Sweet Exotics

08/23/2026

It's back to school season, so let's learn some h**p ABC's! This time around we're using a taxonomic name!

A is for Agkistrodon contortrix:

Copperheads are small North American pitvipers belonging to the genus Agkistrodon, sharing it with cottonmouths and four species of cantil in South America. These snakes typically reach snakes of 24-30" with males being larger, rarely reaching 36".

These snakes are found in low lying swamps and deciduous forests (meaning the leaves fall off the trees and bushes in fall), often with rocky outcroppings that they use for hibernation, often sharing hibernacula with timber rattlesnakes and black rat snakes. Their color and pattern allows them to nearly disappear in leaf litter and will often stop moving once spotted, as opposed to fleeing like most other snakes.

Copperheads are born around 8" in length and posses a yellow or green tail that they use to lure small frogs and lizards, later eating rodents, particularly moles and voles, occasionally insects- particularly cicadas. Similar to human babies kicking in the womb, baby copperheads will even caudal lure before birth! Compared to other pitvipers, they have relatively small numbers of large babies at the same time that many froglets are leaving the water. Copperheads are probably the snake most well-known for parthenogenic or virgin births. Typically animals born via parthenogenesis are "clones" of the mother, as there's no father to pass on his DNA.

Copperheads, like all pitvipers are venomous, but due to their small size and prey preferences, they possess some of the weakest venom (to humans) of any significantly venomous snake. Despite them being responsible for nearly half the venomous snake bites in the United States, there have only been a few fatalities in the last several decades, usually due to being bitten by multiple animals at once or having an allergic reaction to the venom- which can only happen through repeated exposure to it. Often times their bites are dry bites and antivenom isn't even administered until symptoms develop. Due to their size, relatively calm demeanor, and mild venom, these are perhaps the best candidate for "beginner" venomous snakes for people wanting to work with vipers. Their venom is also currently being used to create breast cancer medication!

Previously, Agkistrodon contortix was split into five subspecies;

A. contortrix contortrix- southern copperheads
A. contortrix laticinctus- broad-banded copperheads
A. contortrix mokasen- northern copperheads
A. contortrix phaeogaster- Osage copperheads
A. contortrix pictigaster- Trans-Pecos copperhead

Upon genetic analysis, it's been determined that there are only two full species with no subspecies and that the rest are just regional phenotypes (captive keepers call them localities), so the current taxonomy has northern, southern, and Osage copperheads classified as eastern copperhead (Agkistrodon contortrix) and the Trans-Pecos and broad-banded copperheads being classified as broad-banded copperheads (Agkistrodon laticinctus).

Copperheads and cottonmouths (Agkistrodon piscivorus) have been known to hybridize both in the wild and captivity.

08/22/2026

We're headed back to school, so let's learn our states! Or at least a few of them, since we actually have school children to thank for many of the 30 US states that currently have an official state reptile!

Oklahoma was the first, getting the ball rolling by naming the common collared lizard the state reptile in 1969!
Several state reptiles have roots in history, or even sports! West Virginia's state reptile the timber rattlesnake was an early American flag element, while Florida, Maryland, and Texas named reptiles that already represented major in-state universities!

Of these states more than half chose turtles species, with painted turtles being the most named, as the state reptile of FOUR states!

Several states chose reptiles that were already named after their states, and 19 of the 30 are southern states, likely because their climate better suits more diversity and larger reptile populations.

Some states have multiple species listed in different categories, some having state marine reptiles, state tortoises, or even state saltwater reptiles, so we've chosen to represent the category 'state reptile' specifically.

And if you don't see your state on this list, you can change that! Like we mentioned before, most of these state reptiles were actually chosen and campaigned for by school children!

08/14/2026

When most people hear the term "albino" they typically assume that it typically means "white" or "yellow" and usually associate it with albino Burmese pythons- understandable since that's the most well-known form of albino due to it being around the longest. In all actuality, albinism is simply a recessive mutation (meaning both parents must carry the gene, even if they don't visually show it) the lack of black pigmentation (melanin), usually resulting in yellow and/or black animals with pink or red eyes.

What most people actually think of when they think “albino” is actually a different recessive trait that works the same way, but whereas albino animals lack black pigment, leucistic animals lack ALL pigment, resulting in solid white animals with either blue or black eyes. Then, there's also “piebald” or “whiteside” which is a “partial leucisism” where parts of the animal are bone white and others are almost normal-looking.

In some species with natural reds like red-eared sliders or the South American wood turtle, the reds and oranges are greatly enhanced. There are many strains of albinism displaying differently, especially in reticulated pythons. There are two main "types" of albinism, the "true" albinos or “amelanistic” animals, which completely lack a protein called Tyrosinaise which also takes away purple and brown tones, and a "caramel" albino that still has this protein active. In the hobby we call these animals “T+” and “T-”.

Retics for example, have Clark strain albinos which are white and purple, Indo caramel, Foulsham caramel, and mocha, all of which are compatible, in that, if bred together, the babies display combined traits of both forms, acting as "visual double hets", like the lavender being a combination of white and purple, or orange glow being a combination of Indo caramel and any Clark strain. To make retic genetics even more complicated, they also have amelanistic and blonde which are only compatible with eachother, and type 3 albino which looks similar to an amel but not compatible with any other form. If two incompatible albinos are bred together the result is normal-colored babies that carry genes for both strains of albino because they show up on different alleles in the DNA strand.

