Snakebytes Blog

Happy Thanksgiving

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 11:32:00 -0500

Wishing anyone from the US a Happy Thanksgiving. For me this is a holiday that is about family and friends. The thing I love about this holiday is that you don’t need to give anyone gifts to show them how much you care. All you need to do is be there for them. I’m fortunate to have a fantastic family and a ton of great friends. There will be an empty spot at the table to today for my Dad, being the first holidays without him will be hard, but I’m thankful that I had a long life with him being so supportive of everything I did. My mom moved in with us about six months ago and I’m so grateful that she’s still here with us. Although this has been a tough year and there have been so many things that have not worked out the way that I wanted them too, I’m still thankful to just still be here and doing what I love to do and to have a crew of workers that are second to none. Finally I’m am so thankful for all the people that are so supportive of us here at BHB and SnakeBytesTV, without you guys we would be nothing! For anyone that is a member of our social network www.snakebytestv.ning.com try to post a blog about what you’re thankful for or maybe just post a picture of something. It’s a special day, I hope you all enjoy it as much I will!

Remember tomorrow the big Black Friday sale at www.bhbreptiles.com and we’ll be off in the morning heading to the white Plains reptile show this Sunday!

SnakeBytesTV-Chubby Bunny

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 08:40:00 -0500

What would Thanksgiving be without a snake feeding video and a chubby bunny contest?? After all isn’t Thanksgiving about stuffing our faces, and we stuff our snakes faces at least once a week, so it just makes sense. And in classic SnakeBytesTV style we have to see who in the crew is the biggest pig in an epic chubby bunny contest! As always we appreciate your support, but we’re even more thankful on this thanksgiving holiday. From all of us here at BHB and the SnakeBytesTV crew we wish you a Happy Thanksgiving! Brian(Sbtv) and the crew

Video

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 08:36:13 -0500

Going out of business

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 10:01:00 -0500

So the rumor going around is I’m going out of business. Whether it’s the sale this Friday or just random B.S. I hear that my business is over?? I’m not going to lie and say we’re doing great like we used to, the economy is tough, I’m coming off a below average Ball Python production year and money is tight at times just like 99% of the people in this country. It’s not a great time to run any business right now in this country. That being said we are far from going out of business and if we did I wouldn’t be running a one day sale, I would have a sale that was on until I sold everything I had. I have high hopes for the sale on Friday, but I’m pretty sure I’m not going to sell 50,000 snakes that day.lol I even heard a rumor from that came from a friend of mine in New York that said my crew walked out on me because I have not been paying them? Now that’s pretty funny, I can honestly say they get paid before I do. When a week is tight I don’t pull any money for myself, but I always make sure they get their paychecks. I also believe with my crew if things ever got to a point where I couldn’t pay them they would help me through it and never just walk away from our shop. We are a big family, I help them when they need me too, and I have no doubt they would help me if I ever needed them too. It’s just funny how people love to make crap up about other people. They love to hear the stories of someone suffering, but my question is; who actually started the rumor? And how did it go from BHB not thriving like it used to in the past to my crew abandoned me?? And lastly why would someone come up with something so strange? I guess I have to look at it as I have people talking about us and that’s always a good thing no matter what they say about you?? Just to let everyone know, I am far from going out of business. I have millions of dollars of snakes, if times ever get really tight I can always sell off a project that I would rather keep to get through to the other side. I wonder what the rumor will be next week?? Keep em coming, it at least makes me laugh when I feel stressed!

Time Management

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 09:18:00 -0500

This week will be all about time management. We have three days to get what normally takes us five, not to mention we have to add getting ready for the White Plains show, our big sale on Friday and having the whole family over to our house on Thanksgiving. We’re leaving for New York on Friday morning, which means that when we leave work on Wednesday everything has to be done for the week and we need to be ready to take off on our trip to the east coast. Thinking about all the things that I need to do I feel there is no way to get everything done in time, but we have been through worst in the past and did fine with it. Again, it’ll be about using every minute of time that we can. The next three days will be long days, with little break for anything except work. That isn’t always a bad thing, I find that when you’re back is against the wall sometimes you preform the best. Although I know I’ll feel pretty stressed out at times I have no doubt that we’ll get it all done and be ready to go. It’s nice to have a great crew too, that I know will keep things going when we’re gone for a couple of days after the holiday. I think the thing I’m the most worried about is our online sale on Friday. I’m hoping it goes well and we sell a lot of stuff, but also don’t piss anyone off or disappoint people as to what we have for sale. Of course I hope that everything works the way it’s supposed too as well. Being in a van driving all day Friday it’ll be hard to fix a lot of problems on the go. I have some people helping out that if there are minor problems we can get it fixed, but if anything major happens I’ll be freaking out.lol In the end it’ll all work out and as always I’ll just have to take one day at a time. Seems that I live my life that way most of the time, I guess that’s all I can do:)

Ready for Thanksgiving??

