the Panthers. Of course apart from making a super, at the moment I'm thinking of putting them with Crystals, Specials, Phantoms and Mojaves. I believe that will that will produce some very interesting new combo morphs !

Here is one of our Panther females with a young Phantom ... yep they look very similar :-)

cheers, John

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Just had our last Ball python eggs of the 2010/11 breeding season laid. This means they will hatch around the 18th Dec. Hopefully we will get an early Christmas present with something extra special in them. Dad was a special male bred to a dinker female. She has an interesting "look" which gives me hope that we may hatch out something more than just specials (het crystals).

Off to the PRAS show in Portsmouth tomorrow.

cheers, John

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Another week comes to an end. Looked in the incubator and there were a couple of fireflies (fire x pastel ball pythons) hatching, nice ! Have also been asked to be the reptile speaker the Aquatics Live expo at Olympia in Nov, which should be fun. Will post a link shortly.

Lastly we had a couple of our new morphs featured in Practical Reptile Keeping magazine, Nov edition. (even if the colours are a bit off !)

cheers, John

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Crystal ball; just hatched out one with another still in its egg. Second picture after shedding.

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We have a lot going on this week. I'm changing the whole reptile room around, adding new racks and basically getting ready for the coming breeding season & winter. Of course we are still waiting for our last litter of 2011, so its basically all running into one now.

Some of our 2011 babies are starting to show some great colour. Here is one of the double trait lesser/ panthers, looking good. The panther morph is going to be huge for us.

We are also busy running an end-of-summer sale over at our Big Reptile World online store, so shipping is keeping us busy at the moment. (http://www.bigreptileworld.co.uk/).

Lastly on Friday evening, I'm live on CaptiveBred UK forums answering questions on captive care, breeding, genetics, morphs etc. (see banner in update below) and we will be at Doncaster IHS meeting on Sunday. I'll be going through my hold-backs and bringing some along.

cheers, John

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Just had our 2nd last clutch of eggs laid for 2011. Epic (fader)/ pastel/ special female bred by both a special & sulfur/ Mojave males. I'm holding out for a pastel super-special but really will be happy if I get some pastel and sulfur specials or crystals as well !

Epic/ pastel/ special female on eggs

After this, just one more clutch to go .....

cheers, John

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At this time of the year, you often see questions on forums where keepers are trying to identify the morphs they have hatching. The thing to do is simply wait .... let them hatch and shed, then you can see what they are !

Once out there is also a great natural variation in the patterns and degree of colouration expressed. As an example here is a dark 2011 Pastave we just hatched next to a much lighter 2010 hold-back Pastave. Both very nice snakes yet very different. That's the thing when mixing colour and pattern mutations together, you end up with a lot of natural variation which is always interesting.

cheers, John

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I'll be online answering questions at CaptiveBred Forums on the 16th Sept at 20.30/ 08.30 pm http://www.captivebredreptileforums.co.uk/

cheers, John

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Tomorrow, Sunday 14th is the Kempton Park Reptile Expo. We will be there with in the upstairs section.

cheers, John

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After proving out two new mutations recently, we have also hit on another first time triple gene designer-morph. The calico/ sulfur/ Mojave. This is a good year so far ... and our best clutches haven't even hatched yet !

cheers, John

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17 July 2011 update : New Panther mutation proven !

One of the dinker projects that proved out for us. We have had a couple came through this season.

Panthers are a new dominant pattern & colour mutation. We believe they could be a similar mutation to the Mahogany's. If so they will have a super form and in fact be co-dominant.

Brian Barczyk at BHB "Yeah, that looks like the Mahogany's for sure. I would bet that's what they are. "

Background

Our founder female was imported from Africa in 2006 and we purchased her as it was obvious she wasn't normal.

We first produced these in 2007. At the time however we were moving to the UK and I didn't realise what we had produced so sold them as "aberrant" normals to a pet shop in Florida!

This year we produced a litter of 1.1 Panthers and what looks like 2, (possibly 3) Lesser/ Panthers and 1 Vanilla/ Panther. Next year we will put the male back to the founder female to test if there is a super. Once they shed I'll post some updated pictures.

cheers, John

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New anti-mite product available in our Big Reptile World store:

F10 Insecticide Surface Spray

12 July 2011 update :

Another week  ... busy visiting customers - zoos, pet shops and breeders. Always nice to see other peoples reptiles.

Myself with Steve Slater (Curator Reptiles) at West Midlands Safari Park. They have the BEST displays for their retics and anacondas, that I have seen anywhere.

Plus more eggs hatching. Its proving to be a another long egg laying season.

cheers, John

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26 June 2011 update : a crazy BUSY week ...

This was a crazy week. To start, our first big F10 veterinary disinfectant shipment arrived in our US warehouse (now available online from www.bigreptileworld.com).

Then we finished our move to a bigger warehouse in Bristol (UK). We were literally out of room at the old storage facility. Next our first stocks of our new BerryZoo Herbivore foods arrived. They are for tortoises, bearded dragons, parrots and small mammals. The new products will be added into the UK Big Reptile World online store early in the week. We aim to offer them in the US before the end of the year.

With the snakes, all the early ball pythons that hatched are starting to feed, so thats a lot of extra cleaning & feeding to do. Jessie is doing a great job taking care of them all.

And just to top if all off, I was knocked out with flu ... bad timing ! Next week I'm sure will be just as crazy.

Steven moving stock in the warehouse & Megan helping me unpack newly arrived 1kg bags of herbal tortoise food.

cheers, John

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17 June 2011 update : 2011 Ball pythons

Had a few nice clutches hatch so far this year. Some of the most interesting included a weird "super phantom like" female from a dinker project plus some nice calico combos.

We didn't do much with calicos last year, so this year I made sure to get several clutches. They make some of the best designer combos.  Finally hatched out a nice calico/ sulfur male who will be grown up to go with the epic pastel special next year. (always planning ahead !). This years specials/ crystals litters will be a bit latter as we are still waiting for eggs.

Calico/ Mojave & Sulfur/ Mojave          Calico/ Sulfur male (NFS)    

cheers, John

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8 June 2011 update : Boa constrictors - A - Z

This coming Sunday 12th June, I'll be giving a presentation entitled "Boa constrictors A-Z" at the West Midlands IHS meeting at Dudley Zoo. My talk will cover an overview of all the different species of boa constrictors, care, breeding, health issues plus morphs and mutations. I'll try and fit that all into an hour !

Other speakers include Tell Hicks (the bloke who is always painting), Trevor Smith & Nigel Hand. Plus you can see the zoo if the speakers are too boring .... :-)

We will be in the Rainforest Room, Dudley Zoo. If you want to attend, email Dave Law at djlaw54@hotmail.com as there is limited space. It will be a fun day.

cheers, John

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Some 2011 offspring:

Finally got around to taking some photos. This is litter #5

Plus some more gravid females: Epic/Pastel/ Special & another ovulating Mojave.

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2 June 2011 update : This and that

This is always a busy time of the year with several litters hatching this week. Think we just hatched out the first, Calico/ Mojave/ Sulfur  .. very cool !

We are also getting a lot of great feedback for the new Reptaid product. Just updated a new brochure (click link below for more detailed  info and testimonials). Its like a herbal health tonic for reptiles and amphibians. Available from our Big Reptile World store.

Reptaid brochure_BRW.pdf

Lastly, our first F10 stocks have just arrived in New York .... at long last !! For those in the US we will have a limited part of the F10 range in our US online store hopefully in the next week or so.

cheers, John

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15 May 2011 update : Our first baby ball python of 2011

And so it begins ... just pipped our first 2011 ball python eggs. Have another litter of 11 eggs due to hatch tomorrow as well.

Our Black Opal female (Mahogany type female) gave us 7 good eggs. She was bred with a Vanilla/Spider and Moon ball (semi -unproven dinker). I want to produce some supers so will probably hold back several of the offspring.

Boa update: our first CA boas litter is due in about a weeks time. Looking forward to some CA T+Sunglows !!!

We will be at ERAC next Sunday selling books and supplies (look for the Big Reptile World banner). If you have a pet shop, please talk to us about a trade account.

cheers, John

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8 May 2011 update : Visit to the King Cobra Sanctuary and a surprise meeting ...

