What do you do??

I have been hesitent to post what i do because i am embaressed.Everyone has there careers and i feel low,but i feel that everyone will understand my feelings on this.Well i am disabled and have been unable to work since Feb of 2001 as i have cancer and other problems.So since i am unable to work i am a stay at home dad to our daughter(cynthia) and our zoo.Dealing with the cancer is tuff enough for someone,but when you add in my age(39 now) its really tuff.If it was not for my wife(Cindy) and Cynthia and our zoo i would have given up awhile back.So since i have alot of free time i think thats the reason i have so much experiance with reptiles.I have had almost everything when it comes to reptiles,of course they were all legal in Illinois lol.As most of you know i have been a breeder of ball pythons and corn snakes for 2yrs now.I am looking forward allready for the next breeding season as far as ball pythons are concerned.I will be breeding my pastel (bruno) to 2 of my females (tabitha & lilly).I am also doing a breeding loan with a freind and it consists of my largest female (elvira) to his male spider :D .Can anyone guess what i am going for down the road a couple years :cool: .I love talking on this site with every member and am looking forward to meeting some of you in the near future.Yes this even includes Adam & Jamie :P .Well everyone have a great day :gj: .

Joe,


You are such a great contributor. How could you ever feel embarrassed around us. I am such a NOOB that you are near god-status to me. What we do to put bread on the table is never important next to our families. I consider my fluffy to be one of the family!!!

YOU HAVE MANY PEOPLE AND CRITTERS DEPENDING ON YOU!

No matter how hard life seems, no matter what pains you feel, or how sick you wake up in the morning, REMEMBER we love you, and will always be here to support you.

-Akiva.

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Originally Posted by AkivaSmith

Joe,


You are such a great contributor. How could you ever feel embarrassed around us. I am such a NOOB that you are near god-status to me. What we do to put bread on the table is never important next to our families. I consider my fluffy to be one of the family!!!

YOU HAVE MANY PEOPLE AND CRITTERS DEPENDING ON YOU!

No matter how hard life seems, no matter what pains you feel, or how sick you wake up in the morning, REMEMBER we love you, and will always be here to support you.

-Akiva.

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Akiva, i am speechless.Thank you

No need to feel embarassed Joe. You do what you can and try to make the most of life...Being a stay at home Dad, or Mom, is nothing to be ashamed of...:salute:

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Originally Posted by sho220

No need to feel embarassed Joe. You do what you can and try to make the most of life...Being a stay at home Dad, or Mom, is nothing to be ashamed of...:salute:

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I have worked ever since i was 16 (summer job) and it kills me to just set at home :( .To tell you all the truth i am very glad i found this site and its members.I am proud to be a fellow member with you all :salute: .Thank You All

Joe, you are a good man, you keep it up.
As many of you guys know Winslow, my husband is disabled also, he stays with the herps 24/7. This past summer I was unable to work due to his illness hitting a downward spiral... He'll come back up, we all know it...
So Just the rescue, cleaning cages, 6 hours daily on the phone and email end.
Animal crualty cases, court ACO cases etc etc...
I am proud and happy to say that we have acquired a real good hearted volunteer, Mike. He has gone above and beyond on the many days Winslow hasn't been able to get up. He keeps me going too.
And of Course Griffin, our great little 7 year old, second grade and loving it.
On the spare time (whenever it may come by) I love to drive fast, we go out mountain biking alott, field herping, and I have been getting into photography. Hiking swimming, climbing etc etc.
Well back to work guys...
Rusty
PS Wildlife Warrior I see you're in CT, we are too, If you ever want to chat give the rescue line a call, I'd love to learn more about your turtle project. Rescue # (860) 432-7925. Thanks

I've enjoyed this thread, it's cool to see the variety of professions in the BP.net community (especially Jamie's job ;)).
I've worked professionally in the zoological field for about four years now, and I currently work (if you can call it work) at a small aquarium as an aquarist. I work at our quarantine facility, so I get to acclimate new exhibit animal arrivals which is fun and also quite challenging sometimes. I help in design and construction of exhibits on top of daily husbandy duties. I am also in charge of all animals used in our outreach programs. We have three vans that take animals to schools everyday including some Utah native herps, and a plethora of tropical species from roaches to parrots. Occasionally I get to go out and do outreach presentations at the schools, which is always a blast. We are also working closely with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, helping public awareness of native threatened species, so I get to work with some pretty rare animals.

At home, (other than the snakes) I enjoy falconry, field herping, riding dirt bikes, hanging out with my awesome wifey, and juggling. Yes, most of my life revolves around animals, and I wouldn't have it any other way. :D

-Evan

I'm a full-time college student and I work at Cold Stone. Yes. I scoop ice cream. Go me.

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Originally Posted by Melicious

I'm a full-time college student and I work at Cold Stone. Yes. I scoop ice cream. Go me.

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Ahh tootie fruity please :P :P .Sorry i could not help myself:8: :8: :8:

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Originally Posted by joepythons

Ahh tootie fruity please :P :P .Sorry i could not help myself:8: :8: :8:

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-Dies.- I'll drown you in Bubblegum Ice Cream...

