Alright. I'll bite. I've read this thread a few times, and not posted any replies, thus not exhibiting my usual depth of perception; that of a paper towel.
I am a consumer, a buyer. Not someone wholly immersed in this reptile madness. (But assuredly 'getting there'). I purchased a snake at a show 10 months ago. It was so outstandingly beautiful I had to have it. I'd seen many snakes in my lifetime, a couple 3 decades back, I had over a hundred boas and pythons, around the time the first candycanes came on the market. Nothing since then. I took up other Obsessive Compulsive Collecting Disorders. Antiques, rare plants, glass blowing, HTML, graphic arts, photography, cooking, catering, welding, arts, etc.
After purchasing my snake, I went online to find/gather/glean information. One of the first sites I found was Kathy Love's. A distinctively different looking website, with clear, concise navigation, layout, and evidently someone knew how to utilize something called 'spellcheck', in addition to having a grasp on correct usage of the written English language. So I purchased 4 books from her. 3 on Corn Snakes, 1 on genetics. The correspondence was quick, complete, all of the questions asked were also the questions which were answered. I could have gotten these books from a dozen other websites. However, these other site owners seemed to answer questions which were not asked, and not answer questions which were asked, with as few words as possible; curtly, and not know how to reply to an email And include a copy of the original email which was sent.
So I got these books and started utilizing the Google, and because of that little OCD I've been blessed with, started creating a list of websites where reptiles can be had via the mail-order.
http://www.davesfiles.com/Critters/reptiledealers.htm
In the following months, to the present, I've spent about ten grand, on snakes, supplies, melamine, Sterilite, rodentpro, and the like. From my view, it is not the Reptile Industry which is dying; it is the way reptiles are presented online which needs a vast overhaul. I've seen snakes which might be attractive, in situations with too much light, hatching snakes with flashbulbs going off in their faces causing natal retinal damage for which they will never fully recover, images of snakes in aspen chips with poopie and plastic junk and disgusting unsanitary fingernails in filthy snake rooms, snakes photographed on newspapers featuring advertisements for personal escort services, images with rebel flags and jailhouse tattoos and drunken Americans holding Jack Daniels bottles in the background (ks), and several other instances of someone putting what might be a drop dead off the charts snake in a garbage dump setting, hoping to get a goodly sum of money for it. I've sent a few thousand to Poppycorns this year, and several hundreds to PascoPaul and Ryan Beatty. I have also picked up a couple of additional snakes from shows. Adults, to play with breeding attempts, "tuition snakes"; snakes to breed and I'll likely give away most of the offspring, they are snakes I pay for like paying for a college course. I'll never get that money back. An investment in learning how to do things before the good stuff matures.
So as I look around at beautiful irregularly striped brown snakes trying to be ugly yellow rat snakes and washed out colors in online images of passe color morphs in unappealing settings, I am left wondering many things, such as, are these people looking to actually sell these creatures? I see many snakes I would like, I do not want the pair, I want either the male or the female, not what someone else has chosen I must purchase both of. What do they expect me to do with the one I don't want? Make a hat band and sell it on eBay?
So I was at a reptile show sometime in Spring and espied Ms Love across the poorly/dimly lit room of deli containers with reptiles crammed into them so they couldn't turn around, purchased a couple of adult corns from someone who brought big containers for their snakes for sale to roam around in, and decided to go visit her table, because the pics she keeps on her website always show the entire individual which is for sale, on a high contrast background. So passing the Lucite containers of baby boas with the lower jaws folded up inside their mouths from striking and the baby star tortoises in a bed of rabbit food and the humanely presented tank of ten thousand mice, got over there. Someone else had espied her evidently, so I looked in the deli containers, expecting wonderful corn snakes from the Queen of Corns, and, there they were!!! Ball Pythons!!!. I didn't even bother to say hi or introduce myself. Why would someone spend 30 years developing a reputation as the corn snake guru and then show up with those dang dumb things? (But she's helped me out a lot since I found these forums, and I like to try new things, so maybe I'll buy a ball python from her sometime, just to say thanks with some spare ching-ching, if I can find a recipe which calls for them).
RichZ has some very interesting sounding snakes on his site, but there are no images of the $500-$50,000. snakes, so I won't be getting any of those. Sometimes there's a picture of just a part of a snake, but never a picture of the entire specific individual I would receive If I were to purchase something there. While I live near Daytona, I'm sure there are other persons whom might make purchases if there were pictures to accompany the very exciting text describing whatever they are. I did a Google> Images search for Hypo Platinum Corn Snake, and found a couple of pics by some guy named Bill Love, I would want one of those, but the rest of the pictures I've seen of them are of just another boring gray snake.
So my suggestion to you is to take GOOD pictures which accurately show the entire thing you are trying to sell, accompany it with text which is accurate; utilize the English language efficiently, effectively, properly...self-beneficially. Try not to put expectations on potential customers about them wanting the pair you are selling; piece the pieces out.
Get a copy of FrontPage2000 if you don't want to learn HTML; get a copy of Photoshop 5.5 should be sufficient for most needs; USE the spell check, use a font size which can be easily read by someone who does not sit with their nose pressed against the monitor, take Remedial English if necessary... Calibrate your monitor to show colors accurately...keep your personal convictions or beliefs about the Jesus, Rebel flag, and booze to yourself, try not to alienate any potential customers. It doesn't have to be starchy, it needs to be clean, and most of all, pristine.
Warm Regards,
dave with 72 snakes