Yesterday, we visited the King Cobra Sanctuary in Nottingham. We had a good time viewing the well kept and cared for king cobras (Ophiophagus hannah). The sanctuary is run by Luke Yoemans who gave a presentation along with Mark Dainty and Luke’s daughter Nicole . To see the ease and expertise with which Luke and Mark handle these huge snakes, I have nothing but respect for them both. Having worked with large venomous snakes, including adult black mambas and sub adult king cobras, I know they made it all look easy when in fact they are actually both very skilled and experienced snake handlers.

After the highly informative presentation, Luke said to me “I know you”. We realised we had first met 30 years ago, when he was a 17 year old teen working with (the late) Dave Lester helping supply some of the venomous snakes for my snake sit at Dudley Zoo in 1981 ! We spent an hour catching up on news about old friends and reptiles in general.  Overall it was a very enjoyable day out.

I would highly recommend visiting the King Cobra Sanctuary. More information here: http://kingcobrasanctuary.com/

cheers, John

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Just for fun .. Caramel -albino western hognose snake

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28 April 2011 update : Reptaid - reptile herbal health supplements

A few weeks ago we were appointed as UK wholesalers for the Reptaid products. These are organic reptile specific, herbal health supplements which are used by keepers of lizards, snakes and even amphibians. Reptaid is used to target internal parasites, loss of appetite or coloration or those reptiles that simply could do with a boost to their immune system (like a health tonic).

Many keepers are so happy with the results they get from Reptaid that they are using the products on a pro-active basis once a month for a couple of days to help keep their reptiles healthy. With vets bills and medicines costing so much, I'm all for pro-active herbal alternatives !!

There are two solutions, Reptaid (for reptiles under 250 grams) & Reptaid XL (for those over 250 grams).

For more details and keeper testimonies:

Reptaid http://www.bigreptileworld.co.uk/reptaid-30ml---reptile-herbal-health-supplement-203-p.asp

Reptaid XL http://www.bigreptileworld.co.uk/reptaid-xl---the-herbal-alternative-for-animals-over-250-grams-208-p.asp

cheers, John

PS: If you own a pet shop or reptile store, contact us for trade prices.

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The last couple of years we have had some bad luck with our Blood boas. Moving from America to the UK, we lost one of our adult blood boa females. She got a bad case of RI (due to a lack of care by an ex-employee in the USA) and was too far gone when she arrived here. Then last month we found our gravid founder Berry Blood female dead in her cage. (Could have been old age, a heart attack, we are not sure). We were really upset as she had been with us for years and was gravid at the time she died.

Well it looks like all that is behind us now and things are looking up. W currently have two gravid pure CA hypo het Blood females bred by a Berry Blood male we produced in 2006 and a pair of CA hypo het Bloods. So if all goes according to plan, we could have Bloods, Hypo Bloods, Super-hypo Bloods plus Hypos & Super-hypos het for blood. Now that would be nice !

Gravid CA hypo het Blood

cheers, John

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Wow, what a crazy busy week ... whole lotta eggs, snake breeding and F10 is FLYING out of here ... we have some awesome partners who are now distributing F10 in France & Germany and loads of inquiries (and sales) from the USA ! So its all good.

Quick snake update with some special stuff (as in Crystal makers). (l - r) Sulfur/ Mojave x special litter, Epic (fader)/ Pastel/ Special breeding with Lesser male. (aiming for Lesser-Crystals), also been with Special & Sulfur / Mojave males and a Special male & Savannah Pewter (saw the camera and stopped breeding !) and lastly a T+ Sunglow just hanging out having done his job. We are expecting a great CA boa year as well (will make a change after the last few have been less than stellar).

cheers, John

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We had our first couple of ball python females lay their eggs this weekend. So the fun continues. Expecting some very nice new combos this year ....

11 eggs - "dinker" x calico & "moon ball/ dinker project"

The Essex Reptiles & Amphibians Club has announced their ERAC show for 22nd May 2011. We will be there selling books and supplies. We won't have snakes at the show however we can deliver any that are pre-sold (see available inventory - several new snakes added recently). Details of the event are:

Lubbards Farm
Hullbridge Road
Rayleigh
Essex
SS6 9QG 

Open from 10.30am – 3.30pm.

For more details contact Connie (ERAC Club Secretary) on eracadmin@talktalk.net

cheers, John

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My garden thinks spring is here, so do our Ball pythons with several looking to drop their eggs in the next week or so.

Spring has sprung in SW England

Others are still busy breeding as our season now seems to extend over half the year. I'm busy packing for Hamm. No tables just visiting our F10 wholesalers (MS Reptilien in Germany) and signing up a new partner in France, delivering snakes and catching up with friends. Hamm is always crowded but fun ! Now to try and take photos of hold-backs we are selling ...

Calico pair breeding. This is a backup male after the female has been bred by Vanilla bee (yes, I want a calico/ vanilla-bee :-)

cheers, John

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Just back from Denmark where its a LOT colder than SW England. Gave two snake morph presentations at the Danish snake day at Copenhagen University and got to visit with some Danish breeders. (Thanks Soren for the hospitality). My biggest mistake was not realising the Danes are like the UK and don't use the Euro !

(L to r) The mermaid in Copenhagen harbour, myself with Rolf & Soren (Dansk Amfibiecenter) & with Allen Riis (World of ballpythons)

Back home, I'm expecting our first Ball python eggs in the next 10 days, so getting the incubators ready with new stats. Also going through the racks and selling some hold-back animals. Will be taking photos and adding them to the inventory section before its off to Hamm/ Germany on Friday.

cheers, John

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I must admit I like the Netherlands. Okay the weather isn't always great, but the country is very clean, the people are really friendly and most everyone speaks English ! Last weekend I got to visit my friend Michel Klumpers and his girlfriend Patricia and discuss hognose snakes and ball pythons. Michel has one of the nicest hognose snake * collections around, so I ended up with a few new snakes! (thanks Michel).

Also got to visit and see Piet Nuijtens reptiles, including his outstanding albino black-headed pythons, they are super cool.

Myself with Michel and some of his snakes

With Piet Nuijten and his albino black-headed python.

I'll be speaking in Copenhagen next Sunday at the Danish Snakeday (at Copenhagen University). If you are in that part of the world, hope to see you there.

cheers, John

* Many of Michel's snakes are featured in my new Hognose care and morph book (due summer

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Most of our reptiles come from tropical climates where the humidity is much higher than it is here in the UK. So we use plastic boxes (actually cat litter boxes - see images below) filled with damp sphagnum moss in some of our vivariums to help raise the humidity levels. The sphagnum moss acts like a sponge and retains moisture. Whenever we refill or refresh the moss, our boas like to climb in the trays, crawl under the moss and generally hang out in the fresh boxes.

For the ball pythons in our racks, we find that the newsprint / newspaper makes for a rather dry and hot cage, so we add a wet sponge in a plastic container placed on top of the heat tape. This has the same effect as the larger moss boxes.

In addition, we run a reptile fogger *, filled with a solution of F10 (1:1000 dilution) in a litre of water. This pumps out a fine mist into our reptile room with the added benefit of the F10 killing any air borne pathogens at the same time. (This is totally safe for all species of reptiles). So while it may be cold outside, our snakes are enjoying a warm and humid tropical climate. No wonder I spend a lot of time in there !!

cheers, John

* See Reptile Fogger/ F10 special bundles in our online store (link below)

http://www.bigreptileworld.co.uk/f10--repti-fogger-special-bundle-139-p.asp

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Here is a typical email I get "When is the new book going to go on sale?  LOVE the ball/boa book. More fun than my Xbox! Thanks Chuck "   I appreciate the comments Chuck, thanks  !!

So quick update on volume Two (Carpets, Bloods, Rainbows & Hybrids) of Designer- Morphs ... I'm currently working on several books and hoping to have this edition out before the end of this year ... so yes, its a bit delayed (sorry), however its still in production.

One of the biggest issues any author faces when writing a book like this is getting great quality photos. (Most snake keepers & breeders are also very busy and many of them don't really know how to take decent photos !) So if you keep morphs of carpets pythons, blood pythons, rainbow boas (or any other medium sized python or boa morphs or hybrids) AND you can take great photos (or know someone who can) feel free to contact me and maybe I can include your photos in the next edition of Designer Morphs, Vol 2.

cheers, John

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We are smack bang in the middle of the boa breeding season. Breeding boas is a long process that can last up to six months or more from cooling and introducing the breeding couples to having babies born. Here is some action from a couple of the females we are expecting babies from this year.

