| What's New |
 |
| This is my new male solid yellow Amazon Tree boa who arrived here on 1/15/02. |
| Well, I suppose its about time that I did the "What's New" page. Since I'm not feeling very talkative tonight(its 12:14 PM), I'll get right to the point. On 1/15/02, I got my first amazon tree boa(named Zim). He's a little male solid yellow baby. On Thursday, Zim(ATB), Aussie(JCP), Hondo(honduran milk), and Callie(calking who belongs to my sister) all ate some f/t mice. Squeezer(ball python) didn't eat on Thurs. since he refuses f/t, but I'm still trying to convert him. Being insectivores, of course, the girdled lizards didn't eat Thurs, but tommorrow, I'm getting some crickets for them and a mouse for Squeezer. Well, that's it. Come back often for more updates! Updated: Jan. 20, 2002 |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Hey, all. You may have noticed I've made quite a few changes to the site. I hope you will like it especially my photo album on this site(not the webshots one...I'm reserving that one for cases where I have to outlink to other sites...Geocities doesn't let you do that). It promises to be far more extensive than any old Webshots photo album with possibly hundreds of pictures. I'm planning on putting a "Guest" photo album where I can post pictures of other's animals with their permission and of course credit to the photographer(feel free to send your pictures of your beautiful herps...please try to submit decent pcitures though. Nobody likes a crappy fuzzy pic). Also, I have taken the time to add a forum to this site. It is designed for herpers to exchange information and perhaps sell and trade herps...please send in e-mails describing why I should or should not add a forum for selling and trading herps. As you undoubtedly have noticed I have a large picture of a beautiful Speckled Kingsnake(Lampropeltis getulus holbrooki) above..I will tell this little(or more appropriately, big)fellow's story. My dad was driving on a dirt road yesterday when he came across a big magnificient Speckled kingsnake. This particular snake has some scars and wounds(no idea what caused them) however they aren't too serious and they should be pretty well healed by his next shed if not, a visit to the vet is in order. We are treating this snake for parasites right now and last night, he ate two large f/t fuzzy mice(and only 5 hours after capture)...no wonder why kings are such good beginner snakes. Normally, I don't keep WC herps but this guy is just doing too well to let go. Great feeding response and everything. I love speckled kings...they look just like minature diamond pythons...if you've never seen a holbrooki in person, you're missin out on something great. Now, I am not(I repeat, am NOT) advocating that you capture and keep WC snakes...CB snakes are the best way to go...in fact, except for this king, all the other snakes in my collection are CB. My first instinct was to tell my dad to let the king go when he called but my sister wanted to see him so dad brought him home and well, my sister fell in love with him so...I'm just happy he's healthy and has a good feeding response. Ok, I'm rambling here...so bye and happy herping! -John Veazey Updated: March 19, 2002 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Hello, all. I'm working on my site some more today and so well, I just decided to put in another entry on my "Updates" page and there certainly has been a lot to update about. All the herps fed a few days ago and I got pictures of almost everyone eating but I just put Aussie's picture on here because I snapped off way too many shots to put on here. As you can see, I've already put 3 photos above this entry. The middle one is of course of Aussie eating. Cool pic, huh? The 3rd one is of Squeezer. I snapped off about 19 shots of him a couple nights agom because he was cruising around his cage and well, I decided to take the oppurtunity to snap off some pics. I took about 3-4 pics in his cage then took him out and put him on the carpet for some better pics...and I think I found the secret to taking good pics inside(ssh!). As you can see, the pic of Squeezer is really good...at least, I hope you can.lol. Yesterday, I was out herping in the backyard when I found these two lovely little common treefrogs and I just had to take some pics of these emerald beauties. I took more pics(you can see them at my webshots page). Even though I'm not interested in amphibians to keep, you just gotta appreciate these guys' beauty in the wild. To see all of my new pics, go and check out my webshots album. I've been a bit lazy lately with my site so it may take me a while to completely update my album on this site so for now just look at Webshots. If you want some info on the kingsnake that we caught on March 18th, here it is. Torian had a PERFECT shed about a week and a half after we captured him and I was right, the shed did improve his scars and stuff, you can't even see them anymore...the injuries were pretty fresh..I still have no idea what caused them but hey, he's healthy and eating. I've treated him with Black Knight, and ever since, I haven't noted any external parasites, however I continue to keep him in quarantine, just in case. It'll take a while for this WC guy to clear my security measures. He's eaten a few times pretty well, though last night he did refuse, but I'm going to try again later today and hope. Updated: April 21, 2002 |
 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
 |
 |
