Being a young herper, I was always in Bonita Gala's reptile shop in Sarasota FL, priorly owned by Ben Siegel. One day an older man walked in with a very old Jack Russell, Tippy, and a clutch of hatching eggs. Bonita introduced me to Kevin 5 years ago and he proceeded to show me his "first in the world" corn snake... A hypo opal stripe. He hit the 1/64 odds with possible hets from Lee Abbot and on his first clutch produced an animal that the big breeders had been trying to for the two years prior. He was so excited, but did not feel the need to share it with the public. Snakes were never about money or fame for him, he kept, bred, and produced snakes simply because it was his passion.
As he battled his crippling disease, Bonita and Jerry Gala helped him a few times a week with his collection of around 80 colubrids and for that he was forever grateful. He brought quadruple gene animals, unrivaled knowledge, and the Hypo Florida Kings to this hobby and it repaid him with 3 more years of life. I would go visit him and you could see the spark in his eyes when he saw some of the Florida kings that I brought, or when he was looking at his eggs hatching... even if they were just hypo hondurans (I say just because he has produced hundreds). He told me so many times what he wanted to produce in the future and Bonita and Jerry helped keep his dreams alive. They were all that kept him going.
His dream was to one day produce a Whitesided Pink Pearl Snow Florida King and with the Hets that he left behind for Bonita, his dream will one day come to fruition. The morph will be named after him as his legacy will live on through the very animals that kept him fighting. He never publicly took credit for the Hypo Brooks, nor did he feel that he needed to get $700 a piece for them. He sent them out for $100-150 and that was enough for him. As long as he could keep his collection self sustaining he was happy. I can not say enough positive things about Kevin and was excited to once again bring my hatchlings over to brighten his day and to help him decipher what FL King morphs he had hatching when the time came.
Kevin Maxwell passed away around 5:30am Sunday morning. He battled Luke Eric's Disease three years longer that the doctors anticipated. He was a fighter, and his main motivation was his snakes. I spent the last two years away at college and did not have as much time to spend with him as I wish I did now, but I know he will be looking down on us all with the expectations that one day our snakes will be just as vital to us as they were to him. I think we should all take a page out of his book and refocus our outlook on this hobby. Let something positive come out of such a huge loss.
Happy Memorial Day and God Bless Kevin and our military!
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Jeremy Thompson
Captive Born Investments Inc.
www.captiveborninvestments.net
Jeremy@captiveborninvestments.net
941-323-4850