CA T+ Sunglow with CA hypo, het T+ albino female & a gravid Het Blood boa female with her belly faced upwards.

cheers, John

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This is an English version of the interview that was originally published in the German edition of Reptilia magazine a few months ago. (click on images to enlarge them). It was printed in the two parts in the December 2010 and January 2011 editions of Practical Reptile Keeping magazine.

cheers, John

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Hope you had a great Christmas. I got some new books including a fantastic tome on virology. Enough reading to keep me busy for months. I also got an email today that made my day (copied it below). cheers, John

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Hi John

Well done for producing the best ever Christmas present for a 34 year old!

Your new designer morphs book is excellent. My 1st edition is so worn out I was due a new one! The format is better and the overall quality is better - an excellent 2nd edition.

You signed my 1st edition when I brought a cinny and black pastel from you. Now I need to buy another snake from you so you can sign my 2nd edition!

I am looking forward to the 3rd edition already!

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Just launched a banner-ad campaign for the F10 range of reptile disinfectants and hand hygiene products. What do you think ?

cheers, John

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Its that time of the year again when we all celebrate (well we hope you do) and give gifts. So here are a few book suggestions for the reptile keeper in your life (or you can buy them for yourself) - all available from Big Reptile World of course: http://www.bigreptileworld.co.uk/books-8-c.asp

• Keeping & Breeding Australian Pythons
• Keeping & Breeding Australian Lizards
• Rattlesnakes of the USA & Canada
• Geckos - Professional Breeder series
• Designer Morphs - Ball pythons & Boa constrictors

cheers, John & Mel

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Had an interview with Marc Mense that was published in the German Reptilia magazine (August/ Sept edition). Its written in German so if you can understand it, here is the article.

cheers, John

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I'll be speaking (and signing books) this Sunday 28th November at the British Herpetological Society/Thames & Chiltern Herp Group joint meeting on November 28th in Amersham, Bucks. If you want to attend, here is a link for the event and the full agenda.

http://www.thebhs.org/news.html

If you are not a member and would like to know more or to join the BHS, their website is at http://www.thebhs.org

cheers, John

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This is great news for us, we have been talking with F10, the leaders in veterinary disinfectant and hand hygiene products for the last year. Now we have been appointed as their sole UK & German distributors for sales into the Herp market.

We will be supplying wholesale to reptile pet stores, exotic vets who work with reptiles as well as regular sales through our online store. We will post more details on the Big Reptile World site shortly.

For more details until we update the website, drop us an email at F10sales@bigreptileworld.com

cheers, John

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We just got back from exhibiting at the NARBC Houston exhibition. It was great catching up with friends and breeders from the US, particularly my buddy Brian Barczyk (BHB & Snakebytes TV) and Robyn Markland (ProExotics). Both of whom will be working with us selling F10 Reptile disinfectant into the US herp market.

Also got to chat to fellow South African Donald Schultz (Venom Hunter, Wild Recon, etc). He was showing the HexArmor snake protection gloves. Having spent many years milking venomous snakes myself I can see where they could be useful (like when handling mole vipers, Atractaspis spp). Donald will be visiting us next time he stops over in the UK, although it will have to wait for spring if we want to see any European adders!

On the store front, we have just added several new titles:

• Rattlesnakes of the United States & Canada
• A complete guide to the Reptiles of Australia
• Field Guide to Snakes & other Reptiles of Southern Africa
• A snake hunting guide - methods, tools and techniques for finding snakes.

We will be at the IHS/ CREAKS Kidderminster show this weekend.

cheers, John

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Many thanks to all those who have purchased copies of our new book - Designer Morphs. For those still waiting to buy, we are getting VERY LOW on stock in the UK & Europe and will be sold out by Christmas (so if you want to buy a copy as a present, buy it now as they will be sold out) (see  www.bigreptileworld.co.uk )

We still have stocks in the USA (see www.bigreptileworld.com )which are also selling fast. At this time, we have no plans to re-print, so like our last book, when they are sold, that's it, no more !!

One of our own line of Blood boas at 5 years old ... still nice and red !!

In breeding news, out Blood boas are busy, so here's hoping for some nice pure CA dwarf bloods & hypo bloods (with Colombian mixed in :-).

Also just got our last clutch of the year from a Vanilla x Vanilla/ Spider ... I'm holding thumbs for a Super vanilla/ Spider !

cheers, John

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As most people who talk to us know we really believe in the F10 products. Plus as we are currently in the process of launching the product range into the USA. Here is a link to an article written by a vet in South Africa on the various uses for the F10 range of disinfectant and treatment products. It covers treatments for burns, wounds, RI and other reptile diseases.

http://www.healthandhygiene.co.za/issues/issue7/index.htm

We sell the entire F10 range of products in the our UK store (www.bigreptileworld.co.uk) and will shortly have the disinfectant products in our US store (www.bigreptileworld.com) where we are the exclusive authorized distributor for F10 reptile & amphibian products.

cheers, John

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1st October update: New online store opened

After battling with shippers and customs for what seems like ages we eventually got our US stock of Designer Morphs books into our US warehouse. So the new Big Reptile World store for US sales is now open (see www.bigreptileworld.com). We will be adding a lot of new products over the next few months including the F10 range of reptile disinfectant products for which we are the exclusive US distributors.

Couple of shows we will be attending this month include, PRAS in Portsmouth on the 26th and then its off to the USA for NARBC in Houston at the end of the month.

Answer to mystery snake morph below: Sulfur / Mojave

cheers, John

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22nd September update: IHS Doncaster show  & Big Reptile Wold updates

This Sunday, 26th we will be at the IHS Doncaster show. Look for the Big Reptile World tables.

We have added several new products to the store recently, including these no contact mini temp guns.

With winter (and the main snake breeding season) on the way we find these handy temps guns invaluable for quickly checking temps without distributing the snakes. We have been using them for the last 6 years and never had a problem. After having dozens of people ask me what I use, we decided to stock them as unlike many cheaper products (that hardly work at all), these Raytek units are very accurate and just keep going.

(click the link for more info)

http://www.bigreptileworld.com/infra-red-temperature-gun-167-p.asp

With autumn arriving, we are starting to think about end of season pairings ... however we still have eggs from last season in the incubators with babies due in mid Oct. That's when we start cooling our Central American boas. I know several breeders who have eggs and babies in almost every month of the year ! Here is a female we have lined up to breed this year ... any guesses what she is?

cheers, John

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6th September update: general ...

I want to recommend two books from our Big Reptile World Store. Yes, this is a "sales pitch" but these books are worth it .... I have a huge collection of books myself and always appreciate any new good titles .... hope you do to.

"Snake Diseases - preventing & recognizing illness" - a very good guide that can be used by both vets and snake keepers and breeders alike. Good reading for all snake keepers !!

Probably the best hardback guide to snakes of Europe. Great photos containing 345 full-colour photographs, 20 drawings, 37 distribution maps, and tables. Highly recommended if you have any interest in field herping in Europe.

(follow link to store: http://www.bigreptileworld.com/books-8-c.asp)

Lastly introducing our newest morph .... Pippin, a 9 week old Jack Russell pup !! She is busy tearing up the house .....

cheers, John

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Well Daytona Reptile expo was interesting ... much smaller than previous years, however still plenty to see. This blue Aru GTP was my favourite snake at the show. (click for bigger image). Look out for my report in Practical reptile keeping magazine.

I also got the chance to go play in some of the swamps ... however it was just really hot ! I guess I've got accustomed to living in Europe.

We also had a couple of snake drop late clutches of eggs while I was away ... looks like only one female left to go then that will be it for 2010.

Lastly will be at the CREAKS show in Kidderminster next Sunday. Come by and say hi ...

cheers, John

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I'll be at Daytona, Florida this weekend signing books and writing a "what's new" article for Practical Reptile Keeping magazine in the UK.

Looking forward to catching up with all my US breeder buddies ...at least those who are making the pilgrimage to Daytona.

cheers, John

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Back from vacation and getting ready for the Kempton Park reptile show tomorrow. If you are there I'll be giving a 45min presentation on ball python and boa constrictor morphs plus answering questions on genetics, morphs, care, breeding etc.

Savannah

I'll also be signing books at the Big reptile World stand. Come by and say hi!

-----------------------

Designer-Morphs 2 update: we have sold hundreds of books and received great feedback, thanks everyone who has written.

