Reptile & Amphibian Forums

OK, so it's been exactly 1 year, and 1 day ago (9/30/11) since my fire. I don't believed I ever shared any of these pics on the forum. So, for those of you who want to see...carry on. For those of you who, well let's just say may have "delicate sensibilities", you probably won't want to go any further.

I ended up losing approx 60-70 adult breeders, (mostly all higher end Floridana, some other getula, and some ball pythons) and a colony of approx 200 mice. Everything in my shop was destroyed. Fortunately, all of my sub-adults, yearlings, and babies were inside my residence in a spare bedroom, and were fine, as the fire didn't spread past the garage, thank the Lord.

Additionally, given the time of year, most of these adults had already bred and produced 1 or 2 clutches that have long since hatched. As a result, I have been able to keep the bloodlines going from the ones I lost. Funny how things work out sometimes.

For those of you who remember this, you'll also remember how hard it was for me. Several of you really stood by me during the days and even weeks following this major SUCK FEST of mine. I just want to thank you. You know who you are.

I haven't looked at these pictures in quite a while and have since moved on...but it sure is depressing all over again, seeing them again exactly a year later. But as most of you have already learned and figured out in life; life goes on. It's been a year. I've pretty much rebuilt and recovered. I'm all good.

By the way, People... Check your wires and electrical connections and components once in a while. Shop fires that kill your snakes, rodents, and personal property really blow.

Have a nice day.

I certainly do remember. That is just so sad to see.....

Reminds me of some of the horrible aftermath fire pics Pro Exotics had afterwards. I'm glad to hear that you were able to keep things going after that......I can only imagine man......

Best wishes with all of your stuff now buddy!..

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

serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Yeah man, Pro Exotics had theirs earlier in the week before mine. My bbq happened on the Fri of that week. Geez what a sucky day, week, and month that was...So glad it's behind me now.

Hope all's well with you, Doug.

Take a look at this...will probably bring back some memories for a few of you.

http://forums.kingsnake.com/view.php?id=1951535,1951535

What a nice collection that was. Its hard looking at those pictures of the aftermath. It must have been really hard for you to have to deal with the whole situation. Yeah, thank God it wasn't any worse. I'm sure you're really enjoying the hatchlings you are raising up now. You'll have to post some of those some time.
-----

Just terrible!
And I can relate....
It has been just over 6 years since something similar to this happened to my collection. No fire but almost as hot as one.

Glad to see you are going forward.....
Now get some Mexicana and Western getula to make you feel REAL good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-----
John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...

that which does not kill us
makes us STRONGER.
my recent fire was approx. 5yrs.ago and i only lost 8animals out of around 200 but still the grief, the pain, ive felt it to
helpless...helplessness...
30 yrs ago my familys home burned to the ground and my baby sister was severly burned, it is a devestating thing to go through.
........
im glad to hear it didnt kill your passion man.
my fire(s) were unrelated to snake rooms but still it is very important to double and triple check and never leave unchecked ANY HEATING source, all of my heat souces are run through 2 inline thermostats incase one was to fail and even those are only on for a few hours a day.
its also really cool you have some of the same bloodlines from ones that died.
carry on.
,,,,,,,,,thomas davis
-----
Morphs... just like baseball cards BUT ALIVE, how cool is that???

my website www.barmollysplace.com

Glad to see you bouncing back bro. Those pics are a harsh reminder of what can happen to ANY of us. Just glad you and your family were not harmed.

Joe

That is rough man, I'm glad things have turned back around for you. I wouldn't even want to imagine going through that nightmare.
-----
www.kingpinreptiles.com

Wow, eerily familiar, timing and all.

So sorry for your loss. Glad to see you moving forward.

Those pics could literally trade places in our fire pic album and not be out of place, nearly identical. Crazy, and scary.

I heard about 4 or 5 fires last year, I had no idea it was such a problem, until it hit home.

We are moving forward in the reptile world, just not on the live side of things.

Have you settled with your insurance? It is just over a year now, and we are still waiting, so frustrating, trying to make it month to month in a still crippled state. Ugh.

I wish you the best of the best moving forward.
-----
Robyn@ ShipYourReptiles.com TheReptileReport.com

and ProExotics.com

Thanks to each of you (Doug, John, Ross, Thomas, Joe, Mike, and Robyn) for the kind words. And for those of you with similar experiences, I'm sorry too...It really blows. Not a day goes by I don't think about how bad it COULD have been, and how fortunate I really was considering...

And yeah, the whole thing makes me really value my current collection...especially the younger ones that weren't in the shop at the time, that were spared.

Now I know that all things cannot neccessarily be avoided or prevented. However, my best advice would be to always pay attention to detail; do your best to frequently predict what COULD and/or MIGHT happen...By doing this, you'll likely reduce your risks; And most of all, don't take the things you cherish in life for granted.

Micah

I am really sorry for your lost...it really hurts to see the destruction.

The only good thing is that some of your stock were save in another room and you can work on with them...wish you much luck with rebuilding your collection!

yours

Michael

Thanks Michael.

The absolute worst part about the whole thing was having to go through the mess, finding my poor snakes, dead. A few of them tried to make a break for it, but there was escaping that inferno. I felt really bad for the mice having no way to escape either.

Take care man.

I had to shut that part of my brain off long ago. Just torture to think about it, even now.
-----
Robyn@ ShipYourReptiles.com TheReptileReport.com

and ProExotics.com

Did you ever discover the exact cause of it? I've been doing a lot of research on the safest setup for heating and I think there are a lot of precautions we can all take. But like you said nothing is 100 percent foolproof. Still when I see some of those videos on YouTube with people who have setups with overloaded cheap power strips, wires and cables all crossing, etc it makes me scratch my head.