Reptile & Amphibian Forums

It is with great sadness that I am reporting the death of a frequent poster of this forum & longtime friend, Mike Chambers of Americus, KS. I personally received the news last night around 10:15pm from his wife Mary. It is with Marys permission, that I am posting this notice of his passing. Most of you will remember him posting on this forum under the name: mchambers . Mike, who was 56 years old, died yesterday, December 3rd at their home, from self-inflicted suicide. Besides his wife Mary, he left behind 2 daughters, Tabitha & Vanessa, as well as 2 grandchildren. Mary informed me that cremation will take place & I have no information on any type of funeral service at this time, but will post it, when I learn of it. I feel so sorry for Mary & his family, please take a moment & say a prayer for them. Any cards or florels may be sent to the family at: Mary Chambers, P.O. box 327, Americus, KS 66835.

I am super sorry to hear this news. No words can express this type of loss.

In our prayers...

Steven

I met Mike several years ago on the River Road. Nice guy too. He went way way back as far as knowing all of the "old time Herpers" I'm really sorry to hear about this. Thanks for letting us know John. Hope all is well with you and yours. See you later.

Wayne

hear this john.Please send my best wishes to mary and his family.
I also hope you and Barb are doing better and I wish you guys happy holidays.

Shannon

This is one of those times it is hard to figure out what to say. All those he left behind have my deepest sympathy.

Lance

Deffinatelly said some prayers for the family, there is no way of having a clue what they are thinking right now.
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South Texas Herps

I didn't know Mike, but I'm very sad to here of his passing. Because of this thread, I scrolled down to see when his last post was, Oct. 14, and it was about a good friend of mine Bob Macken. It says a lot about Mike that he even knew who Bob is.
The "Macken Method" that he's speaking of can only be understood by sitting in the passenger seat, or just as exciting, by driving the same road as Bob. It made me laugh to read his post. He sounds like someone I would have enjoyed meeting. I really feel for his wife, children and grandchildren. Good bye Mike. I hope you find the peace you are looking for.
-Phil

We, (my wife and I) are very saddened to hear this.
Mike was a very close friend of ours and we are in total shock.
We offer our love and support to Mary and her kids.

Randal and Bonnie Berry

Sorry to hear of Mike's tragic death. I never met him, but I really enjoyed his "catankerous, crabby and cynical" posts. I'll be thinking of his family during this holiday season.

Daryl Eby

Had corresponded with Mike on some of the forums. Best wishes to his wife and family. Clark

It's been a rough year all the way around hugh John? I'm ready for this year to be over with. I met Mike a couple of times and he seemed like a good guy. Whatever caused him to do what he did, I hope and pray his family will recover and will really pray for his kids. Words can't express....
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Snakes of Hudspeth County, Texas

Thanks John for putting this on here. I am Mike's little brother (not so little anymore). Mike is one of the reasons that I am a science teacher. He started me and Chris when we were young keeping reptiles, taking us to the Managerie pet store to buy those damn little green iguanas, getting us up before the crack of dawn to go to the Flint Hills, and other places, turning over rock after rock.
I admired him for his knowledge of reptiles and other things....I had to go to college to "learn" about stuff yet he knew a heck of alot things that would have taken me forever to learn in school.
I call him a gecko because of his stubby little fingers.
He came up for a visit this summer. We had a good time visiting with him. I miss him.
Jeff Chambers

Thanks to all that has replied to John's message.
It says alot about him.
Thanks again.
Jeff Chambers

Jeff,
Thank you so much for the kind words......John

As "the other Chambers" (Mike's words)posting here, it gave me a special chill to see this thread title. I never met Mike, but in our internet exchanges he seemed, despite his tagline, like a truly personable, knowledgeable guy. We will all miss him, and my deepest sympathies go out to his family. Indeed, this year has truly worn out its welcome.....

Brad Chambers

I am quite sad to hear of this news. Mike was one of the first people in the field herping hobby to take me in and show me a thing or two about herping. My first trip to the Bend was with Mike. I have always regreted that he and I had a falling out, and even more so now...