However our shipment to the USA has been delayed again .... looks like we will only have our books in our warehouse in early Sept ..... I know this is highly frustrating for everyone who is waiting for copies. We are really sorry but there is nothing we can do to make it move any faster .... we had delays in Germany (scheduling the shipment, then German customs held us up  - they thought we were a terror group - huh ??) and even more red tape from US customs .... come on guys, there are only books (on snakes, that's all) ... We looked at air-freight but then we would have to put the price up as the book is very heavy (over 2lbs a book) and air-freight is expensive so we are hanging in there.

cheers, John

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There have been many reports over the years about salmonella in reptiles. Most keepers however are not aware that frozen rodents can also carry the salmonella bacteria. If a snake eats a rodent with bacteria it will shed salmonella in its faeces (snake poop). Salmonella in humans causes diarrhoea, vomiting and cramps. Salmonella can be dangerous to young children or those with a weakened immune system. 

Prevention is much better than a cure with salmonella ! Simple steps to avoid infection include:

1) Wear disposable latex gloves when handling frozen rodents or when cleaning your reptiles.

2) Use a strong hand disinfectant after handling your reptiles. (I only use F10 Handgel as it kills bacteria, including salmonella and harmful viruses, without drying out your skin).

• F10 hand-gel is available from our supplies store: http://www.bigreptileworld.com/f10-biocare-9-c.asp

3) Clean your cages with a strong disinfectant that provides ongoing protection against any shed salmonella. I spray F10 on the cage, hide boxes, branches, everywhere.

• F10 disinfectant is the best you can get: http://www.bigreptileworld.com/f10-biocare-9-c.asp

4) Be diligent to ensure all children (and adults) wash their hands well after handling any reptile.

5) Don't eat when handling your pet reptiles.

6) Lastly, if you keep frozen rodents in your home freezer, make sure they are kept in a closed container and totally separate from any other food. Home freezing DOES NOT kill all bacteria and viruses.

FYI - details about a salmonella outbreak in frozen rodents in the USA & UK:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/30/business/global/30mice.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper

cheers, John

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Over the weekend, a UK keeper suffered a tragic fire in his snake room. It looks like a live rat may have escaped and eaten through a thermostat cable thus allowing his heat cables to melt his plastic vision rack and start a fire. (see link below for full story).

http://www.captivebredreptileforums.co.uk/ball-royal-pythons/36251-reptile-room-fire-warning.html

While this is a tragedy, we can at least learn from it.

1) Ensure you have good thermostats on all your heat cables (like these :http://www.bigreptileworld.com/thermostats-22-c.asp)

2) Have a CO2 fire extinguisher outside your reptile room

3) Fit smoke alarms inside and outside your snake rooms. We are installing wireless smoke alarms with a remote sensor in my home office as an extra pre-caution.

4) Don't overload plugs. If in doubt ask a qualified electrician to look over your plugs, wire and all electrical heating.

cheers, John

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We are continuing to get great feedback for our new Designer-Morphs book ...

"In my opinion the best ball python and boa book ever written! It’s a must have for anyone that is even thinking about breeding those two species." Brian Barczyk - BHB & Snakebytes.tv

Hey we agree !!

USA & Canadian sales: We will have books available in the USA in late August. We are accepting pre-paid orders now. $73.00 shipped from our warehouse in Michigan as soon as the stock arrives.

• Paypal payments to: sales@bigreptileworld.com

cheers, John

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Been a bit too busy to take photos of hatching babies but found these guys in the incubator today so grabbed the camera. They are siblings, same mother, same clutch but different dads - an Enchi / Mojave and a savannah (Mojave x cinnamon), nothing too spectacular but still nice. (click on the pics for bigger images).

cheers, John

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Ok, so after a few delays we opened our new online supplies store (with free shipping on all orders over £50.00 ... PS that's UK mainland only), see www.bigreptileworld.com

We will be adding a lot of new products over the next couple weeks and months. If you want to be kept informed of new products, specials as well as other snake morph news, just sign up on our mailing list ... we won't spam you :-)

cheers, John

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One of the most common requests on reptile forums is "how do I get my ball python to feed", so here is an updated article I wrote covering the how's and why's of feeding ball pythons. Feel free to download it and share it on any forum.

Feeding Ball Pythons_2010.pdf

cheers, John

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"Received mine this morning and what a cracking book it is hats off to you John and to those who contributed towards it well done and wish you great success with the new book" Darren Pierce, UK

" Very impressed with the book John, great layout and a very easy reference guide, almost a ball python recipe cook book...well done. "  Scott Wilkinson - Captive Bred Reptiles & Forum

" It is great for doing what the others tickle the surface at, listing and showing pictures of as many morphs as possible" Shirley, UK

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Our inventory of books has eventually arrived from our printers in Germany so we will start to ship out all pre-orders today.

To purchase the new Designer-morphs, we are accept payments via paypal to: sales@bigreptileworld.com or email us for alternative payment methods (bank transfer or cheques).

The price is £49.80 plus £5.20 1st class Royal mail, recorded delivery, total delivered price £55.00 (UK sales only)

Email us at sales@bigreptileworld.com for details of European and other international sales. We will have books available in the USA at the end of July.

Our new webstore - www.bigreptileworld.com will be open from the end of the month for a compete range of reptile supplies.

Lastly, we will be at IHS Doncaster this weekend, selling and signing books. Come by and enter our free tee-shirt prize draw.

I also have a bunch of new snakes to add so will find some time to take photos early next week.

cheers, John

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As our new books are arriving from the printers early next week, we are extending the pre-print special offer pricing until the 15th June (see more details in previous post below).

Our new reptile supplies web-store, Big Reptile World (www.bigreptileworld.com) is opening 3rd July with a broad range of books and other supplies. Be sure to check it out.

Lastly we will be at the Federation of British Herpetologists (FBH) conference next Sat 19th (I'll be giving a presentation on "Snake morphs and how to avoid harmful mutations") and at the IHS Doncaster show on Sunday 20th. We won't have any snakes at the show (unless they are pre-sold and we are only delivering them) but we will have our new book and other supplies. Look for the Big Reptile World tables and banner.

We will be giving away some very cool "Big Reptile World" tee-shirts in a lucky-draw at the show (no purchase require, only a valid email address)

cheers, John

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Designer-Morphs 2nd edition will be available around the 10th June 2010. We are offering a special, signed book, pre-print offer of £45.00 plus postage *(see payment details below) for orders and payment before 10th June. Regular retail after 10th June is £49.80 plus postage.

* Pre-print special offer payment details: £45.00 plus £5.24 1st class Royal mail, recorded delivery, total delivered price £50.24 (UK sales only).

Or if you wish to collect your pre-paid book from the Big Reptile Word table at IHS Doncaster show on 20th June, the price will be £45.00 (as long as we receive payment before 10th June).

Paypal payments to: sales@bigreptileworld.com or email us for alternative payment methods (bank transfer, direct deposit, postal order or cheques).

Email us for details of international sales. We will have books available in the USA at the end of July.

cheers, John

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I'll be speaking at Hamm in Germany on 6th June. If you can read German, here is the release and link from the official Hamm site.

http://www.terraristikahamm.de/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=77&Itemid=46&lang=de

cheers, John

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We will be at the following UK shows under the Big Reptile World banner (Big Reptile World is our new online reptile store which will be opening at the end of May)

• Doncaster IHS show 20th June & 26th September
• FBH Kempton Park show 15th August (presentation on Designer-morphs)

Our first 2010 ball python eggs have started to hatch, below is a nice litter of chocolate ball pythons that just hatched.

2010 chocolate ball python litter

cheers, John

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We have just received the book cover design back from our publishers and this is what it looks like .... what do you think ? Drop us an email or twitter post with comments.

cheers, John

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In an ongoing exercise to introduce new and exciting morphs to the UK & European markets, we have available a range of codominant Roswell boas and visual het Roswell (Ladder-tail) boas. The het Roswell (Ladder-tails) we have available are all either Kahl albino, 100% het albino or 66% possible het albinos. Roswell boas are one of the most exciting boa mutations around and are still a ground floor breeding project to get into.

