Herpetological
www.dfherp.com
www.deadfishherpetological.com
Our Mission: To maintain and breed strong,
healthy animals and to provide convenient and
easy to understand husbandry information to
teachers and parents.
DeadFish Herpetological is a small scale care and breeding facility that is
operated out of my home and classroom. I began keeping reptiles 9 years
ago when several of my classroom students were severely allergic to fur
and feathers. Taking advice from fellow teachers I purchased a pair of
brown anoles as a substitute only to discover that these common
classroom pets are only interesting when poorly maintained. My
Agro-biology training from UMaine taught me to think of the animals first
so their terrarium was a jungle wonderland in the back with a small strip
of exposed land in the front for a basking stone and a water dish.
Needless to say, once they went in, we rarely saw them again. After
several months of frustration with live foods and little to observe, my
class and I did some research on a new, more interactive, hypo-allergenic
class pet. With an abundance of information on the internet we decided
to purchase a cornsnake (we highly recommend South Mountain Reptiles
if you're looking for a wider variety, but if you're just looking for a nice
easy to care for snake, we'll do you right too).
Seven years later and I have a collection of purchases, rescues and
adoptions that have provided many hours of personal enjoyment and
educational opportunities (facts of life, genetics, animal husbandry, energy
cycles, food webs, behavioral adaptations and responses, etc.) We have
several well established feeder insect colonies, had our first successful
house snake hatch in 2002 and our first successful leopard gecko,
mourning gecko and cornsnake hatches in 2003. Our first crested geckos
hatched in 2004.
Most of our breeders are used in educational programs and are socialized
and docile (which isn't to say they've never bitten anyone due to an
SFE--stupid feeding error). We have individualized care plans for each
animal and all of the offspring we produce are sold to interested
educators, well educated parents and reputable local pet stores that
specialize in or are highly educated in reptile husbandry. We also had our
first table at the All New England Reptile Expo in fall of 2004.
We do not ship at this time but can make arrangements for weekday
afternoon pick up or weekend deliveries within reasonable distances.
Check the Currently Available page for information on what we have
right now.
