Vin Russo.

Well if your a Snake enthusiast most likely you know the name and the morphs he is famous for. What Id like is some info from a personal experience you had (not hearsay)
If you have met him, if you bought from him and the Snake you purchesed ect...I spoke with him over the weekend and now Im just looking for some experianced people to give there input. :)

I bought a snake from Vin last year. I wasn't 100% sure what direction I wanted to take but had an idea on a new project and a specific price range in mind. I explained this to Vin and a few days later we struck a deal. He was always prompt to reply and honest in representing the animal sold. I wouldn't hesitate to do business with him again in the future.

Great Info thank you. He emailed me a price, in your experiance does he negotiate or are they pretty much set in stone? He simply said "my line speaks for itself" and quoted me.. i dont know anyone thats bought from him (except you now). My snakes are pets, I dont breed or sell ect...and I do want a good healthy snake but also I see the Russo morphs for $100 less each at least. Would you say swollow the extra $200 to get what will be a healthy quality snake? Im thinking he is more of a smaller hands on guy unlike these big breeders like BHB/Mack/Outback ect...?
...and thank you for giving me some info :)

Outback and Mack are flesh peddlers in that they are just resellers, not actual breeders. BHB I'm not sure about. I personally have never dealt with Vin Russo but if I was looking for a pure blood line boa, he would be one of the guys I would talk to. If you are just looking for a pet, then honestly, paying the premium for a known pure blood line isn't going to matter to you really unless you just want the 'bragging rights'. But again with that said, if/when I decide to pull the trigger on an Iquitos or Pucallpa, I will be talking to him and Legacy Reptiles as both of them are known for their pure blood lines and something specific like that with the price tag that will come with it, I want to make sure I'm getting the real deal.

Never purchased from Vinny but I see him monthly as he is the president of the Long Island Herpetological Society here in N.Y.C. His stellar reputation is only shadowed by his many articles and authored books on The Complete Boa Constrictor among others. Friendly, expert, and willing to teach with a great sense of humor are just a few of the reasons to buy with confidence from Vinny. :gj:

Well then I think its worth $100-$200 more knowing its coming from someone that not only is nown for a solid bloodline but that it's about healthy & gene quality. Pets or not Id rather deal with someone that has invested their life into this versus invested their life into the business of "Flipping" ect....
Thank you all for sharing your experience.

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Originally Posted by Mr Sully

Well then I think its worth $100-$200 more knowing its coming from someone that not only is nown for a solid bloodline but that it's about healthy & gene quality. Pets or not Id rather deal with someone that has invested their life into this versus invested their life into the business of "Flipping" ect....
Thank you all for sharing your experience.

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Well honestly there are lots of good breeders out there who do it for the fun of breeding, not to try and make a fortune. A few of them that I know of are Matt Cook, Richard Ceniceros, Diem Marie, Ashley Lopez, Star Shaffer, Sarah Cooney. I'm sure there are others I missed off the top of my head lol. With the 'name' brand guys, you are also paying a little for the name per say. And honestly, if I was looking for a morph BCI, I would hit up any of the ones I listed probably before I hit up Vin Russo. He is more known for his pure blood line stuff and blood boas over the morph BCI stuff.

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Originally Posted by Sauzo

Well honestly there are lots of good breeders out there who do it for the fun of breeding, not to try and make a fortune. A few of them that I know of are Matt Cook, Richard Ceniceros, Diem Marie, Ashley Lopez, Star Shaffer, Sarah Cooney. I'm sure there are others I missed off the top of my head lol. With the 'name' brand guys, you are also paying a little for the name per say. And honestly, if I was looking for a morph BCI, I would hit up any of the ones I listed probably before I hit up Vin Russo. He is more known for his pure blood line stuff and blood boas over the morph BCI stuff.

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Thank you.. Im in no hurry (still have 8-10 weeks left on the other enclosures I have on back order) so Im going to contact your list. Thanks bro much appreciated.

I was excited to contact someone with such a great reputation for producing quality snakes. When asked about a dumerils boa I was surprised with Vin's response. Guess he only breeds "fashionable" snakes and the ones he had were "grumpy" so he got out of the dumerils business.

Sorry if that spoils the reputation he has but those were his words.