| Hello. Its been quite a while since I updated this site. I figured I might as well get around to it. All the herps are doing great. I decided to put in another entry on this page since a lot of things have occured. Firstly, all of my snakes have shed now. I found it rather interesting how they nearly spontaneously shed at the same time. But, that's nothing compared to the awe I feel when I look at my roomful of newly shed herps. They are simply just too georgeous, especially Aussie. His coloration is so striking. By the way, the center photo is of Aussie the day after he shed. Look at him...eye candy....you may have noticed a picture of a young JCP(Jungle Carpet python)on the left. That's a picture of Aussie when he was just but 4 weeks living with me. He was about 4 months old in that photo. Quite a difference, eh? Since the photos are kinda small, you will be able to click on both of Aussie's pictures to enlarge. Secondly, Squeezer my ball python, just ate his first f/t mouse after 3 years of trying. Praise the Lord! I've been trying to get him to eat f/t since I got him. I decided to try the advice on this proexotics.com FAQ. This is awesome advice for anyone trying to switch a stubborn snake to f/t,rats, whatever. I also recommend taking the time to read other FAQs on their site. This is great stuff, learned over years of experience. Ya can't go wrong with Pro Exotics. I've been making plans alot for the future lately. One of them is to get Neodesha cages for all of my herps...currently, I'm saving up for 48 and 36 inch Neodeshas. The 48 inch is for Aussie and the 36 inch is for Squeezer. I'm also going to be expanding my collection. I'll be pairing up all my animals and getting a few more species(mostly boids). I'm also planning on getting more Cordylus tropidsternum to join my two and a group of Warren's girdled lizards(C. warreni). I'm going to try building some large outdoor enclosures for both species to see if it'll help in breeding them. I'm planning on putting my plans with these 2 species in an article on this site. And if anyone wants to hear an update on Torian, here's one. He's doing fantastic! He's pounding down mice like there's no tomorrow. He's also pooping a lot of good healthy droppings!lol. Nothing like a colubrid for frequent cage cleaning, but it gives me something to do! He also shed recently at about the same time as my other snakes. I'd forgotten how awesome these holbrooki are. I've also been seeing a lot of herps(in the wild) around lately. To date, I've seen and photographed: 1 common toad, several house geckos, bullfrog, and a gray treefrog. I saw a snapping turtle, some anoles, and a DeKay's brown snake, but I didn't have a camera around to photograph them. Even though my main interest is in boids, I still gotta admit, good ole' Louisiana herps are awesome. I'm goin up to S. Dakota on Monday. Here's hoping I see some herps up there. My grandfather has a HUGE property up there and I'm hoping to find some herps, especially since its summer. Later on this summer, I'll be going to Florida and Georgia. No problem finding herps there. Florida especially has lots and lots of herps. Georgia ain't too shabby either. :) can't wait! Updated: June 29, 2002 |
 |
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
 |
 |
| Hey, all. I ended up not going to Florida because of something that came up quite unexpectedly. Guess what it was? EGGS!lol. The kingsnake that we caught turned out to be a female and laid her eggs on July 25, 2002. The total was 12. The 2 pictures to the right above are of the beautiful mother and her little unhatched ones. I candled them almost immediately after laying and a couple days after...since then I've tried to bother them as minimally as possible. The final results of my candlings are: 2 eggs, I think are infertile, but I'll incubate them just in case. 2-4 eggs are iffy, and I'll keep incubating them. The rest are definitely fertile. Last time, I candled 'em, I could see little embryos and blood vessels..I'm so excited. Now here's hoping I don't mess up the incubation. Since this was a completely unexpected event, I had to make a completely "fly off the wall" incubator. Luckily, lately, I've been reading up on certain incubation techniques for boids, so I used my knowledge in that area to build an incubator for them. I'll write an article about the incubator and the results of the hatch later. The eggs seem to be doing great, but I don't want to count my "chickens" before they hatch. This method, called the "no susbtrate" method, seems to be extraordinarily successful for boids, so I'm hoping it'll work with colubrids. I believe that this is the first time its ever been tried with a colubrid. Can't wait! Zim shed on August 4th, and may I say, he is looking georgeous! That's his new pics of the handsome boy on the far left above! He had a fantastic perfect shed...not even one stuck scale. He had a bad shed last time because I wasn't home to mist him the very night he decided to shed, so I' m happy that he had a perfect shed now. His first shed was perfect too...he seems to be thriving. He's pounding down fuzzies and I'm planning on moving him, Hondo, and Callie(my sister's calking)up to hoppers very soon. I ordered the Neodeshas for Aussie and Squeezer last week(they should be arriving this week), because Neodesha Plastics of which Bush Herpetological is a branch, has made the decision to close Bush Herp. because Neodesha Plastics is growing rapidly and don't have enough employees to devote to Bush Herp. :( . I love the Neodesha cages....I sure hope somebody else buys the cage molds and continues what Neodesha started. I've also added a site to my links page. The site belongs to my best friend's mom and it details the animals the family owns including their herps. Even though my friend's collection is small, its growing rapidly. He's definitely caught the herp bug! :) Now finally, I have a friend who shares my passion for herps! Pics are coming soon on their site, so be sure to visit and see the animals. Currently, he has a georgeous columbian boa(this little girl has made me rather interested in the B. constrictor complex plus lots of pics on kingsnake.com...great...another species I have to try...lol) and a pretty little amelanistic cornsnake. Soon, my friend and I will be going to a couple herp shows, so I'll be sure to take plenty of pics for this site. I can't wait...soo many herps.... don't ya just love herp shows? Well, that's it. I'll keep y'all updated! Updated: August 8, 2002 |