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Kingsnake.com
Chad Brown
Monitor Breeding Program
February 27, 2006

PHFaust: On behalf of Jeff Barringer and all of us at kingsnake.com, I'm very pleased to welcome Chad Brown to our Eighth Annual Chat Week.

PHFaust: Chad is the owner of ProExotics and a football player for the New England Patriots. He says, "I started Pro Exotics in my mind in 1988 when I got my first snake, a boa, my freshman year at CU. It wasn't until I was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1993 that I had a little money in my pocket and started to really put this business together." On top of all that, Chad describes himself as a "full time husband and dad." Chad is a much-requested return guest, and his topic this year is the ProExotics Asian Rat Snakes.

PHFaust: Thank you so much for joining us, Chad, and welcome

herphandler1: chad, what was your first snake in the begining of your interest?

herphandler1: that you kept*

chad_brown_nr: my first snake was a california king. she just passed last year after 16 years.

chad_brown_nr: she produced over a hundred babies over those years GA

coastalherper: Chad, first of all welcome! Ok, what is the easiest Asian rat snake to care for?

chad_brown_nr: i would have to say the trinket snakes. their care is very simple GA

bdargon92_nr: What is the average size for a TRINKET SNAKE

chad_brown_nr: they can get big by ratsnake standards. some get over 5-6 ft.

CJinNH: I am interested in Blue Beauty ratsnakes and alot of people are telling me that they aren't a good snake to choose and they never loose their skittishness, but I find them to be the prettiest of the ratsnakes. What is your opinion, I have several other snakes mostly boids so I have experience, but everytime I see one someone is there trying to talk me out of it. thanks Oh and being from New Hampshire....... GO PATS!!!

chad_brown_nr: mandarins rarely bite, but they rarely sit still like a north american rat GA

chad_brown_nr: the asian rats for the most part aren't easy to handle. most keep their skittishness their whole lifes. not that they all bite, but they can be wiggly GA

pac-man: first of all thAnx for coming and talking with us tonight! what made you wantt o get into reptiles?and why snakes?why not frogs or lizards?

chad_brown_nr: i think my snake "love" started out very young catching cal kings in my backyard. now we keep lizards as well as snakes. i like the lizards for the group interactions but i think snakes are about as cool as lifeforms get. no arms, no legs, no eyelids, heat sencing facial pits! snakes are just very cool!

pac-man: ok cool ty

krn: Hey Chad, I was wondering how many ackies you were expecting this year? if any.both red and yellow. And thanks for the virosan and supplies you guys sent me two refils free. Thanks alot.

chad_brown_nr: we just started our ackies back up. today we moved a group into the 4ft. troughs that we use for the breeders. we will be doing all reds this year. i expect babies within 5-7 months. GA

chad_brown_nr: your welcome for the supplies GA

jeffb: Can I look forward to seeing you chase alterna this spring?

chad_brown_nr: i hope to hit big bend with my son this year. hope to see you there!

jeffb: Start em young - I will be out at some point

chad_brown_nr: lets try to hook up jeff GA

jeffb: LOL

soderstrum: Hey Chad was it hard starting a buisness and managing football at the same time ? Also do you have a website?

PHFaust: www.proexotics.com

chad_brown_nr: Yes, its hard to do both. but i love both so i try to give each equal attention. GA

herphandler1: Chad thanks for being here tonight. do you keep anything other than rats? around how many snakes do you have? and were do you get feeder rats etc? do you breed them?

chad_brown_nr: we do balls, boas, asian rats, uros, gilas and monitors. we have about 500 snakes at our place right now. GA

chad_brown_nr: we do breed rats for our snakes.

coastalherper: what is the biggest Asian ratsnake? How big does it get? What is your favorite snake?

chad_brown_nr: the largest asian rats are the taiwanese E. taneniura friesi GA

chad_brown_nr: they can get over 6ft. my favorite snake is boelen's pythons GA

herphandler1: how long is your bigest snake?

chad_brown_nr: we have a female boelen's thats at least 13ft. GA

NucklePhil: How big will an asian water monitor grow in a year and is a 8x4x4 to big for an 15 in water monitor?

chad_brown_nr: if keep warm and given enough food a water can reach 4-5ft. in a year. a 8x4x4 is WAY too big for a baby that size. it will need a smaller cage for a while. GA

