product review V18 - 9 hole Rack

below is the V18-9 hole baby tub rack from http://www.dragons4you.net/index.html

i ordered this rack on the 21st of November and didn't receive it until the 26th of December  needles to say i was upset that it took over a month to get. but it was 3 days before thanksgiving until the day after Christmas. maybe it was just the holidays. however all the correspondence between is was short and to the point. it wasn't very accurate estimate of time as he told me it would be 2.5 weeks to build and ship. however i received it and was extremely happy with the work, and product for which i paid. the box is made out of recycled milk carton plastic, black and textured on the outside. obviously it holds 9 rather large tubs. they are not very wide but they are nice and long. the inside of the rack where the tubs are held is smooth as glass, and the result is the tubs slide in and out effortlessly. very nice and smooth. the whole rack is very well built, sturdy and not at all flimsy  all of the joints are seamless and very nice. it also came with heat tape added for an extra 25 bones. the builder sandwiched the hear tape between the panels that would make up the floor so the tubs are not resting on the tape itself. it also came with a non grounded plug to plug into any universal 110 outlet, and a nice disclaimer to let you know he wasn't responsible for any damages the heat tape may cause if not used with a quality thermostat. all in all i was very impressed with the craftsmanship. i am very happy with my rack system. i haven't plugged the heat tape in so i'm not yet sure how that is going to work but i will be doing that soon. i am not happy with the sellers communication  or the time it took to get my product shipped out. however i'm prepared to chalk it up to holiday stress, and therefor wouldn't hold back to make another purchase. i think this rack is very well made and am very happy in the long run.

 a wonderful disclaimer

 chord

 pretty long tubes. shouldn't be to hard to create a thermal gradient in this bad boy..

here you can see the heat tape is one long piece, and is sandwiched in between the floor panels. very nice work, that i didn't expect.

 nice and smooth

thanks for looking,
brandon

so i know i just blogged about my trip but before i started the process of purchasing the animal from Rico, i went into agreement with a Kevin Parsons to purchase the beautiful male, Vinsky Blue animal you see below. the care taker of this animal is Rocky Gravley over at Arboreal Enthusiast. he and i decided that after the animal was paid for he would still keep the animal and use him in a breeding loan. so 2 months later he and i haven't had much corresponding but in his recent update he has told me that he has pared him up with his gorgeous female "Stella". she was born a yellow neo, and is an OS x PNG blood line. a paring of these two animals should make for some super killer neonates! i get 25 to 30% of the neonates. 

i think Stella is an amazing animal and i am so very excited about the potential of this clutch. its my hope that my male makes a great breeder and he sires a strong clutch. that would be my best hope. of course the worse case scenario is i don't get any neonates and i just get an awesome male that doesn't breed well, along with the knowledge that he doesn't breed well. and that would be fine with me.

as you can see from the above picture, Stella is an amazing snake. she is so beautiful! i cant wait to see what happens between them!

~brandon

new addition

well, i went and picked up the new addition yesterday. my brother and i drove to see Rico Walder and let me tell you, he is NOT what my superficial and pre-judgmental expectation was. he was a super kool guy and he had some amazing animals. he was not with our time, nor was he with what i would have judged to be "his own time", rather he was a man all on his own, and i found it refreshing to meet someone such as him. with great hospitality, he was very nice and let us not only tour, but hold animals, and talked with us for over an hour, as well as take a bunch of pictures. i learned a lot visiting him yesterday, and i very much look forward to purchasing from him in the future.

my little guy was a little on the dark side, looking like he was going to shed. he is so cute! i got him home and in his temporary tub, until my rack shows up AFTER the Christmas holiday  >:( anyway, he seemed to acclimate well and this morning i found him perched an in a hunting position. i am going to give him a week to acclimate and then i am going to attempt to feed him. i am very excited about his potential. Rico had some siblings from 2010 and they were both stunners! i expect this little gem to be no less stunning. Rico also allowed me to take lots of pictures and here they are. :)

started out with my brother cooking up some breakfast. it was damn good too.

its things like this that make road trips great. fun with friends and or family and great scenery. we stopped on the side of the high way so i could take these morning pictures, and it was a beautiful morning.

 we were so excited that we only got half of a picture of the man with all these animals. that's Rico in the right side.. and me holding a beautiful Aru type local green tree python. the picture doesn't give cadence the beauty of these local animals but they are breath taking. and i look really skinny.. kinda fucked up..

my brother with a found favorite, a hefty and beautiful albino ball python. i was surprised to learn that Rico had some "Dirt Snakes" as he called them. however he was working with quite a few of them. they were all stunning animals. i think this animal struck a chord with Tyler. it was all he talked about on the way home. ha ha

 cooks tree boa, or amazon tree boa. good looking animal.

