Ok, its not just news, its really my blog where I chat about snakes, environmental issues, creation science issues, movies, etc and whatever else I'm thinking about ... plus whatever new is happening with our reptiles ...

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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I wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who has purchased from us this season. We really appreciate your business. This has been our first year of selling our snakes in the UK and most everyone has been great to deal with. At times its been difficult as we have had to ship many of our 08 babies over from the US (with all the delays and hassles that entails !) so thanks for bearing with us. Next season we will have most of out breeders laying eggs and giving us young (boas) here in England so deliveries will be much easier !

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.

Our next show will be the IHS Rodbaston show on the 16th Nov. Its being held at Rodbaston Collage, Penkridge, Staffs (3 miles from junctions 12 or 13 on the M6). You can put ST19 5PH‎ in your SatNav or Google maps. The show will be open from 10.00am to 04.00pm.

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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Newly available: At the end of the month we should have some new 08 Ball pythons available. These include VPI Axanthics, Black Pastels, Enchi Pastels, Pinstripes and Orange Ghosts. We will also have some last 07 Albino boas and hets. 

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 (of several hundred snakes) 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.

We got some nice 08 neonates in but as many were pre-sold we are already out of several ! Still to come are Axanthics, Caramels, Black Pastels, Bumblebees, Hypos, Spiders (normals plus hets for Hypo & Albino), more Womas plus a few others.

A nice Butter female from this year. We have a few available.

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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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Brief update as we are in the middle of packing to move again ... at least its not an international move this time, its only 8 miles away to a bigger house in Bristol, UK. As soon we are settled in I'll update the available pages which are rather outdated. We will have a lot of Ball python morphs available over the next 6 - 8 weeks. If I'm slow on answering emails, please forgive me, I will get back to you.

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. We will be at the Barking show in July and again at Doncaster in Sept (this time with loads of new stock).

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 traveled 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 breeders 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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