AlbigCrazy: Hello Chad man name is also Chad. When you bred your Albigs what was the main diet? How big were the set ups?

chad_brown_nr: we did our albigs in a 10ft trough. we had 2ft of dirt and 2ft of basking space.above the dirt. the main part of the diet was rats. GA

jiffypop: Chad, I think the Moquards are gorgeous but I rarely see them available. Do you produce any?

chad_brown_nr: i think the Moquards are very pretty. we don't work with them right now. GA

jiffypop: any chance you will be working with them in the future?

chad_brown_nr: we are trying to focus on the porphyracea types and the mandarins right now GA

PHAlex: Hi Chad, do any of the asian rats incubate their eggs?

chad_brown_nr: some will coil around them but none incubate their eggs like a python. GA

Adam105_nr: Hi Mr.Brown, thanks for being here tonight! I am really excited to speak to you. Just wondering will you guys have any projects with any dwarf boas such as the Hoggs ever? Oh and how is the progress on the Ornate Uro project? The babies I saw available a while back were gorgeous!

chad_brown_nr: we are doing the leopard boas right now. they are very cool and stay small! the uro babies we hatched last year look soooo cool! the adults are just started to show breeding signs again. we hope for a ton of babies this year!

Adam105_nr: Awesome. I saw Vin Russo's leopard boa's at a show recently and they look great! I wish you guys luck! Thanks!

methistina: Mr. Brown What are you expecting to produce this year rat snake wise?

chad_brown_nr: we should have coxi, mandarins and maybe a few surprises.

methistina: Very nice! What are the best temps to keep coxi at?

chad_brown_nr: coxi are best kept cool. in fact the only problems we ever have with them is when we keep they too hot. mid 60's to high 70's are right for them.

MrAsmodius: How much hands on work do you do at your business, and how does it feel to miss out on the superbowl even though your latest former team choked? Not to mention the Pats.....GO STEELERS!

chad_brown_nr: during the offseason i can be very hans on. i select breeding pairings, clean cages but i don't do dishes! GA

chad_brown_nr: i was lucky enough to have played in a super bowl with the steelers when i was with them. i happy for them

coastalherper: What is your favorite lizard? Do any other players from the patriots keep reptiles? (not neccacarily breed like you just keep 1 or 2 as pets) if so who?

chad_brown_nr: my favorite lizard s are the ackies. they are just so fun to keep! not too many other players keep reptiles. GA

Geckosgirl: Heya Chad, do you have any plans to do any leo geckos again in the future? you had such a nice selection in the past of them

chad_brown_nr: we just can't do the geckos anymore. with some folks producing 50,000 babies a year we just could not compete. GA

PR_nr: hey chad whats up when will you have mandarin babies?

chad_brown_nr: we have baby mandarins now i think. this years babies should hatch starting in june.

wstreps: Hi Chad,is there an Asian Rat species or morph that your hoping to acquire?Something that`s still on your wish list. chad_brown_nr: i would love to breed all the porphyracea types. there are so many and they all are awesome looking! GA

coastalherper: You said ackies were your favorites, I ahve a friend who bought a proven pair and they have mated but she didn't lay any eggs. Do you have any hints as to breeding them? By the way these are yellow ackies.

chad_brown_nr: i can't say why your friends ackies didn't have eggs. but i hardly ever sell "proven" breeders. its much easier to start with babies and raise them up if you have hopes of breeding. GA

PHLdyPayne: hello chad. just wondering if you know of any breeders of asian rat snakes up here in canada. also, do you know what the long nose thing on the rhino rat snake purpose is

chad_brown_nr: i don't know any breeders in canada. i wonder what that is for too. its soft and flexible but they don't seem to mind having it touched. i don't know what its for. GA

PR_nr: hey chad followed your nfl career too bad my jets did not get you when will you have mandarins/

jeffb: Chad - will we see you back for chat week 9 in 2007?

chad_brown_nr: mandarins are for sale now. this years babies will start hatching in june. yes, you will see me back for chat week 9

PHFaust: On behalf of Kingsnake.com, Jeff B, and myself, I want to take a moment to thank Chad for being part of our chat week. Chad, thanks for taking the time out to chat with us on Asian Rats among other things. Thanks for being so patient Chad! We love ya.

jeffb: Thanks for being our guest again this year Chad