Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Welcome to kingsnake.com's message board system. Here you may share and discuss information with others about your favorite reptile and amphibian related topics such as care and feeding, caging requirements, permits and licenses, and more. Launched in 1997, the kingsnake.com message board system is one of the oldest and largest systems on the internet.

Click for 65% off Shipping with Reptiles 2 You
Click for ZooMed
Click for 65% off Shipping with Reptiles 2 You

Old Indigo photo

DMong Apr 27, 2010 03:09 PM

LOL!!,....

Here is that old pic I was talking about earlier of me(on the right)holding one of my Indigo's with my older brother. This pic was taken at my grandmother's house in Coral Gables in Miami in April 1971. I wasn't even quite eleven in this pic(one more month)..LOL!

What great times those were!

~Doug


-----
"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Replies (54)

a153fish Apr 27, 2010 03:35 PM

Cool picture doug! Is your older brother still into snakes too?

I found a pic of my second snake Goliath, another speckled King.
Image
-----
King Snakes! Who can make a better mouse trap?
J Sierra

DMong Apr 27, 2010 05:16 PM

"Cool picture doug! Is your older brother still into snakes too?"

Actually, my brother was never into snakes. He wouldn't know a cornsnake from a Eastern king..LOL!. He just had to tolerate all the snakes that I had in our bedroom as a kid, and he was just holding the Indigo along with me there for the sake of the photo..LOL!

BTW, some very cool kings you had there as a kid too..LOL!

I had a few nice very pale yellow locality brooksi as a young kid too, as those were pretty abundant in that area back in that era.

I have been very saddened lately to see that many wild-caught floridana/brooksi specimens are extremely sickly looking and thin from that southern area as well. I have to wonder if pesticides and/or those freakin Cane Toads aren't responsible for this. Either way, it is very sad to see such a regal type of snake being reduced to a mere skeleton for whatever reason.

Cane toads are known to kill a plethora of huge predators. I have seen lots of dead snakes with Cane toads still hanging out of their mouths, etc..., and they have killed many a giant monitor in Australia, as well as tons of other animals.

MAN!, do I HATE those damn Cane Toads!. A puppy of ours was killed by one in the late 60's in Ft. Lauderdale too! That thick, milky poison they exude from those neck glands is extremely potent.

Even this gharial met its death not long after eating this Cane Toad!

~Doug
-----
"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

DMong Apr 27, 2010 05:19 PM

.

Image
-----
"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

a153fish Apr 27, 2010 05:25 PM

Yeah I read that fire ants also are reaking havoc on egg laying reptiles as well? Do you remember when kids were licking toads to get high? Disgusting!
-----
King Snakes! Who can make a better mouse trap?
J Sierra

DMong Apr 27, 2010 05:47 PM

Yeah, I definitely remember all that nonsense..LOL!

And YES!, I can only imagine what many reptiles go through when they pip the egg, and those freakin Fire Ants get a whiff of the yolk. I have seen on TV young alligators absolutely swarmed and eaten alive by those rotten little Ba$$tards!

~Doug
-----
"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

KevinM Apr 27, 2010 08:59 PM

Man, those pics are what its all about IMO!!! When was the last time you felt that way about snakes?? Doug, man am I envious you had the opportunity to have such a regal beast as a pet. I could only imagine (well, with a couple of grand buy some and somewhat experience)what finding and keeping a snake like that is all about. Same with you Jorge. Looking at the live mouse in the wooden speck cage was like "yeah man, I remember those days!!!"

Its pics like those that make me sometimes want to downsize and just keep a few REALLY cool animals I like. Not the most popular, prettiest, or anything like that. Just stuff I really like and miss.

Thanks to both of you for those photos!!

DMong Apr 27, 2010 09:32 PM

I am really glad to have guys that can really appreciate stuff like that too Kevin. It really IS what it is all about bro!

Now I have so many snakes, I hardly ever hold them just for the sake of holding them any more. It is always only to clean, water, feed or whatever. I really do miss that aspect.

