Living Gems is Back! - FaunaClassifieds
FaunaClassifieds  
  Tired of those Google and InfoLink ads? Upgrade Your Membership!
  Inside FaunaClassifieds » Photo Gallery  
 

Go Back   FaunaClassifieds > Reptile & Amphibian - Snake Discussion Forums > Boas Discussion Forum

Notices

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 05-18-2020, 11:15 PM   #1
Snakesitter
Living Gems is Back!

Let us begin this note with an apology.

Living Gems‘ last official activity was in September 2018, a long time ago. At the time, we had just finished our best breeding year ever, with six different litters totaling almost 100 baby Brazilians.

We disappeared shortly after that…

..because that’s when our world fell apart.

In late September 2018, I fell ill with an unknown sickness that kept me out of my day job for six long weeks. I was bedridden for most of it, racked by pain and severely limited mobility, and eventually wound up in the hospital…where they excitedly ran all sorts of tests that yielded no answers, but large medical bills.

Thankfully, friends were able to help out with Living Gems, both snakes and rodents.

Unfortunately, during this already hard time, one of my helpers kids’ had a lice scare, and as part of our precautions I asked a friend to apply a very light application of Rid at the base of the door that separated the LGR office from the rodent room. There were closed doors separating the office from any snakes.

However, it seems the chemical was over-applied, and reached the sensitive baby snake room. Babies begin dropping like flies, and there was nothing I could do as I was flat on my back. I lost all but one of my long-awaited Arctic Anery babies, Litter A. Litter C, a new striped line produced by Caesarian and Onyx, saw 10 of 17 pass. Litter D, a repeat from Franklin and Jadeite, lost 18 of 19; and Litter E, a litter of stunning high colored from Vulcan and Pearl, lost 8 of 14.

Ironically, the later litters — which should have been more delicate — held up much better, with almost every baby pulling through.

The end total was grim, with over 50% of our babies passing away.

(The adults seemed oddly unaffected. We did lose a few animals, but the incidents were all elderly animals with known issues, breeding-related, or from difficult morph lineages.)

Fate, however, was not done with me. At the time I had a second tiny side business of consisting of a few rental properties, and that too fell apart. One property manager who had mismanaged several properties stole several thousand dollars at termination, and a second ruined one of my buildings.

I also had a contractor walk off with several thousand dollars.

Between the lost salary, animal losses, rental losses, theft, and about ten grand in medical bills, I was forced to file personal bankruptcy. The process took about four painful months, but in the end I exited in much better shape.

Of course, it was around then that I was told my day job was being end-of-lifed.

And then my dog got hit by a car.

So all in all, it’s been a pretty crappy eighteen months.

Thankfully, we are now at the tail end of that pain, and finally gearing up to sell some snakes.

So, what is the good news?

We still have 37 babies from 2018 ready for sale. All are well established. (The other survivors are holdbacks.)

In addition, we have three or four former holdback animals from 2016 we are considering parting with. As holdbacks, these represent some stunning animals that we just did not have space to keep. We also have three remaining hypos we will definitely sell.

Finally, we have three or four former holdbacks from 2015 we are considering parting with. These are now mature animals.

Over the next few weeks, we plan to start posting ads for the available animals, with a goal of shipping as many as possible before the summer heat shuts us down.

We can also over-summer animals here for those who prefer that route.

In addition to current animals, we have been breeding since early in the year, with ten breeding groups established. Some are repeats of past successes, and some are brand new groupings for 2020. I have seen locks, and several females have been acting gravid on and off.

As part of the re-launch process, we will be starting a new 2020 Wait List. As always, first come is first served, but there is no obligation to buy.

As always, thank you for being a loyal LGR customer.
 
Old 05-19-2020, 12:28 AM   #2
bcr229
Wow. I was actually just thinking about you the other day and wondering what happened to you. Welcome back and prayers that things continue to improve for you.
 
Old 05-19-2020, 02:39 AM   #3
Snakesitter
Than you, BCR! I see I managed to place this in the sales rather than talk forum, however. Hmmm. ;-)
 
Old 05-19-2020, 08:47 AM   #4
bcr229
Quote:
Originally Posted by Snakesitter View Post
Than you, BCR! I see I managed to place this in the sales rather than talk forum, however. Hmmm. ;-)
Moved it for you.
 
Old 05-20-2020, 11:35 PM   #5
CFexotics
Welcome Back! Sorry you had a rough 18 months.
 
Old 05-21-2020, 01:21 AM   #6
Snakesitter
HUGELY appreciated! :-)
 
Old 05-21-2020, 01:21 AM   #7
Snakesitter
Me too. ;-) Glad to be back and up and running!
 
Old 05-22-2020, 01:36 PM   #8
AbsoluteApril
Nice to see you back around Cliff!
 
Old 05-23-2020, 07:26 PM   #9
Snakesitter
Thanks April! Glad to be back!!!
 
Old 03-24-2022, 10:19 AM   #10
allreptiles1966
I wondered where you were, Cliff. I’m so sorry about the ordeals. Glad you’re making a comeback. Hope to see you more often on here.
I too had some health scares. Ended up with a triple bypass and now they are concerned about a couple lumps on my lung. You kid a couple more health issues.
So I’m hoping for you to recover your losses.
Best of luck, Cliff.
 

Join now to reply to this thread or open new ones for your questions & comments! FaunaClassifieds.com is the largest online community about Reptile & Amphibians, Snakes, Lizards and number one classifieds service with thousands of ads to look for. Registration is open to everyone and FREE. Click Here to Register!

 
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Living Gems Litter Update Snakesitter Boas Discussion Forum 0 08-07-2013 03:51 PM
Living Gems Breeding Update #4 Snakesitter Boas Discussion Forum 0 07-19-2013 03:17 PM
Living Gems Breeding Update Snakesitter Boas Discussion Forum 7 08-22-2012 03:55 PM
Living Gems Litter Snakesitter Boas Discussion Forum 12 10-03-2011 05:19 PM
Living Gems Reptiles Snakesitter New or Updated Websites and Web Resources 2 01-27-2011 04:24 PM


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 05:23 AM.







Fauna Top Sites


Powered by vBulletin® Version
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Page generated in 0.04650593 seconds with 10 queries
Content copyrighted ©2002-2022, FaunaClassifieds, LLC