Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Where've you been? Haven't seen any posts from you in a few days. Did you go to an Expo? Kinda got used to seeing you all over the forum, but you disappeared. Missed reading your inputs(believe it or not)>
Hope you had a great holiday. Same for everyone else reading this.
CRICKET

Ah I come and go. I tend to read a lot of the posts. Sometimes what needs to be said has been said, and I have no further input. Other times I just do not have the energy required to argue my point of view. I got a little burned out on the ball python forum a week or two ago. arguing wether "whacking" a rat is a humane way to kill it. I said no. I asked the guy for one shred of proof that it was humane. He turned around and told me to find proof that cervical disslocation is humane. I know that it is as it is a well accepted fact of animal use and wellness committes accros the country. Fighting gets very tiring. Also I have gone back to work so I have to work 8 hours a day and still care for all the critters. It is a lot of work, have about 40 herps. I add comments here and there think I have posted twice today. And once the other day. I do get to go online at work, so sometimes I post a lot while pasing time at work.
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Derek Affonce
DeKeAff Exotics
dekeaffexotics.com

I don't think whacking rodents is humane either. To tell you the truth, a friend of mine suggested that I whack mine before feeding them to my Brazilian Rainbow Boas. I tried it one time & skinned the tail entirely, leaving nothing but bloody bone. It was worse than grossly sickening. I immediately gave it to a boa & thank God, it was put out of it's misery instantly.
Hate to hear you're working so hard. I'm disabled & only breed reptiles. Mostly veiled chameleons, so I post there too sometimes.
Cricket

Ah work will pay off at somepoint. I am working on my PhD in biomedical engineering. So my work is research. It is a good time for the most part. The animals are my release from everything so I enjoy going in and doing that work when I get home for the most part. Offing rodents can be a trick, I like cervical disslocation as I know research hospitals do it and I was showed how to do it by someone that used it as a way to euthanize mice. Whacking is just very unprecise to me. U think a rodent is dead and 30 minutes later it is walking around if not done properly. Yeah I just started breeding last year and have only bred dragons and gotten a crested egg so far. I hope to produce boas and balls this year. Fun fun fun, lots of hungry mouths, I love my snakes and to feed them.
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Derek Affonce
DeKeAff Exotics
dekeaffexotics.com

I don't whack mine. I feed live to everyone. Like I said, I've whacked one & I'll never do it again. The only boas & pythons I have are normal balls, Russian Sand Boas, & my BRB's. This will be my first time breeding these. They are in brumation right now. I bred lots of cornsnakes last year, but too many other people do too. My current breeding stock for this year:
1.1 Ball Pythons 1.1 Brazilian Rainbow Boas
1.1 banana phase Cal. Kings 1.1 Tangerine Honduran Milks
1.1 Russian Sand Boas 1.1 Miami Corns
1.1 Rosey Ratsnakes 1.3 Leopard Geckos
3.6 Bearded Dragons(col. morphs)
10.22 Veiled Chameleons- (my specialty)
I've got an adult pair of Egyptian Uromastyx that I'm going to TRY to breed this year. I've got no experience with the breeding process on these. Got a lot more reptile pets too. I breed my own rodents & most of my crickets. I'd like to do more, but it takes 10-12 hrs daily to take care of everyone properly. Getting a little bit of a break with my snakes in brumation. No feeding or snake pooh to clean up for a couple months.
Cricket

wow that is a ton of vieleds. I have one cham. a panther. he is my wife's. How is that for activity? Those are enough posts for a week. lol.
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Derek Affonce
DeKeAff Exotics
dekeaffexotics.com