I have used that exact phrase.."regal beast" many times in the past too. After all, that is truly what they are, a very awesome, noble, and regal beast of a N. American Serpent to behold!

Again, I am overjoyed that all you guys appreciate these cool old-time photos that Jorge and I posted from an era long gone!

Geez!, snake keeping was so far in it's infancy back then it is ridiculous..LOL!. I remember all the old wooden snake boxes with rusty hinges, old glass aquariums with rigged lids and heavy books or bricks to weight them down with, etc...LOL!

I will never forget walking home around 1970 with a HUGE 7 plus foot Yellow Rat I just bought from an older kid in the neighborhood. And about half way home, it started chewing on my freakin neck as could barely control the insane length of this thing all wrapped around my legs and almost stepping on it continuously..LMAO!!

So by the time I got home, my neck and T-shirt was totally soaked with blood like my throat got slashed or something!!!

Geeez,....what great times those were!

~Doug
-----
"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

KevinM Apr 27, 2010 10:11 PM

I remember when I was a REAL young kid around six or seven years old, the neighbor kid across the street in New Orleans had a real cool dad who was apparently a herper too. This kid had everything cool at the time, from hamsters to turtles to snakes, and even a baby caimen LOL!! You gotta remember that this was around 1968/69 and most parents viewed those types of "pets" as vermin or dangerous LOL!! He had a vicious baby texas or grey rat he was keeping and often said he wished his dad had found him a "red rat" instead LOL!!

My first pet snake was a three foot speckled king I got from a local petshop back in about 1974 when I was about 12. I think I paid seven bucks for it. I kept it in an old 10 gallon tank I used for tropical fish, with the old sheet metal tops sold for the tanks. Basically just a sheet of thin metal with holes drilled in it. Not a very tight fitting device and required bricks or books stacked on top of it to keep closed LOL!! Needless to say the speck escaped a few times and I found it once in my baby RES bowl on time, then with a huge lump in its stomach coiled up in the middle of my pet mouse cage with the mouse MIA!! I played with the snake every day. I used to use grass clippings as substrate. Good times, good times!!

Keep the nostalgia rolling. I wish I had pics of my previous pets to share!!

DMong Apr 27, 2010 11:19 PM

Great story man!..LMAO!. Yes, I lost quite a few snakes back in those days too. Yellow Rats, Corns(red rats to us back then of course..LOL!), and even lost an Indigo a couple times too. I remember hearing stuff getting knocked off a shelf in our bedroom too one night as I was fast asleep. It was Mr. Indigo again..LOL! I remember the sound of things getting knocked off this above eye level shelf and breaking all over the floor scaring the CRAP out of me too!! .

I think I just got done watching a "Creature Feature" flick or something earlier that night. I thought my bedroom had a freakin poltergeist in it, and was literally paralyzed in fear from this!..LOL!. I was probably like eight or nine, because I definitely remember having Indigos in third grade "show & tell" and thereafter for several years.

The local pet shops were definitely the "candy store" for me and another snake keeping/hunting buddy of mine when we were about 14-15 years old(1974-75). This place made us drool!

They had Cribo's, Ceylonese Pythons(P.m.pimbura), retics, tons of ratsnakes, kingsnakes, etc...most ALL was wild-caught of course in those days. This place was certainly nothing to look at from the outside, but what did we care?. The only thing that was important was what was in those freakin tanks!..LOL!

Yes, lots of lunch money/lawn cutting money,(uhh,..and stolen moms purse money) was spent there folks!

