Animals at Home Network

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...

John Courteney-Smith MRSB, the Head of Science and Innovation at Arcadia Reptile returns to the podcast! John is the author of a series of incredibly popular reptile and amphibian guides including Bio Activity and the Theory of Wild Re-Creation ®  and his latest, Fire, the Sun & Its Replication in Reptile Keeping . In the episode, John expands on his concept of the 3 parameters of overall nutritio...

In this episode, Israel Spruch from Crocohilics Conservation Center explains exactly how he successfully breeds one of the rarest crocodilian species. Year after year Iszy has been able to breed the west African Dwarf Crocodile (Osteolaemus tetraspis) and he gladly shares the exact “recipe” for how to breed them. SHOW NOTES: https://www.animalsathomenetwork.com/1-israel-spruch/  

In this episode, Dillon announces his plan to change Animals at Home from a show to a Network and in doing so welcomes Bryce Broom to the team. Bryce is the host of the Animals Everywhere podcast which is officially the second show to exist under the Animals at Home Network. In this episode, he tells his incredibly inspirational story, how the responsibility of his reptile collection kept him in a...

Paul Rosolie is the Author of Mother of God as well as his latest book, The Girl and the Tiger. In this episode, we discuss the importance of interacting with nature, Paul's insane solo expeditions deep into the Amazon Rainforest, and the incredibly important role the Amazon Rainforest ecosystem plays on the planet. Paul also lets us in on his experience working on the Discovery Channel show, Eate...

Joseph Brabin in the creator of the JTB Reptiles. In this episode, Joseph talks about the electromagnetic spectrum and how to apply that knowledge to the way we heat/light our reptiles. We also discuss the inherent issues with the Pet Tube community and whether or not the husbandry advice they give is accurate and valuable. Joseph also walks us through the brumation process he uses to temperature...

Stefan Wennekes is the creator of the Terrarium Channel on YouTube. He has a very diverse collection of reptiles including a variety of turtle species, Chinese crocodile lizards, Borneo Earless monitors, Green Mambas, and more! Stefan has one of the nicest large collections out there. Despite having a large number of animals, Stefan still maintains very high care standards. In the episode we chat...

If you are a reptile business owner in any capacity, then this episode is a MUST LISTEN! Josh Willard is the founder and owner of the well-known company Josh's Frogs. Josh's Frogs is one of the largest producers of captive-bred dart frogs in North America.  In this episode, Josh tells the story of why and how he started Josh's Frogs as well as the philosophy he used to grow it from a small start-u...

Dillon Damuth is the founder of Gecko Labs and a founding partner of the organization Urban Ark Conservation. In this episode, we discuss Dillon’s very diverse and rare collection of animals. We talk about the importance of quality of care over quantity of production breeding and we also discuss conservation in the reptile trade. Specifically, Dillon gives the listeners a few great tips for how th...

Dr. Sergio Balaguera-Reina is a conservation biologist who re-discovered the Apaporis Caiman after a 60+ year gap in the scientific literature. The Spectacled Caiman subspecies was first described in 1955 by Fred Medem. However, political unrest in Colombia made any further research impossible until 2018. In this episode, Sergio tells us about the expedition and current research surrounding the Ap...