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Originally Posted by BR8080

I was excited to contact someone with such a great reputation for producing quality snakes. When asked about a dumerils boa I was surprised with Vin's response. Guess he only breeds "fashionable" snakes and the ones he had were "grumpy" so he got out of the dumerils business.

Sorry if that spoils the reputation he has but those were his words.

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Hahahaha... I wish i lived in a area where I had Local breeders with good selections. I cant stand all this Shipping and Not even seeing them in Person boloney. The 3 month old albino I bought (Brian Sharps) is less than impressive as far as the claimed "High Contrast". The male I already had who is a plane Albino is brighter for sure. Thank God she is atleast a sweetheart because for me thats what counts. Now I just pray she really is Female as I know its hard to sex them at a couple months old!!

BELIEVE me I wish I could find someone local and actually see the snake first and interact with it. I got it from a local reptile shop and just got lucky with mine. From what I was told as he usually deals with breeders "throw aways" and charges a little higher than he should, but you can do that when you're the only guy in town.

Sooooo, I'm forced to find someone online and hopefully be able to trust them.

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Originally Posted by BR8080

BELIEVE me I wish I could find someone local and actually see the snake first and interact with it. I got it from a local reptile shop and just got lucky with mine. From what I was told as he usually deals with breeders "throw aways" and charges a little higher than he should, but you can do that when you're the only guy in town.

Sooooo, I'm forced to find someone online and hopefully be able to trust them.

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Your about 1.5 hrs west on the Thruway from me. There is s family pet store here and he breeds his own balls & rodents.. He Has 2 albino's left, one banana, a couple pinstripes and a lesser..the others fore sale are in the back and high dollar. He also is selling 2 or 3 of his proven Het breaders.. Bigger ones like 2500G+
Trust worthy guy.. Kinda dry but im not looking for a friend lol ..clean and ontop of his snakes..

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Originally Posted by Mr Sully

Your about 1.5 hrs west on the Thruway from me. There is s family pet store here and he breeds his own balls & rodents.. He Has 2 albino's left, one banana, a couple pinstripes and a lesser..the others fore sale are in the back and high dollar. He also is selling 2 or 3 of his proven Het breaders.. Bigger ones like 2500G+
Trust worthy guy.. Kinda dry but im not looking for a friend lol ..clean and ontop of his snakes..

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Hey thanks - what's the name of the shop? Maybe I'll road trip it sometime.

I've got deposits on a dumeril and a caulkers cay boa right now. Might look into another ball eventually but really wanted something I could interact with a bit more and not feel like I was bothering it. I already have 3 cats that their only use for me is to feed them daily LOL

Wherebouts are you? Getting some snow today that's for sure - about 4-6" on the ground here.

Look into a SD retic. You will definitely have your hands full with one of those. Since having Caesar, its like I'm learning new stuff about retics daily haha. First off, throw everything you know about boas out the window with retics. They eat more, eat a lot larger and pee all over their cages. Some will pee on you as Gio and Jmcrook can probably verify. I've dodged the bullet so far as Caesar just pisses in his cage all the time but never on me or when outside. And did I say they love to eat? lol. I think one would make a good compliment to a boa and dumerils as both of those are generally loungers especially the dumerils. The retic would give you that 'excitement' you want haha. I say if you get one, get one from either Vital Exotics although last I looked Kris didn't have any SDs or check out Daniel Solis. Jmcrook got his from Daniel and I've heard good things about him too. But regardless, make sure you get a SD from a reliable guy as anyone can say 'its a SD' and then 2 years later, you got a 14' snake hahaha.

Although I will say, Vicky has been very exploratory the past few days. I'm guessing she's hungry as she's used to eating every 2 weeks but she is starting to look a little chunky to me so i'm pushing her out to every 3 weeks. That might be why she is cruising all over. I open her cage door when I I'm watching tv and she hangs out the door. This is what she does for hours on top of just hanging there with only her head out.
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...7a33e8e7_b.jpg
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...16fc94fe_b.jpg
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...7f303fcd_b.jpg

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Originally Posted by BR8080

Hey thanks - what's the name of the shop? Maybe I'll road trip it sometime.

I've got deposits on a dumeril and a caulkers cay boa right now. Might look into another ball eventually but really wanted something I could interact with a bit more and not feel like I was bothering it. I already have 3 cats that their only use for me is to feed them daily LOL

Wherebouts are you? Getting some snow today that's for sure - about 4-6" on the ground here.

