Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Suboc Article, "Bug-Eyed Beauties", in Reptiles Magazine - May Issue
What a pleasant surprise to come home from a hard day of lectures and work and open up a brand new issue of Reptiles Mag to find a BIG, FAT, 9-PAGE article written by our friend Mike Price, that's dedicated 100% to TPRS's!
Mike told me about this article a little over a year ago. And man, I can't tell you how glad I am that he has done some PR for a snake that is WAY overdue for some. And TP rats are very deserving of this. This is a snake that has been beloved and highly revered since it was discovered, and it is a snake that I know that many of us drooled over when reading Carl Kauffeld's words as he described his hunt for one in "Snakes: the Keeper and the Kept". He dedicated an entire chapter to this species.
"H-snakes" have enjoyed popularity in the hobby, but they have not been able to compete with the craze of morphs that have caught fire recently, like with the cornsnake and ball python markets.
But their day is coming.
Considering that they don't lay large clutches (~ 3-11 eggs), that they don't double-clutch; and that females usually need to be at around 3-4 years old for good breeding fitness; and that many new morphs like albino blonde, high orange, snow, snow blonde and possibly even TRUE patternless blondes (just to name a few) are on the horizon...the future is looking good for these snakes.
Also, this isn't a species that saturates the market, so anyone investing in "high-end" subocs won't find themselves getting out of them right after the first breeding. Although albinos may not be flying out of the breeders' doors with such demanding prices, they're value has remained fairly high and stable, especially when compared to other rat snakes and colubrids.
I recommend that every suboc lover buy this issue of Reptiles Magazine, if they haven't received it already. Probably NO ONE knows as much about locality subocs and suboc breeding more than Michael Price does. And probably no one in the country breeds and hatches more subocs annually than Mike does either.
To my knowledge, this is the first full-length suboc article ever published in the 13 years of Reptile Magazine's existence. Like I said, go get it. The excellent photos comparing different localities together is well worth the price alone, and is definitely a first in the history of this species.
**The following was added on April 5th 2006**
Here is the blurb for the article from the magazine's web site:
Bug-Eyed Beauties
The Trans-Pecos rat snake, a Southwestern beauty,
is easy to keep and breed. Plus, this snake displays a
wide variety of morphs, with new ones still being discovered.
By Michael S. Price
Mike told me about this article a little over a year ago. And man, I can't tell you how glad I am that he has done some PR for a snake that is WAY overdue for some. And TP rats are very deserving of this. This is a snake that has been beloved and highly revered since it was discovered, and it is a snake that I know that many of us drooled over when reading Carl Kauffeld's words as he described his hunt for one in "Snakes: the Keeper and the Kept". He dedicated an entire chapter to this species.
"H-snakes" have enjoyed popularity in the hobby, but they have not been able to compete with the craze of morphs that have caught fire recently, like with the cornsnake and ball python markets.
But their day is coming.
Considering that they don't lay large clutches (~ 3-11 eggs), that they don't double-clutch; and that females usually need to be at around 3-4 years old for good breeding fitness; and that many new morphs like albino blonde, high orange, snow, snow blonde and possibly even TRUE patternless blondes (just to name a few) are on the horizon...the future is looking good for these snakes.
Also, this isn't a species that saturates the market, so anyone investing in "high-end" subocs won't find themselves getting out of them right after the first breeding. Although albinos may not be flying out of the breeders' doors with such demanding prices, they're value has remained fairly high and stable, especially when compared to other rat snakes and colubrids.
I recommend that every suboc lover buy this issue of Reptiles Magazine, if they haven't received it already. Probably NO ONE knows as much about locality subocs and suboc breeding more than Michael Price does. And probably no one in the country breeds and hatches more subocs annually than Mike does either.
To my knowledge, this is the first full-length suboc article ever published in the 13 years of Reptile Magazine's existence. Like I said, go get it. The excellent photos comparing different localities together is well worth the price alone, and is definitely a first in the history of this species.
**The following was added on April 5th 2006**
Here is the blurb for the article from the magazine's web site:
Bug-Eyed Beauties
The Trans-Pecos rat snake, a Southwestern beauty,
is easy to keep and breed. Plus, this snake displays a
wide variety of morphs, with new ones still being discovered.
By Michael S. Price
# posted by Dusty Rhoads @ 3:56 PM 
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Hey Gregg,
If you subscribed, you probably won't get this recent issue...you can order it from Reptiles Magazine, though. It's the May issue.
Later!
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If you subscribed, you probably won't get this recent issue...you can order it from Reptiles Magazine, though. It's the May issue.
Later!
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