~Doug
-----
"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

a153fish Apr 28, 2010 06:00 AM

Wow I didn't really have any nice shops with cool reptiles as a kid. At least I don't remember any. The only snakes I saw for the longest time were Texas rat snakes, Yellow rat snakes and occasionally a red rat or speckled king. The first time I saw a Cal king in a petshop I had a fit cause by the time I raised the money to buy it, the thing was already sold. oh and Kevin I do remember those metal covers! I had that large speck in a tank with that type of lid and books and weights on it and it got out. I was sure my Grandma got someone to release it cause she was always saying that she was gonna pay someone to do just that. I got bummed out and laid on my bed and realized I hadn't heard my Parakeet chirping. My first thought was,"Oh NO! She got rid of my bird too!" But when I looked in his cage I found Goliath curled up with a lump and a smile. I should have been upset about my bird, but I loved my snake more
-----
King Snakes! Who can make a better mouse trap?
J Sierra

KevinM Apr 28, 2010 08:54 AM

The local petshop near my neighborhood was run by a rather shady characther who actually lived in my neighborhood across the street from me. He had a tiger in his shop he actually kept in his yard from time to time, and peacocks too. Darn male peacock would jump on the roof of his house and start calling in the evenings!! His crazy wife would skinny dip in their pool in the yard LOL!! What I remember most is that he had this big cage at his shop full of boas and actually sold them by the foot LOL!! When I was a teenager, they opened a huge mall in New Orleans East that had an ice skating rink, food cart, and tons of speciality shops. We were stunned. They had a petshop that often had boas, ball pythons, various ratsnakes, and usually speckled kings. I remember oogling the yellow rats I had seen for the first time in person at that shop. They were WC adult snakes that were going for like $80!!! Man, one could only dream back then LOL!!

DMong Apr 28, 2010 02:37 PM

I am wondering about what would be more memorable to me as a teenager in the mid 70's, his naked wife skinny-dipping, or a $80 dollar Yellow Ratsnake???

But I am quite certain that this would greatly depend on the wife's visual "phenotype" of course..LOL!

Holy COW!, I can see $8.00 dollars, but $80.00 is just mind-blowing for crisssakes!!

~Doug
-----
"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

KevinM Apr 28, 2010 04:19 PM

Doug, that was the reality back then in New Orleans. By the mid 70s to early 80's, baby boas were going for $100 bucks in the pet shops. It was RARE to see something like a yellow ratsnake, california king, etc. for sale in the local shops. if you wanted it, you paid a premium LOL!! I saw my first cal king at a pet shop here in Baton Rouge around 1988-1989. It was an amel and over $100!!! It took a good five or six years later for stuff like florida kings, goini, etc. to be more in line with todays pricing.

KevinM Apr 28, 2010 04:25 PM

forgot to mention the wife wasnt too hot LOL!! I never really made an effort to see the goods LOL!! The dude was Latin American and like I said, was rather shady. He opened a bar at the old pet shop location several years later. He had a mistress who was an "exotic dancer" and worked at the pet shop as well. She had a kid with him and use to go over to his house from time to time. Usually during the day when the wifey was gone LOL!! A veterinarian I worked for in highschool said he used to inspect the animals for the owner from time to time, like the monkeys and stuff, but was NEVER allowed to inspect the large boas that came in. The vet suspected the guy was using the boas as mules to get goods into the country (serious) LOL!

DMong Apr 28, 2010 05:12 PM

LOL!!,.......yeah, very "shady" indeed!

I can definitely believe all that good stuff bro, and comes as no surprise either..LOL!

~Doug
-----
"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

a153fish Apr 28, 2010 04:40 PM

Kevin I remember that mall and that pet shop. One time I did get a good deal there. They had a rainbow boa, marked as a rainbow snake, lol. I told them it was a boa and the guy pulled out a sheet and looked for it on the list. He looked up and said no, it's a rainbow snake. It was priced at 15 or 20 bucks. So I said, well sir I would like to buy that rainbow snake please . Unfortunately I kept in dry woodchips like my specks and it died within a week .
-----
King Snakes! Who can make a better mouse trap?
J Sierra

DMong Apr 28, 2010 05:44 PM

As we all know, there is no way in hell his LIST could possibly be mislabeled...HAHAHAHAA!