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Im near Turning Stone Casino.. UTICA/ROME.
I hear what your saying about something that you can interact with..Im a Burm guy.. I absolutely love them, it wish I could get a midget lmbo.... Like Sauzo said everyone is into Retics now days, but im just not interested in the the attitude even though some are docile they wont be what I have always had.. Burms & Balls are puppy dogs compaired lol. Sorry Sauzo hahahaha... Im getting antsy waiting for this nee enclosure man... I cant beleive its only been like 6 weeks.. Im only like 1/2 way supposedly!!!
PS: the shop is "Wild Things" in New York Mills.. Bug like I said he is just a Ball Breeder & Hobbiest.

Sully, I just busted a gut when I saw your new avatar meme! :rofl:

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Originally Posted by Reinz

Sully, I just busted a gut when I saw your new avatar meme! :rofl:

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Check out the Bathroom meme in my pic Galary hahahaha

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Originally Posted by Mr Sully

Check out the Bathroom meme in my pic Galary hahahaha

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Yeah that's hilarious too! :D

Have you had any problems with The Carpet or the Boa when the cats around? I see your pic when the cats on the bed hahhaha. My burm will strike the glass if a animal is around.

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Originally Posted by Mr Sully

Have you had any problems with The Carpet or the Boa when the cats around? I see your pic when the cats on the bed hahhaha. My burm will strike the glass if a animal is around.

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I've never had that problem. All my snakes ignore my dogs and cat. Whether the snakes are caged or out. Also the dogs and cat show little attention towards the snake.

Now I have had Butch, one of my Boas slam into the glass a few times while in hunger mode when I walked by.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...c6b50de9f7.jpg
Butch, Wild Type BI

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Originally Posted by Reinz

I've never had that problem. All my snakes ignore my dogs and cat. Whether the snakes are caged or out. Also the dogs and cat show little attention towards the snake.

Now I have had Butch, one of my Boas slam into the glass a few times while in hunger mode when I walked by.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...c6b50de9f7.jpg
Butch, Wild Type BI

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Well thats good..... I hear all kinds of stories about the pet snakes let loose down south lke Florida that have been killing wild life.. I know of a couple news stories about neighborhood domestic animals too.. It may be the fact that they are Wild now and hunting.
Not sure why my Burm does it.. But I guess he isnt picky, you can throw anything in there, rat, mouse, Gerbil, Rabbit, guinea pig.. He eats it all without hesitation.
All your snakes ate gorgeous. You have real nice setups.

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Originally Posted by Mr Sully

Hahahaha... I wish i lived in a area where I had Local breeders with good selections. I cant stand all this Shipping and Not even seeing them in Person boloney. The 3 month old albino I bought (Brian Sharps) is less than impressive as far as the claimed "High Contrast". The male I already had who is a plane Albino is brighter for sure. Thank God she is atleast a sweetheart because for me thats what counts. Now I just pray she really is Female as I know its hard to sex them at a couple months old!!

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Unless the boa is an adult, just give your albino some time to mature. Most of the selectively-bred albino morphs don't start showing their true colors until 1-3 years of age. They can go from an ugly drab "regular" albino to bursting with color given just a few years to grow.

As far as dealing with Vin Russo, I never have, but he's certainly dedicated his life to boas. He seems a great source for locality boas, so if that's what you're looking for definitely consider him. Some of his babies are in high demand, so you might have to get to them quickly or he'll sell out.

I've since had several e-mails with Vin about different species of boas and his responses were prompt and informative. I've also purchased his book and it's a good read thus far.

Taking info from his suggestions and some of my own research I decided to obtain a Dumeril and a Caulkers Cay boa this year.

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Originally Posted by Mr Sully

Im near Turning Stone Casino.. UTICA/ROME.
I hear what your saying about something that you can interact with..Im a Burm guy.. I absolutely love them, it wish I could get a midget lmbo.... Like Sauzo said everyone is into Retics now days, but im just not interested in the the attitude even though some are docile they wont be what I have always had.. Burms & Balls are puppy dogs compaired lol. Sorry Sauzo hahahaha... Im getting antsy waiting for this nee enclosure man... I cant beleive its only been like 6 weeks.. Im only like 1/2 way supposedly!!!
PS: the shop is "Wild Things" in New York Mills.. Bug like I said he is just a Ball Breeder & Hobbiest.

