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
