Here I will answer questions that are most often asked of me. Hopefully this will provide you with answers more quickly and save me from answering the same emails every week.
Do not take this as a discouragement for you to email me. If you have any questions not mentioned here, feel free to ask and I will do my best to answer them.
1. Can you send me plans on how to build one of your cages?
I do not normally use plans when building cages. I usually just make a rough sketch and work out much of the rest as I go.
However, I have in recent years been using SketchUp to design a lot of the projects I undertake around the house. Should I use that to design some caging, I'll make those plans available here on the site for download for those of you that use SketchUp.
As an aside, I would encourage any of you that are interested to try the program. It has a bit of a learning curve at first, but you'll catch on quickly.
It is an amazing program for woodworkers to work up very detailed designs of anything they want to build.
2. Do you sell cages?
I get fairly frequent requests to build cages for people. I regret that I simply do not have the time to build cages commercially. Each of my cages are individually built, and given my schedule, it takes some time to complete them.
Those who would rather buy cages than build them yourself would probably be best served to look at the several commerical manufacturers of plastic caging.
3. Where can I buy flexwatt heat tape and/or the metal connectors?
I normally get my heat tape from the Bean Farm. Their website is http://www.beanfarm.com. They sell both sizes of heat tape as well as the metal connectors and plastic insulators.
4. I live relatively close to you, can I come see your collection?
This is a hobby for me, and is done in my home. For this reason I can not allow visitors. Exceptions are rarely made.
Friends are of course always welcome.
5. Can you tell me everything there is to know about how to keep and breed this reptile?
I am a big proponent of the dissemination of information, and I normally attempt to answer any specific questions when I feel qualified and time permits. I am also a proponent of hands on learning, nothing replaces experience. For this reason I do not make a habit of writing out detailed care sheets.
I strongly recommend people to buy books and do their own research rather than trying the quick way of just quizzing someone over the internet.
I also do not have experience with every species commonly kept and am just not qualified to offer advice on many of them.
Of course, if you are buying an animal from me I will provide any and all details you require to help ensure your success with that animal.
6. Would you be interested in buying my wild caught and/or captive bred snakes?
I am not a reptile dealer, and I do not buy snakes just to sell them. This is especially true of wild caught snakes. (Yes, this means you, the fellow with poor english from Africa who keeps emailing me wanting me to import from him.)
Neither am I interested in entire clutches of captive born snakes I do not otherwise have an interest in keeping, so please do not email me thinking I am a reptile distributor willing to buy quantities of reptiles.
If what you have available is on my wanted list feel free to contact me with offers.
7. Will you collect local native reptiles and sell them to me?
This answer is an even bigger no than the previous question. While I am not against collecting animals for one's own collection, if there is one thing I am not it is a commercial collector.
So please, don't bother me with emails wanting me to collect quantities of reptiles for you.