 other than Green Tree Pythons, which Rico mainly works with, he also works mainly with Emerald tree boas. this one struck my eye and when i went to take a picture, it twisted its head upwards and looked to regard me. it was very interesting. almost as if to say what the fuck do you want!? ha ha i am not a fan of the Emerald tree boas. although i thing they are super kool snakes, they are just not my style. however this one struck me so i had to take a picture.

we were there to purchase/ pick up and see some green tree pythons. and we absolutely got what we came for! here are some of Rico's high yellow animals. stunning!

this animal pictured below, Rico holding it carefully  was an albino green tree python. i was blown away when he pulled it out, i never expected to see one in his collection. i don't think there are more than 3 or 4 of these animals in the world. i could be wrong.but they are super rare. Rico mentioned he hoped to produce some albino animals, and when i asked him what he would charge for animals he wouldn't hold back for breeding stock, he said about 30,000! ha ha ha truly a magnificent animal. i was very fortunate to have seen it.

few babies :)

                                                      this is my little animal. isn't he cute!!

 some blue stuff. this animal below blew the top of my head off! i mean, a fucking gorgeous animal. i was seriously taken back. Tyler reached in to handle the snake and it tried to bite him! ha ha beauty and attitude, just how i like my women!

 a beautiful Aru type animal. this is the quintessential Green Tree Python, in my opinion. of all the locals, there are many beautiful animals that come close, but for me personally, they just cant compare.

these next 2 animals below are siblings to my little snake. these two snakes were born in 2010 from the same dam and sire. they are fine examples of what my little animal should grow into looking like.

 this was my favorite animal of all the ones that were in Rico's care/ collection. owned by a Mr. Bill Babcock this imported male was the sire to my neonate. just looking at him i think its easy to see why he was my favorite. he was the green tree above all others yesterday. i REALLY REALLY badly want him in my collection. the only problem, aside from not being for sale, is that i m confident i could acquire him, but the price would be outrageous  probably 3-5000 bucks. :( i really want him badly tho.. i hope my little guy grows into looking like his sire. its those white flowers that do it for me. kills me!!

after i got home i was greeted with a huge mess, and puppy dogs eager to see me. took me a minute but i finally got the little one in his temp tub. all in all yesterday was an amazing day. i'm glad i got to share it with my brother, whom is one of my closest friends and whom i love dearly. this Christmas has already been a good one and it isn't even here yet

merry Christmas to all who may ready this. see you in 2013!

~Brandon Workman

day after the end of the world

welp, today is the end of the Mayan calender and thus the end of all life as we know it. but tomorrow is the big day! (provided we live through today) i have been waiting for months to purchase a snake from one of these 2 clutches and tomorrow i am going to go pick up my little guy. im very excited! my brother and I are going to drive to Chattanooga tomorrow to visit Rico Walder of Signal Herp. i ordered a rack system to house my little guy, and any other neonates i end up purchasing/ acquiring  however, the person from whom i purchased my rack didn't get done until yesterday. i was very disappointed with the fact that i ordered it a month ago and haven't received it yet, esp needing it by tomorrow night. i went ahead and threw this little simple tub setup together to house my little guy. i set everything up last night hooked up my new Herpstat from Spyder robotics. every thing looks great and running good so far. i look forward to the road trip with my brother and a beautiful little snake at the end of it. :)

almost time.

so this Saturday i  am going to go to Chattanooga to pick up my little guy. i'm super stoked! i don't have my rack system yet so that's total bull shit, but it should ship this week. if it doesn't i'm going to have to wait until after Christmas for my little guy.  other than that not a whole lot going on. my main man, Gorgeous George hasn't been fed in 2 weeks. he went opaque a little over a week ago, and sloughed all his skin last night, as well as defecated  i am going to try to feed him tonight. all his skin came off with no trouble. i haven't had time to thoroughly examine him yet but per his morning inspection, before leaving for work, he looked to be golden.

he is so beautiful. i cant wait to get him some friends. :) my new little high blue neonate is going to make a fine addition. and the other male i have on hold will also be great! i found a guy that has eggs in the incubator right now for some high yellow blood lines that include the legendary Lemontree blood! i'm super pumped about that too. i have put myself on a hold list. babies shouldn't be ready until 3.5 months from now. more posts and pictures to come.

