Just thought Id bring up that there are herpers in Alaska, and write some advice to my fellow arctic herpers.

One of the biggest challenges of being an Alaskan herper without a doubt is the shipping. People will sometimes just straight refuse to ship here, even when the temps are warmer then the are in the lower 48s, or if they do they will charge you an outrageous price say like '$80' a box when others will charge you $50 to ship the same size box on the same carrier. I stay away from this people. Your cages and racks, are better built here than shipped because you are looking at $400 freight costs.

Also dont be surprised if you occasionally run into an idiot from the states that will automatically treat you like a red-neck or ask you if your a dog musher, or ask you some really stupid stereotypical question. Thats all part of the process really. These people are just uneducated.

When you first get started the biggest pitfalls here are going to be that petstore employees are idiots, they arent trained in anything, they make their minimum wage and go home. They are going to attempt to discourage you from seeking other sources and other ways of doing things and this is always to keep you buying their fish tanks and their crap. Worse part is that if you live here in AK49 the petstore probably has the monopoly in your area. Thats what got me to thinking outside the box. Your going to need connections with people who know something about what they are doing.

And often you wont have a good herp vet available, you'll need to locate the next best thing. An Exotics then, Horse Vet. Here in kenai, there is a cat named Jay Nyybakken, he's the best around but hard to get ahold of. You'll have to find someone that can service your needs near you obviously.

There is only one herp society in the state and although still in its infancy, Its free and can help you significantly lower the cost of keeping etc, your collection. Pm me if youd like to know more about that.

Good Luck out there. Let me know if I can help you.