Reptile Living Room

Marcia McGuiness talks about growing up enjoying reptiles & the about her personal experiences as a woman coming into a primarily male dominated community known as the herpetoculture. You can of course find Marcia and all her scaly friends at Golden Gate Geckos.

Melissa Coakley of Snake Hunting Chick kicks off a new series for us with this interview. Now, before you get to thinking this is a feature similar to articles or talks you may have seen before let me enlighten you now. This is a series that began when a colleague took a comment made by a prominent figure in the community as being misogynistic. Something was said akin to ‘We need to reach out to the soccer moms of the reptile community…’ Whether it was meant as misogynistic or not I am not sure. Regardless, some women in the community took offense. It got me thinking about the tendencies of some males to treat women differently and well you can now hear for yourself the results of these interviews.

Ned Bruha sits down in the Reptile Living Room to talk about rattlesnake round-ups and tells us how we can take action against these barbaric acts that are occurring today. He also tells us the truth about the portrayal of reptiles in the media. Grab a beverage and prepare to get your Neducation folks!

In this episode Shawn Heflick talks with us exclusively about the Python Ban and gives us the the bare bones reality of it just like he did in his first interview which you can catch here. For those of who watch reptile shows on television you should be aware of Shawn Heflick and the show on NatGeo Wild called Python Hunters. It’s the first show that I have ever seen that doesn’t promote the hype.

Sara Viernum was kind enough to talk with us about what it takes to be a herpetologist and shares some of her adventures with us in this exclusive interview! Make sure to check out her site as well by clicking on her banner. 

 

In this inaugural episode of what will be many of the Reptile Round Table I sit down with a broad participatory audience of keepers, herpers, and breeders to ascertain what steps to take next to prevent further action against our community. Please welcome Chris Law of Crocodopilis, Melissa Coakley of Snakehuntingchick.com, Marcia McGuiness of Golden Gate Geckos, and Jason White of Daily Reptile News. All of these folks literally came together at a few hours notice and helped me put this round table together so please show them some love and click on their respective sites as these are the true warriors and voices fighting for our community through education and much more!

Ray Autry takes us by the hand and introduces us to the true horrors of Rattlesnake Round-ups as we take a long staring look at the truth. This is a barbaric act that you will now hear  of in an interview that’s not looking to demonize anyone but simply explain the truth and reality of what happens.

Rise Against Rattlesnake Roundups is on YouTube

Rise Against Rattlesnake Roundups is on Facebook

Charles Schurman of Tundra Dragons talks with us about what it takes to breed majestic dragons & much more in this incredible glance into the caves of a true Dragon breeder!

Tom Houslay is a studying for a PhD at the University of Stirling, Scotland. Now while it’s interesting enough that he is a native to my ancestors homeland; what really got me was his chosen field of study. Sexual selection who wouldn’t be interested in that? Well this is usually about the time that Tom reveals he researches insect sex. That’s right insect sex. This of course quickly opened another dialogue with Tom which started something like this…

“You mean crickets are more than just reptile snacks?” I asked incredulously. I of course had to share this information with the audience of the Reptile Living Room so without further ado here is the interview. I really would encourage you to also drop by Houslay website Insects//Sex//Evolution as well as he has an incredible amount of information there which might just make you think twice about dropping that cricket into the tank to be food for a reptile.

Chris Law formerly of Crocodoplis is a voice of reason within the din of the crowd of people agains the recent calls for legislation of the reptile industry as a whole. Recently Chris heard some things that really got him fired up and we took it upon ourselves to invite him back to talk to us and explain some truths as we see them within the reptile industry. Don’t forget to catch part 2 of this interview which is linked here.