~brandon

few things, no snakes :(

good morning all. actually its 3:15pm but who cares. not much to update on. i have still been blowing moneys on supplies for the neonate i am purchasing from Rico. i will be going to pick up the animal on the 22nd. i'm pretty stoked. i have bought another duel (2) port thermostat. and a small rack that holds 9 tubs. i'm hoping to get in soon and set it up ready for the new neonate. i will also be able to set a plastic tub on top and use the extra thermostat port for an adult tub, thus allowing me to purchase another adult. cant have an empty tub layen around! ha ha the little blue line neonate from Rico is another 800 bucks. i also have Christmas and then regular months bills to pay. i'm going to get it all done tho.. i have sold a few things so hopefully it will all pan out.

the other adult Vinsky blue line animal from Arboreal~Adventures is still on hold. i am going to pay them another 325 this month and pay it off the following month in Jan.by the time that animal comes in i hope to have some new cages from N.W.Constrictors. that's all for now. i have been keeping up the usual bi weekly maintenance and husbandry. Gorgeous George looks great.

everything is good, so check back in a few weeks for updates and a picture tour of Rico's place, along with some new pictures of my neonate. :)

Later,
Brandon

almost thanksgiving

well, there isn't anything new to report on. i haven't taken into account for the holidays so money will be messed up. i should be able to squeeze by however. i have given Rico 800 bucks on my little neonate, and im super excited about him. i have also given Kevin 325 on the other Vinsky blue animal. i should have them both paid for in December  and i will go to pick up my neonate on the 15th if everything goes correct. i still haven't purchased any caging or thermostat or anything for the neonate. its going to be everything o can do to get him paid for in a timely fashion WITHOUT skimping on bills. anyway, i have plans to purchase a 9 tub rack system this week or next week. that will take care of housing. then i just need to grab a thermostat. i wont see the other male for a while, due to the breeding loan. but that's fine. i don't know what to expect from that loan but i have high hopes it will yield positive clutch and i can get some free babies! wont be long and i will have a substantial collection of babies! ha ha i still want some nice Aru type animals too. they are my favorite local of the green tree python, designer blood lines not included. there is another breeder i found that breeds Aru type animals. he is about to pair up 2 of the best looking snakes in his collection. so naturally i put myself on his reserve list. the best thing about this guy is his babies aren't of any outstanding pedigree. even though i consider them to be top quality animals, they aren't from any notable bloodlines. so they will be relativity in expensive. like 375 or so. i may even buy more than one! ha ha

anyway, that's all for this post. hope you all have a happy thanksgiving!

~Brandon

holy shit! out go faster then in come!

ok, the three pictures above are of a paring i have been waiting for for a little while now. Rico Walder of Signal Herp has been breeding Green Tree Pythons and Amazon Green Tree Boas for decades. his name is among the greats in selective captive breeding of these animals. i have been wanting to purchase one of his animals and tour his facility since i started this obsession and learned about him. 

i made a decision to purchase the other Vinsky Blue line animal last week from Rocky Gravely at Arboreal Enthusiast, but was always planing on purchasing a neonate from this, Rico's clutch. the top picture is the Dam, below the Sire, and bottom is the hatchling neonate i intend to purchase. isn't he so cute!!? he has a cute price too, 1500 bones! as you can see the parents are outstanding animals and this little baby will be no less outstanding.

i have already sent 1 of 3 payments to Kevin, the owner of the Vinsky blue animal in my previous post so that deal is sealed. (Kevin the owner, Rocky the breeder in who's care the snake is currently in, and with whom i will be doing a breeding loan. pay Kevin, breed with Rocky.. get it?)  he is in shed right now but his paring starts soon after. it is Rocky's (the breeder) and my hope that a nice clutch is reared. that male has great blood and should produce a nice clutch.. that is, IF he turns out to be a good breeder. which some males turn out to NOT being.. :( even if he isn't, he is still a beautiful animal, worth of my posh arrogance. 

the above little one however is also an animal of amazing bloods. the female is a Vinsky blue animal and as you can see she is an amazing snake. the male is a highland type male with lots of blue, also another top notch beautiful snake. i expect this baby to be as beautiful, or more so, as its parents. and GOD i hope its a female!!! i will have 2 males in my collection, and i would love to have purchased a female from this line. male is great too, i just have been wanting a female for some reason.. its my plan to pay Rico Walder for this little neonate this week. the deal struck was 50% down, and in a month or earlier i am to make a visit to his place of business Signal Herpetoculture surplus, and make my final payment as well as picking up my little jem and touring his facility. i hope to not only have fun and see some beautiful animals, but learn a lot from the visit. so i am going to have to some up with 750 bucks, and soon before some other asshole buys him from under me! stress! ha ha ha im sure i can manage it however. no sweat right!? 

new caging?

good morning.

just felt like writing something this morning so i decided to blog about a cage manufacturer that i ran across the other day while on arboreal.forums. they are cages by Constrictors North West. they have 2 models. their Pro~Stack model and their Pro Line model.

their pro stack model is a very interesting cage, that comes in either white, grey, or black. the cages are made out of a recyclable plastic that is very sturdy and build-able  meaning they break down and ship flat which saves much moneys on shipping. you get the unit and build it up. no the interesting thing about the pro stack model is its many cages in 1. basically you buy a 3 pack or a 5 pack of cages and you assemble it as one large unit. so its not 3 individual cages but 1 unit made up of 3 cage compartments. pretty rad. they have casters for easy moving and are supposedly very light. they dont come with a warranty, because they dont need one. being very sturdy im told i would have to push a unit down a flight of stairs in order to break it. but they sell replacement parts. so thats kool.