Visual het Roswell (het albino)

Email me with any questions.

cheers, John

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Small clutch from our honey ball, laid on Easter Sunday. Now those are real Easter eggs! Mum on the eggs and the clutch (5 eggs, 1 slug) below. Looks like she will go into a shed, she is so dark, normally she has a honey-orange head. Still waiting on the chocolate eggs from yesterdays post ...

cheers, John

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Saw an article in the media this week that stated only half of UK school children in a survey knew the meaning of Easter ... wow, that's crazy. So in case you are unsure, it has nothing to do with chocolate eggs, Easter bunnies or anything like that. Easter is the weekend where the approx 2 billion Christians worldwide celebrate the death of Jesus at Calvary (on good Friday) and his resurrection on Easter Sunday. So now you know ...

Of course we just eat Easter eggs because we like them ... and in keeping with the chocolate egg theme, here is our chocolate ball python getting ready to lay .. chocolate (ball python) eggs, and hopefully with some super-chocolates in there as well. We will post baby photos :-)

gravid chocolate ball python female getting ready to lay eggs

cheers, John

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After discussions with our publishers, we have decided to split the new updated Designer-Morphs into two separate volumes. Volume One, due out the 1st week of June will cover mutations, morphs and hybrids of ball pythons (Python regius) and boa constrictors (Boa constrictor spp). Volume One will be approx 350 pages.

Volume Two, will be published in early December and cover mutations, morphs and hybrids of other popular boa and python species including; carpet pythons (Morelia spilota spp), blood & short-tailed pythons (Python curtus spp) and rainbow boas (Epicrates cenchria spp). Volume Two will be approx 200 pages in length.

Nice example of 2009 Calico ball-python (nfs)

By writing two separate books we can go into greater detail, include and cover more morphs. If you have any morphs or hybrids you think should be included in the 2nd volume, please drop me an email.

cheers, John

..............................................................................

Over the last few weeks we have added some additional Central American dwarf boas to our collection including some adults CA hypos het for Blood (d/het for dwarf hypo bloods) and this stunning CA caramel-albino sunglow (T+ x hypo). With their smaller size and easy of keeping, true dwarf boa morphs are some of the nicest snakes to work with.

Caramel-albino sunglow. His colours will get stronger as he matures

Still working hard to finish the updated Designer-morphs book. Our launch date has slipped out to the first week in June.

Also working on a web-store for our new company, Big Reptile-world, more news shortly.

cheers, John

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Well spring is on its way here in the SW UK, trees are starting to bud and spring flowers are pushing up. Spring time is also getting close to baby season for our snakes although like last year we will probably have eggs and babies right the way through to Oct.

One pairing we have been waiting for is our striped Berry Blood boa male (we produced him in 2006) breeding a high coloured Central American hypo female. All babies will be 100% het Berry bloods and at least half should be CA Hypo, het bloods ... which of course is double het for true dwarf Central American Bloody hypos. Additionally the female is 66% het T+ albino, which opens the door for future opportunities. They have been breeding on and off for the last 6 weeks, so the countdown has started.

cheers, John

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Seems you can't throw a stone on either side of the Atlantic without it hitting a crazy environmentalist. Here in the UK, there are plenty of over the top tree huggers who want to impose their will on everyone else. In the USA, there is the loony PETA and the HSUS. If you live in the USA, enjoy animals and want to have some sort of freedom from this bunch of crazies, check out this site.

http://humanewatch.org/

Here is a copy of an ad that ran full page in the New York Times. (click for a bigger image)

Just for the record (so I don't get nutty emails), I'm as concerned about the environment as anyone, I re-cycle, I'm not cruel to animals and I love nature and wild life. I also support, GOOD anti cruelty to animal organisations that haven't been hi-jacked by the crazies.

What I can't stand however are the over the top, hysterical, taliban like wacky environmentalists who worship nature and want impose their radical ideas on everyone else. (If you don't want to eat meat, fine but leave me alone). The fact is many animal rights organisations today are nothing more than money hungry, power hungry big businesses that act like a bunch of nazi's if you don't agree with them. They hoodwink the public into giving them millions of dollars/ pounds/ euros by deception. Many are also misnamed. They are actually ANTI - any kind of pets, ANTI - any kind of farming, ANTI - people.

If you have a pet (any pet) their ideas WILL impact you in the next few years. If you have a pet reptile, make sure you join all the reptile societies you can that are fighting for your rights or else before long, you may not have any left. These include:

USA - http://www.usark.org/

USA - http://www.dontmesswithmypet.org/

UK - http://international-herpetological-society.org/site/

UK - http://www.thebhs.org/

cheers, John

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A few breeding updates we are happy about, firstly we just saw our Honey ball ovulating, which is a good sign. If you haven't seen this before, it looks like the snake just ate a jumbo rat. She has been breeding with a Fire male as her son from last year wasn't up to size. We are still uncertain if she is recessive or if we simply missed out on last years clutch, hence we are keen to see what she produces this year!

Honey ball with the ovulation "lump" moving down the body.

Another clutch we want to see is from our unproven araza ball female with a vanilla-bee (vanilla x spider). Last year the araza female bred a very light YB male and produced a what looked like YB fires. If she (the araza ball) is in fact a fire, we will get vanilla-fires (which are very cool looking), if not we will see. I suspect she is a new dominant mutation ...

Araza ball and vanilla-bee

cheers, John

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Both the Wall Street Journal and the Economist have been covering the pending US constrictor ban (S373). They are only covering the tip of the iceberg but at least, they are not hysterical like most media outlets who never let the facts get in the way of a good story!

Check them out here:

http://www.economist.com/world/united-states/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15498320

http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB10001424052748703575004575043951350432886-lMyQjAxMTAwMDEwMTExNDEyWj.html

cheers, John

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If you haven't seen Chris Weller with his house full of pet lizard, check this video link:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newsvideo/weirdnewsvideo/7148390/The-lizard-man.html

Note the size of the cages, whole converted rooms, before you rush off to buy a water monitor. Of course they don't quite need that much room, but that is a great way to keep them if you have the space! (not so certain they require the TV and the cushion though :-)

Over here we have a lot of snake breeding going on ... at least with the vastly reduced collection we have left. Looks like I'll have to check the incubators shortly.

Better get back to the book writing ...

cheers, John

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Still busy writing like crazy, the updated Designer Morphs is taking shape! Still aiming for the end of March.

Have also added several new snakes for sale onto the Boa and Ball python pages.

In case you didn't see this, here is what the UK looked like during the freeze a couple of weeks ago. I guess if we get any more global warming, we are all in danger of freezing to death!

(photo copyright NASA or some other overblown government agency that uses your tax dollars like they were their own)

Couple more interesting reports for all those who believe the BBC, UN and most government agencies on man-made climate change .....

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100023598/after-climategate-pachaurigate-and-glaciergate-amazongate/

This one is about major glaciers that haven't heard the news about global warming yet:

http://www.ihatethemedia.com/12-more-glaciers-that-havent-heard-the-news-about-global-warming

cheers, John

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Wow, January is cold, we have been in negative temps for over a week (I live in a bit of a valley with a stream in the back yard which doesn't help). It warmed up to just over zero C (32F) today and it felt warm outside ... this is when I miss Florida!

If you haven't seen the news on our homepage, I'm busy getting the second edition of Designer Morphs ready for the printers. Hope to have it out for the end of March (aiming for Hamm but not certain if we will make it or not).

The book will be hardback, around 350 full colour pages, full of all proven ball python, carpet python, blood python and boa constrictor morphs, mutations and hybrids. Price will be £45.00 (49.80 EUR). There will be a pre-order form up on the website from around mid March. In the meanwhile drop us an email (alphapython100@yahoo.com) if you want to be added to the waiting list and informed when the book is ready.

See the homepage for more info (John Berry Reptiles) and details on how to submit photos if you want to see your morphs in print.

cheers, John

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Happy Christmas

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Our first snow is due here on Friday ... and a colder than normal winter is forecast ...I guess no one told the weather its meant to be in the midst of getting warmer ... (just like the last 3 years were colder, not warmer).

Climate change will effect us all one way or another, mostly in your wallet ... all the hot air in Copenhagen is sure to costs us lots of money with increased energy, travel and tax bills. All while the "experts" aren't agreed on what good any of this legislation will do. Couple of worthwhile articles.

Climate change is natural, not man made:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/6815681/Climate-change-is-natural-not-man-made.html

Al Gore is full of bull ... again !

http://www.climatechangefraud.com/enviro-extremists/5815-al-gore-talks-climategate-on-cnn-and-slate-misstates-the-facts

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/copenhagen-climate-change-confe/6815470/Copenhagen-climate-summit-Al-Gore-condemned-over-Arctic-ice-melting-prediction.html

Okay snakes news .... although we are in a major downsize of our collection we have our first snakes breeding for this year ... it just didn't feel right NOT to breed any snakes! Especially when we still have a few pet projects we want to prove out. Will update as the season progresses.

