well, today i just wanted to write a little bit. i have been gathering up all my cage materials. i have made the rough cuts to the MDF i will be using for the main portion of the cage. i will be making fine cuts to the required dimensions this weekend and screwing in my back ground. at 1st i was pretty bumed about my cage.. i am not a cage builder.. but now i think that its going to turn out very nice and i am excited about the results. i will have the majority of it built this sunday. the front portion is a little more involved and should be completed later on in the week.

i still need to buy the heat panel, thermostat and thermometer and install those  then i will be able to create my thermal gradient and tweak my humidity levels correctly. if everything goes correctly, i should have a solid 2 weeks minimum with my cage set up and ready for my GTP. that solid 2 weeks will be enough time for me to tweak the cage atmosphere to exactly where i want it before the snake arrives. should be perfect. however even the best laid plains go to waist.. so we will see...

~brandon

nothing new update

good morning everyone. not much to report today. i posted a down payment on my 1st chondro! im super excited. i think im jumping the gun a little bit as i do not have my cage ready but i have some time before i take position of my new snake. im super pumped about him. he is a web/ os high yellow male  born in 2010.  

my male

so other than that i have been gathering together all my cage materials. i am going to be building my cage (i am not a cage builder) and its my 1st one. its my hope that it turns out great but we will see. i will post a nice build post when i get all my materials and pictures taken during its construction.

until then
~Brandon

Lolth's den gets remodeled.

 well just another day at work when a box came! a box i have been waiting for for a week or so.. i decided i was going to spruce up ol' Lolth's 40 breeder so i bought some plants from Black Jungle terrarium supply. great place, very friendly and they have gotten my order right every time.

any way, whats in the box???

a box with in a box.. hhmmm

oh hell yeah! that's going to look killer!

gotta have food for the plants too, ya know.. dyna~gro is the shit!

just a few plants.. 

before

after..

the tank looks ok. im not very good at picking out plants but im satisfied. needs a back ground tho.. anyway, its a little sparse in there but i think once it fills out it will look sweet.. i think im going to ad a nice leaf cluster in there too.

that's all for today. i still plan on getting cage materials this weekend and getting a few boxes made. we shall see what happens.

~Brandon

nothing new

well, i wanted to report, mostly because of how excited that i am, that i have been reading my new book a lot. typically i hate reading, and im not very educationally educated because of it. but when i find something that pushes me over the edge i will read it over and over. such is the case here. "The MORE complete Chondro" is literally a wealth of knowledge that is packed into 316 pages. the author Greg Maxwell has spent 25 or 30 years keeping, reptiles and Green Tree Pythons and has pored that 30 years of knowledge, experiences, and tried and true techniques into this book. i looked everywhere for this book and couldn't find it anywhere. finally i found it on amazon and they had 2, used- $650!! and this one new, for 75 bones so i scooped it up. it was worth every dime, and i cant imagine any new persons getting into the hobby, doing so without the information and help in this book. i don't know what i would be doing or where i would be without it. its only been a couple of days since i received it and i have already learned so much. through out this endevour it will surely be my "bible". i have also been gathering together my materials list and list of sources for things i will need in order to build my 2 cages and start cycling them. i intend to build to fully functional and furnished cages, and place them i my apartment. my plan will then be to set up the 12 hour day time and night time photo-period, regulate the temperature until i have an established acceptable thermal gradient in both cages, as well as calibrate the necessary amount of spraying to establish my humid environment. from wet (near 100%) to dry (40% or so) during a 24 hour period. i figure that with in the next 2 weeks i should have, at minimum, the cage materials, and hopefully some cages built.

im very excited and will continue to feed my brain via reading this awesome book.

~Brandon

its just the beginning?

good day, my 1st post and i'm very excited. my name is Brandon and i am 29 years old as of this date September 2012. all my life i have grown up around reptiles, amphibians, and other exotic creatures. i have owned a wide variety of animals. but in growing up, i decided to set aside that love for other things, such as work, school and family. however once a year my brother Tyler, one of my best friends, Randy, and myself take a trip up to the Ozark mountains and spend 4 days in the woods "critter hunting". we do it for the love of nature, and animals. we back pack turning over ever rock and log, looking for anything fun and kool. we find anything from salamanders, to snakes, turtles, tarantulas, scorpions, to bears! ha ha we have fun but i have never taken any specimens home to keep. i tried to give it up. however 2 weeks ago, my beautiful girlfriend told me about Repti-con. a convention where venders get together and sell a wide range of reptilian animals, amphibians, feeder  animals, cages, accessories, all kinds of things. i thought it would be fun to attend since nothing like that has ever come close to us. (not that i knew of anyway) so i called up my brother and my friend Randy and we made a date to go. i was pretty excited but nothing over the top or anything.. upon arrival i could feel my excitement growing but once inside i actually got so pumped i ran through the entire convention in 5 minutes. my brother, and randy were trying to calm me down but i couldn't sit still. i had to see what everything was at a quick glance before i could calm down enough to visit each booth and enjoy what they had to offer. one of the 1st creatures i saw was 8 different specimens of Goliath Bird Eater tarantula, (Theraphosa blondi)

up until that point i haven't ever seen that many specimens in one place ever. even on line i couldn't find that many.. they were all pretty good looking and fair priced so i couldn't pass one up. i made a purchase and i love her. her name is Lolth. the vender also had 2 very nice looking Green Tree Pythons. i really wanted one, but i knew i didn't have the proper caging to maintain a healthy animal.. so despite my impulse buying habits i waited. i wanted to get one so naturally i started to research information about them and learned about Greg Maxwell.  Greg is pretty much the for-bringer of top quality bloodline GTP's in the hobby. retired now he sold his business but before doing so he wrote a book called The more complete Chondro. pouring 20+ years of experience and knowledge into 1 book, i knew it was essential for me to buy and read it. copies are no longer being printed but i found on on Amazon.com for 75 bucks, new in hard back so i bought it. 

over the past 2 weeks i have grown more and more excited about owning one of these beautiful snakes and maybe trying my hand at breeding them. i received Greg's book yesterday and have hardly put it down. its 360 some odd pages of great information. i am selecting my options on caging, and i have found a reputable breeder from whom i will eventually make a purchase. i am very excited and cant wait!

--Brandon