Animals at Home Network

In this episode of the podcast, I chat with Nick Bella a private anaconda keeper, as well as Troy Bumgardner a Zookeeper out of the Denver Zoo. The main focus of our discussion is two-fold: 1) appropriate enclosure size for large constrictors and 2) appropriate feeding, including fasting and food cycling for large constrictors. SHOW NOTES: https://www.animalsathomenetwork.com/72-anaconda/

Sam Perrett of Herp HQ returns to the podcast to discuss the development of an advanced lighting system that he has been working on for the past several months. This system allows for a completely automated light cycle including sunrise/sunset, day length, solar noon, light intensity and temperature, and more! It is an incredible device, Sam walks us through how it works and how he developed it! S...

Anthony Pierlioni is the Senior Director and Vice President of the TurtleRoom, as well as the host of The Pondcast and Turtley Devoted. In this episode, we discuss turtle conservation including the work done at the TurtleRoom, we cover the importance of communicating effectively with each other through online discourse, and finally, Anthony provides some advice for maintaining a healthy relationsh...

Francis Cosquieri is a reptile keeper out of the UK and is a literal reptile encyclopedia! He maintains a collection of 170+ reptiles and does so with some very impressive self-imposed rules. Most notably, every snake must be kept in an enclosure at least as long as their body, and all animals must have access to UVB. If you believe the only way to keep a large collection is by racking & stacking,...

On today's Roast Session we discuss our progression as reptile keepers and YouTube creators, we cover if keeping venomous snakes in racks is ethical, and we also discuss the concept of setting goals for yourself in the hobby! How much should a snake cost? We also discuss the implications that inexpensive snakes have on animal (and human) welfare. SHOW NOTES: https://www.animalsathomenetwork.com/2-...

Are you aware of the Ball Python epidemic that currently plagues the hobby? Today’s guest, Elijah Snyder breaks down everything we need to know about the ball python nidovirus. Nidovirus is a highly contagious family of viruses that affects many of the common snake species kept in the hobby, especially pythons. Elijah discusses methods of managing the virus, testing, quarantining procedures, and m...

Is Bio-active husbandry the gold standard of reptile care? Are there cons to going bio-active? What responsibility do Pet & Reptile content creators on YouTube have to ensure they are providing good information? Welcome to the first episode of the new series: Round Table Discussions! On Today’s episode, we are joined by Liam Sinclair of Reptiles and Research, Joseph Brabin of JTB Reptiles, and Har...

In this episode, my great uncle (Ken Broom) tells us the stories of growing up and catching snakes in Africa, these will be some of the most insane stories you’ll EVER hear. From catching snakes in mid-air while they flee from fruit trees to catching some of the fastest striking snakes mid-strike. Uncle Ken has lived an adventurous life throughout Africa and has had some hair raising stories to go...

As Mike Tytula drove his way across Canada to move to his new home in Ontario he made a quick stop in Winnipeg to record an impromptu episode of the podcast! In this episode, we discuss Mike's history with YouTube, how he got started in the hobby, his herping experience in Costa Rica, the best plants to use for your vivariums, and much more! SHOW NOTES: https://www.animalsathomenetwork.com/67-mike...

Ash Norman is a reptile store owner and college instructor out of the UK. In this episode, we discuss the challenges of operating a reptile store, especially when it comes to educating the customers. We also discuss the college classes Ash teaches which include, Exotics & the pet trade, Exotic Husbandry, Exotic Welfare, and more! Finally, we wrap up the chat by asking the question: are reptile exp...

Have you ever heard of chemosensory enrichment? If not you should definitely listen to this episode with Joe Hymes. Joe is the venomous keeper at Phoenix Herpetological Society and has over one million followers on TikTok, he uses his large following to infect the masses with an appreciation for reptiles of all shapes and sizes, even those toxic beauties! SHOW NOTES: https://www.animalsathomenetwo...

