Hello Everyone,

I am new to the forums and want to introduce myself. My name is Michael Freedman, and I am the owner of The Florida Reptile Ranch. We are a new company that is focusing on ball pythons for now and will get into many more species, including boas, other pythons, tortoises, monitor lizards, geckos, etc. when we move back home.

We are currently located in Scottsdale, Arizona but will be back in Tampa early 2015. My family and I moved out here so I can attend med school. I have other businesses but am especially excited about this one because I get to make something I have loved for decades a source of income. I have kept everything from rat snakes, amphibians, green tree, water, nile monitors, chameleons, boas, plus many more and have experience with most species around. In high school I worked at an exotic pet store called “The Snake Pit” in Tampa, if anyone is from around the Bay area and remembers that place.

I have bought ball pythons from Europe and from several breeders in the States (some pics can be seen on facebook). I want to thank Tracy Barker, Wes Harris, Ryan Young, Bob Clark, Brian Barczyk, Amir Soleymani and Stefan Broghammer for speaking with me and giving me some incredible snakes. A special thank you goes out to Stefan for answering 1 million e-mails, being a stand-up guy and for his excellent English(!), to Brian Barczyk for answering my texts any time of the day and for giving me good recommendations, to Wes Harris for his time and insight, and to Tracy Barker for being my supplier, guide, advisor and friend in my new venture. Most importantly, thank you to my wife for her unwavering support.

Now that you are tired of reading, I would like to get some feedback about your experiences with other breeders and recommendations for business practices. We want to be around for a long time and want everyone to have a great experience with us. So, what do you want to see in a breeder? For example, Brian, Stefan and Tracy all gave me an inordinate amount of their time. They answered every email, text and phone call and they benefitted by getting a lot of business from me. Some breeders didn’t return my calls and lost out on a ton of money. What things really make a breeder stand out to you? What aspects of the whole process from marketing to answering the phone to shipping do you want to see? Personal attention? YouTube videos?

Thanks to all and I look forward to meeting you! Stay tuned for pics of new stock!

Michael Freedman
The Florida Reptile Ranch
www.facebook.com/thefloridareptileranch(work in progress)
www.thefloridareptileranch.com -> coming soon!