Hello all!
I've been lurking on FC for a little while now and have decided I want to become more involved in the community. I'll spare you all my life's story, but the long and short of it is that I'm fairly new to herping, but very interested in learning/doing more and maybe even becoming a breeder someday. I want to specialize in western hognoses because I absolutely adore them and there hasn't been a whole lot of work done with them in the breeding department, at least in comparison to BPs and corns.
The only problem is that I recently moved to the Netherlands, and not only does FC seem to be a very US-based site, but the herping resources available in this corner of Europe seem to range from 'scarce' to 'nonexistent'. Especially regarding the
heterodon nasicus in particular. I've already had a hell of a time finding places to get supplies, a reliable source of F/T mice, an exotic animal vet, and the snakes themselves. How do I go about finding connections to people locally with experience? Where do I find the resources I need to ensure my husbandry is up to par? How do I establish a reputation for good breeding practices, especially as a foreigner, and how do I find people interested in buying any hatchlings I produce? And if FC isn't the place to be asking these things, can anyone point me in the direction of a site that is?
I know these aren't all questions that need to be answered right away; rest assured I'm going to take a couple years just to own a few snakes as pets before I even think about breeding. But these are all things that I think are worth thinking about well in advance, so I can start gathering reliable sources of information early on. I also want to point out that I've only been in Europe for about a month, so it's very possible there's plenty of resources around me and I'm just not looking in the right places.
Anyway, that's enough out of me for now
Please let me know any input you guys have, and thanks in advance!