I am a senior in high school and I work at Carvel Ice Cream Bakery for now. I plan on studying herpetology in college as well as business/marketing in hopes of starting my own reptile business.

Other than snakes, I am interested in soccer, racing homing pigeons, taking care of the remaining 60 or so pets, and being a full-time Boid keeper.

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Originally Posted by Melicious

I'm a full-time college student and I work at Cold Stone. Yes. I scoop ice cream. Go me.

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I LOVE COLDSTONE

I am a power electronics engineer working in research for an aerospace company. Some of the big programs I've worked on are the F-35 (Joint Strike Fighter) and the Boeing 787 (Dreamliner).

I thought I'd go into more detail about my life; I work 40 hours a week as a "PPA" collector for Pioneer Credit; my job basically is to negotiate payment plans with debtors who have already grown tired of being called repetitively by our collections department, and want to pay :) I know that there are a lot of lowlifes who have no desire at all to pay for good items they received, but most people I talk to sincerely want to get their stuff paid off and get on with life with better credit.
In my nonworking hours, I spend time keeping house, laundry, cleaning, mowing 3 acres with a tractor, etc. I also am pretty much the sole caretaker of our four horses; cleaning stalls with a mom and foal in them is tough work! Luckily we keep them outside most of the time.. I also help out my longterm live-in boyfriend and hopeful fiancee, Mark, with his property-management business, doing some paperwork for them, helping paint interiors of houses, the like. We rent a farmhouse with 300 acres, and are doing pretty well; just bought our first new vehicle together. Neither of us were ever handed anything and are pretty much the only ones responsible for our happy living and advancement.
My recreational hobbies include ATVing (I am an avid Polaris Sportsman chick!) , painting and drawing, Photoshop photo mangling, occasional vegetable gardening, but my favorite pastime is just walking in the woods collecting objects.

Evan.. you really do falconry? That's awesome! Someday when I have more time I want to get into that.. are you a general or master class hawker? And what do you fly?

I've done a lot of reading on the subject.. it's such a cool sport.

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Originally Posted by Melicious

I'm a full-time college student and I work at Cold Stone. Yes. I scoop ice cream. Go me.

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ICE CREAM!!! MY NEXT JOB!!!! :pinkele: :pinkele: :pinkele:

I work at a vintage guitar store out here in Cali. It's fun. I get to meet lotsa famous people, and the pays good. :)

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Originally Posted by Shelby

Evan.. you really do falconry? That's awesome! Someday when I have more time I want to get into that.. are you a general or master class hawker? And what do you fly?

I've done a lot of reading on the subject.. it's such a cool sport.

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I'm a general class, and this is my third year flying a bird. I still have my kestrel from my apprenticeship, mainly because I'm so attached to the little bugger, but I'm trapping a Richardson's merlin as soon as they begin their migration next month. I'm so excited to get a merlin, but i don't think I'll keep my little Akroma around after I get my new bird, so I"m bummed at the same time :(. The best thing about my falconry experience is that my sponser is a good friend I worked with at the zoo, is my age, and also breeds reptiles. He is also trapping a merlin this season, and we plan on flying them in a cast on snipe and an occasional starling flock. He also flys an anatum peregrin, and keeps a flock of pigeons for training. I debated building a mews and trying get a mer/gyr hybrid, but I don't think I have the funds to build the kind of mews I want, or for the bird itself for that matter, so it will have to wait.

I love falconry, but you are right about waiting until you have time for it. I spend almost as much time with my one bird as I do with my entire snake collection and rodent colony combined. I always feel bad on the days I don't have time to go out and fly her, but I get out about 5 days a week. Careful though, falconry is just as addictive as keeping snakes if not more so :D .

-Evan

RVT, yay for no money :)

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Originally Posted by SatanicIntention

RVT, yay for no money :)

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Wow Becky, you speak Russian?! I don't know any other Russian Vocabulary Testers :P. But really, not many professions in the animal world pay that well, there are just too many people that will do the jobs for squat. I have a BS in zoology and four years experience in the field, yet still make bupkis compared to others with similar credentials in other fields. I commend you for your choice of profession, you HAVE to love what you do to stay in this field for long. :D

-Evan

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Originally Posted by Evan Jamison

Wow Becky, you speak Russian?! I don't know any other Russian Vocabulary Testers :P. But really, not many professions in the animal world pay that well, there are just too many people that will do the jobs for squat. I have a BS in zoology and four years experience in the field, yet still make bupkis compared to others with similar credentials in other fields. I commend you for your choice of profession, you HAVE to love what you do to stay in this field for long. :D

-Evan

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No, she is a Refuse Vacuuming Technician. Somebody has to do the dirty work!

Bahaha! Ya'll are awesome :)

But yes, it's true you have to love the profession. You won't make it in this field if you don't "want" to get up in the morning and go to work(and you work... ALOT).

