Howdy RTB!

[Jonathan Brady]

Been a LONG time since I dropped by. I stopped coming here after a spat with a moderator (apparently he frowned upon getting called out for something publicly, rather than privately and gave me an infraction for it).

A little while after my self-imposed hiatus, I decided to get out of reptiles completely (for those who didn't already know). It's been almost 2 years (if I'm remembering correctly) now and I still feel like I made the right decision, and I'd make it again. I was just... done. After over a decade in the hobby, I had had enough and was ready to move on and I don't see me getting back in.

What I miss... you guys. I miss the social interaction. Taking pictures of herps. Baby boa goo. Keeping my website up to date (completely gone now, btw). (Hopefully) Helping people. Camera talk.

What I don't miss... awful moderators (lol), constant fear/hysteria regarding legislation (I don't even keep up with it anymore - I assume this is still an issue), the reptile community and ESPECIALLY reptile sales on FB - I assume this too, is still the same - the race to the bottom [dollar]), snake poop/pee and cleaning it up, selling stuff, the genetics race, the repetitive issues (breed for greed, lack of quality, EVERYONE wanting to breed), and lots, lots more.

I shared some details of my life here before and thought I'd update anyone who may still care (if any, lol)...
My little girl, Kyla, is over 3 years old now. And she has a baby brother, Kian. He's 8 months old and just as cute as his big sister! My wife and I bought a house in Sarasota and are just loving life - despite it being INSANELY busy all the time (I really don't even have time for reptiles). I used a lot of the money from selling off my collection to buy cameras/lenses and now instead of taking pictures of herps, I take pictures of my kids which is equally fulfilling, but in a different way. Other than that, it's pretty "status quo" around here! A couple of shots I've taken of the kids :-)

pre-1st-haircut by Jonathan Brady, on Flickr

Kian in the bath by Jonathan Brady, on Flickr

Anyway... just wanted you guys/gals to know I was thinking about you and hoping the best for you all.

Later,
jb

oh - and if anyone has produced anything with my old stock, I'd LOVE to see it! Some of them are definitely old enough now, and some should be ready for their first season right now, or in the next couple of years!

[Jessica]

Re: Howdy RTB!

Oh my goodness I can't believe how big your little girl is now. Beautiful photos (as usual) and nice to hear you're doing good!

[Avalanche]

Re: Howdy RTB!

Well Hello JB, glad to see you put up a post. You're children are beautiful and I'm so glad to hear everything is going good for you. I hesitate to call or get a hold of you because I just wasn't sure if you were interested in whats going on or even wanted to have anything to do with the past.

I do miss your website but I hope I did get everything that was important to my Guyana's, if not I might hit you up for something. LoL

You'll be glad to hear that Romeo and Sophia will be put together here in a month or so and I also have the Summit Pastel Hypo Jungle het Sharp female I got from you being breed right now to an Orange tail Hypo Jungle 66% Para het I picked up from Steve. There is also a new KILLER female Guyana I picked up from Star this year that will knock it out of the park with Romeo in a few years.

If you wanna catch up or see some pictures just give me a call or text, all my info is still the same.

Good to hear from you JB, take care.

Todd

[Jrock23]

Re: Howdy RTB!

Cool looking kids!!!!

[natieb]

Re: Howdy RTB!

Hey JB!

I was just thinking about you recently when I was reminiscing about the "good old days". I know there was a lot of arguments and poo flinging a few years back, but I think there were also some genuinely thought-provoking issues and debates brought up that I really miss. This forum, like most forums, has been properly clobbered by the migration to Facebook, so the general participation level is a fraction of its old self. I still enjoy it, but the energy level is a lot different than it may have been in the past.

So what have you been up to lately, and have you picked up any new hobbies? I think a significant segment of the reptile keeping community inevitably becomes interested in photography because the hobby by its nature focuses on the aesthetic component. I learned a buttload from your photography tutorials, and I felt like it was beneficial to everyone to have that sort of content available.