I find that almost all pet shop employees will fight tooth and nail to keep from having to admit to someone off the street that they don't know what they have. It is simply too embarrassing for them.

I try to politely correct pet shops all the time about what they have, but they don't ever want to hear it.

After all, I am just some dude that walked into their store that only wants a fuzzy mouse for his problem-feeder, so how the hell would I know anything about snakes??,...hey!, I am just a customer that should be asking THEM the questions,..right??

That is how it always goes at most pet shops. They figure(and like to assume) that if YOU are going there for something, how much could you possibly know about anything..LOL!

Not long ago, there was a lady pet shop owner that had a pinky in a Rough Green snake's cage there and commented to me on how this thing would just NOT EAT for anything..LOL! She thought she had bought a Green Ratsnake(Senticolis triaspis)..LOL!

~Doug
Image
-----
"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

rtdunham Apr 28, 2010 09:08 PM

>>... What I remember most is that he had this big cage at his shop full of boas and actually sold them by the foot LOL!!

I hope i'm not the only one on the forum old enough to remember this: Back in the day, "Quivira Specialties," in wichita, i think, sold almost all their north american snakes by the foot. Of course back then they were 50 cents per, or a dollar or two per foot. I think Ray Singleton sold turtles by the (carapace) inch, too. Or at least you could order babies, or slightly larger animals and pay a little more. I always had the impression those mail order herp shops had huge supplies, and would go out and say, "ok, the kid from kentucky wants a two-foot bull snake (grab one) and a three inch painted turtle..." Then I went to Thompson Wild Animal Farm (is that the right name? In clewiston? I think i recall the owner was later murdered?) expecting to see hundreds of different kinds of animals of all different sizes, and they had, like, a dozen aquariums with a few snakes or turtles in each. It was explained to me that they held the orders and filled them immediately with what collectors brought in. On the other hand, a buddy once visited ray singleton's (doug mong can tell better whether this story's likely true) and reported there was a LOT in stock, a barrel full of water moccasins, a barrel full of rattlesnakes, a cage with chimps, a cage with a panther...

rtdunham Apr 28, 2010 09:11 PM

another one of those old exotic animal dealers was Trails End Zoo, in ?????, South Carolina (it'll come to me--it HAS been a long, long time). Anyway, on a trip with my folks once i persuaded my dad to route us through the city listed on the price lists, but no one in town seemed to know where the place was. I even asked at the post office, and they professed to know nothing about it. Weird.

KevinM Apr 28, 2010 10:48 PM

Terry, we had a similar type place about a half hour west of New Orleans in LaPlace, LA called the LaPlace snakefarm. It was a horrible run down cinderblock building off Airline Hwy. If anyone has seen that movie with Billy Bob Thornton and Halle Berry (Monster Ball, or something like that), the diner in the movie was actually in LaPlace (the old Airline Highway Diner)and close to the snake farm. Basically out in the boonies back in the day. They had homemade wooden and glass cages upon cages full of corns, ball pythons, colombian boas, whatever they could get, as well as HUGE pits in the floor with large burmese pythons, retics, venomous, etc. I think everything in the place was basically for sale LOL!! I got my first exotic snake there, a ball python, back in 1980 for $45. It was a big adult, likely female, and ONLY ate gerbils LOL!! First time I ever heard of or saw stuff like Haitian boas. They use to have a "per foot" price list back in the day too.

DMong Apr 28, 2010 11:53 PM

I'm not familiar with that particular place with the barrels chock-full of different snakes, but I definitely remember it was very common place back then for them to be sold by the foot, and bought from individuals like that too..LOL!

I remember another much older kid that lived behind us that had some Indigo hatchlings for sale too, but I wish I could remember exactly how much. Seems like maybe $10 or $15 bucks maybe, because that is where I bought that huge 7 foot Yellow Rat for like around $4 or $5 bucks or something like that.

All I remember is that I REALLY wanted one of those little speckled black and white Indigo hatchlings with the nice red throats, but they were more than my shallow pockets could muster at the time..LOL!