Albinos, like any other mutation seem to happen to randomly pop up both in the wild, and in captivity, such is the case of albino gaboon vipers. Typically, there are many more albinos being born in the wild than anyone realizes (albino retics and ball pythons seem to be fairly common in the wild, hence why there's so many different strains in the hobby), but due to lack of camouflage, many species are found by predators and picked off as babies, those species that tend to hide under leaves or under loose soil like timber rattlesnakes and hognose snakes often have more success at surviving. Being a recessive mutation, the frequency of albino animals being found in a given location can be a huge indicator of a genetic bottleneck and frequent inbreeding, such is the case with islandic retics (with an ocean isolating them), or western hognose in (I can't remember what county) Oklahoma where the snakes just tend not to leave that area and interbreed with siblings.

Some albino animals like humans can have vision problems, difficulty seeing and light sensitivity. I wonder what the long term effects on intense UV would have on albino animals that need it like water monitors, alligators, sulcatas, and uromastyx?

08/13/2026

Although illegal to do with Wood Turtles, sometimes when people find one and decide to keep one as a pet, they drill a hole in the edge of the shell so it can be tethered outside. This practice is more common with Box Turtles, especially in decades past.

We believe this perfectly round hole on the rear end of a Wood Turtle we found was drilled for this reason, but drilling is also a method used by some researchers to identify individual turtles, especially in decades past. Because there are no records of historic mark-recapture studies in this area, we believe tethering is a more likely explanation. Regardless of its origin, this hole could be many decades old.

A turtle’s shell is living tissue and an essential part of its body. So please, never drill holes in turtles.

08/11/2026

Really happy about this accidental switch with Pituophis and Lampropeltis.

They're both tons of fun to keep and I appreciate them for different reasons. As much as I'd like more rat snakes, hognose, some garters and Nerodia, I don't have the time or space as I wouldn't like keeping them in racks, which is pretty much all I have to work with right now, as those species I really want to set up well and watch natural behaviors. Because of their natural history, I feel more comfortable keeping kings and pits in racks temporarily. I also have this weird thing where once I offer an animal more space and enrichment and I KNOW they use it, I can't bring myself to throwing them back I a tub lol.

My goal is to get away from racks altogether and I have some designs I'm really excited to bring to life some day and I'd love to see what the animals do with what I have planned. It'll give me a better idea of individual animal's preferences, whether they want the tub life, enriched life, even what substrates and temperatures they want. I've seen how active Cal kings can be so I'm really curious to see what Oroboros would do and what misconceptions people have on keeping Pituophis.

08/11/2026

Love this idea

Last month, I shared a post about deli containers and how some animal rights group called them inhumane. I had a comment from someone who I cannot tag due to their settings, but she said that in her country, containers must be opaque on 3 sides of the container.
This is to minimize stress on the animals.

I get it and so I decided it was time to make a change. Next weekend at the Indiana Reptile Breeders Expo, you're going to see some BRIGHT containers on my table. The geckos should feel more secure not being exposed in a 360 view.

What changes have you made to help your reptiles feel more secure during stressful events?

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Wow, I did NOT expect this to be so well received! Thank you guys so much!!

08/11/2026

Last month, I shared a post about deli containers and how some animal rights group called them inhumane. I had a comment from someone who I cannot tag due to their settings, but she said that in her country, containers must be opaque on 3 sides of the container.
This is to minimize stress on the animals.

I get it and so I decided it was time to make a change. Next weekend at the Indiana Reptile Breeders Expo, you're going to see some BRIGHT containers on my table. The geckos should feel more secure not being exposed in a 360 view.

What changes have you made to help your reptiles feel more secure during stressful events?

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Wow, I did NOT expect this to be so well received! Thank you guys so much!!

08/10/2026

There are animals that you purchase then learn more about and the more you learn, the more you come to realize that you either can or can't give them the lives they deserve, hence why I don't think alligators should be pets. Learning more about alligator snappers, I feel that I, personally am unable to provide the habitat she needs to truly live a quality life.

Alligator snapping turtles are popular among collectors with most people (unfortunately myself included during winter) largely keep them in a bare tub or tank with crystal clear water, no substrate, shelter, or water flow and feeding them an improper diet of rodents and fish throughout their lives, thinking that alligator snappers don't move much. In reality, they're largely nocturnal and hide in underwater root systems, caves rock crevices, loose gravel and decaying plant matter, all in a tanin-rich environment where most of their diet is actually snails, crustaceans, crayfish and other turtles as adults, and usually move upstream and walk into the current of the water. They live a much more complex life than what most people realize and are willing or able to provide for.

I hate selling and rehoming animals more than just about anything because normally, I don't know where they're going and I want to know they'll be well taken care of. Peach, I've had for over ten years, longer than my daughter has been alive and she's been one of my favorite animals since day one, but I found someone who I'm convinced can do much better than I can. Sometimes you have to love an animal enough NOT to keep it.

By the way, the big male snapper "Oscar" is the biggest turtle I've ever seen. Longer than Naja is tall, the base of his tail is bigger around than my wrist and he weighs 133lbs!

I can't thank Rusty Reed of Blackwater Turtle Refuge enough for taking in Peach as a donation. The girls and I all had a great time and can't wait to come by again and see her!

08/09/2026

One reason I decided to get my arm covered in them lol. Well, the original anyway, the current one is a cover-up lol