Which bring me to my next question. You say your website is gone, but did you save any of that content? You wrote some amazingly insightful articles (as well as some I would totally throw down and get into a dumb argument with you over :P), but did you save it, would you make any of it available in some way, and how? For instance, your BCU article was an excellent reference any time we get the "what morph is my pet store boa" posts that still happen all the time.

It's good to hear from you, and great to see some pics of the family.

[zamora]

Re: Howdy RTB!

I can't tell you how much 'seeing' your post made me smile. You are insanely missed around here!

You say your website is gone, but did you save any of that content?

THIS EXACTLY! I learned so much from you and your posts and would so love to share your wisdom with others in the snake world. I have recently acquired a male adult Guyana and two adult Suris and I'm eagerly awaiting my first litter of locality boas, largely due to you and your fantastic animals. I have my eye on an upcoming litter that has Rose bloodlines to get a female for my male!

Congratulations to you and your wife on your 'new addition', he's a real looker as is his big sister. Thanks for stopping by and hopefully you won't be a stranger!

[McCarthyBoas]

Re: Howdy RTB!

Hi JB,

Congratulations to you and your wife on your new baby boy. Both of your kids are cute, must have taken after Mom. LOL. Now that you have two you and your wife should just go for it and have a few more. I have 4 kids and I have a lot of fun with all of them. Glad you stopped by it’s nice to hear from you.

Take care
Tom

[Pandorasdad]

Re: Howdy RTB!

I, for one was sad you see you get so completely out. Your website was an enormous help to me personally, and I enjoyed the spirited debates. Lord knows this place could use more of that now.

You have some beautiful children. Glad that you're doing well.

[Noelle7206]

Re: Howdy RTB!

Congratulations on those adorable kids!- I do remember you & I'm happy you're still around, with or without herps. I knew nothing of your "spat" much less infraction, water under the bridge anyway. I 'second' your
list of "what I don't miss" & I think the only reason I've been into snakes for so much longer is that I've never tried to be commercial about it. I used to breed a few kinds (mostly colubrids) and I quickly realized that
selling snakes was not for me. I'm 'just' enjoying them as pets these days (& as I always have) & helping answer questions if I can. This is a great forum, IMO...I'm sure your input would be most welcome any time.
And yes, we are lacking some good 'debates' lately! LOL!

[Jonathan Brady]

Re: Howdy RTB!

Hey Everyone! Thanks for the kind words :-)

As for my site, I think I saved everything, but I'm honestly not sure. However, the "wayback machine" is an AWESOME resource and works for parts of my site (I found out about it after Gus took down his site and I wanted to save his info on breeding boas). Here's a link (that I assume will work) https://web.archive.org/web/20150621...strictors.com/ That snapshot of the site was taken June 21st of 2015. I have no idea how long wayback stores websites so if there's something you REALLY want, I'd copy it for your own personal use!

[weird_science04]

Re: Howdy RTB!

Thanks for the update and pictures. Your children are definitely gorgeous. I am glad everything worked itself out since the last time we spoke on the phone.

Star

[McCarthyBoas]

Re: Howdy RTB!

Hey Everyone! Thanks for the kind words :-)

As for my site, I think I saved everything, but I'm honestly not sure. However, the "wayback machine" is an AWESOME resource and works for parts of my site (I found out about it after Gus took down his site and I wanted to save his info on breeding boas). Here's a link (that I assume will work) https://web.archive.org/web/20150621...strictors.com/ That snapshot of the site was taken June 21st of 2015. I have no idea how long wayback stores websites so if there's something you REALLY want, I'd copy it for your own personal use!

Thanks for the link JB I forgot all about this site. I just looked up my website and it go’s all the way back to October 2000. This just go’s to show you once something is on the internet it’s there forever for people to see. Remember that everyone when you are posting stuff that could be bad for you in the future. LOL

Take care
Tom

[Jonathan Brady]

Re: Howdy RTB!