..............................................................................

Interesting article on climate change ... global warming could all be a lot of hot air, at least from Al Gore, the clueless media and our politicians (they like the idea as it gives them a chance to tax us all more). Check it out:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8299079.stm

Of course the Met office are the folks who can't even forecast correctly for the next week or month but they tell us we need to believe them for the next 100 years ...yeah, right.

09 Savannah Pewter starting to colour up

cheers, John

 ............................................................................

Was busy checking our breeding charts and it was already six months ago (early March) that we had our first 09 Ball python eggs. We still have our last eggs in the incubator and with the end of summer, I'm already thinking of potential breedings for next year. Breeding snakes can be an all year round event !

Just had a strange clutch of eggs hatch from an unproven Fire female with a unproven Fire male. Until the babies hatch I can't figure out if they are dark Fires, light Yellow Bellies or YB Fires ..the joy of working with new lines of morphs !

One of this years hold backs, a Blond Sterling Pastel.

cheers, John

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As the summer starts to wind down, we still have eggs being laid with new clutches this last week and others hatching. We also sometimes lose eggs ... just had an entire Vanilla x Super Pastel clutch go bad. However in the next 2 weeks we have other Vanilla (het hypo), Fire and unproven Phantom clutches all due to hatch, so some nice stuff still to come this year.

Also still adding more proven breeder adults (both Balls and Boas) to the available pages as we thin our collection. I'm open to offers on some of the breeders, worst I can say is no ... so if you are interested, email me an offer.

cheers, John

............................................................................

We are in the process of sorting out which adults and sub adult hold backs we want to keep. See under the available tab/ ball pythons at the bottom of the page for the ones we are letting go.

cheers, John

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We have produced some very interesting 09 Ball python babies this year. Here are a few of them:

09 Sterling Pastel from our Blond Pastel line

09 Savannah Pewter

The Savannah Pewter is what we are naming our Pewter Mojaves. They are a tripe gene designer morph with loads of breeding potential as all three genes have a super form. This is the first one ever produced ... and we hit a pair of them !

We also produced a pair of Savannah Balls (Mojave Cinnamons) that are outstanding. (see photos in the collection page)

 I'll be away in South Africa for nearly 2 weeks so will update on new clutches that are hatching when I'm back.

cheers, John

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Due to seeing so many questions on forums, decided to write a simple guide to feeding ball pythons. Feel free to copy and post on any forum or website (as long as you leave it complete as is).

Click the link below to open file (Abode Acrobat reader required)

Feeding Ball Pythons.pdf

If you don't have Adobe Acrobat Reader click here to download for free:

http://get.adobe.com/uk/reader/

cheers, John

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So much happening haven't had the time to update recently. Firstly IHS Doncaster was a good show for us. (and my daughter Jessie's Crested Geckos).

Had some very nice eggs hatch recently. Here is one of two Blonde Sterling Pastels we hatched out. (I believe they are the first ones hatched in the UK?) Dad was the first Pewter we produced back in 2005 and mum was a Blond Pastel we got from Africa as a baby. So that makes her and her sister, Blond Sterling Pastels.

cheers, John

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Super Vanilla female

............................................................................

This time of the year is always interesting from a breeding point of view. The incubators are getting quite full which is always a good sign.

This female just laid today. I call her my "Amber" type female as she looks very like the female Amir used to produce his Ambers. She was bred by both a Fire and a Pewter so have to see what she produces.

While our Ball python season is turning out rather well, our boas aren't doing as nicely. Our Blood boas had the year off however we were hoping for some T+ Nicaraguans. Unfortunately the female dropped 11 slugs last night. This was her first season so maybe she was too young ? There is always next year ...

cheers, John

............................................................................

Went to check on on the gravid boas this morning and our dwarf CA Tiger female had dropped 11 healthy babies.

Dad is a dwarf Central American Albino boa so we have a litter of 100% het dwarf Albinos. These will grow up to produce probably the smallest Albino boas anywhere. Mum is around 8 years old and still under 5ft and dad is very small. He came from Pete Kahl from his attempted Blizzard boa project. The babies are so small, they are real dwarfs !

09 100% het Central American Albinos. These guys are small !

We also had 5 baby Ball pythons sticking their heads out of their eggs this morning. I can see a couple of Pewter's and at least one Super Pastel. That's our first Ball python clutch to hatch this year so we are off to a good start.

cheers, John

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Our incubators have been filling up for the last month with some nice clutches of Ball pythons eggs. With many gravid females getting ready to lay and others still being bred its shaping up to be a good breeding year for us. Our first eggs should start to hatch around mid May.

Nice 10 egg clutch from a Chocolate/ Sable type female who was bred by a Pewter.

cheers, John

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We are now well into breeding season and expecting our first eggs very soon. Here are a few quick pics of some of our gravid females (excuse the newspaper in the cages, I find it so much quicker to keep them clean this way, however it looks terrible in photos!)

Honey Cinnamon

Blonde Pastel. She has been locked up with a Vanilla and Pewter males.

Aztec Stripe. When snakes are gravid I don't bother to remove any shed skin so as not to disturb them too much.

Mojave female who didn't like my camera. Hopefully she is carrying some Super Mojave blue eyed lucys in her eggs !

Last one, our CA Caramel Albino dwarf boa. This is a new line.

Cheers, John

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January update:

2009 is bringing some changes. Due to time pressures from our other business interests we are being forced to cut down on the number of snakes we are currently keeping. Our "Ball pythons available" page have been updated with some of our hold backs we will be letting go of (unless we find some more hours in the day :-). These are the ones we were planning on keeping ourselves so are all great quality snakes.

In the meanwhile many of our adult snakes are expecting babies around mid year.

cheers, John

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Happy Christmas 08

Christmas is a season of joy and giving.  Its also a time for us to consider others less fortunate than ourselves.  

In order to make the world a better place you might consider giving an alternative gift this Christmas season. Here are some great causes who are helping improve millions of lives. Please take the time to look at their sites. 

http://www.musthavegifts.org/Default.aspx

http://www.barnabasfund.org/projects/projects_02.php

Super Vanilla Pastel, copyright Sheila Mcquade/ GCR

God Bless and have a Great Christmas and New Year. cheers, John

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If you live in the USA, I want to encourage you to join and support the work of USARK, the United States Association of Reptile Keepers.

While the keeping of reptiles is becoming more popular all over the world, there are still many people who think they know better and want to restrict or outright ban you from keeping any reptiles. USARK is fighting to support the Herp hobby and industry. They need your support. Here is the link to their site.http://usark.org/

If you don't live in the USA, I would highly encourage you to join and support your local reptile or herp association or club in your own country. If there isn't one, then start one ! There is strength in numbers.

cheers, John

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Well that's at least what the enthusiastic article in the Telegraph is claiming. The numbers look like 8 million reptiles in the UK vs 6.5 million dogs. Here is the link:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/3500882/Reptiles-now-more-popular-pets-than-dogs.html

2008 VPI Axanthic

We are gearing up for our first breeding season in the UK. Should have interesting new babies from around May onwards.

cheers, John

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We are currently very low on 08 stock but will have our last 08's in January. Then its a break until eggs start hatching around May.

Here is a bright Enchi female we held back from this year. We currently have a few male Enchis available.

cheers, John

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We will be at the PRAS (Portsmouth Reptile & Amphibian Society) show on the 26th of this month. Its at the Harvant Leisure Centre, Hampshire PO9 2AY. Just put PO9 2AY in your SatNav or Google maps. The show will be open from 10.00am to 04.00pm.

