Snakes 'N' Stuff Digest

For those of you who are regular listeners, you know that we missed a couple uploads. (Stupid technical problems). So, in this episode, we talk about the podcast that we recorded and never uploaded. 

This week we are doing a podcast topic suggested at one of our reptile shows. Ball python bioactive! In this podcast we touch on everything you need to know about setting up a basic ball python bioactive terrarium. 

We are back in Florida and we have some stories to tell about our time at the NARBC reptile show in Arlington!

It's the podcast's 21st episode/birthday. Since the podcast is 21 now, we think we should play a game. Grab a drink, listen through the podcast, and take a sip* (and I REALLY REALLY recommend only taking a sip) of your favorite beverage every time we say the word "venom/venomous". Let us know how you're feeling after 30 minutes of us updating you on what's going on in the facility. 

This episode is basically just a recap on the Tampa Repticon. Additionally, we attempt to answer a couple somewhat difficult questions that we got asked at Repticon. 

We have our first podcast guest, our friend Noah! In this episode Noah hosts a "guess the animal sound" competition between Brad and I with a twist. The loser has to get a 5 gallon bucket of water dumped on them on our Instagram.  Listen to the podcast to play along, and go check out our Instagram (@thesnakesnstuff) to see who won! 

We are officially announcing the big news. We are rodent farmers!! As of three weeks ago, on the day that we recorded this podcast, we finalized the acquisition of this rodent business. We have been working many long days, and everything is gradually coming together, so we figured that it was finally time to talk about it. 

In this episode, we just sit down and have a talk about what's on our minds. A huge portion of this podcast involves talking about some of the ball pythons we have pairing, things we have growing out, and projects we are excited for. We also mention, once again, that we are doing a giveaway in the upcoming weeks when our Instagram reaches 1,000 followers. We are not entirely sure what the criteria should be for entering the giveaway, so message us with any suggestions that you have. 

First of all, we are so sorry that this podcast is a day late. In this episode we update you all on important news, play never have I ever, and talk about an opportunity to win a $500 giveaway!! 

This week, as requested by a podcast listener, we are going to be talking about branding, growing a social media, and building a website. Message us if you guys have any more suggestions for future podcasts!

This week we are trying something a little different. We want to spend 30 minutes or so to just talk about what's going on in the lives of the Snakes N Stuff crew. We talk about what's breeding at the facility, business expansions, road trips, reptile shows, herping, and USARK! If you live in the United States, but especially if you live in Florida, we highly recommend helping USARK out in any way you can. You can go to usark.org to get alerts and updates on the bills, laws, and regulations that are going to be affecting you as a reptile keeper; as well as donate if possible. 

This episode starts off with some big Snakes N Stuff news! Besides this, this episode includes our take on the pros and cons of working with animals. This episode goes into depth about a variety of work options in the animal industry, and what they exactly consist of.  Additionally, we try to have a black and white discussion on our views of working with animals: the good, the bad, the ugly, and the dirty.  In the end of this episode we mention USARK, the people who fight for our rights as animal keepers. Be sure to check them out and give them any support you can! 

In this episode we talk about the things you should know before you start breeding reptiles. This includes some of our biggest mistakes, and things that we never should have done. Hopefully you're able to learn from our mistakes. 

On this short episode we talk about finding the right reptile for you. We stress that not all reptiles are the right fit for everyone, so finding the right one for you is important. We discuss what to look for while deciding on a reptile; care requirements, how big the animal gets, what enclosure size you need, what it's diet consists of, it's handleability, and many other things. We also talk about what to do after deciding on a reptile; where you can purchase these animals, what questions you need to ask, and what kind of personal-preference based decisions you'll need to make. Most importantly, we stress the importance of asking questions. Feel free to reach out to us on all our social media platforms @thesnakesnstuff or Snakes 'N' Stuff for any questions you guys have about reptiles. 

This episode is all about scientific names! We feel like there are a lot of questions surrounding the use of scientific names: Why are they important? When am I ever even going to use them? Are they all in Latin? Why do they change? How do you pronounce them? Therefore, in this episode, we created a game that we have decided to call "The Scientific Name Game". Courtney is put to the test to see if she is able to pronounce a variety of scientific names. *Spoiler, it was rough*. Listen though the podcast to find out how you can get some free stickers sent to you! Also, let us know if you want another episode like this or if there are any scientific names that you want us to try to pronounce. 

We recorded this brief episode right before we hit the road for the Orlando Repticon, our first reptile show of 2021. In this episode we discuss all the tips and tricks we know about attending reptile shows. From booking a table to tearing the booth down, we wanted to let you know how it's done. This podcast is going up the Wednesday after the show, so we wanted to thank everyone that came out to support us! 

In this episode we talk about our opinions on some of the industry's newest trends. We mention the newest enclosure, bedding, and feeder trends. We also mention which animals are growing in popularity, which ball python morphs we see growing, and what we think is underrated in the industry. Listen through the whole episode to hear some of our most controversial opinions on this podcast yet! Let us know if we missed any of your favorite trends, or if you like any of the products we mentioned. 

In this episode we talk about varying animal laws and regulations across the US. This ranges from states where all reptiles are illegal to states where you can keep an Elephant as a pet without a permit. Also, we talk about Florida of course! We mention the structure of Florida's animal permits, the process of getting a permit, cool things that we could keep with our current permits, and what we want in the future. Listen through the end to find out what happens when you cross state lines with animals! 

Happy New Year!! For the first episode of 2021 we decided to answer some of the most popular questions we've received or heard about during our time in the reptile industry. "What size rodent should I be feeding my snake? Are snakes poisonous? Does it bite?" We also mentioned wildlife conservation; what it is, why it is important, and where you can go to help. As we stated in this episode, if you are looking to donate to a wildlife organization a few that we suggest supporting are the Orianne Society (OCIC), Herpetological Conservation International, Save the Snakes, Ashton Biological Preserve, and the Santa Fe River Turtle Project. 

Just like Spotify summarizes your music for the year, we decided to make an episode summarizing our busy year here at Snakes 'N' Stuff. We give a month by month summary of all the exciting things that happened this year; collection growth, launching a website, our first reptile show, ball python clutches hatching, and a lot more. We figured this would be a great way to end 2020, so we wish everyone a happy and safe new year. You will hear from us again in 2021!! 

This is a pretty short episode. With the holidays approaching, we just wanted to take the time to thank some of our friends, family, and colleagues for all the support we received this year.  Huge thanks to all our customers and people listening to the podcast. Thank you for making Snakes N Stuff possible. Also, as stated in the episode, you can find our friend Deon at @dnkreptiles on Instagram.  

In this episode we take a trip down memory lane. We might make you feel a little nostalgic, because we are talking about movies/shows with reptiles: Harry Potter, Snakes on a Plane, Holes, Tangled, The Jungle Book, Spider Man, Finding Nemo. We talk about how pop culture portray reptiles, and how this has the ability to influence the general public's opinions of these animals. 

So, maybe we might be a little biased. However, this podcast we talk about the pros and cons of buying reptiles online. We touch on topics like where to find reptiles online, questions to ask before buying your reptile, the live animal shipping process, online etiquette, and the importance of communication. We update you guys on our intended upload schedule, with a special announcement about some additional content coming soon! 

In this episode we introduce ourselves and our company. We take a dive into our past experience with reptiles, and how they became such a huge part of our lives. All this and more while struggling to contain our excitement over this podcasting journey that we are about to embark on.