I will keep Marry, Vanessa and Tabitha in my thoughts...

Chad

He was always so helpful on here and had such a wealth of information for all of us. My condolences go out to his family..............

Zee
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"I am an expert on everything, but I know so little and have so much to learn!" -Carsten "Zee" Zoldy-

I’m really troubled by this and offer his family condolences.

I never met Mike, but we chatted several times on other forums.
I enjoyed his news reports about what was going on in Gray-band country that went beyond the herping.
We argued once over who felt more like an old man. LOL
He had great humor and said what he thought, unpretentiously. He didn’t pull punches when he disagreed and thought he was being BS’d.

I am truly sorry to hear this and I’ll miss him on forums.
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Regards, Bill McGighan

Mike has been a longtime contributor to our web site, all the way back to alterna page days, and he will be sorely missed. It always saddens me when we lose someone that we have gotten to know more through the web site than in real life.

Thanks John. Didn't really know the guy except for his posts. Met him briefly once on the River Road. He had just seen a trimorph and was obviously excited about it and the prospects for the rest of the night. Maybe fifteen seconds after stopping to talk to him a bit, going the other way, there, glowing on the road, was a nice suboc. Couldn't imagine that he hadn't straddled it. That's how I remember him in our brief encounter. The River Road on a night where lightning was flashing in the distance. A brief chat with a happy, fired up herper, obviously doing what he loved. And a ghostly suboc seemingly rising out of his tracks. Seems like a fitting memory from what little I know of the guy. Our prayers are with him and his family.

Thanks to all of you who posted the thoughts & prayers for Mike, Mary & their family. I have been in touch with Mary & wanted to correct some information that she gave me. Mike was 57 years old, he was born in July of 1949. Along with Mary & their 2 daughters Tabitha & Vanessa, there are 3 grandchildren, 2 boys, James, age 5 & Tristan, age 14+ months & a girl born just last November 8, named Athena.

Also Mary informed me that although no funeral is planned, a gathering of family & friends will be hosted by Mary at her sisters home in Belton, MO, this coming Saturday, Dec. 9th. The address there is 3403 E. 185th Street at the Jane Stout home. Mary is requesting any family or friends who plan to attend to bring a covered dish or offerring of food, which will be for everyone present that day there.

Also, if anyone knows Steve Phillips email address, please forward it to me asap. Thanks, John

I'll tell Steve to get in touch with you.

Forky

John, thanks to you, and thanks to all the other herpers who contacted me about Mikes death. I am as shocked and stunned as anyone. I was very close to Mike many years ago, and in fact he is the guy who first took me to Texas and the guy I was hunting with when I caught my first 2 alterna on the River Road....and it went from there and the rest is history.
Mike was a keenly unique individual who really cared about his friends, his family, the animals , environment and all of us who were "into it" like him. He taught me alot about Texas and snake keeping in those early days and introduced me to so many of you..some who are still very important to me today and for that I am grateful.
None of the animal stuff seems to matter now as my heart totally goes out to Mary, Tabby , Vanessa and his grandkids. It is a loss that is hard to fathom. My memories of "Chamberi americanus" though, are many and fond and a piece of Mike will always be "out on the road" in Texas whenever we are there. Mary and his family are in my prayers.
Steve Phillips

It is interesting that Mike introduced so many folks to the Bend. My first trip was with Mike. He indulged us in stories of mythical proportion and he even told us many stories about herping with Steve Philips! lol...Mike could always keep us entertained with his sensationalism and attitude...

John,

Thank you for posting this unfortunate event. I first met Mike at a reptile show in Birmingham and became close friends. I went on my first reptile adventure shortly after he moved to Kansas from Missouri. I was amazed at how knowledgeble he was, not only with herps but with history in general. I was fortunate enough to spend some time with him and his family in the Bend region. I enjoyed listening to him talk about the Trans-Pecos region because of his knowledge. We were planning on a trip to the area next year. My thoughts and prayers are with his family.

