I am Jon Poff.
In the late ‘90s and early 2000s I started keeping and breeding reptiles. The amount I learned from Kingsnake.com is immeasurable.

Growing up I was absolutely fascinated with reptiles, amphibians, fish, exotic animals, and well all animals. Catching lizards and snakes at all opportunity. Reading every book and periodical I could get my hands on. Luckily a mentor with a huge, what I now expect was a BCC True Red Tail Boa, gave me a ton of old periodicals.

For as great as those curated articles are – forums offer more with their free flow of information between people, diverse opinions, heated debates – It is amazing.
Just like Kingsnake classifieds, with the lack of censorship, YOU must use your good judgement on what is true. Turns out baking the headlights of your car in the oven does work to open them and remove the reflectors….
Ok back on topic – annoying my parents coupled with brilliant full page ads in periodicals for a local reptile pet store resulted in my getting my first boa. A rosy boa because “They stay small.” Zeus. He was my pet for over 20yrs.

My passion led to working for some pet stores, managing Fish Rooms and Reptile departments. This plunged me deeper into the hobby and introduced me to many in the hobby. I bred some red tail boas, got some hog island locale red tails which are still one of, if not my favorite boa. Even had cobras, a gaboon, a squam……. Of course bearded dragons, tegus, geckos, dart frogs, all incredible animals.
My dream was always Heloderma, Beaded Lizards and Gila Monsters. Traveled to Arizona with friends finding rattle snakes and always hoped to see a gila, but never did.

Kingsnake.com was one of the best places I could read about Gilas and Beadeds, sometimes they’d even pop up in the classifieds!! Loved seeing that. Kingsnake.com was one of the few places you could find and see venomous.
Life got wild, and I largely fell out of the hobby. My collection was slowly sold, traded, and given away until I only had Zeus and AZ, a Hog Island Boa. Those two eventually passed away of old age.
Life twists and turns and I met one of the biggest Heloderma breeders and got my first Beaded lizard! Decades of wondering what those osteoderms felt like, finally answered.
Heloderma are more rewarding to work with than I could’ve dreamed. I began putting together breeding groups of Beaded species and a group of Gilas.
With long lead times and my enjoyment of building, I ended up sourcing US made PVC to build my own enclosures. This turned into doing some custom enclosures for a few people locally. Building my own enclosures made the “I don’t have space” argument really hard, so…… I’m also working with a group of pure Hog Island boas, Kahl Albino Boas, Sharp Albino Boas, VPI Albino and a pair of Suriname BCC True Red Tails. Also have an albino burm who’ll be a tame scale puppy not bred, and a female pearl island boa I’m watching for an unrelated male for (do not message me about this – post it to our classifieds, I’ll see it)

Fast Forward to late 2024
Decades of dreams about Beadeds and Gilas, could come to fruition in 2025. Animals are old enough and would be ready to pair for breeding…..
Means, reluctantly, I had to start an online presence. People would need confidence purchasing from me when I post animals for sale on the 3 major platforms.
Dragon Serpents got an Instagram and a website. Heloderma are dragons, snakes with legs. Don’t think they’re dragons? You do think they are? Someone start a thread, share your views. (do this)

Around the same time I realized no one locally offers PVC enclosures at expos. A good friend put in a good word for me to the Expo Owner, Dragon Serpents was approved and got a booth. I’m grateful for the wonderful feedback and excitement about locally built enclosures. I’m honored enclosures I designed and built house your animals. Thank you for your trust.

Then things got really exciting.

I got Gila Monster eggs!! “Leila the Gila and Puff the Magic Dragon” are actually female and male!! Sadly all of the eggs were bad, BUT HEY I GOT GILA MONSTER EGGS!!!!! For decades I’ve dreamed about this. Moving in the right direction!!

Some of my beaded are also of age and size.
“Hugs and Kisses” two Rio Fuerte Beaded Lizards – Heloderma exasperatum – also ended up being 1.1. They locked, and, well, those eggs are looking good! Still several months out.
Got lucky on another pair with some bad eggs and 1-2 good eggs from “Fury Theory and Lloyd” Colima Beaded Lizards – Heloderma horridum – they also ended up being a pair! Their eggs are also several months out.

An absolutely incredible year.

Then…WTF, Kingsnake.com is for sale or going to close?!

That’s a long, dramatic, story for another time. The twists and turns.
Good news is Jeff and I came to an agreement and Kingsnake.com will continue!!

In the short term, Kingsnake.com will remain largely the same.
Cindy and other incredible people behind the scenes have agreed to stay on. THANK YOU!

What you can expect is increased classifieds postings and users THIS MEANS YOU
Sign up, post to classifieds and buy animals.

We’re making Premium Classifieds free through 12-31-2025.
Who knows, maybe there will be cool benefits for early adopters.

In the Short-Medium term – You sign up, enjoy some nostalgia, you post and/or peruse Kingsnake.com Classifieds buying and selling. You get that good feeling in your tummy.
We’ll open for feedback to help guide our improvement road map.

Medium term – You feel awesome. You buy and sell incredible animals to people you met through Kingsnake.com, you’ve found other logical points of view from the past in Kingsnake’s forums that helped you. Website improvements begin.


It is important to all of us and the hobby that Kingsnake.com continues.
Social media platform’s terms of service often don’t allow animal sales, even in groups.
Creating your own website is less complicated today compared to when Kingsnake started, however being relevant and found is harder.
Other Animal or Plant platforms have their own issues too.
We all just saw the impact of a major web service provider outage.

Kingsnake.com is independent.
Kingsnake.com classifieds allow people to post their animals for sale.
Kingsnake.com is a venue that allows breeders and buyers to connect.
Kingsnake.com forums are a foundational pilar of the reptile hobby
Kingsnake.com makes you smarter: you filter – should I trust this seller? Is that point valid?

Kingsnake.com is a nostalgia gold mine.
The complex simplicity.
ICQ and AOL handles options at sign up.
Posts and arguments between big names in the forums.

It is critical we have multiple places to connect, find and sell the incredible animals you all produce and desire.
The free flow of information to and from one another is crucial to learning.
Changes are coming – adopt and utilize Kingsnake.com NOW

Enjoy the nostalgia.


Too Long – Didn’t want to Read
I’m Jon Poff, the new owner of Kingsnake.com
Beadeds, Gilas and Boas are my passion.
Kingsnake.com will continue, updates are coming.
Sign up for Kingsnake.com classifieds, now, post your animals for sale and buy from others.
Enjoy the nostalgia – cruise the forums, what big names can you find?
Sign up, post and buy in the Kingsnake.com classifieds.

Y’all are going to find my Instagram and Linkedin anyway. Here
Dragon_Serpents – IG
Jon Poff - Linkedin