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:10:00 -0500

You think I’m ready for Thanksgiving?? I’ve never been a super festive guy when it comes to the winter holidays, but Thanksgiving is a holiday I normally like. It’s all about taking the day off, having family over and eating a lot of good food. We always have most Thanksgiving at our place probably because we have the biggest house in the family, not that it’s a mansion. For me this works great because believe it or not I’m really a guy that likes to be home. You’d think with all the traveling I do that I would love to be away from home, but I’m always the happiest right here. I love seeing all the cool places that I get to check out, but I always can’t wait to be back home. The other reason I like this holiday is that other then going to the store and buying food to get ready to cook, there’s not a whole lot to getting ready for it. Maybe that’s why I’m not a Christmas person, you have to make sure that you buy gifts for everyone and with a bigger family it can take you months to get prepared for it. Just give me a day off where I can relax, be with the people I love and stuff my face and I’m happy:) The only thing I’m not looking forward to is Friday morning we’re leaving for New York for the White Plains show, it’s a ten hour drive and I know that will be on my mind a lot on Thanksgiving. I’m looking forward to the show and hanging out in the city a bit the day before, but not looking forward to that drive! This will be a very short and very crazy week, three days to get all my work done, get ready for the show next weekend and also make sure that this Black Friday sale works. Getting things ready for this sale has been a ton more work then I ever expected. I’ll need all the luck I can get to make it through this week:)

Week Wrap

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 10:30:00 -0500

I wouldn’t say it was a boring week, because there is always so much going on in our lives. But it was a more normal week then most. Working on the website trying to get as many animals on it as possible not to mention trying to get ready for next weeks Black Friday sale. With the help of one of my good friends we were able to get some banners up on www.ball-pythons.net www.cornsnakes.com and www.faunaclassifieds.comtrying to promote the sale. We should have the list of animals for the most part wrapped up today and then it’s just a matter of making sure that everything is set on the site and hoping it doesn’t crash that day.lol The sale will be from 6am to midnight EST on Friday the 27th. We also shot a couple of episode of SnakeBytesTV this week, we’re trying to get a few weeks out like we used to. Over the last few months we’ve been filming maybe one or two weeks out at the most. It puts a lot more pressure on everything that way. I think both shows should be pretty sweet, Ken our new camera guy and fast becoming the idea guy behind all our skits is making a huge difference in how creative we’re starting to get and probably the reason for a huge jump in viewership. Without giving anything away the one show you’ll see George hook up with his dream girl, lets just say it should be pretty funny. Chewy is back filming as well, I totally understood his need to take a break, but I’m glad the old Chewy is back and it was nice to film a segment of Dr. Chewy again. Finally we’ve just been working really hard on getting everything going great in the Python and Boas breeding front. If we keep working this hard for the entire season I expect some great things this year. We just need to keep focused and not drop the ball. Working all day today, but taking some time off tomorrow to go visit Jade up north. Then back to it next week. That’s starts the beginning of a few weeks of insanity!

Back To Travel Soon

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:32:00 -0500

This is my last weekend home before a short burst of traveling again. Next weekend is kind of weird because we have the White Plains New York show on Sunday, which means we have to leave right after Thanksgiving to head to the east coast. We’ll get back early Monday morning and have to get everything back set up just for me to fly out of town to go visit my TV production company that Wednesday thru Friday morning. Then play catch up that weekend just to head out Monday morning at about 5 am to go to the the Columbus Zoo to shoot some film at the zoo with some of the keepers and also do a segment or too with Jack Hannah. Back home and within a week or so I’m heading back out the Maryland to go shoot a show on Boas, I know that will make all our Boa followers happy.lol Also trying to squeeze in a trip to my friends Leopard gecko farm for a show on Leos before the holidays. Don’t get me wrong I’m super excited about all of the trips I’m taking in the next three weeks, it’s just that they are so bunched together and we have so much to do here at the shop that it’ll make my life insane until mid December. Hoping when I get back I’ll have a break for the holidays and really start to see some progress on the breeding front. That’s normally when you start to get the first feel for how things will turn out for the year. It’s a long breeding season and it will be long from over in mid December, but that’s when I’ll start to make some adjustments if needed in our groups. All in all it should be an exciting end to a very crazy year. By far our craziest year I have ever had both good and bad. I will have to say in honesty that I won’t look back on 2009 and miss it that much.lol

I wish we could produce a snake like this!

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 12:00:33 -0500

Photo

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 11:59:58 -0500

Is it starting or ending?

