What species got you into the hobby?
Not really sure about this one as my interest started before there was an established hobby as such here in Australia. I’ve always been fascinated by reptiles and in my younger years it was lizards that got me, in particular blue tongue lizards.
Have you bred any other herps outside of snakes?
Believe it or not it’s not always been about Antaresia, I have kept and bred a variety of Elapids as well as Australian lizard species from skinks, geckos and monitors.
What’s one species you wish you could focus on more?
I would love to work with more often unkept obscure species not for the monetary value but more for interest like the Chameleon Dragon, Chelosania brunnea
You’ve traveled to the states and have seen the hobby here. How does it compare to the Australian hobby?
The Australian hobby is a shadow compared to the US. We are growing rapidly but there seems to be a rapid turnover of keepers more so than ever before. Too many people I think get caught up in the dream of being a full time reptile breeder here in Australia but we don’t have the population to support it yet. They come into the hobby and buy up BIG only to find out they don’t have the reputation or name to back up the goods. Then they do a fire sale and undercut everyone’s prices to get out. So i think we are similar but very different.
A lot of people in the states know you from all the cool Antaresia you work with but what else do you focus on species wise?
I love my Antaresia “DIRT SNAKES ” but I also work with (Odatria) small monitors, in particular the Varanus brevicauda and Varanus primordius. I find them very challenging and rewarding at the same time.
Is it ever frustrating for you that you’re limited to the native species over there?
For most Australians I guess it is, we see all the cool reptiles from around the world that you guys get to have and work with, but i’m happy working with our native species. I think it makes us more aware of our native species requirements, struggles and environmental impacts that we as humans have on their environments.
What is the most underrated species in the Australian hobby, in your opinion?
Antaresia, not that I’m biased. I’ve been in love with these guys for nearly 2 ½ decades and many have always overlooked them as their size and colours were not very impressive. I believe these little pythons are Australia’s answer to corn snakes. Working with natural colour and locality variants has led to us better understanding of Polygenics but as new genetic colour variants have been discovered its opened up into a whole new colourful world for the dirt snake.
Do you think the export laws for the country will ever change?
NO, The Australian government does not like anyone making profit from our fauna including our hobbyists.
What’s your advice for someone wanting to pursue the business side of herpetoculture?
Think very hard about this decision as working long hours with animals is not always pleasant and can be demanding. You could burn out the passion for what you love most. Pursuing a business in Australian Herpetoculture is almost impossible, with our small population, individual state requirements, licensing and documentation makes it virtually impossible.
I’m sure not many of our larger reptile breeders are fully financially supported by reptile sales alone. You would need to offer more than animal sales to become a financially viable reptile business in Australia.
Peter has some of the coolest ants