~Doug
-----
"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

deepblue Apr 30, 2010 03:56 AM

I remember visiting Ray Singletons and while he was looking me in the eye he reached into a cage and without looking pulled out a two foot long Coral snake and put it in my hands lol...he said eh dont worry these things never bite lol. I also remember he had a wire cage packed with monocled cobras. I was like 15 at the time and we handled that Coral like a Eastern king as i think back now...how insane was that lol?

DMong Apr 28, 2010 02:28 PM

HAHAHAA!,....

man!, some funny stuff you guys,.. love it!!

~Doug
-----
"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

varanid Apr 28, 2010 03:51 PM

I'm lucky enough to have grown up recently...I lived within an hour of Denver while Pro Exotics had their retail store. I don't want to know h ow much money I spent there as a teenager.
-----
We wouldn't have 6 and a half billion people if you had to be beautiful to get laid.
6.6 African House snakes
3.2 reticulated pythons
.1 corn snake
4.2 Florida Kings
1.2 speckled kings
1.2 ball pythons
0.0.1 Argentine boa

PHFaust Apr 28, 2010 10:23 AM

>> MAN!, do I HATE those damn Cane Toads!. A puppy of ours was killed by one in the late 60's in Ft. Lauderdale too! That thick, milky poison they exude from those neck glands is extremely potent.
>>

I have had few canes in the rescue over the years. I am always super paranoid when dealing with them to the point of gloves that are disposed in ziplocks. We have a lot of wildlife even where I am at in the city, not to mention I have three dogs and a cat. Canes always put me on edge when they come here.
-----
Cindy Steinle
PHFaust
Visit kingsnake on Facebook!
Follow Kingsnake on Twitter!

DMong Apr 28, 2010 12:10 PM

Yeah, they have always been at the very bottom of my list of "cool" animals.

I have handled(and killed) countless hundreds as a kid, and no big deal. The only thing you have to consider is the milky white poison coming from their neck gland. They have to be molested pretty roughly for them to exude the white poison though. I did always make a point to rinse off my hands in a hose though. Not to mention the fact that toads like to pee all over your hand too quite often when held..LOL!

I didn't really go much for killing animals, as I realized basically all animals have a place in the planets eco system, but I have to admit, that in south Florida as a kid, I killed countless hundreds of the non-indigenous vermon!!. I'll tell you what was scary to see, and that was how they are attracted to dog food in a bowl outside on a warm summer night. That is a perfect recipe for a dead dog there, as the dogs will want to play with the hopping toad like a toy......ARRGHH!!

~Doug
Image
-----
"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

varanid Apr 28, 2010 12:27 PM

I've always wanted a big cane toad. Seen a few, and they're really neat...like Jabba the hutt
-----
We wouldn't have 6 and a half billion people if you had to be beautiful to get laid.
6.6 African House snakes
3.2 reticulated pythons
.1 corn snake
4.2 Florida Kings
1.2 speckled kings
1.2 ball pythons
0.0.1 Argentine boa

DMong Apr 28, 2010 12:55 PM

Yeah,...it's weird, ever since a puppy of ours was killed by one around 1968 or so, I have always thought of them as nothing but huge ugly cockroaches or something. I guess "first impressions" really DO stay with a person forever..LOL!

BTW, if THIS one isn't big enough for you, I don't know what is!!....HOLY SMOKES!!!!

I think that specimen was found in Australia(where they shouldn't be either..LOL!)

~Doug
Image
-----
"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

varanid Apr 28, 2010 01:16 PM

I recognize the forced perspective trick...but that's still damn big. I WANT!
>>
-----
We wouldn't have 6 and a half billion people if you had to be beautiful to get laid.
6.6 African House snakes
3.2 reticulated pythons
.1 corn snake
4.2 Florida Kings
1.2 speckled kings
1.2 ball pythons
0.0.1 Argentine boa

DMong Apr 28, 2010 02:16 PM

That photo definitely isn't what I would call "forced perspective". Just as these photos aren't of a few monster-sized snook I caught in the mid 90's. Arms are not held far out at all, and some even held very far IN as a matter of fact.