John, if you have anyone's mailing address of the persons who were on the Kansas hunting trip let me know. I would like to send them a picture of the group when I get things organized.

Thanks,

Trey Petty
strmchsr32@hotmail.com

I'm not sure of which trip to KS you mean, but I was on one trip with you and Mike to the Flint Hills. Any pics from that trip would be appreciated.

chad at crotalus dot com

thanks...

Like so many of you responding, I too am shocked by Chambo’s passing. I had met him a couple of times herping in West Texas and found him to be very knowledgeable about the region. Like others, I found his writings on various forums to be informative and entertaining. My condolences to his family and friends……gmerker

That's very sad to hear. I only met him a few times in Texas but he was a nice guy. I will miss his accounts and the updates on the Bend region he often posted during the slow times here.
Best wishes to his survivors.

yea, thanks john . his brother chris here...there was so many guy's he took to the flint hills in the early days!!!! so many vets use to call him to get info on sick herps..in his photo gallery , people can see he was among the first reptile breeders in the states with that hippie pix of sadie ( the big brum)..he got me into all this pets stuff!!! and I'm still in it in Florida, shifted to ponds and saltwater though..i can't get up there this weekend, but if they can't get his ashes to BIG BEND , THEN I'LL TAKE THEM TO THE GLADES !!!! I THINK HE WOULD LIKE BEING WITH ALL THEM BIG GATORS, PYTHONS AND MONITORS. thanks john and thanks to all for the support...they say sometimes [bleep] happens ?? why??

brother chris with funny stories, earliy years with his big breeding brums.. new years eve almost midnight, mike coming running up from basement outside(have u ever seen mike run?)it's funny!! brums are doing it!!! this happen for like 7-8 years straight..his snake room smelled!!! like cigars!! always had a big one smoking when feeding or helping a baby out of an egg..hunting in copperhead hills, he got bite 2or 3 times..once in the hand , hand got big as a boxing glove.. (yea think about it, short stubby finger that big)drove home, then said maybe i'll go to the hospital..i always thought the snake crawled off and died after biting his ugly ass!! one time cleaning that monster of a cage (4 11-15 ft. brums in it)he called me.. he said, put them in the big coolers like always but 2 died..they had change the glue in the coolers.. he sold the other 2 after that..one time in the flint hills he park in the long dry grass and the truck burn up..i was fishing 5 or 6 miles away , saw smoke , but didn't know he was out that day.. long walk!!! there is more but tired of typing for now..just thought of thing to make u laugh at a sad time..

one more funny, mike didn't drink much. but one night he did and went outside to pee and after he sat on a BARREL CACTUS just outside the door.. mary had to pull the thones out of his ass!!!

Just imagine what the cactus was thinking! LOL

Thanks for sharing your memories of your bro.

I lost my brother several years back. I still miss him terribly. But, I laugh everytime I think of the stuff he used to do. He made me smile when he lived, and I still smile everytime I think of him.

Death robs us of companionship, but not of our happy memories!

Thanks to all for there prayers. The girls and i are doing the best we can. The girls made a picture board of the mike i think the has helped. though it's hard to go though the pic's at first. they did a great job the second day on the board and i look great.
thanks again for you though on mike.
Mary Chambers

Great, just great! Always enjoyed his view on things West! Hang on to those happy memories, and keep sharing them as you can.
Todd Hughes

Thanks Chris for those stories...like the one we were talking about last night when the 4 of us brothers went 'camping' ...in the winter and us laughing so hard that Mike started choking on chicken which just made us laugh harder because he looked like Humpty Dumpty!!!
One thing about you and Mike is ......that you guys could never spell worth a damn!! (sorry, that's the teacher in me)
Remember the time that you, me, and Brian had to go to his house to try and capture the 3 Rattlers that escaped the cage? I think we only found one. I don't think he ever told Mary about that.

Ok, I just re-read my message and noticed some "bad grammar"

Although we never met Mike we know him as a fellow herper here on the forum . Our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family now.

Tom and Maureen