I was just thinking about this thread and then something popped in my head... I remember a thought I had a year or two before I got out of the hobby that is absolutely laughable now...

Hey JB!

This forum, like most forums, has been properly clobbered by the migration to Facebook, so the general participation level is a fraction of its old self. I still enjoy it, but the energy level is a lot different than it may have been in the past.

So my thought was... "I should buy some of the better forums, let each keep it's own identity, but have them all linked together. For instance, if someone is a member of ball-pythons.net and they also have a boa and want to post about it, they go to the ball-pythons sub-forum and post there. WHY? Not many people see it. But if when someone clicked on the boa subforum, they were instantly transported to a different forum (say, redtailboas.com) to post there, suddenly MANY more eyes would see the post. And vice versa as well. Basically, it would be a competitor to kingsnake.com yet still keeps each forum autonomous."

Looking back and knowing how "FB clobbered" the forums, it's a good thing I never took that any further than just thinking about it! lol

I think a big part of the hobby was social interaction. Let's face it, by society's standards, reptile enthusiasts are a little... weird. It's true. We are. Go ahead and admit it, whoever you are reading this. You're weird. And honestly, it's probably part of your charm :-) And forums were a great place to connect with other weirdos with the same interest, and do so on a deeper level. FB kills that. Oddly, FB is known as a "social network" but people on there (compared to forums) are ANYTHING but social. There also aren't the FANTASTIC in-depth discussions like you see on forums (at least there weren't back when I was still paying attention to reptile stuff on FB). FB is such a RIGHT NOW or IN THE MOMENT phenomenon that deeper connections and true conversations are a rarity.

I wish profanity were allowed on this board. I'd say something like ____ FB...

[Pandorasdad]

Re: Howdy RTB!

I wish profanity were allowed on this board. I'd say something like ____ FB...

You'll find the new Mod group is a little more relaxed on some of that. To a point.

FB is such a RIGHT NOW or IN THE MOMENT phenomenon that deeper connections and true conversations are a rarity.

FB is pretty much for telling other people how much they and their ideas suck without having any real world repercussions. We maintain an FB group as part of this forum. Moderating that beast is a chore.

[weird_science04]

Re: Howdy RTB!

I was just thinking about this thread and then something popped in my head... I remember a thought I had a year or two before I got out of the hobby that is absolutely laughable now...



So my thought was... "I should buy some of the better forums, let each keep it's own identity, but have them all linked together. For instance, if someone is a member of ball-pythons.net and they also have a boa and want to post about it, they go to the ball-pythons sub-forum and post there. WHY? Not many people see it. But if when someone clicked on the boa subforum, they were instantly transported to a different forum (say, redtailboas.com) to post there, suddenly MANY more eyes would see the post. And vice versa as well. Basically, it would be a competitor to kingsnake.com yet still keeps each forum autonomous."

Looking back and knowing how "FB clobbered" the forums, it's a good thing I never took that any further than just thinking about it! lol

I think a big part of the hobby was social interaction. Let's face it, by society's standards, reptile enthusiasts are a little... weird. It's true. We are. Go ahead and admit it, whoever you are reading this. You're weird. And honestly, it's probably part of your charm :-) And forums were a great place to connect with other weirdos with the same interest, and do so on a deeper level. FB kills that. Oddly, FB is known as a "social network" but people on there (compared to forums) are ANYTHING but social. There also aren't the FANTASTIC in-depth discussions like you see on forums (at least there weren't back when I was still paying attention to reptile stuff on FB). FB is such a RIGHT NOW or IN THE MOMENT phenomenon that deeper connections and true conversations are a rarity.

I wish profanity were allowed on this board. I'd say something like ____ FB...

The reptile report is kind of like that. It highlights certain posts and puts them all in one place.

Star