Now THIS would be a good example of "forced perspective"..LOL!

As you mentioned, that Cane Toad is just plain MONSTROUS!!!!

~Doug

-----
"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Bluerosy Apr 27, 2010 05:46 PM

Hmm. lets see. In 1971 i would have been 12. So if i would have met you and you were holding that indigo. That would have made you my hero.

Awesome pic.
-----
www.Bluerosy.com

DMong Apr 27, 2010 05:58 PM

LOL!!,....I knew you would like that old-time photo!

~Doug
-----
"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Steve_Craig Apr 27, 2010 06:39 PM

Doug, what's up with the deer in the headlights look? Great pic, and a beautiful indigo. Well one things for sure, you're older then me, but not by much. I guess I would have been a little fellow right around seven. Small enough that you could have took my milk money. Steve

DMong Apr 27, 2010 08:24 PM

LOL!!,...yeah, who knows. I wouldn't doubt that it was because my old man was telling us to position ourselves differently or something as he was always doing.. He always had a real knack for taking forever to snap a photo..LMAO!

Man, the "lunch money" thing was hilarious too!

later, ~Doug
-----
"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

mrkent Apr 27, 2010 09:25 PM

I was 13 in '71, and had met my first snake the year before in 7th grade biology class. I grew up in Anchorage, AK, so that was my only likely way to encounter a snake. It was a boa. We had another in 9th grade, but I didn't own my first snake until my senior year of college in Abilene, TX. No pictures though.

Thanks for posting that.
-----
Kent

0.1 Hypomelanistic striped cornsnake
1.0 Lavender cornsnake
1.2 Gray-banded kingsnakes, blairs phase

DMong Apr 28, 2010 12:19 PM

You're welcome Kent!

Wow!, ALASKA!!...BRRRRRRRR!!..LOL!

~Doug
-----
"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

PHFaust Apr 28, 2010 10:30 AM

This pic is WAY cool.

However you are like REALLY OLD son! My dad was just coming back from Vietnam in 71 and my parents hadnt even met. I still had a couple of years before I came around.
-----
Cindy Steinle
PHFaust
Visit kingsnake on Facebook!
Follow Kingsnake on Twitter!

DMong Apr 28, 2010 12:16 PM

You NEWBIE!!

-----
"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

PHFaust Apr 29, 2010 03:55 PM

>>You NEWBIE!!
>>

That I am! I didnt even get my first reptile until 1994 and that was an inherited green iguana when a friend died. Kinda snowballed from there. All I have to say these days is I am glad to have a very tolerant husband.

BUT I do remember reptile care and learning about reptiles BEFORE the internet. I remember the good, the bad and the ugly. I even have a green iguana care book from the 70's with a recipe in it for iguana stew!
-----
Cindy Steinle
PHFaust
Visit kingsnake on Facebook!
Follow Kingsnake on Twitter!

DMong Apr 29, 2010 07:57 PM

Yeah!, I remember "Iguana" Stu from the 70's!!. He was one cool dude!..LOL!!

~Doug
-----
"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Jlassiter Apr 28, 2010 06:58 PM

>>This pic is WAY cool.
>>
>>However you are like REALLY OLD son! My dad was just coming back from Vietnam in 71 and my parents hadnt even met. I still had a couple of years before I came around.

LOL....I agree...Doug is getting up there.....lol......I was born that year.....in October......
-----
John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...
www.coastalbendcaptivebreeding.com

DMong Apr 28, 2010 08:02 PM

So you were about 6 months old when I was holding that Indigo in the pic there in April 1971??..LOL!

That is some funny stuff man! I guess you were still busy "musking" your diapers right about then when I was busy cleaning up Indigo poop..LOL!

~Doug
-----
"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

peters Apr 28, 2010 09:07 PM

I never realized what a bunch of yougsters you guys were, I was selling blairs {alterna} for $250.00 back in the early '70s when you were just learning what snakes were. On the subject of pet shops not knowing what they were selling. I had sut up a reptile room in a So. Cal. pet shop that I worked evenings & weekends. One day the owner called me at home and told me that he had purchased a green tree python from a tropical fish importer {Lamborn Brothers, Los Angeles} When he told me how cheap it was I had him describe it to me.I told him not to touch it till I got there as sounded like a Pope's Pit Viper. SO IT WAS!!! I called the importer and told what I thought and found that the salesman's next stop was Santa Barbara where they were able to catch him. He had sold 3 of them. They hastily sent someone to pick up the other two and the salesman picked up ours on his way back to L.A. I found out later that they had about a dozen of them and they sold them to Hermosa Reptile. Can you imagine the consiquenses this could have had. OHHH the good old days the OLD herper, Pete

Shalomjeru Apr 28, 2010 10:51 PM

Yo Pete!!!!

Yup, we're old suckers around here!!!!! We probably crossed paths back in the day!!! I started buying herps from Hermosa in the '60's. Used to hunt with a guy named Retes!!! One of the shops I worked in bought stock from Lambourn Bros. and in the 70's from Gary when Cal. Zoo. was just getting started!!! Gary always had great stock. I have a polaroid of Frank Retes and I holding my 11' Retic. in my living room. It was an interesting time but I wouldn't go back for anything!!! Few if any CB. Snakes available. Tame Blood Python and Tame Burmese were two oxymorons. I do remember low, low prices. I sold Rosies for $15, Striped Cali. Kings for $8 and I bought an Indigo for $30 in 1971 from a friend. Of course gas cost $0.28/Gal. to go to the desert to cruise. Those were the days, these are the days!!!

Pat GC

DMong Apr 28, 2010 11:30 PM

"I bought an Indigo for $30 in 1971 from a friend"

Wow Pat, if you were at my house in Ft. Lauderdale, Fl. about 1971 or so, you could have scored that GIGANTIC eight and a half or nine footer that I couldn't afford for only $8 dollars.

Ironically, just a couple years ago, I was talking about this to a close friend that I knew in my old neighborhood since 1967 or 68, and he told me that those two kids (one named Jay, the other was Bill) probably stole it from his back yard to sell to me back then. He told me his gigantic monster Indigo was missing from a back yard cage he had about that time, and he also knew about both these kids I told him about..LOL!

When he was telling me all this, I couldn't believe my ears because it was so darn funny to me that this story would actually come about after all these years. We were both laughing our fool heads off about this for a good while too understandably as we sipped our beers under a tree in his front yard in Ft. Pierce. What a small world it seems to be sometimes..LOL!

Imagine a "hot" Indigo for a very affordable price of only $8 in 71 or so. When you figure in the inflation of a dollar now, it still ony translates to about $45 bucks in today's money. Yeah, I'm guessing those dude's only wanted to get rid of that snake real quick for a nickel bag of weed and a few beers..LOL!

~Doug
-----
"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Shalomjeru Apr 29, 2010 09:08 AM

Wow Pat, if you were at my house in Ft. Lauderdale, Fl. about 1971 or so, you could have scored that GIGANTIC eight and a half or nine footer that I couldn't afford for only $8 dollars!

Yeah Doug, and at the same time I was selling 3 subspecies of WC Zonata for $15 and CH Zonata for $10. To me the only positives looking back were the great prices and yet as you point out, the dollar was worth much more then!!!LOL!!! People on the East coast were willing to pay for West Coast stuff while West Coast folks couldn't get enough East Coast stuff!!!! BTW--I really like your Website--it's awesome!!!! Good luck this season!!!

Pat GC

DMong Apr 29, 2010 09:50 AM

Sounds like you had some exceptionally cool stuff back in the day too Pat!

