Well what an odesy we had this week. Ive been trying to make my way down to the importers for a few months, to hand pick animals for the shop. So on Monday Justin and I took off for Miami.
Justin had just returned from the Ohio and Indy shows last saturday and sunday. That trip was 11 hours each way, plus the work at the shows (7-6 for him due to amount to set up). So needless to say he was pretty spent Monday when we left. I believe he had about 7 hours sleep the last 2 days.
I also was pretty tired to start the trip, haveing spent the previous week building cages for the shop. I also spent all night sunday at the shop giving the animals a bit of extra care before I left for what could have been a week long trip. I ended up getting to bed about 5 am Monday morning, only to wake up at 7:30 a.m. to start the trip.
We made a few deliveries along the way, and ended up getting to Deerfield Beach (Siegels shop) about 2 pm tuesday afternoon. I drove all the way till 1 mile before the Florida border (damit I thought I made it, but slept/drove into the exit only to find we were still in Georgia by a mile). Then let Justin Drive us to the Kissime area and he herped for a few hours. Then I drove us to Deerfield.
We got to Bens shop around 2 pm, and Ben wasnt available untill about 5 pm, so we decided to go find a hotel. Unfourtunately Deerfield Beach is not a good place for inexpensive hotels. We searched everywhere, and the cheapest place in the city we could find was a roach motel on the beach. We wanted to stay inland to save, but they wanted 90 a night at the ramada.
We headed back and met up with Ben, delivered a few animals, and picked up a few while we were there. He gave us a few tips on herp spots, and we talked for a few hours with Ben. His store was very nice, and all the animals looked great. After that we decided it was time to sleep, as we had been in the car for more then 32 hours at this point.
We got a meal, and headed to our roach trap. Well sure enough it was about 33 degrees on the beach that night (seriously it was) and sure enough NO HEAT in the hotel. Worse then that the windows were rows of glass strips, that didnt seal well. No insulation, no storm windows. IT WAS COLD. We slept in winter coats with blankets and were still cold. I luckily was able to keep the 2 monitors we got from Ben warm, so all was good there. Finnally around 3 am Justin opened the oven door, and turned it on to heat the room.
Check out time hit at 9 am in Roachtown, so we left the joint around 8:30 and headed to herp. It took us till about 10 to get to our first stop, and were unable to gain access to the pond. So we decided to head to Strictly and see what was cooking. The place had a good amount of stock on hand, and a number of animals I should have grabbed. However it was our first stop, and at that point we werent sure how long we were going to be in town, and didnt want to commit that early.
We left strictly planning to do some herping, but with the cold snap I didnt expect any luck. Allong the way to herp, we got ahold of the Bells, and decided to blow off herping and head towards Miami to meet there driver to get some leos for the store.
We got lost on the way to Zooilogical, so when we got on the right track we didnt want to stray for food. Unfourtunately we wanted checkers, and none appeared then suddenly nothing was around. We knew we needed to eat before starting at the importers, so we decided to get whatever we could find. What we found was a plant nursery's tent food stand for all the other nurserys workers to eat at. Not sure what the food was, but we were the only people who spoke english. It was hard to order, and the few things looked "safe" but we were open to try it. I got the chicken with orange colored sauce and potatoes, the pork with same sauce and spuds, and the white rice. Justin got the same minus pork and plus black beans. We didnt each much, but it helped.
We got to Zooilogical around Noon, and Mike took us around the farm for about two hours. They were really low on reptiles, but did have some cool stuff that lives on the farm. They also have some killer dogs, lions, gators, ect. The facility was very cool, and I assure you they have alot of money tied up in the place. Mario, Mike, and the rest of the guys were all very cool, and we ended up getting as much stuff as I could from them. We also got to see a really cool trained chimp, a funny incident.
Next we hit Xtreme, and were lucky enough to get in on a Madagasgar order as it was unpacked. Sadly the order had some problems, and I wasnt able to get nearly the number of leaftails as wanted. However there were alot of KILLER ambilobee panthers, mantellas, ect. We got a ton of really nice animals from Alfredo, and left around 6 pm.
At this point I was low on cash, and everyone was closed. We figured I'd let Justin herp a few hours, and then if it was still unproductive we'd head home. Sure enough due to the weather it was slim pickings, so we headed for Omaha.
We left the Deerfield beach area by 10:30 eastern and headed for home.We hit a few shops on the way home, picked up a few animals from one of my suppliers in Missouri, and still made it to Omaha by 10:00 central (esentially 24 1/2 hours drive time).
If you crunch the numbers, Justin was in a car or working a reptile related job for 90 of 110 hours. I was in a car, or at a wholesalers place for 60 of 72 hours. I slept maybe 10 hours between monday and thursday night at 3 am when I finally got to sleep after unpacking the 8 live boxes we brought back with us.
On the bright side I got home and had only one DOA out of all the boxes. Sadly a pac man from had swallowed a mouth full of the moss and chocked. To top it off, out of maybed 300 animals, we havent found a single flaw and have allready had a female mountain horn drop us 10 eggs. Man its alot of work going to that length to supply your shop, but in my mind if you want something done right you have to do it yourself.
So next time you think you want to run your own shop, or live the life of someone behind the table at a show think of the work they put in. Im no different then many of the other people who work hard to make a business out of this hobby. So next time you think a big guy is short with you on the phone or email with answers give them a break. We all work very hard to do what we do.
-----
Mickey Hinkle
The Lizard King Reptiles
http://thelizardkingreptiles.com
402-614-6641
"I am the Lizard King, I can do anything" - Jim Morrison
