• Posted 12/19/2024.
    =====================

    I am still waiting on my developer to finish up on the Classifieds Control Panel so I can use it to encourage members into becoming paying members. Google Adsense has become a real burden on the viewing of this site, but honestly it is the ONLY source of income now that keeps it afloat. I tried offering disabling the ads being viewed by paying members, but apparently that is not enough incentive. Quite frankly, Google Adsense has dropped down to where it barely brings in enough daily to match even a single paid member per day. But it still gets the bills paid. But at what cost?

    So even without the classifieds control panel being complete, I believe I am going to have to disable those Google ads completely and likely disable some options here that have been free since going to the new platform. Like classified ad bumping, member name changes, and anything else I can use to encourage this site to be supported by the members instead of the Google Adsense ads.

    But there is risk involved. I will not pay out of pocket for very long during this last ditch experimental effort. If I find that the membership does not want to support this site with memberships, then I cannot support your being able to post your classified ads here for free. No, I am not intending to start charging for your posting ads here. I will just shut the site down and that will be it. I will be done with FaunaClassifieds. I certainly don't need this, and can live the rest of my life just fine without it. If I see that no one else really wants it to survive neither, then so be it. It goes away and you all can just go elsewhere to advertise your animals and merchandise.

    Not sure when this will take place, and I don't intend to give any further warning concerning the disabling of the Google Adsense. Just as there probably won't be any warning if I decide to close down this site. You will just come here and there will be some sort of message that the site is gone, and you have a nice day.

    I have been trying to make a go of this site for a very long time. And quite frankly, I am just tired of trying. I had hoped that enough people would be willing to help me help you all have a free outlet to offer your stuff for sale. But every year I see less and less people coming to this site, much less supporting it financially. That is fine. I tried. I retired the SerpenCo business about 14 years ago, so retiring out of this business completely is not that big if a step for me, nor will it be especially painful to do. When I was in Thailand, I did not check in here for three weeks. I didn't miss it even a little bit. So if you all want it to remain, it will be in your hands. I really don't care either way.

    =====================
    Some people have indicated that finding the method to contribute is rather difficult. And I have to admit, that it is not all that obvious. So to help, here is a thread to help as a quide. How to become a contributing member of FaunaClassifieds.

    And for the record, I will be shutting down the Google Adsense ads on January 1, 2025.
  • Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

Losing an indigo

epidemic

epidemic

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A friend of ours, “ours” being the Drymarchon community, has recently suffered the loss of an incredible animal. While I have no words to beguile the grief our friend is feeling due to such a loss, I wanted to expound upon what most of us, who have members of the Dry clan within our charge, already know.
I have had the honor and privilege of working with, studying, keeping and breeding an array of reptiles and amphibians, but none have had the lasting impact or garnered my attention so much as the Drymarchon genus, as I still recall the day I saw and held my first Eastern Indigo, an incredible animal I found when I was just ten years of age. That was the defining moment, when I decided to focus my future studies on the natural world around us and I remember the feeling, just as it was yesterday, whenever I enter my herp room.
Drys harbor an incredible aura, sense of awareness and intelligence about them which cannot be rivaled, except perhaps by Elapidae, which bear such close semblance to Drys, that one of the leading herpetologist of our time, Dr. Wolfgang Wuster , affectionately coined them “honorary cobras”. While handling an elapid is an incredible feeling, the same can be said when handling Drys, as there is something quite unique about a large colubrid, but when you toss in the intelligence, demeanor and grace of a Dry, you are truly holding something incredibly exceptional and beyond words.
I have lost Indigos in the past and I currently have a geriatric specimen, which I am certain will not grace my facility much longer. I can say with a degree of certainty; losing a Drymarchon is akin to losing a long time family dog. It hurts, it hurts immensely, which only further demonstrates the rarity of such animals, as few harbor the ability to touch our hearts in such a manner.
To my friend, who has suffered such a recent and tragic loss, I know you will make yourself known in your own time and again, I know I cannot speak words to beguile your grief, but I hope you know that you are on our minds and in our hearts…

All my best,

Jeff
 
Down but not out.

Thanks Guys. Hey, I'm down but not out. I will not quit. All I can do is learn from this, and drive on. I'm gonna miss her though. She was so dawgawn gentle. She was quite literally my lap snake. We watched several hours of t.v. together. You know? I bet we've all had one or two snakes like that. Near the end she drank water from a spray bottle, just like a kid would drink through a straw. She was dog tame. Such a sweet heart. But she hung on for three days after the vet got the eggs out. She labored for 24 hours before that. She did manage to push out 5 eggs before she went to the vet though. I'll be watching over them like a hawk! We looked at the x-rays together and counted another 9 or 10, still inside her, hard to be sure on 1, . But she was full. And they were very well adhered to the oviduct. He tried to induce labor with injections, but that did not do the trick. So he took the next step, and expressed them out, one at a time, deflating each one, and then extracting it. She was sedated during the procedure. I think it took him quite a while too, and it was evidently just to much for her. She did have a small tare. 3 days later, she was gone.

So today as I stared at her empty cage, I momentarily wondered,... why do I do this. Know really,...Why do we do this? Why would a human subject themselves to this kind of loss, again and again.Then as I turned to walk away, I saw one of the babies I hatched last year, just looking right at me, with her cute little mug poking out of that hide, and I said, "that's why."

And then I started to worry about Iris, who is about to lay a batch of her own. She hung up on the last 2 eggs, last year. The vet got those out quick and easy. I hope she does better this year. She should, as she is much bigger, and stronger now.

Now,...when are we goin fishin?! I need river time!
T.
 

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Sorry about the loss AC.

Since she managed to pass some eggs on her own, I hope they hatch out as perfect babies for you.

Doug Taylor
 
Wow Anthony

My heart goes out to you!! When I sold Mack my black tail cribo, I cried....he was so amazing. I swear he had ears and could here everything I said to him. I would bring fresh cooked salmon and tap on the bottom of his cage and always called out "Mack,Mack" I swear he heard me...he would gently take the fish from my fingers (I would never do that with rodents) I still kick myself for selling him....god has a special place for our beloved snakies!
 
Thanks

to all who post. I guess when we decide to dedicate ourselves to these amazing creatures, we sometimes loose site of the fact, that we will almost always outlive the animals with which we work. There's just something about these animals which just won't let me quit. See my post "mama", and you will see one more reason for me to drive on.
T.
 
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