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 09:29:00 -0500

Funny, I was checking the incubator this morning and there are three more clutches of Ball Python eggs to hatch. One is Pastel Calico to Bumble Bee, Spinner Blast to Super Pastel and Chocolate Spinner to chocolate. They aren’t all gang buster clutches, but I think there could be some great potential for some cool babies. The bigger thing I was thinking about is with us ramping up our breeding efforts, it made me realize that the cycle has never stopped this entire year. I remember ten years ago when I almost had a vacation over the winter. From December until February I almost couldn’t find enough stuff to keep me busy. This year between colubrids and Pythons and Boas I’ll be producing babies about nine months of the year and the other three months I’ll be breeding hard core. I’m really not complaining, it keeps me busy and excited about things to come. Although I do feel a bit beat up this year mentally, I can honestly say I’m the most excited I have ever been to breed our pythons and Boas. I think coming off what I consider a soft year I’m just excited to get back at it and knock it out of the park. We have the coolest breeding groups I have ever had and I think we could produce some really special animals this season. Not to mention I’m hoping for a much earlier year then I had last year. We started breeding six weeks earlier then last season, no more hatching babies in December.lol It’s like I always have said this time of the year is full of anticipation and excitement, in a month or two the stress will start to kick in when certain animals aren’t breeding or developing follicles. Then reality sets in soon after and you get a real view of what your potential is. For now I’m going to believe that every female I breed is going to have a clutch and every clutch will be perfect with lots of eggs and babies, not to mention my odds will be incredible! I know, living in a dream world:) But if it helps me get through the day, I’ll take it:)

SnakeBytesTV-MTV's Cribs SnakeBytesTV Style

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 08:30:00 -0500

It’s hard to get a feel for what our place is really like just by watching the show. Every room looks a lot like the next room. So I take you on a tour though out the entire place. I hope you’ll be able to see what it’s really like here after watching. And of course Kel has to take you on the MTV’s Cribs tour of the building as well. Hope you enjoy and help us spread the word! Thanks for all your support on our show! Brian(Sbtv) and the crew

Video

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 08:27:23 -0500

Not sure this is a good idea?

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:18:00 -0500

Not the message that we want to send to our detractors, but I have to give it an A+ for originality:)

Photo

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:17:37 -0500

Always so much to it

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 09:52:00 -0500

When starting to breed Pythons and Boas there is always so much to getting things ready. You think, alright I just have to put them together, right?? The reality when breeding on a larger scale is it takes forever to get them all organized in the start of the season to make switching and keeping track on your success a lot easier. But that’s just the start, you have to them make up new tags for males and females to make sure nothing gets mixed up during the switching around. The last thing you want is a Het Caramel female that is getting bred to a Caramel Pinstripe to have a VPI Axanthic male in with it for a day or two?? Trust me these things can happen if you’re not really on top of it. Then you have to tape breeding cards on all the cages, seems like an easy job, but it took Scar almost two days straight to get them all on this season. Then of course you need to make sure the temp drops are correct. We go from 84 degrees in the day to 77 degrees at night. Seems simple, but when you have two roof top units heating over 5,000 square feet of Python room there is always something wrong with them. I swear every year at this time it cost me between $500-$1000 to get maintenance done on them so they’ll work correctly? Then the last and probably most important part is getting your head in the game. Really making the season your main focus. I’m not going to lie, last year my head was not in the game like it has been in past year and our production was way down because of it. This year I’m so focused it’s not funny, if I have to sleep at my building the next four months I will to have a great production season. And I promise that I will produce Boas this year if it kills me.lol

15 foot Snake Bite Fail!

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 09:23:22 -0500

If you ever are thinking about handling a 15 foot Burmese Python, this might be the footage that makes you think about leaving it to someone that knows what they are doing. If that’s you then go for it, if you happen to be like Chewy you might want to rethink it:) Enjoy and share with loved ones!

Video

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 09:21:47 -0500

Don't Mess With My Pet!

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 10:34:00 -0500

It was my privilege to work with our camera guy Ken and PIJAC on this video for their new campaign “don’t mess with my pet”. It’s so important for us as animal lovers to support the groups that are fighting for our rights to keep these incredible creatures. Like the video says these are more then just animals, they are part of our families. For whatever reason there is a push to take away our right to keep these parts of our families. We have to all rise up and make a difference or we will no longer be able to enjoy the right to keep any pet. Please help us spread the word about this vid and visit their site and join our fight! The more people we can get to view this video the better, so please e-mail it around, put it on you facebook or myspace page. Do what you can so you can be a part of our fight! Thanks, Brian(Sbtv)

Video

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 10:28:26 -0500