Its the first time for us at this event so we look forward to meeting the good people from PRAS. Any questions about the show email Lyn on Jolyn03@bulldoghome.com

cheers, John

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Large constrictor update: As I mentioned 3 weeks ago (see my blog entry dated 12th Sept below), we need to watch out for bozo's letting large snakes go and giving all reptile keepers a bad rap. In case you missed the story, someone let a "17 foot" Burmese python loose up in Lancashire (or it escaped). There are reports its probably closer to 8ft, however my points are still the same. If they couldn't handle a 8ft snake what would they do with a 17ft one ? Here is the link to the story:

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/skynews/20081002/tuk-gardener-s-17ft-snake-shock-45dbed5.html

The escaped "17ft" Burm which is now only "8ft" (copyright Sky News)

I'll state it again, in my opinion the average keeper is not capable of keeping large constrictors as pets. If you are intend on buying an Anaconda, regular Burmese, African Rock python or Reticulated python PLEASE ensure you have a plan to house it when it is an adult .... and letting it go or handing it to a reptile rescue center or zoo IS NOT THE RIGHT ANSWER. If you want a large snake go and see someone has one and get advice on how to keep and care for it before you buy that small, bright little snake. Again a word to those selling large constrictors, PLEASE be responsible in who you sell to and make sure they understand how big these guys can get !!If not YOU are just as guilty as the person who let this one out. (yeah I know I probably lost a few friends here ... but if they are responsible this isn't aimed at them and most keepers I know agree)

Grandpa Spider again: Just got an email this week that Carl, our pet Spider Ball python in the photo below, is a Grandfather ... again ... he is now retired (as a full time pet) but its always nice to hear that the snakes you have sold are producing babies of their own ... plus knowing they won't get too big for anyone to handle on their own !!

cheers, John

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Perfect pets: Most kids today like snakes and Ball pythons make great pets as they are tame, are easy to handle and they don't get too large. Here is my daughter Megan with Carl, an old Spider male. We don’t use him for breeding any longer; he is now a full time pet. He doesn’t seem to mind being handled at all.

Interesting read: If you are looking for an interesting and fast paced read, I would recommend “The Lizard King” by Bryan Christy. I was given a pre-publication copy for review and I read it two days flat. It covers the early days of reptile smuggling mostly in Florida, US. Having met and known many of the “characters” and heard part of their stories its was interesting to read an outsiders view. Fortunately most popular reptiles are now bred in captivity so smuggling has pretty much ceased, although many countries set themselves up by enacting over restrictive laws (like Australia for example) that encourage villains to smuggle reptiles out. You should be able to get a copy of the Lizard King on Amazon. 

Designer Morphs: We managed to get a few last copies of our book in from our US distributor, but these are the last ones. So if you want a copy, don’t delay as they will be out shortly.

Berry Chocolate Ball

cheers, John

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Disclaimer: Please take note, this post is primarily aimed at the UK & European market due to the average size of accommodation here.

After many people have asked me in person or at shows what I think about keeping large snakes let me jump in with both feet. The largest snake I have in my collection is around 6ft / 1.8m long.  I have worked with just about every large constrictor in nearly 30 years of keeping and working with reptiles and I just don’t think most people are capable of properly caring for the larger constrictors. Let me also clarify, I think Retic morphs are outstanding looking snakes, however too many people buy them just because of how they look.

Now, I know many people will disagree, some of whom have a financial motive, but the simple fact remains, unless you live in a large house like those in the USA you probably don’t have the room for a full grown, adult 18-20 ft plus Retic, African Rock python or even a large, old Burmese python. (I’m talking about ADULT snakes at 5 years plus, not a baby or sub adult). Yes, there are some very good private keepers who are responsible and know how to care for a large constrictor, but your average hobbyist who buys a baby Patternless African Rock or Albino Retic doesn’t have the space or the ability to care for anything once it gets over 12 ft -15ft plus.

Every year, hundreds of big constrictors are offered to Reptile Rescues, Zoos or sometimes even released into the wild. Many others are being kept in cages which are far too small by keepers who are scared to take them out.

Please note, I’m NOT talking about the DWARF Burms or Retics, I’m specifically talking about full sized Retics, Burms, African Rock pythons and Anacondas. In my opinion there are way too many of these large constrictors being sold without hardly any thought for what will happen in the next few years when they outgrow their cages. With current restrictions in place in many parts of the US, many breeders are now simply dumping their available large constrictors into the European and UK markets. I believe this is a potential disaster in the making, one which will make it harder on ALL reptile keepers if we don’t help educate younger and perhaps less experienced keepers about the responsibility of owning large constrictors.

Bottom-line, if you are set on getting a large constrictor, please do your homework first and figure out where and how you can PROPERLY care for a snake which can get over 18 ft long.  

PS. If you disagree with me, please re-read my post, I’m NOT anti large constrictors, I’m just anti breeders selling them without educating potential buyers on their size and care requirements.

cheers, John

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We had a good show this last weekend in Doncaster. It was a good venue and well run. Big thanks to Richard of the IHS. It was nice to meet so many people I've only spoken to on email. Our next show will be in Portsmouth, UK on the 26th Oct.

A nice Butter female from this year.

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There have been so many interesting new designer morphs produced this season I thought I would highlight a couple of them I really like.

First place of course has to be Bloody Albino Boa produced by Jon & Rich Ihle of Salmonboa (see below) This is a double recessive boa morph displaying both the Sharp Albino and Blood boa genes.

photo copyright: Rich Ihle/ Salmonboa

The Bloody Albino boa is the end result of a long project for Rich & Jon and an outstanding example of the potential for the Blood boa gene* 

*This year due to a variety of unforeseen circumstances we didn’t produce any Blood boas babies. Our breeders  however are now primed for the fast approaching 2008-09 breeding season. We are aiming for pure dwarf original line El Salvador and our own Nicaraguan line of dwarf Blood boas (pictured below) early next year. Here is an adult male Berry Blood boa, a true dwarf at under 3 foot long !

photo copyright: John Berry/ John Berry Reptiles

On the Ball python front, Canadian breeder, Mark Mandic just hatched the first Piebald x Axanthic, that he has named the PieAxanthic. I love the silver, black and white look of this little snake (Mark seemed very pleased as well !!) The interesting thing was Mark didn’t even realise he was working with Axanthics as his snakes were hets and he didn’t realise until his Pied eggs hatched! (I think that’s the new definition of a nice surprise!) I can see lots of breeders wanting to replicate Mark’s success.

While we may not have PieAxanthics for some  time, if you are looking for either Piedbalds (or hets) or Axanthics (or hets) we can supply either as well started, feeding 08 babies.

photo copyright: Mark Mandic/ Markus Jayne

Quick update on our communications: Now our move is sorted, we just need to get our broadband back up (I won’t say anything back about BT as they might take even longer to get me back online !!). I am checking emails on an ad hoc basis, however if you don’t get a quick response from contacting us, please be patient I will get back to you. I’ll also new stock photos and prices updated by next weekend. 

cheers, John

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After many questions on forums and emails, here is a 08 Chocolate Ball (our own line). They all have sooty bellies (like Sables), good blushing and at first glance look similar to Black Pastels. The Super Chocolate is one of my new favorite ball python morphs !

In the meanwhile, enjoy your summer .... even if you are in the UK, we actually had some nice sun the last few days, hey better late than never ! We were in Cape Town recently and the winter there was the same as the weather in Europe (see below)

cheers, John

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The Doncaster IHS show was great for meeting up with other UK reptile keepers although it was a little early in the season for our 08 babies. If you live in the UK and keep snakes I highly encourage you to become a member of the International Herpetological Society (www.international-herpetological-society.org) and attend the shows.

I've been asked for photos of our adult Central American Caramel Albino boas, so here is the adult female. She is not related to any US T+ lines although her color reminds me of the VPI Colombian T+ boas ... although being a dwarf boa she is half their size. We are getting her ready for breeding this coming season.

Breeding wise, we have eggs, ovulations and Ball python babies starting to hatch all at the same time. The Boas are getting close as well although we won't have as many as we hoped for due to moving our snakes. We have some new 08 Hypo Nicaraguans, CA Motleys & CA Tigers. Next season all our breeders will be over in the UK.

