Hmm...a little bit more about the person behind the business you say? Well, it is very long story that will be truncated for the benefit of all.
Growing up, I'd always wanted to work with animals. I wanted to be a vet, a zoologist, a marine biology, an ecologist, an ethologist..so I went into biology for my undergraduate degree. I found an awesome lab working with a clade of unisexual salamanders (blue spotted salamanders, Ambystoma laterale) and got deep into the field/lab work. I loved it so much that I decided against my original school plans (Pediatrics exchanged for public health research, hoping to find a job looking into infectious disease..) and finished my undergraduate looking for a Masters degree.
Fast forward to the end of my Master degree, which, was not at all what I expected it to be, and looking for a laboratory job for more experience. I then proceeded to work in a gene therapy thyroid carcinoma lab, Alzheimer's/Parkinson's disease lab, and eventually a Francisella tularensis lab looking into mechanisms of infection. Upon gaining copious amounts of lab experience over a decade, I still felt like I was missing something.
Enter the hognose snake. I had known of them because of my undergraduate mentor, she had one in her office and it was the first snake I'd ever seen that I wasn't afraid of. (Probably because of the cute snoot. Who can deny that nose.) I finally convinced my significant other to allow me to have a pet snake (I mean, we had 2 cats and an XL saltwater fish tank..so why not a reptile too?) A mutual friend made a comment about making back what you spend by breeding the snakes (Who doesn't want a hobby that pays for itself), and thus we fell deep down the rabbit hole of reptile breeding. My significant other has done nothing but been supportive through this whole endeavor, and is enjoying the process of learning as much as I am.
While there is still a lot for me to learn, it is rather exciting to work with animals again in a way where I feel like I'm working toward something tangible. Western hognose are super adorable, fun to play with, and can show signs of curiosity. I think they're at least a tiny bit more intelligent than most give them credit for, and I'm curious to see what other little quirks I can pick up while working with them. The large majority of morphs we are working with here are recessive traits, so I am also looking forward to seeing how beautiful the offspring can get with each year of breeding, and the variability that comes with it.
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