Johnothan Wallace, aka The Bearded Herper joined me on the show today to finish off a discussion we start in the comment section of one of my YouTube videos. In this episode, we discuss the ethics of morph and hybrid production, the pros and cons of each as well as maintaining a high standard of care while breeding reptiles.  SHOW NOTES: https://www.animalsathomenetwork.com/65-the-bearded-herper/

Johan Marais. An incredible businessman and one of the world's most recognized herpetologists. In this episode, Johan tells us stories about herping in wild Africa, including all the hair raising encounters with large African wildlife, and how he spent weeks on end in the middle of nowhere away from civilization, sacrificing food just so he could carry camera gear. Who knew one would sacrifice foo...

Dillon and Bryce chat about Bryce’s move to a new home including how he moved all his venomous snakes. They also speculate what the next big thing in the reptile hobby will be, discuss how to achieve proper ventilation, misinformation on the internet, halogen lighting, overfeeding snakes, and much more! SHOW NOTES: https://www.animalsathomenetwork.com/1-rs/

Steve Rempel is the owner of Prairie Exotics, a reptile rescue and education business out of Manitoba, Canada. In this episode, Steve discusses his transition from reptile breeder to reptile rescue/educator as well as provides some tips for anyone interested in hosting a reptile expo. We also discuss the local herpetofauna found in frozen Manitoba, including Narcisse Snake Dens which is the larges...

In this episode, Ross Rowan discusses quarantining your animals including how to properly quarantine as well as the negative consequences of not following proper quarantine practices. 

Roman Muryn, C Eng. is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to reptile heating and lighting. Roman is an engineer and spent a career designing and developing flight control systems for helicopters including the Apache. His background in data collection and system control has allowed him to analyze the way we provide heat to our reptiles. In this episode, we discuss the difference between IR-A & IR-...

Olly Wilson is a ZooKeeper and reptile keeper out of the UK. In this episode, we discuss the dissertation Olly wrote for his degree which focused on habitat preference of amphibians in Madagascar. We also discuss the day-to-day roles of being a zookeeper and the tactics Olly used to convince the zoo-owners to upgrade a tortoise enclosure from a small unenriched cage to a full-paddock style enclosu...

In this episode, Arno Naude tells us how he got into treating snakebite throughout Africa. To date, he has personally dealt with close to 600 snake bites, with all that experience he explains how he has NEVER seen two bites that were the same. Arno shares some of the most common reasons venomous keepers get bitten and how to avoid that, he said "don't be in a hurry to die" and will elaborate more...

Lori Torrini, the founder of Behavior Education LLC, has 30 years of experience and education in animal training and behavior and in the last 3 years, she has shifted her focus to mainly working with snakes. Many of the snakes within Lori's collection are capable of behaviors that most keepers would think are not possible. In this episode, we discuss target training, the importance of training, po...

In this episode, Wilnes explains how he is able to keep some of the most “difficult” species (dwarf bitis) and a lot of his success with them has to do with replicating nature in captivity. Airflow, heat, localities are all things you need to consider when you want to keep an animal properly. Not every animal in the same species must be cared for in the same way, localities of the same species sho...

Harvey Tweats and Tom Whitehurst are the co-founders of Celtic Reptile and Amphibian, UK based company dedicated to the conservation and education of European herptiles. Together they manage a lot containing several outdoor enclosures that are home to many native species including, Tree Frogs, Agile Frogs, Western Green lizards, Sand Lizards, Eyed Lizards, and more. We discuss keeping replies outd...

In this episode, Eckhard Vd Westhuizen gives some amazing info on how to feed tricky snakes, particularly arboreal vipers and the importance of feeding a proper diet and replicating the wild. Something Eckhard said that I will not forget is that people with influence must use that influence to share better care. How true is that? Something that came up was the importance of UVB in the hobby and ho...

Pete Hawkins is a long time reptile keeper and a prolific herpetoculture author with articles appearing in Practical Reptile Keeping, Canadian Reptile Hobbyist Magazine, Reptile Apartment, and more! Pete is also the creator of the popular reptile"Network" groups on Facebook. In this episode, we broke down a few of Pete's articles, discussed his bio-active setup for his Brazilian Rainbow Boa, using...

Marcel is a reptile keeper who strives to better the way he cares for his animals in every way. In this episode, we talk about what it takes to keep venomous reptiles and why it's important to always expand our knowledge and care for the animals we work with. Marcel also explains how to start working with venomous if you've had no experience, as well as the importance for advanced reptile keepers...