Reptile & Amphibian Forums

when was the first produced????.....i remember one from early 80's......yo FR.....were you part of the tuscon reptile mafia back in the late 70/early 80's?????.....with guys like dwayne collings, ron savage, tom boydin, jon martin...etc????....did you used to make pet rocks or something like that????.....i met you in sw texas and at a herp show in pa years ago.....i was waundering the jersey pines while you were slumin' in mexico.....great info in you stories.....

Hi Bob, I or the tucson folks had nothing to do with the first hypo or albino greeri. I believe that occurred in cali. J.R. told me when it happened, but as usual, would not tell me who did it, hahahahahahahaha.

The group you mentioned was not actually a single group, just herpers living in Tucson at or around the same time. Some were good friends, others were casual friends, some did not get along.

Dwayne C. never worked in the field. He was a entrepreneur, often skating over and around the limits of the law. He has since passed away. I liked him and called him my friend, mainly because he never envolved me in his stuff. He had to be one of the funnyist people on earth.

I saw Tom B. at the herp show, in sept. He looks well and is retried. I do not think hes still keeping reptiles. He said hes traveling alot.

Ron S disappeared south of the border.

Brett Martin(still around), Steve Hale(haven't seen in a while), Henry Wallace(I hear is still around), Nick Nicofous, Chad Pennington(deceased) were others around and working with snakes back then too.

Steve, Ron and Henry, were envolved in collecting some of the first L.greeri. I think a friend of Dwaynes, a doorman from Las Vegas, was the first. Then of course the Cali guys collected right behind them. I did not go to Durango until I worked with Bill Garska on his paper on Mexicana, he too lived here in Tucson.

I have always been a specialist and not a dream chaser. I tended to work on a species, or a locality for a long period. Not going everywhere to find everything. I was more interested in finding out more then what you learned passing thru. Between all of us and our differences, we covered a WHOLE lot. I also was breeding kings, long before I came to tucson. Those were fun times with lots of stories. Like once Steve came back from Mexico and both front fenders of his FJ-40(toyota land cruizer) smashed flat. I asked, Steve what happened. He said, he came around a corner and there was a man and his horse in the road. So he hit the horse. That took out one fender. I asked about the other. He said he found this great hill with nice rocks, so he went up and flipped some rocks. Well one rolled down and guess what, there went the other fender. He and the Vegas doorman, rolled that thing in mex once and had to be flown out. Cheers

frank, is john martin still in australia?

Yea, as far as I know. I took care of some of his snakes while he was there just before this "big" trip. I also talked to him just before he left, but nothing since then.

Yea, I have always liked and got along with John, I hope this works out for him. Cheers

ahhhh......romance down under....he is a great guy and i wish him luck.....i think the first albino/hypo greeri was popped out in toni and todd smith's group....

Hi again, Ron Savage(I believe) found a greeri in nature that was yellow/gold with narrow black bars, and no red. It was way cool. But of course at the time folks wanted to find the ones with nice red.

My very first pyro was sort of like that. It was black and white, with the only red on the first band behind the head. After that, no red anywhere. Hundreds of pyros later, I have never seen another one even close to that one. I actually traded it for a normal Pyro.

I have a friend in Tucson(he worked for me) that was in texas and he called and asked where blairs were. So I told him, Highway 90 around Langtry. So he calls me the next night and says, he caught an ugly one, it had no red at all, where are the ones with red? To make it worse, he did that twice. How many people have caught two langtry alternas without finding a blairs?

Cheers

"Those were the days my friend,
we thought they would never end."

I guess you could say I was a junior member of the Las Vegas Reptile mafia, to borrow Bob's terms. I ran with the doorman's crowd for a while, and I caught the first greeri. We were not sure what it was until we got home. Unfortunately, I was never able to return.
In those days in Vegas, everything was a big secret amoung the reptile crowd, and everyone had their "contacts". There was one time I got to meet the doorman's Tucson contacts. Unfortunately, I was drunk and I do not remember who I met. I am sure I made a great impression. I do remember seeing a collection of a variety of thareyi, mexicana, and greeri type animals.
The doorman was a wildman. I remember the roll over, and traveling with him was better than an "E" ride at Disneyland. One time in Mexico, the doorman got mouthy with a federally, and we spent the night incarcerated. That was the last time I went collecting with him.

FR, if you are still looking for a slide scanner for your computer, I think I have one in a box somewhere. Send a PM and I will dig it out.

Bill Cobb

Hi, For some silly reason, I cannot remember the doormans name, even thought he worked for me for a few days(my exhibits company) You most likely met Steve Hale. Steve and the doorman were good friends.

The last I time I saw the doorman, he was going to be a millionire, one of those south african bonds deals. You know, where you give them $100,000 and they give you a million in bonds. I hope it worked out for him. Yes, he was a crazy man, the entertaining ones are. Cheers

sounds like the title for a sci/fi flick.....with a guy guarding a portal to ......?????......we should start a script!!!