Reptile Radio Australia

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We are talking to Darren Whittaker on tonights show! Here is some backround from the man himself. I started keeping reptiles around 97/98. I have loved reptiles all my life, just like sharks the ocean and fishing. Although I don't go to the beach anymore as I get rolled back into the water by green peace. :-) My passion started when I got hands on with a RBB when I was around 10 or 11 years of age. Was addicted ever since, although my parents would never let me have a reptile and my dad thought they should all be dead there was no way they could stop me getting one...eventually. So that changed when I bought a house in '97 and got my first snake not long after that. My parents now love the scaly little critters which is nice. A few species I'm glad I kept, some shitty MD morph and some crappy striped jungles. :D I currently keep MDs, Barkley locale Stimmies, Blonde Macs, normal Macs, T+ children's, Het albino Macs, water pythons, coastal carpets, albino Darwin's, womas, RSPs, B&W jungles, olives and some beardies for the kids. I think that's it. I am really getting into the genetics now, I'm loving all these different mutations and wonder what their combinations will create. One of the things I noticed 8-10 years ago whilst visiting pet shops, that most customers didn't care what locality an animal was from, most had no idea what Georgetown stimmy was and didn't care, they just wanted a pretty snake. I said then that people will buy what they like the look of over any specific locale, it is only those that are more into their locales that care. The average punter just wants a cool looking snake. I am trying to concentrate on visually appealing snakes these days, eventually a whole heap of new morphs!

Peter, Meynies and Troy, will be getting down to the basics in tonights show. What do you get for a first reptile? Where do you strart looking for a first reptile? What do you look for in a first reptile? How do you know an animal is healthy? What to expect with a first reptile? How do you set up a first reptile? What are the basic needs of reptiles? What pitfalls can be expected with a first reptile? The guys will be answering these questions and many more, on tonights show! Dont forget to listen in!

Jonathan started keeping herps at 13, rapidly filling his parents house with banks of enclosures. He became interested in elapids and after harassing virtually every elapid keeper in QLD, his enthusiasm landed him a job at Venom Supplies in South Australia straight after he graduated high school. He worked with a host of species, from spitting cobras to pygmy copperheads, but mainly concentrated on a collection of 160 Coastal Taipans. A few years later an opportunity arose in QLD to purchase Educational Reptile Displays, the first on Jonathans forays into the business world. ERD is now a thriving education company, and one of few that does not perform birthday parties or school demonstrations – they strictly supply formal education to corporate clients, particularly in the safe and ethical handling of elapids. In 2009, Jonathan purchased Mike Swan Herp Books – Australia's largest bookstore specialising in reptile titles from throughout the world. Herp Books has around 300 titles in stock at any one time and travel to most of the reptile trade expos. Jonathan's main business interest was started in 2011 – Fauna Solutions. FS provides a host of fauna and environmental management work, particularly with reptiles in QLD's brigalow belt. 

We are covering a whole heap of things in tonights show. Our guest is Trent Rennex. Trent was born in 1973 and grew up in Brisbane until he was 12, then moved to Maroochydore, Sunshine coast. Trent has always been an animal lover! Trent's grandfather lived in Townsville, his house backed on to what was called the common (a bush area full of reptiles etc.) Trent's Grandfather used to have greyhounds and every time Trent visited He would walk his Grandfathers greyhounds and look for snakes ( Trent was petrified of snakes but fascinated at the same time). Trent would catch little dragons and take them back to Maroochydore with him on the train. Trent decided to devote himself to family life and a career until he reached the age of 30. it was at this age that the reptile bug really decided to bite down hard. Trent has kept and bred the following species since his inception into the hobby: Morelia Bredli, various forms of Antaresia, jungle carpet pythons, green tree pythons, darwin carpet pythons. trent also works with Albino Olive pythons, black headed pythons, rough scaled pythons, a pet woma,and Spencers monitor.   Trent has a collection of venomous snakes, that we will also be discussing in the show.

