Snakes

[~Tornado~]

Marion! That is a beautiful hognose!

[calculator]

i saw a conversation around ten pages back about buying from “big named breeders” & i love brian barczyks videos, but someone said his company BHB reptiles is one to stay away from, why?

[grafaiai]

ahh i'm no expert and am just speaking from memory, because i've never watched his videos but follow some keepers that sometimes make posts about him and his community, but uhh

isn't he the guy that's one of the biggest loudest proponents of things like "ball pythons don't need enrichment" and that "they're fine in tiny enclosures because they don't explore anyway" and other myths? big breeders tend to snake-mill their herps and really not give each one the care it really deserves (large enough enclosures, enrichment, etc).

they tend to get really aggressive towards people that challenge those views, i guess because it means they'd have to change their ways and lose a lot of money >_> if the general crowd sways against them, yknow?

i also remember him in association with keeping venomous snakes and making videos about them for entertainment value, which isn't bad in of itself but without a) being super responsible with venomous snakes, and b) giving them proper enclosures and whatnot, and advertising yourself as the standard for herpkeeping, you're really damaging the community! both in terms of potential keepers using him as a bad example and people outside the community thinking that's what it's supposed to be like?
tbh i forget if that's him or not though... maybe somebody else remembers better haha

here's a small collection of posts about it, i'd definitely listen to those folks over me, i'm just a hobbyist with one snake and a barely casual interest in the community lol

[Angelus Gaston]

What's the success rate on his clutches I was watching a vid and he seems to loose a fair amount of what he hatches and not all look like still born, there are no empty eggs in the tubs or anything its kind of iffy to me.

Also why leave clutches in the tubs with the female most snake breeders I know keep them in separate incubates to keep an eye on temp and such.

[Uchuujin]

GUYS.

So waaay back months ago my best friends mom was snakesitting and as a result ALL THREE of my ball pythons escaped their tanks and were never found again. I was really really upset but just assumed they'd never make it on their own in the wild. I even got rid of my snake stuff, because I didn't think I wanted to deal with that again after so suddenly losing three babies.

However today (9 or 10 months since they disappeared) my best friends mom noticed someone posted in the neighborhood fb group that they found a snake in their yard. She sent us a pic and it is one of my snakes!

She has grown and seems to be a really healthy weight. My friend went to pick her up for me and said she's still super mellow and loving. She does have a wound on her neck. It looks like something she tried to eat bit her and so she came out of hiding looking for health.

Suddenly I find myself with a snake but no tank, no heating, no food or hides or ANYTHING and she needs to see a vet lol so I have nooooo idea what to do

But i'm really glad shes back and ok

[catra]

i used to be one of those people who supported him. watched his videos for months and even bought a ball python from him. when it came he was underweight/malnourished but i didn't realize that since i was new to snakes.
a few months later i found out all the bad things he does.

warning: click on pictures at your own risk

here's a small list that i made

- provides NO enrichment to his animals and keeps them in enclosures that are extremely small (x) (x)

- keeps multiple leopard geckos housed together in small tubs that are extremely dirty (x)

- keeps an ALLIGATOR in a KIDDIE POOL.. cmon, anyone should know that is not right (x)

- sells bad quality morphs (his tangerine leopard gecko for sale) vs (an actual quality tangerine)

- basically the reptile equivalent of a puppy mill - constantly breeding animals with no regard to their health. there are not very many laws protecting reptile welfare, so legally not much can be done against him.

- multiple reports of snakes being sent out with mites, respiratory infections, incorrect genes - AND when people email about it, he does not reply or try to fix the situation

- lies about his animals - he had a snake named sunshine and people noticed that she looked different in later videos... guess what. the original sunshine died due to untreated infection and instead of explaining the situation, he got ANOTHER snake of the same morph (sunshine 2) and pretended like nothing happened. he also was working on a scaleless project (mr. smooth) and as you can see his skin is extremely cracked and dry. brian posts photoshopped pictures of him like this to cover it up. a few months after he hatched, no more updates. brian mysteriously never mentioned it again (mr. smooth died!)

- another example of him lying. one of his snakes had an extremely bad injury which he claimed occurred when the snake escaped and accidentally got hurt. this is a picture from the video where she escaped, and as you can see, NO injury. the snake had a bad case of untreated infection that brian did not care about.

