Here it goes ......

So for my 1st post since today is kinda one of those days ...... I am going to dispel any and all rumors floating around about myself .......some are just for fun and some have merit....I leave it up to you to decide which is which ......

Rumors -

1st and foremost the rumor that has been floating around since Oct/08 started by a certain someone (see who's who for those details) that I starve my Ball pythons ......This is a total lie ...I mean, come on, I plan on breeding these animals. Why on earth would I starve them .........here is my feeding schedule for my female Balls to get them to breeding size ......

These are my thoughts on feeding females to get them to breeding size

It has been brought to my attention due to an unethical breach of a business breeder loan contract by the other party that my husbandry and feeding schedule is less then adequate ......So I have decided to lay all out for everyone to see including the parties that think I am not doing what I should .... Or want to pretend that I have wronged them by not looking after breeder loan animals ........

1st of all....... I DO NOT believe in power feeding females of any kind as it doesn't do the females any good ...I feel it is just the greed of the breeder to get the females as big as they can as fast as they can so they can make their money back without any regard as to what they are doing to the animals ....... I feed my babies 1 appropriate food item once every 7 days until they can take 2 ...then once they have reached 2 ......I change them to the bigger food item .... I do this until they get big enough to reach rat size then I switch them up to bigger food items (rats / bunnies) as needed normally doubling growth in the last yr or yr and 1/2 .....
For Colubrids on this schedule I can raise a female to breeding size in just over 2 yrs ......For Boas and Pythons depending on what type I normally can raise a female to breeding size in 3-4 yrs ..... I like to see my Ball females at least 2000 grms and 3 yrs before I breed them .....I like to see my Colubrid females at least 350 - 400 grms and at least 2.5 yrs ......I like to see my ground Boas (I don't weigh these guys and I only keep smaller species) at least eating 1/2 - 1 lb rabbits and 4 yrs .....I like to see my tree snakes (I don't weight these either ) eating small to med rats and 4-5 yrs depending on the species (ex: Basins are 5 yrs) ...
I know that there are implications going around and I hope this answers a lot of questions by people who hear these implications ......

I know there are several ways to raise a female for breeding and a lot of people would say that with Ball Pythons you can have your females reach breeding size at 2 yrs or even 18 months I have heard ....To each his own I guess .....

But I would really like to know if any of these people have + 25yr old females producing every yr or every 2nd like I do ??????? ......I am a firm believer that power feeding shortens the life span and can cause a number of other health issues .......All I can say is this is how I raise my females ...this is how I was taught to raise my females .........and this is how I will always raise my females .......and anyone doing breeder loans with me are informed of this ........

I hate to say this over and over but I have been doing this a long time ......and really, do any of you think I would be as successful in my production and my business if I was under feeding my females or not looking after them ?????? I don't think so.....as for breeding loan animals - has it occurred to the people this post is directed at ......why would I under feed an animal that I plan on making money from .....isn't that defeating my purpose ????

2nd ....I have heard... again started by this someone... that I stole from him and his business (again see details on who's who) .....Please give me a HUGE break ..........I never stole a thing from this person and for this person to even spread this is total BS and only shows that he doesn't want the real reason our business partnership fell through ........

3rd ......I have heard .....Annette is a total B!T(H ...Which, OK ........maybe true in some cases I'll admit to that .....But just because someone stands up for themselves, beliefs and friends, doesn't really make them a b!t(h does it ??????? Anyway ....I feel that I am not all the time, just when its warranted .......Hehehehe

4th .......Annette has some of the best reptiles on the market ......This is totally TRUE !!!!!! :o)

5th .......Annette is just a Corn snake breeder .......Not true .....Even though Colubrids are my bread and butter and I produce and sell more of these then anything I do breed and produce several species and color morphs of Boids .......See my price list .......All reptiles are Canadian captive bred by myself .....no imports like some other breeders out there (see who's who for more details) ........ Available

6th ...... Annette is totally crazy for doing this reptile breeding as a full time job .......This is true on some days like today :o)

and for the last .......Annette is the snake lady and is introduced as such all the time .......again totally true and you know what guys I do have a name ....... In case you have forgotten :o)