We are talking to the guys from Squamata concepts on today's show. John Adragna has bee keeping Varanus species since 1990. He has recently expanded his interests into Hognose snakes and various other species. His partner in crime is Gregg Madden. Gregg has a range of interests and is an all rounder when it comes to reptile care and reproduction! John and Gregg co-designed the S.I.M. Incubation container, that brought suspended incubation into the mainstream.  John is the editorial liaison to Biawak journal. You can have a look at their information here: Vivarium international https://www.facebook.com/VivariumInternational Squamata concepts https://www.facebook.com/squamata.concepts  

Peter, Meynies and Troy, discuss the events of 2013! This should be a very laid back show with many laughs.  We will also discuss exciting things that we have hatched! Don't miss out on the last show for 2013

Peter and Meyndert are discussing Knobtail geckos on tonight's show! KnobtailGeckos.com.au specialises in the Nephrurus complex of geckos.  Gavin Mellin ( Sydney) has had an interest in reptiles and animals since he was a young boy. Gavin has been keeping reptiles for the past 8 years, with a special interest in Knobtail geckos. Gavin has been refining his lines in recent years and have added a few gecko mutations into the mix.  Anthony James ( Melbourne) has been around animals since early childhood. Anthony's initial spark was in birds and their mutations. Anthony drifted into reptiles during the early 2000's and has not looked back. Anthony has a special interest in the rarer types of geckos and operates a purpose built facility from Melbourne. 

Peter and Meyndert are discussing Knobtail geckos on tonight's show! KnobtailGeckos.com.au specialises in the Nephrurus complex of geckos.  Gavin Mellin ( Sydney) has had an interest in reptiles and animals since he was a young boy. Gavin has been keeping reptiles for the past 8 years, with a special interest in Knobtail geckos. Gavin has been refining his lines in recent years and have added a few gecko mutations into the mix.  Anthony James ( Melbourne) has been around animals since early childhood. Anthony's initial spark was in birds and their mutations. Anthony drifted into reptiles during the early 2000's and has not looked back. Anthony has a special interest in the rarer types of geckos and operates a purpose built facility from Melbourne. 

Peter and Troy will be discusing the recent success of the Scales and Tails Festival in Ipswich as well as other activities that have kept the team busy for the last couple of  weeks.

On tonights show, we will be chatting to a few of our sponsors. We will cover a few new and upcoming husbandry products in the reptile hobby.   Scott Owen from Virides will be discussing his companies new data entry system. QR2id will revolutionise how you care for your animal by allowing you to easily record everything like feeds, sheds, cleans, length, weight and more! Compared to other systems, QR2id is above and beyond what other record keeping systems offer. You will be surprised by what this system will do for you. http://www.virides.com.au/qr2id

Tonights show, is all about answering your questions. If you wanted to add any question for us to answer, please follow this link: https://www.facebook.com/ReptileRadioAustralia?ref=hl  

Damian Hyde is a passionate reptile enthusiast who has been collecting and breeding reptiles for the past 20+ years including Elapids, Turtles, Pythons and the odd frog. Damian started Reptile Connexion in 2006 and tries to give back to hobby where possible. Damian's passion is in establishing the mode of inheritance of his animals and pre-empting the possible out comes by analysing and selectively breeding the right combinations. Damian's collection today consists of Antaresia and Morelia complex animals, where he focuses on his locality and morph line animals.

Dr Shane Simpson is the co-owner of Karingal Veterinary Hospital located in Frankston, Melbourne. As one of the busiest reptile vets in the country he is probably better known as "The Reptile Doctor". Dr Simpson regularly lectures to fellow veterinarians, veterinary nurses and reptile keepers on assorted topics relating to reptile and amphibian medicine and surgery. In addition he contributes articles and other material to reptile magazines, veterinary journals and websites as well as being an active participant on several online forums and Facebook pages dedicated to reptiles and amphibians. He is a consultant veterinarian for a number of reptile shops and aquariums, wildlife shelters, reptile demonstrator businesses, wildlife parks and large commercial collections.

Bearded dragons are arguably one of the worlds favourite reptile pets. We will be discussing these intriguing lizards with one of Australia's up and coming herpetoculturists, Laura Addy. Laura's Biography:  'My name is Laura Addy, I am a third year Zoology student at the University of Queensland and run Laurassic Park. I have been interested in reptiles my whole life but only began keeping them 5 years ago. My main focus is on breeding amazing bearded dragons.'  Cheers,Laura