Interview with a Keeper

What started your passion for reptiles and getting involved in the hobby?

I had no perception really of reptiles until I met my now husband, Garth. He had been a reptile lover since he was about 10. He was into birds when I met him and when the licencing to keep reptiles in NSW came out in 1997 we were onto it. We went up to Cairns before that and went to Hartley’s Creek Crocodile Farm, where my friend worked at, at the time. They put a large python over my neck and I almost freaked out. When we got back to Sydney, we purchased around 5 Pygmy bearded dragons. In the mean time we became members of the Australian Herpetological Society in Sydney and would go to their meetings, meeting like-minded people. We were probably one of the first to breed these little dragons and they sold like hot cakes. Then we decided to buy a couple of Diamonds. They were sold to us for 100.00 each, I nearly collapsed thinking we were paying a King’s ransom, how things have changed. We enjoyed the pythons, so ended up getting other pythons, Olives, Children’s, Stimson’s, Water, Woma’s, Jungle’s, BHP’s etc.

What age did you start your journey?

I started later in life at 43.

What species do you keep?

Gippsland Water Dragon’s, Woma’s, BHP’s and all the Antaresia species (Childreni, Maculosa, Perthensis, and Stimsoni including the Pygmy Banded Stimson’s) oh and Black and Yellow jungles.

What is your favourite species and why?

My favourite species is the Antaresia species. They are friendly, compact and I just love them. Most are friendly.

Do you breed your animals, and what is your secret?

Yes, I breed my animal. I mainly breed what I can easily sell. No secret. I Just put them in together, if they breed, they breed, if not, tough luck for me.  You have to love what you breed and keep.

What started your passion for reptiles and getting involved in the hobby?

It probably all began before I can really remember. From an early age I had an immense love for animals, not just reptiles. I have early memories of my grandmother helping red bellies and browns off the pathways of our acreage property whilst also taking a lot of photos. From reptiles to birds to plants, all things nature. My passion for reptiles grew from there. I started keeping reptiles that I caught on the property or neighbouring bush before letting them go again a few days later. Back then I had no idea licensing existed. I incubated skink eggs in the early grades of primary school with good success in empty plastic bottles with dirt for fun.
I guess I got involved in the hobby when I got my first python on license in primary school in the early 2000’s. From there I found the Aussie python forum where I got a little obsessed with black and gold jungles. I was breeding bird mutations in high school at the time and that then transitioned to breeding snakes. The rest is history as they say. I still love all animals and plan to get back into more wildlife caring when I can free up some time again.

What age did you start your journey?

You could say the journey started very early. As soon as I was old enough to catch stuff, I loved catching skinks, frogs and tadpoles in preschool. I got my first legitimate on paper python in primary school which had to be in my mothers name, however my step brothers had a blue tongue skink maybe when I was around 6. 

What species do you keep?

That would be a long list, I might forget a bit here. In pythons, I keep Green Tree pythons, Carpets, Antaresia, White Lipped Pythons, Olives, Barroni, Oenpelli pythons, scrub pythons and BHP.
Off the top of my head the monitors i keep are Emerald tree monitors, Kimberely rock monitors, Pilbarensis, Hamersleyensis, Perenties, Lace monitors, Spencers, Mertens, Mangrove monitors, Rusty monitors, Rosenbergs, Scalaris, Tristis, Storrs and Ackies. Geckos I only keep Chameleon geckos and Cornutus leaf tails. Dragons only Boyd’s and Beardies. Skinks only a few Blueys.

What is your favourite species and why?

I have a very cliche answer for this one and I can’t choose just one so I will split it into monitors and pythons. Green tree pythons are hands down my favourite python. For as long as I can remember green or blue reptiles have fascinated me. They were the first python I bred so they have a strong nostalgic feeling tied to them for me. I think they are underrated to keep. I have been lucky enough to keep every Australian python and I hear a lot about green tree pythons not doing anything and being inactive but in reality, I find them to be the most active of all Australian pythons especially if you keep them correctly. They also have a lot of quirks that are fascinating such as the ontogenetic colour change, they undergo, the way they perch and their caudal luring.

My favourite monitor species has to be the emerald tree monitor. They are green and that ticks my love for blue and green reptiles however they have prehensile tails which is very unique and they probably have the most interactive and inquisitive personalities I’ve experienced in many monitors.

Do you breed your animals, and what is your secret?

I breed a lot of my reptiles. As reptile keepers we are incredibly lucky to be able to keep and breed reptiles. To be able to pay for my passion by doing my passion I’m very lucky. My secret is another cliche, do what you love and love what you do. Time and time again we see people come into the reptile industry that do not love reptiles as their priority and they often find it very hard and don’t stick around. So definitely only keep what you love and love what you keep.