- again, another instance of lying. people told him that his reticulated python needs more room because it can't even stretch out in its current enclosure. brian basically said "they don't even need room!" even though they DO stretch out and they DO need room (picture of wild reticulated python)

... and these are only a few examples in the never-ending list of reasons why he is bad. and on top of all that, when people tell him his husbandry is not okay, instead of actually listening like a professional breeder and compassionate human would, he blocks them and calls them "haters". he twists everything around to make it seem like he is the victim, but he's not.

do not support brian barczyk and BHB, please. he is not the "face of the reptile trade" - he is not even a decent human being. people, especially KIDS, watch his videos and think he is doing the right thing. this is dangerous and puts the lives of so many animals at risk.

[miss_skye]

GUYS.

So waaay back months ago my best friends mom was snakesitting and as a result ALL THREE of my ball pythons escaped their tanks and were never found again. I was really really upset but just assumed they'd never make it on their own in the wild. I even got rid of my snake stuff, because I didn't think I wanted to deal with that again after so suddenly losing three babies.

However today (9 or 10 months since they disappeared) my best friends mom noticed someone posted in the neighborhood fb group that they found a snake in their yard. She sent us a pic and it is one of my snakes!

She has grown and seems to be a really healthy weight. My friend went to pick her up for me and said she's still super mellow and loving. She does have a wound on her neck. It looks like something she tried to eat bit her and so she came out of hiding looking for health.

Suddenly I find myself with a snake but no tank, no heating, no food or hides or ANYTHING and she needs to see a vet lol so I have nooooo idea what to do

But i'm really glad shes back and ok

Wow that's terrible!! Glad you were able to find at least one though. How did she leave all three enclosures open though??


You could set up a tub relatively cheaply:

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/showthr ... sics-*DUW*

Do you have anything secure you can put her in for now? And a way to keep her warm?

[Mimu]

I posted here about 2-1 month ago on my snake from his stuck shedding and now he's doing just fine. I've had him out time-to-time, going all around my bed nearly loosing him around about 4 times since he's only 1 years old. His b-day is this mouth and idk what to do. But i want to say thank you for the people who helped me get through this problem.

[Midnight Mare]

My baby ball python, Gerald, passed away late November 10th. It seems he had a seizure. We went to the pet store to tell a friend of mine who worked there and was very fond of him and there was someone there who hadn't been when I'd previously gone in for advice who knew a lot about snakes. He said that it was probably a neurological problem caused by inconsistent temperatures in the hatchery. He was very, very small. We bought him the day that they would have tried to feed him the first time. He never ate on his own. I always had to assist feed him and I supplemented with Repta-Boost since he wasn't growing.. The guy said that when they tried to feed him and he didn't eat, he'd have been tagged and sent back to the breeder for credit where he ultimately would have been terminated. I had him for six months and he never grew and only shed once toward the end. The shed took forever and wasn't finished by the time he passed. We did salt water soaks, he had a humidihide with rough edges on the entrance, I rubbed coconut oil into it gently, and I put him in a warm, wet pillow case several times. He was spoiled and coddled and got to meet a lot of people and make a big difference in a lot of lives, not just my own. I miss him a lot but I'm really glad I was able to give him what I did.

[Bolt1784]

My baby ball python, Gerald, passed away late November 10th. It seems he had a seizure. We went to the pet store to tell a friend of mine who worked there and was very fond of him and there was someone there who hadn't been when I'd previously gone in for advice who knew a lot about snakes. He said that it was probably a neurological problem caused by inconsistent temperatures in the hatchery. He was very, very small. We bought him the day that they would have tried to feed him the first time. He never ate on his own. I always had to assist feed him and I supplemented with Repta-Boost since he wasn't growing.. The guy said that when they tried to feed him and he didn't eat, he'd have been tagged and sent back to the breeder for credit where he ultimately would have been terminated. I had him for six months and he never grew and only shed once toward the end. The shed took forever and wasn't finished by the time he passed. We did salt water soaks, he had a humidihide with rough edges on the entrance, I rubbed coconut oil into it gently, and I put him in a warm, wet pillow case several times. He was spoiled and coddled and got to meet a lot of people and make a big difference in a lot of lives, not just my own. I miss him a lot but I'm really glad I was able to give him what I did.

so sorry for your loss. what morph was he? i only ask because some are more prone to these things than others.