Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've been lurking on this forum for a couple of months now, so thought it was time to say "Hi".

I used to breed ATBs (and kept, but didn't breed, a few ETBs and GTPs. Also used to breed tree vipers) back in the '80s and early '90s. Then I got so involved with corn snakes that I gave up everything else - but have missed arboreals more and more lately. So I recently acquired a couple pairs of yellow /red ATBs and am considering getting back into arboreals again in a bigger way.

I personally prefer the ATBs because they are SO variable (kind of like colorful corn snakes with a bit of attitude!) They are quite undervalued for what they are, in my opinion. But I see some people here do like them, so I think I will hang out and hopefully see lots of posts and photos from other ATB enthusiasts, so I can catch up on what's been going on this past decade I've been away.

Thanks to all who post.

Hello Kathy, I'm glad to hear your getting back into atb's. They are very photogenic as you can see. I bought this little guy today from Rick Stanulis at the N.Y. Metro Expo. BTW I hope the printers working fine.
James VanZetta

Link

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Moderator note: link checked and ok.

Edited on January 14, 2004 at 18:00:53 by phwyvern.

Yes, it works fine. Doesn't produce photo quality at this point, but I think we probably need new ink.

Do you keep and breed more ATBs?

I personally prefer the ATBs because they are SO variable (kind of like colorful corn snakes with a bit of attitude!) They are quite undervalued for what they are, in my opinion.

No doubt! We've only just scratched the surface in regards to selective breeding, morphs, etc. In my opinion amazons are the most exciting species out there in these regards. I friggin love em!

So let's see what you got so far. Some yellows? Some reds?

I can see that there are only a relatively few people who are really trying selective breeding with the ATBs. I still love my corns, but I think these are more of an excitng new frontier.

3 of the 4 just shed, so I am going to try to get Bill to take some nice photos of them soon (you wouldn't want to see the ones I would take with my dig. camera, LOL!)

Except for the largest one, I am really surprised how (relatively) docile they are - I remember mine being a lot more ill tempered than these. One is a c.b. red one, the other 1.2 are recent imports that are very colorful and doing quite well.

Great, glad to have you on board! Just watch out cuz 4 amazons can turn to 50 real quick. Before you know it you'll be selling your corns for amazon money! LOL
.

IMO The MAN in selective breeding of ATB's is John Camp of Urban Jungles. If you are looking for high end ATB's he is your man. The solid black patternless he produced this year is rediculous!
Adam

n/p

Hi Kathy,
If you're ever looking for some unique ammys drop me a line!

Danny
Urban Jungles.com

I must say, when I saw a post here with your name on it, I had to look at the top of the page to see if I was on the right forum! I'm so used to seeing your posts on the cornsnake forum.

Amazons were the first species I ever bred. It was years later (maybe 5?) that I got my first corn snake and even then a few more years before I bred corns and seriously got into them. I always defended my cornsnake keeping to my tree boa friends by saying "they're like terrestial Amazons". I met you and Bill at the Tinley Park show, you wouldn't remember though, I'm a private type of person and don't usually introduce myself by name when meeting people at shows.

I recently decided to focus almost exclusively on Amazons (again) and have cut my corn (and other colubrid) collection down from 100+ to under 10.

Mike H.
Mike@boakingdom.com

and was impressed.

Even back in the '80s when I bred Amazons, I was disappointed that most people only got excited about their ETBs and chondros, considering ATBs "poor cousins". I did a lot of searches recently and still have found only a few people who seem to be actively, selectively breeding them. Looks like much more of a "frontier" than corns are today. Most of the new types of corns lately are recombining other traits (lavender stripes, etc) rather than actual new traits. I think Amazons could be fun the same way corns were a decade or more ago - but now corn breeders are victims of our own success!

I found another tree boa forum (I think I got the link from your site), but neither that one nor this one seem very active. (Also saw one on Rich Z's site that is not too busy either) Are there others that are more active, or stress ATBs more? Sometimes it may just take a small number of people "talking" to attract a bigger crowd and keep things interesting. I am really looking forward to getting more involved in the arboreal community - even considering going to that St. Louis meeting this winter.

Thanks for any input.
Kathy

Thanks for the kind words! My site (boakingdom.com / amazontreeboa.org) is currently off-line. I'm doing a lot of long overdue updating & overhauling. It'll probably be back up around Feb 1st.

About the tree boa forums...they all do apear to be slow, but that can be decieving. There's lot's of viewers, just not many posters. My advice would be to frequent, and post on, every tree boa forum you can find, you'll meet lots of people with lots of experience. Sometimes all it takes to fire up a slow forum is for a new person to start posting. Focus more on the people you meet rather than on which forum is the best (naturally, I'd love to have you participate on mine, which you referred to earlier) and you'll meet some great Amazon keepers...there's quite a few of them!

Mike H.
Mike@boakingdom.com

forum - thought it was just a link from you (sorry, not paying close attention). There have been some really beatiful photos there posted by a few people. They really seem to be into digital close-ups LOL! I even showed some to Bill, since he is a photographer.

You are right - I will post on both forums now and then and see if it starts up any conversations. Bill has promised to photo my ATBs soon and I will post the photos, too.

Where are you located? Maybe we could see your facilty some time if we get to a show near you (Chicago?)

Kathy

I'm about 5 miles from the Tinley Park Show. I'd be delighted to show you my ATBs. By show time, I may even have some newborns to show off We have about 8-10 females that we're hoping will cooperate and mate this winter/spring.

Here's a holdback baby, she's about 2 yrs old right now...

I would love to come next Oct before or after the show.

Thanks!
Kathy

Ok, let's plan on it...October it is

Just thought I'd throw in a corn photo ('02 Aztec lavender produced by Jeff)