now these above are their Pro Line models. as you can see they are made from the same materials and are also very good looking the main difference is that they are individually built cages. they are still stackable, as illistraited in the above picture. but they are not all 1 unit like the pro-stack model. i like the pro line model because it would make moving the cages much easier in case of moving from one building to another. they are reasonably priced even in comparison to each other. and all prices include shipping, so that's pretty awesome.

the only thing i don't like about the cages is they they don't have any ventilation  they come with 2 (one on either side) slits that are 3/8ths thick and 2" long. that's what they are calling ventilation vents. which in my opinion arnt worth a dam. but being that their is no warranty, and being that they are plastic, it would be easy to drill for vents, and doing so wouldn't void any sort of warranty..

all in all i think its pretty sweet. i like what they have going on over there. its my plan to purchase one or a few and try them out. im thinking a pro stack model for my quaintness room would be pretty helpful.

until nest time..

monday morning..

not really much to share. Gorgeous George took another meal last night. he struck out towards my hand but ended up biting the large tweezers. upon doing so he also wrapped up the food item. it was a bit of a struggle but after getting the tweezers free he still held on to the feeder mouse but he didn't have it in his mouth so i was a little worried he would have dropped it. however i replaced the towel over the front of his cage and he ,of course, took his time but he swallowed the mouse. so i was very pleased. its in my plans to purchase some rat fuzzies in bulk from a rodent supplier. i wanted to weigh the mice i have been feeding him in preparation to purchase the proper size feeder rats. this weeks feeder weighed 23 grams. so i will be buying rat fuzzies in this weight range.

this week will also, hopefully, be the the 1st payment on the new guy "RG-12-21" from Arboreal enthusiast. i am a little reluctant to spend the moneys.. i could deff use it in other areas of my life but im going to go ahead and spend it anyway.. unless R.G. has changed his mind. i have sent him an email to confirm our order. however i'm confident it will go through.

later..

only been a week.

hello all, its only been a week but i am already in the works to purchase another snake. this nameless but beautiful male is older and equally as stunning as Gorgeous George. find inclosed a picture..

whats so special about this beautiful snake you ask!? well for starters its a beautiful captive bread animal that would look great in my starting up collection. another few great facts is his pedigree includes some of Greg Maxwell's time and effort.. a Vinsky blue line female from Greg's stock (now retired), another farm raised Vinsky blue line male and another female of O.S. high yellow blood line. Greg produced 2 clutches one with the two Vinsky blue animals and one with the Vinsky blue male and the O.S. high yellow female. he then took two animals, 1 from each clutch, and produced the clutch that yielded this male. so not only does he have some nice blue blood but some OS high yellow blood as well.

great pedigree.

whats even better than the pedigree is the current care taker was planing on using this male in a breeding project this season. since i am buying the animal during this time we worked out a contract to allow him to keep the animal during the breeding season and in return i get 25% of the surviving clutch. although it takes a massive amount of trust on my part, it should return much in my favor as well as his. i would be getting a proven breeder and at minimum 1 other neonate. unless there is less than 4 in the surviving clutch. which would be a bummer but worth the risk. i believe the risk is minimum. another down side is having to pay almost a grand for an animal i wont be able to see for some months.. :( but again, at the price of a fresh neonate or 2, it would be worth it. im hoping for the best.

i have also been looking at quarantine techniques. i have 1 other male i would love to purchase but im not ready to house another yet. the only reason i am going through the purchase of the above mentioned animal is he will remain in the current care takers possession until breeding activity has ceased, allowing plenty of time for caging and such to be sourced.

however i am planing a build within the next 2 weeks of a stand that will house 9 plastic tubs.

4 small shoe box tubs, 3 larger 3gal. tubs, and 2 very large tubs. the stand to Gorgeous George's cage will house these 9 tubs. 4 on top, 3 slightly larger tubs just below that, and the 2 large tubs on the bottom. this will allow me to house any size/ age green tree python in the appropriate size cage. heat will be provided via helix heat tape, and a spyder robotics thermostat will control the output. it will be perfect. iw ill be able to purchase a snake on in-plus and be prepared to house it.

for quarantine purposes i have a small room at work, that should be easy to keep warm this winter and has a locking door. i believe i will  clean out this small room and turn it into my personal quarantine room. it will allow me to keep watch of any animal in quarantine during the day, and treat them medicly as needed, if needed, in a separate location from my main collection, of 1 animals ha. obviously the separate location will prevent the spread of mites and other harmful pathogens that may infect my main collection.

should be good. im hoping "work" allows the use of that room.. ha ha ha

thats all for now though.

until next time.