One of my great sources for animals in the past has been Dr. Neil Ford of U.T. Tyler. I have hand selected a few of my animals from him and acquired some other lesser known species from him as well. Dr. Ford runs the Ophidian Research Colony at UT Tyler, a snake laboratory that he made an official research lab in 1989, allowing it to become self-sustaining. The Ophidian Research Colony snake lab was established after several years of scientific research on reproduction in snakes, a result of which was a surplus of animals.

The Ophidian Research Colony now supplies captive-raised snakes to other scientists around the country and these scientists explore a variety of concerns affecting humans, including spatial learning, environmental toxins, retinal damage by lasers and embryological development. During these years of research Dr. Ford has worked extensively with Lamprophis species.

He contacted me on Friday to let me know that he has a surplus of animals available with a total quantity over 60. He is willing to sell them in large lots as follows

• Take all 60 for 10 dollars a piece, that would be $600.00 total
• Take a lot of 20 for 12 dollars a piece, that would be $240.00 total
• Take a lot of 10 for 20 dollars a piece, that would be $200.00 total

These animals were all hatched recently and are a variety of colors and patterns. Most come from wild caught parents and are first generation captive bred with the parents collected just last year and coming strait in from Tanzania. At this price of course you don’t get to pick your colors and patterns but Dr. Ford will ensure that all shipped animals are feeding prior to shipment and will sex them for you as well.

Here is a picture that shows the variety of colors, patterns, etc. you can expect to see in a group. Note some really cool chain, spotted and striped patterns are evident

This is a great opportunity to get started with a huge variety of house snakes at a very low cost. With the mix of genes and fresh wild blood there is no telling what dedicated breeder could turn up over a few years. I have run across large lots of snakes like this before but never from a quality facility like Dr. Ford’s at this price, nor with a guarantee that they have all been properly sexed and are feeding. I generally don’t advertise other breeders stock for them but because Dr. Ford has been so helpful in answering my questions about House Snakes over the years and because this is such a cool opportunity I decided to share it with my visitors.

If you have an interest in these snakes please contact Dr. Ford by email, at nford@uttyler.edu

~ Jack

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