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Yeah - just down the thruway from me - I'll check that shop out sometime. Thanks for the heads up. We must've ordered around the same time - I'm at 6 weeks on 3/14. LOL

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Originally Posted by Sauzo

Look into a SD retic. You will definitely have your hands full with one of those. They eat more, eat a lot larger and pee all over their cages. Some will pee on you as Gio and Jmcrook can probably verify. I've dodged the bullet so far as Caesar just pisses in his cage all the time but never on me or when outside.

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Sauzo - quite the salesman for rectics LOL

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Originally Posted by BR8080

Sauzo - quite the salesman for rectics LOL

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Lol whenever someone says they want something more active, I'm going to recommend retics. They are definitely busy and really interactive. Whenever Caesar is destroying something or now that he's on paper towels, he is digging under them to play around, he will stop what he is doing and look at me when I check on him and he will sit there with his face on the litter dam just looking at me. Then when nothing exciting happens in about 30 secs, he goes back to whatever he was destroying haha.

Since I put paper towels in, he has decided hides aren't that entertaining to sit in anymore. He now likes to either shove them around or crawl around under the paper towels lol. I think Gio and bcr are that retics do seem to like 'toys'. I need to half fill a 20 oz water bowl for Caesar to push around and play with.
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...7572abaf_b.jpg

And no, I don't know which way his head is. I tried peeking behind the water bowl since if he see me peeking around, he will usually come out to see what's up. He didn't move so I'm thinking his head is under the front area. Kind of tired so didn't feel like opening the door to see where his head is as that usually means he wants to come out and see what's shakin.

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Originally Posted by Sauzo

Lol whenever someone says they want something more active, I'm going to recommend retics. They are definitely busy and really interactive. Whenever Caesar is destroying something or now that he's on paper towels, he is digging under them to play around, he will stop what he is doing and look at me when I check on him and he will sit there with his face on the litter dam just looking at me. Then when nothing exciting happens in about 30 secs, he goes back to whatever he was destroying haha.

Since I put paper towels in, he has decided hides aren't that entertaining to sit in anymore. He now likes to either shove them around or crawl around under the paper towels lol. I think Gio and bcr are that retics do seem to like 'toys'. I need to half fill a 20 oz water bowl for Caesar to push around and play with.
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...7572abaf_b.jpg

And no, I don't know which way his head is. I tried peeking behind the water bowl since if he see me peeking around, he will usually come out to see what's up. He didn't move so I'm thinking his head is under the front area. Kind of tired so didn't feel like opening the door to see where his head is as that usually means he wants to come out and see what's shakin.

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hahahahaha.. I got one that drags his hide everywhere.. He gets it pinned so the hide door is against the enclosure wall and he cant get in there... PITA lol.

I ordered his book about two(?) years ago. Because of a screw-up on MY end, he never got payment, even though I had paid PayPal. He sent me an e-mail about a week later asking if I still wanted to buy the book...

After some back and forth communication, he ended up sending me the book the next day, and BEFORE he received payment from PayPal. My stupid mistake, but he trusted me not to scam him.

Next year, I should be ready for a Tarahumara (we need to move first, no more space here), and I will get one of Vin's.

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Originally Posted by distaff

I ordered his book about two(?) years ago. Because of a screw-up on MY end, he never got payment, even though I had paid PayPal. He sent me an e-mail about a week later asking if I still wanted to buy the book...

After some back and forth communication, he ended up sending me the book the next day, and BEFORE he received payment from PayPal. My stupid mistake, but he trusted me not to scam him.

Next year, I should be ready for a Tarahumara (we need to move first, no more space here), and I will get one of Vin's.

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I looked into the Tarahumara as well but liked the Caulkers coloring a bit better. Not to mention that head stamp on the Caulkers is very nice.

Good luck to you.

I just finished the book and overall it was a great and informative read.

I was a little disappointed he never mentioned the Dumeril boa. Understanding the dum is from a completely different continent the book is titled, "The Complete Boa Constrictor; A Comprehensive Guide To The Care, Breeding, and Geographic Races." IMHO it fits the definition of "comprehensive" but.....when you don't even mention a species of boa. I guess he's more focused on the boas of Central and South America.

I should've anticipated this based on my correspondence with him. Oh well, it still contains some great information.