Inland Reptile

Like so many others I was captivated by herps at a young age. I was fortunate my parents were supportive of my early endeavors in herpetoculture and my childhood and adolescence were filled with a long succession of reptiles and amphibians. This interest only grew as the years passed, keeping a wide variety of species and attempting my first forays into captive breeding. My passion for pythons began in the early 90s when I obtained a young Python reticulatus, which admittedly may not have been the best choice for a first python! That animal was just the first of many that followed as my interest became an obsession. That fascination soon extended beyond just keeping pythons as I took a strong interest in the evolutionary biology and natural history of this group of animals.

For the last 15 years I have maintained a large collection of pythons and boas. Over that time I have also been fortunate to combine my interest in these species with one of the other great passions in my life, Travel. While maintaining captive animals is a very rewarding experience for me there is nothing like the thrill of searching for and finding specimens in their natural habitat. Traveling internationally is more than just a vacation it is a life altering experience, one that changes your own world view as you learn about the world and your own place in it. I feel fortunate to have had the chance to explore and look for herps in Central America (Belize,Guatemala), Southeast Asia (Thailand, Cambodia), Australia as well as the Peruvian Amazon.

Throughout the years my collection has continued to grow, and now contains more than 20 species. After many years of deliberation I made the decision to work with Reptiles full time, leaving my job and becoming a full time breeder in 2006 when my first son was born. I consider myself to be very fortunate in that I can be at home to raise my two boys while at the same time doing what I love for a career.

My long term focus has primarily been on Indo-Australian pythons, though I also have a strong interest in the Neotropical tree boas (genus Corallus). Among all the species I maintain and breed it is the carpet python complex (Morelia spilota) that holds the deepest fascination for me. This closely related clade of species and sub-species display almost limitless variability in color and pattern and it is this group that comprises the largest portion of my collection. I have spent considerable time researching the various bloodlines that I work with in an effort to maintain genetically diverse groups of pure specimens, something that is particularly difficult with spilota complex.

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