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