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Originally Posted by SatanicIntention

Bahaha! Ya'll are awesome :)

But yes, it's true you have to love the profession. You won't make it in this field if you don't "want" to get up in the morning and go to work(and you work... ALOT).

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What if you never want to get up in the morning and go to work..That's me!

That's awesome Evan. American kestrals are so cute.. do you have any pictures of yours?

I'd like to fly a cast of harris hawks someday. They're awesome birds.

These are the only pics of her I can find right now.

Akroma on her indoor bowperch (don't mind the mess :D)
https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...perchsmall.JPG

I took these on her first flights to the fist outside. She is still on the creance in the pics, but she did her first true free flight the next day. This was about three weeks after I trapped her.

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...ance1small.JPG
https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...ance2small.JPG

I have more with her first kill etc. but I can't remember where I put 'em.

HH are awesome birds, but my intrests are much more in the longwings, though I wouldn't turn down a nice Gos, they are just so versatile.

-Evan

Wow very pretty thanks for sharing.

Longwings are cool because of their agility and speed, but I've always liked how broadwings look. I think it'd be awesome to fly a golden eagle (though you do have to jump through quite a few hoops for that one)

I'm a construction manager/superintendent for a high end custom homebuilder.
I love my job and look forward to going to work each day mainly because the company I work for is owned by an awesome guy.

As for my other job- Mom to a 16yo son, insane feline and Ozzy the bp.

My hobbies ( when I find the time) is competitive bass fishing, hockey, football and collecting sports memorabilia.

I am a manager at a smoothie bar here called Smoothie King. It is a fun job and really works with me for my school schedule. As far as other hobbies go, I don't have much anymore because of my now 3 snakes and money pit that is a 97 f-150. i like to go out and drink like most other teens but I don't overdo it anymore. I know my limits and know that it is no longer cool to see who can get the drunkest.


I have been into herps for about 3 months now and have already brought my collection from a single ball python, to adding a 2 month old BCI, and now a 4 year old BCI. The baby wasn't much of a surprise, but this older one sure is.

I lease apartments, latley is become like Melrose Place. There is over 300 residents and I think I knoe about all of their dramas.:rolleyes: Plus my co-works dramas. lol

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Originally Posted by Melicious

-Dies.- I'll drown you in Bubblegum Ice Cream...

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Ohhhh Yuuuuuuuuum!!! My fav!

Don't knock it! I did B/R for 9 mo. and Mickey D's for FOUR years!!!! As a student or single mom, or whatever, they're still paychecks to help keep you going! :thumbsup:


I am a manufacturing technician in a (no-longer scandal free) hi-tech company. When I started 13.5 yrs. ago, I was an operator who ran the equipment in the cleanroom fab and we made ASICs (application specific integrated circuits)....the chips in the computers' brains. Now the technology is the printheads of the printer pens for ink cartridges.

I've had experience in metal deposition, photolithograpy, wet and dry etching. Now as a mfg. tech I work more with engineers and direct troubleshooting as well as R & D and get to spend time at a desk doing documentation and reports (or whiling away hours here getting my BP fix :D :D :love: ) instead of always in the fab. When I'm not dragging butt after the 12.5 (or more hours) in a shift, I'm taking care of my wonderful and fabulous daughter Robin (see sig) and our zoo of many species.

After having grown up on a dairy farm with 4-H, FFA and all sorts of furries and crawlies, the cats, snakes, rats, horses, are all a joy in spite of the feeding, cleaning, grooming and not often *sigh* :tears: riding. *sniff*

I'm just greatful that I'm getting the chance to allow Robin to develop a strong love for animals and she's such a loving, caring girl who enjoys the pets and caring for the different variety of snakes that we have, just as much as I do. It's a great KICK to have her so ecstatic when she hears that one of the snakes has shed, or is in blue....or that the rats are doing well and the cats are being furry-t*rds getting into things chasing each other all over the house.


BTW, Joe: I think it's AWESOME that you're a stay-at-home dad!!! Not many families have the chance to have one or both of the parents at home, and kids NEED that love, direction and support!!!!!! KUDOS! to you! :salute:
Hang in there. It's a nasty disease, but we're here for you in all things!!!!! My mom's fighting it, so I understand.....but we'll lift you and help you. Just keep up the good work and keep breeding those beautiful snakes!!!

Wow Evan, that it awesome! It is so cool that you can get them so "trained" while having them in so short of a time.
Joe, I hope things go well for you and your health; I definately like having you around here. who else would help me so much with the rat snake egg info? :)

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Originally Posted by Ginevive

Wow Evan, that it awesome! It is so cool that you can get them so "trained" while having them in so short of a time.
Joe, I hope things go well for you and your health; I definately like having you around here. who else would help me so much with the rat snake egg info? :)

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Why thank you Jen :oops: :oops: :oops: lol.

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Originally Posted by rabernet

In my spare time I volunteer with Canine Assistants that trains service dogs for the physically disabled.

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Thanks really awesome Raber and so not shocking to me :hug:

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Originally Posted by SarahMB

I love fashion, I love looking good, and I LOVE sales.

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:cool: