Reptile & Amphibian Forums

As you all probably know by now, Pro Exotics had a devastating fire that nearly wiped out their entire snake collection to include equipment. Pro Exotics has been an outstanding asset to the "Herp Nation". After all these years of their support, it's now time for us to support them.

Please take this time to donate whatever you can to help them out in this time of crisis. 100% of the proceeds will be provided to them to replace equipment lost in the fire.

Thanks again for all your support!

You can make your donations here.....
DONATE HERE

Pitoon
www.UnitedHerps.com

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Homepage
My BLOG
2011 European Shows

pitoon, have you inquired as to whether they have insurance and whether they will be covered fully?

i think this fund is a stellar idea - as long as you know the answer to the above question. us as individual hobbyists mostly do not have insurance covering our snakes due to the issues discussed yesterday... but business's like pro-exotics, nerd, vpi, etc, do have coverage.

the interesting part of the insurance coverage here is to see how an insurance company evaluates what some of those high end snakes are to be valued at.

please understand that i'm posting this not to undermine your good intentions, but to simply point out a reality that needs to be considered when dealing with an operation such as pro-exotics. i do agree they are hugely helpful on these forums and unlike a lot of the big breeders who just come and show what they hatched out, but never actually offer help to anyone, that these guys have been great sources of advice and information - so if we find out they are not being covered fully, i will gladly make a donation.

I tend to agree - I am sure we all want to help out but at this point it might be best to wait for the smoke to clear and see what they need help with.
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Tosha
JET Pythons

nihil facimus sed id bene facimus

Paul,
No, i have not inquired nor do i plan to. I would think they have more issues to worry about than someone asking about a fund.

We all know that insurances usually do not cover 100% in damages.....better yet a $5K snake to them is no different than a $30 snake.

The main reason why i put this up is because of exactly what you wrote...."i do agree they are hugely helpful on these forums and unlike a lot of the big breeders who just come and show what they hatched out, but never actually offer help to anyone, that these guys have been great sources of advice and information"

This is not about them being a business or being covered by insurance. This is about helping someone that is in need....something that many people do not do these days. You have your reasons to donate or not....i will not hold that against you....but think about it if you was in their shoes.

Like i wrote, they have been a great asset to all of us. If we can help them back...why not?

Pitoon

>>pitoon, have you inquired as to whether they have insurance and whether they will be covered fully?
>>
>>i think this fund is a stellar idea - as long as you know the answer to the above question. us as individual hobbyists mostly do not have insurance covering our snakes due to the issues discussed yesterday... but business's like pro-exotics, nerd, vpi, etc, do have coverage.
>>
>>the interesting part of the insurance coverage here is to see how an insurance company evaluates what some of those high end snakes are to be valued at.
>>
>>please understand that i'm posting this not to undermine your good intentions, but to simply point out a reality that needs to be considered when dealing with an operation such as pro-exotics. i do agree they are hugely helpful on these forums and unlike a lot of the big breeders who just come and show what they hatched out, but never actually offer help to anyone, that these guys have been great sources of advice and information - so if we find out they are not being covered fully, i will gladly make a donation.

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Homepage
My BLOG
2011 European Shows

pitoon, i think we all understand no one should be inquiring about these things at this moment directly to p-e. i was putting an obvious thought out there, not suggesting that you personally ask.

and insurance does sometimes cover all - i received a check this week for my boat issue that covered all salvage and mechanical fees in full, minus my deductable - but yes, as we all understand, can they really get behind a full snakes value? that remains to be seen, and will be quite interesting to all of us - but yes, there is a very solid chance they will not.

another thing to throw into the mix - until p-e has a moment to gather their thoughts and make more of a statement, we cannot be sure they will stay in the breeding game. to lose that many snakes would crush many a breeder's desire to keep doing exactly the same thing yet again... the carnage amongst all that melted plastic must be devastating.

but yes, absolutely - no harm in pledging money. collecting would be a mistake, but pledging, why the hell not?

lots of folks like myself are not on facebook, so some of us older crew might need another way to pledge.

another way to help them right now: ship with shipyourreptiles.com

I am also behind this idea, but we should also want to know if they WANT to rebuild.
Honestly...after a loss like that, I would be very much done.
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"What is man without the beasts?
If all the beasts were gone,
men would die from great loneliness of spirit.
For what happens to the beasts,
soon happens to men.
All things are connected."

-Chief Seattle (Duwamish Tribe)

www.youtube.com/reptilenexus

It's not the fact that they have insurance it's the fact of years of hard ass work and dedication.Just to see years of projects gone in a matter of hours makes my heart go out to them!We need to pull together as a reptile family and do as much as we can!My thoughts and prayers are with everybody at PE! Kim KSC Exotics

I am sorry about the tragedy but lets not forget, Chad made 25 millions dollars JUST in salary over the course of 6 years playing something we all wish we could make money doing.(football, just incase you didn't know).
http://content.usatoday.com/sportsdata/football/nfl/salaries/player/Chad-Brown

I say give it to someone that really needs the money like a single parent or someone trying to save their house from foreclosure.

Just my 2 cents.

quote:

Hey everyone.

First of all, SO MUCH THANKS AND APPRECIATION for the love and support. How awesome. On a horrible day, how awesome to have that kind of community.

The burglar alarm went off because the building got so hot the front windows cracked and blew out, setting off the first alarm. The alarm company called and woke me at 5:45am with the alarm issue. They sent police. It didn't sound good, so I got up, brushed my teeth, and got dressed. 5 minutes later they called back and said they had reports of smoke pouring out of the building. This portion of the building is 4500 sq ft of warehouse space, where we keep all of our snakes, temp guns, offices, and other inventory.

I arrived 15 minutes later as a few fire crews were trying to cut through the garage doors/loading bays.

Once they got through, oxygen got in, and giant flames came shooting out.

It took a few hours to get the fire under control, and a few more for smoke to clear. We finally got to go inside at 4pm. It was worse inside than it looked from the outside. Everything gone, just melted. Dead animals everywhere.

Amazingly enough, one adult boa lived (but her cage did not?!?!???) and half a dozen Coxi juvies. We also were able to save some incubating eggs from the office area. Maybe a dozen total. So weird.

Ironically, the Sloan Bros came by yesterday to drop off a Champagne male for us. Nice timing boys : )

We appreciate all the support. I am astounded by the offers of charity, fund raising, and straight up offers of free animals to build a collection back. Wow.

But that is not what we need right now. We have weeks of cleanup and an entire life to put back together. Small steps. Basic steps.

I have to hire two strongmen to pick me up off the floor once this hits me, cause it's gonna be big, I'm sure.

Life is so weird. But so good. I have an amazing wife, an amazing friend in Chad, Captain Pleasant in Andy and PE Jimmy. We find strength in each other, and when we falter, we find strength in you guys.

It REALLY DOES make a difference, your support has an impact. I don't know what the future holds, but I have a size 12 stepping right to it : )

I cannot begin to explain the horror and sickness of walking through the facility and seeing so much death everywhere. At your feet, on shelves, all around you. Haunting, and so sad.

The cause is for the fire inspector and insurance guys to determine exactly.

Being out of almost all inventory, both live and merchandise, we will have to figure out a way to move forward with customers.

ShipYourReptiles is independent of the facility, and our guy Kevin is still on the ball and on top of things for SYR, so there is no interruption or effect with SYR.

I will be attending the Tinley Show as SYR, but won't have anything to offer on the PE side of things. I look forward to seeing you guys there.

Again, the support is humbling, and so powerful. Thank you all.

quote:

Thank you all for the well wishes and support. It means so much to me, and our entire PE team.

It has been a rough couple of days. More remain ahead.

We met with insurance folks today. Just trying to get a basic understanding of what is covered. Things look good on that front, thankfully.

Our facility is in a warehouse/office district. Our space had offices up front, with 4500 sq ft of snakes in the warehouse. 8 snakes of nearly 3000 lived. It is a total loss, total devastation. With the smoke and water damage, everything has been lost. We tried to salvage some personal items today, but everything has been touched by fire, smoke, soot or water.

It is an older building, no sprinklers, and the landlord wasn't about to spend a million dollars to install them. No one envisioned such a tragedy was even possible.

We have another building across the parking lot housing our monitor lizards and rodent breeding. That is untouched. We are grateful.

I don't know what the future holds. There are months ahead just dealing with insurance folks. We DO have gap coverage that will help pay employee salaries and expenses, thank goodness.

I don't know that even with the graphic pics at facebook Pro Exotics, I don't know that folks understand the devastation.

There are NO cages left, we have no inventory left (20,000 temp guns melted, books, thermostats, etc. all ruined), we found 8 amazing survivors, but we have no cages to put them in (Sloan Reptiles are housing survivors locally for us). Phone system is dead, computers are all wet. There are no boxes to pack orders in, nor any tape to close the boxes. Total devastation, for real.

And it is just surreal. When I stop to rest, it starts to hit, and hard. The outpouring of support from the reptile community is amazing, uplifting, and just awesome. Thank you all, it means so much.

I can't get the smoke stink off of me, my clothes, or out of my car. But I am lucky. No people were hurt, and when I feel weak, the reptile community gives me strength. Super lucky. Thank you for the support, it means SO much.
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Robyn Markland @ Pro Exotics, ShipYourReptiles.com and All Pro Shipping, Inc.

Chad, Robyn, Andy, Nicci, Jimmy, the entire staff at Pro Exotics Reptiles are overwhelmed and humbled by the outpouring of love and support from the reptile community after our recent fire. We have suffered a total loss of our snake collection, and 97% devastation to our business. 20 years of passion and work has been erased in a moment. We face a long and hard road back to success.

We have received offers of aid, fundraising, cards of support, emails and calls from around the world. Unfortunately we are not in a position to accept any animals or caging at this time, we have literally no place to put them, our building is gone. If you would like to make a donation or show of support through these organized efforts online, we would bow our heads and so graciously accept them. The reptile community has simply been amazing. We deeply appreciate each of you, and we know that in the future, we will pay it forward.

In our darkest moment, the reptile community has provided a strong beacon of light and hope. Thank you so much. THANK YOU. -Robyn@ProExotics
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robyn@proexotics.com

ShipYourReptiles.com
Pro Exotics Reptiles

Chad, Robyn, Andy, Nicci, Jimmy, the entire staff at Pro Exotics Reptiles,

you are in our thoughts and prayers,

Kyle

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"be safe, be happy and dont let anyone make you afraid"
David Coverdale

Robyn, if you guys have a clean up gathering with your employees, I will buy 5 large pizzas and soda for you guys. Let me know.

Dave

Dude. What an outside the box, genuine offering. My guys will greatly appreciate that. Reptile folks. The best.
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robyn@proexotics.com

ShipYourReptiles.com
Pro Exotics Reptiles