What started your passion for reptiles and getting involved in the hobby?

Our family emigrated from the UK in 1972 when I was 7 years old. We were told everything here is dangerous and will kill you. I already had an interest in insects and loved catching things with my bug catcher (remember them?). One day I was playing in the back yard and I saw a scaly head pop up out of the weeds and panicked, screaming at the door for mum to let me in as I thought it was a snake. Fortunately, we had aussies living behind us and the dad came over to investigate. It was a shingleback and he gently picked it up, brought it over and held it so I could touch it. That was it, I was hooked and spent most of my pre-teen and teen years looking for reptiles in my local area.

What age did you start your journey?

I started keeping lizards as a young teenager but only for short periods then I would release them back to the wild. I didn’t start keeping snakes until I purchased my first 2 pythons from Joe Bredl in Renmark. It was a water python and a coastal carpet python in 1988, whilst I was serving in the RAAF.

What species do you keep?

I keep a group of children’s pythons of the marble & T+ morphs, a pair of jungle carpets, a small group of Iron Range GTPs, White Lipped pythons, an Iron Range scrub python and Oenpelli Pythons.

What is your favourite species and why?

Definitely the Oenpelli pythons, they are very docile and mysterious creatures and every day is a learning day with them. I’m hoping to breed my adult pair this season, they are 2017 and 2018 animals that I have raised up over the last few years. I recently acquired another pair that are only yearlings and unrelated to my adult pair.

Do you breed your animals, and what is your secret?

What started your passion for reptiles and getting involved in the hobby?

Being the son of dairy farmers, my parents view was the best snake is a dead snake. I didn’t agree with that being a nature lover. I found it fascinating how snakes could move around without arms and legs and I wanted to learn more about these amazing creatures, that when I was younger people actual feared. As every young kid I caught lizards, pythons and to my parent distain even the odd RBBS, Death Adder or Eastern Brown I encounter. I didn’t really consider how dangerous some of those animals where and back when I was a kid there wasn’t even a licensing system or hobby scene just the odd balls like myself that grew to love these animals with a passion.

What age did you start your journey?

I started young from memory around 10 years old or slightly younger. I’m now becoming an elder statesman of the hobby getting on in my late 40’s. So I’ve been involved for quite some time now and continually learn new things. Believe it or not they didn’t even have internet like today when I first starting developing this passion, it was all reference material out of books or questions and phone calls to older more experienced keepers and friends etc

What species do you keep?

When I first started animals weren’t as frequently available as they are now, Pretty much started with one, than that became 2 and everyone knows how the story goes from there. Once I had one of everything I thought id like to give breeding ago. I started the breeding journey with the plain old common coastal and children’s pythons. If I bred a clutch that money went back into the collection for better caging or better animals etc and I still have that physiology today. The species I keep exclusively are pythons, they are my passion. I specialise in Antaresia and the morphs available within that genus, Aspidites with my locality specific NT Rabbit flat locality and some Axanthic BHPs and tinker a little with some selective Morelia animals.

What is your favourite species and why?

Though I have a comprehensive Ant collection. The Woma python is by far my favourite species. They are a solid robust animal with plenty of personality and attitude especially as hatchlings. Most mellow into really nice adults (I do have some devils in the collection  ). The threat display of appearing to growl, the head butting not actually biting and tail wiggling are so fun to watch. They are easy species to breed and establish though I’ve found with incubation they require a dyer medium and aren’t as hardly to moisture like Ants and Morelia.

Do you breed your animals, and what is your secret?

Yes, I breed selected animals for projects and collection development. Though I’ll only ever breed 1/3 of the collection at any one time. I like to rest and rotate my females. My reptiles and collection are my hobby and passion. I have a full time demanding job that takes up a lot of time. My animals are my therapy animals, if I’ve had a stressful day I go tinker in the reptile room. I see them as living artwork. As mentioned, I rotate and rest females frequently that’s a key thing for myself, I believe that is important to the longevity of your animal’s health etc.

My secret – Source your animals from the best breeders as good healthy animals produce good healthy offspring. Have a goal and plan of what you’d like to achieve. Be prepared and have the ability to house and feed animals if they don’t sell. Make it all about your animals. If your doing the correct husbandry, your animals are happy and healthy and you hit all the environmental que’s (food, lighting to mimic seasons, correct cooling temps etc) the animals will do what nature intended. It is us as keepers that like to over complicate things. Learn your animals patterns and behaviours and as mentioned make it all about the animals and not you.