Finally after so many positive emails from my comments on Global warming/ Climate change (see post below) here are some more related posts .... for those who don't agree with me (and have drank the sky-is falling cool aid), chill out .... global warming isn't all bad, we know its real, but we will adapt and the upside will be more biodiversity, more land to grow food on with warmer weather ... hey even warmer summers in the UK ... now that's good news !

http://www.climatescienceinternational.org/

http://www.nationalpost.com/related/links/story.html?id=594722

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=164002

http://www.sci-tech-today.com/story.xhtml?story_id=102000A7ZB1O&page=1

cheers, John

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Nothing to do with snakes but should be of interest to all of us. It has everything to do with how the mass media are hysterical and politicians & bureaucrats intend to tax and spend YOUR money over global warming. Just like the Y2K scare was all nonsense (after billions of dollars were wasted and the only ones who benefited were those "warning" us about the dangers of Y2K) .... Global warming looks to be headed in the same way .... of course most politicians LOVE ANYTHING which allows governments to take your money (its called a having a "vested interest") ... and most journalists think being green is switching off their PC at night and thinking happy thoughts ... ok I jest but read below for some other views:

31,000 scientists, including more than 9,000 with PhDs, signed a petition that states, there is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of carbon dioxide, methane or other greenhouse gases is causing, or will cause in the future, catastrophic heating of the Earths atmosphere and disruption of the Earths climate

http://junkscience.com/jun08/pprelease060208.htm

http://scienceandpublicpolicy.org/

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,357201,00.html

Now the IPCC's researchers project no global warming over the next decade ... huh ?

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,353844,00.html

Bottom line, yes going green is important .... I recycle, I don't drive a gas guzzler, I teach my kids not to waste water, electricity, I have eco-friendly appliances in my house, etc, but I don't believe this is cut and dried ... don't be afraid to question the motives of those involved and don't believe the media and Al Gore's hysteria ...

http://www.forbes.com/free_forbes/2007/0903/021.html

Ok I guess I should add a snake photo as well :-) ... here is a cool Super Pastel .... more updates on snakes next time. I'm off to Doncaster for the IHS meeting this weekend .... should be fun.

cheers, John

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We are expecting a litter of CA Motleys and Tigers shortly. In the meanwhile here is an updated photo of one of the Nicaraguan Ghosts boas we produced last year. She is looking good. I can't wait to see the first pure Nicaraguan Super Ghosts.

Another updated photo of a Central American Hypo (het for T+ Albino). She should be breeding with our new line of CA T+ boas next year.

cheers, John

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If you don't have a copy of our book, Designer Morphs you will soon be too late as its nearly out of print. We have a few copies left and then they are all gone. If you to grab one before its too late, click through and order online http://www.designermorphs.com/purchase.htm

The 08 baby (neonate) season is already showing some outstanding new mutations. Here is one of the nicest  designer morphs from last season, a CA Hypo Leopard produced and owned by our friend big Mike at Basically Boas.

What a great example of a smaller Central American boa designer morph. (okay I admit I'm totally biased towards the smaller Central American boas !!).

Copyright Mike Weitzman/ Basically Boas

We are a little behind with our 08 babies as most of snakes bred very late in the season .... patience is hard at this time of the year !

cheers, John

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US Fish & Wildlife Services (USFWS) Notice of Inquiry

If you are in the US and keep or breed pythons or boas, you will know all about the USFW Notice of Inquiry. If you haven't responded you need to do so now as the deadline for submissions is 30th April.

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Not much news this week, so here are a couple of interesting documentaries I thought everyone should see ....

1) Sharkwater - one of the best movie documentaries of 2007

http://www.sharkwater.com/synopsis.htm

 2) Expelled, no intelligence allowed - how open (or closed) is your mind ? This one will cause big waves in 2008.

 http://www.expelledthemovie.com/enterflash.php

 Click on the link and watch the trailer.

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As per last weeks update, here is a photo of our new BurmBall. I'm really excited about this project as there are so many people who love their Burmese pythons but who wished they didn't get quite so big. So BurmBall hybrids could be the answer. I think she is outstanding.

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Just got back from Hamm in Germany. Its the third time I've travelled over and is always interesting. Apart from the packed crowds (as the facility is too small) and the unfriendly organizers, its great to see species you don't always see at the US shows. We picked up a BurmBall  (Burmese x Ball python) hybrid as a fun joint project with Scot Wilkinson from Captive Bred.

I also collected a sub adult pair of T+ Albino Central American boas. We have been waiting to get these guys from a breeder in Italy for over a year. They are totally unrelated to any current US Blood lines and will be bred into our Blood and CA Hypos.

Here are a couple of recently taken photos of some of our Green Tree pythons:

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All of our breeders are very doing what they are supposed to do at this time of the year. Of course if you have ever wrongly sexed a snake (and everyone has at some time) this is the time of year you find out !! In this case it was a snake that was sold to us, a nice Carpondro (GTP x Jungle Carpet). We thought it was a "she" however she has proven to be "he" ... oh well, at least he is now breeding a nice big Green Tree female ... aiming for 75% GTP Carpondros.

The morale of the story is, no matter WHO you get a snake from its YOUR responsibility to check its sexed correctly. I have made mistakes before and I've had some of the biggest breeder friends sent me wrongly sexed snakes. It happens. If you catch it early most breeders will exchange or refund (if they don't report them on the BOI). If its been months or years, I would say its way too late.

Here is an Albino male doing his best to give us some Albino Spiders, with a female Spider het Albino. Our Ball pythons are working hard for us !

cheers, John

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06 February'08 update - PURE Central American Boas ?

Some US boa breeders (and wannabe breeders) have recently been dismissing the term "Pure Central American Boas" saying its too broad. In our opinion this term is actually quite useful and shouldn't be dismissed. This label is used to donate that these are not intergrades or mixed with boas that originated from Colombia where Boa constrictor imperator can reach sizes of up to 10 ft. So boas termed as CA or Central American boas only come from lines that originated in Central America (or Mexico, yes which is technically North America), so its a SIZE issue and not a LOCALITY issue. The fact is most CA boas if not intermixed with any Colombian Bci lines will mostly stay under 6 ft with males much smaller. This is a big consideration for many people who don't want or can't accommodate large constrictors.

Secondly, the label "PURE" is used to donate ONLY from a particular locality or mutation. For instance we sell PURE Nicaraguans (like the one pictured below), that means no other CA locality has been bred into these lines. Or PURE Blood boas, meaning no mixing of Salmon or other Colombian influenced blood lines . Thus we will continue to term our boas as PURE CA boas where appropriate.

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So far our Ball python breeding season has been rather slow. Blame it on the weird weather in Florida. We have however seen good breeding from some important snakes we have been waiting to prove out like our Honey Cinny female seen here with a light Pewter male. As a baby she had a bright orange head like no other Ball python we have seen before (see photo below). We believe she could an extreme new color form of Cinnamon Pastel although as an adult she does look like the the now proven Black Lace Ball Pythons. Either way we have high hopes we will know for certain later in the season when we get babies.

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We have seen some good breeding action so far from our Green Tree pythons (Merauke x SCZ Tri-color outcross breeding), our Berry Blood Boas, our Central American Motley x Central American Tiger Boa (these should be the nicest looking, small CA Motleys around !) and our Ball/ Royal pythons. Hoping to prove out our unique Aztec Ball (looks like a Genetic Stripe), seen here breeding with a Pastel Yellow Belly male.

We have also just got a shipment with the last of our '07 and few '06 Ball/ Royal pythons into the UK. All of these guys are great feeders and ready for new homes (see Mojave below). If you are interested drop me an email for a good deal. I'm open to some short term payment plans as well.

Cheers, John

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Breeding season is underway. I'm really looking forward to some nice Pinstripe Ball pythons morphs from this nice light male (photo below).

Breeding hint: If you are breeding your snakes this season, be careful not to over breed your males. I've seen too many breeders get way too thin due to over enthusiastic keepers not giving their snakes a break. Its OK to take the males out of breeding and feed them (if they will eat). If they get too thin and refuse food, its a good idea to move them to another room away from the females altogether.

Here are some updated photos of one of the pure Nicaraguan Ghosts (Hypo x Type 1 Anery) we produced late last year plus our Super Hypo Nicaraguan. These guys are dwarfs and grow very slowly. This year we are attempting to breed some of our 3 & 4 year old holdback Hypos and Pastels for the first time so it should be a good Boa season here at JBR.

Also, we are nearly sold out of our last copies of Designer Morphs, so if you want a copy, you had better grab one quickly before they are all gone. They are on sale at www.designermorphs.com

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Last year was a disappointing breeding year for us as we were moving and it totally messed up our reptile breeding plans. This season however looks to be much better. We also have high hopes for several potential new morphs. Here is one of them, we are calling her a Orange Cinny (as a baby her head was bright orange). She will be in with a nice yellow Pewter male.

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August 07 - Nice pure Nicaraguan Striped litter from a "possible" Type 1 Anery NIC with a Hypo NIC .... Reverse Striped Ghosts and Hypo Nicaraguans ... Central American Boas rock !

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