It's funny how several decades will change the perspective of so many things, and even snakes seem to be no exception to this. And yes, people always seem to want what they cannot easily acquire..LOL!, and understandably so. All I can say is that I'm glad we can look back now and appreciate all this interesting snake stuff and share it with each other on a place like these forums. Who else could POSSIBLY get a better kick out of it than people like us that share this common interest?

BTW, very glad to hear that you enjoyed my website, that is nice to hear my friend!

best regards, ~Doug
-----
"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

DMong Apr 28, 2010 11:04 PM

OMG!!,....what a recipe for catastrophe THAT was!!.....and funny as all heck too!..LOL!

Yeah, the good ol' days indeed!

~Doug
-----
"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Jlassiter Apr 28, 2010 09:17 PM

>>So you were about 6 months old when I was holding that Indigo in the pic there in April 1971??..LOL!
>>
>> That is some funny stuff man! I guess you were still busy "musking" your diapers right about then when I was busy cleaning up Indigo poop..LOL!

No....I was negative 6 months old.....LOL
-----
John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...
www.coastalbendcaptivebreeding.com

DMong Apr 28, 2010 11:39 PM

I was figuring the months in the wrong direction there!...geesh!..LOL!

~Doug
Image
-----
"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

varanid Apr 29, 2010 12:17 PM

My parents were in high school (I think). Ya'll are geezers

Born in 1984 here
-----
We wouldn't have 6 and a half billion people if you had to be beautiful to get laid.
6.6 African House snakes
3.2 reticulated pythons
.1 corn snake
4.2 Florida Kings
1.2 speckled kings
1.2 ball pythons
0.0.1 Argentine boa

DMong Apr 29, 2010 12:59 PM

"My parents were in high school (I think). Ya'll are geezers

Born in 1984 here"

LOL!,...yeah, it's funny to think back about that sort of thing!

Right about when you were born in 1984, my 14 foot female Burmese attempted to eat me one day. It was totally ALL my fault though, as I neglected to feed her for WAAAAY too long. Her mouth covered my entire hand and was trying to constrict me big-time. She was normally a very gentle sweetheart, and I owned her ever since she was a tiny 23 inch hatchling that I bought from a pet shop in a mall in Ft. Lauderdale for $79.95 back in 1977. Funny to think that it was fairly uncommon to see these exotics back then..LOL!

Here is a pic of my roommate and good friend that I have known since the second grade(1967)holding the snake for a quick photo around the same time it went to eat me about 1985...LOL!

Soon after this pic was taken, the landlord told me it was either me or the snake that had to go!. So as pi$$ed as I was to make this decision, I drove down to Metro Zoo down in Miami, and donated the python to the curator there. The snake had a much better life there than I could have possibly given it at the time, and the snake was used for a public display/petting show there for a while too. It was used in some breeding programs with other zoos throuout the country too I was later told by the zoo curator as well. I even have a pic of the python being held by about 8 people there in the show here somewhere that I will try to dig up and post soon.

Oh yeah!, disregard all the beer bottles on the coffee table and garbage can!. What can I say, I was 25 years old in a cool bachelor pad..LMAO!!

enjoy!, ~Doug


-----
"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

jazmaniandevil Apr 30, 2010 12:28 PM

Phew! You make me feel not as lost! Only four years younger than you!

DMong Apr 30, 2010 02:18 PM

Jasmine,....

Yes, that is what I said about things when I was younger too. But mark my words,....one day 20 or 30 years from now, you will look back and be telling some people about you owning a killer "extreme" hypo WAAAY back around 2009 when they basically just made the herp scene, and all the younger people will be going,...."Wow!, that chick is pretty old to remember those days, what the hell is an "extreme hypo anyway?, I seem to vaguely recall hearing about those things in an old snake book I have"..LMAO!!

Yeah, this is how this has always worked as time goes by, just you watch and see.

take care!, ~Doug
-----
"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Site Tools