My Path to PhD ExoticsThis is my unofficial reptile keeper curriculum vitae! It describes some of my many experiences that made me the reptile enthusiast I am today and my motivations to create PhD Exotics.
Love for Animals Red-tailed boas are beautiful snakes
I've had a passion for animals my whole life. From collecting spiders and Japanese beetles as a little boy in the Philippines to catching frogs and toads in a nearby creek in Minnesota, animals have always fascinated me.
One of the greatest impacts in my herping life came when I was in sixth grade. Our classroom was the school's science room and had multiple species of frogs, toads, turtles, snakes, tarantulas, mice, possums, and other creatures. I enjoyed watching and learning how each animal jumped, crawled, hissed, and squeaked. While I was watching one of the tree snakes one day my teacher asked if I wanted to become one of the animal monitors, a select group of students that would come to school half an hour early everyday to feed and maintain the animals. I accepted without hesitation! I soaked up everything she taught me about animal husbandry like a sponge. Since then I kept a variety of pets: frogs, fish, birds, arachnids, mice, hamsters, cats, and dogs, to name a few. My parents were always wondering what animal I would bring home next. My first pet snake was a red tailed boa when I was in high school. The way it hunted, fed and swallowed its prey whole had all the neighborhood kids at my house on feeding day. That opened me to the snake world and thereafter I was keeping pet corn snakes, king snakes, burmese pythons, and blood pythons. I started going to reptile shows and seeing all the crazy brightly colored bearded dragons breeders such as Sandfire, Dragons Den, etc were producing. So I took a pair home and successfully hatched my first clutch of dragons in 2004. This opened me up to the lizard world and at one point my college apartment had egyptian urosmastyx, bearded dragons, rhino iguanas, blue tongued skinks, argentine tegus, and ackies. First Ball Python Breeding Experience A baby spider ball python from my first clutch
The first ball python morph that caught my eye were spiders. I found their golden color and web-liked patterns simply eye popping when compared to normal ball pythons. Having hatched bearded dragons before, I decided to try my hand at hatching ball python morphs. That winter I acquired a proven spider male and two adult normal females locally. My online breeding research paid off and I hatched my first clutch of morphs the following summer. My excitement led me to dive deeper into the morph world and I discovered pastels, super pastels, mojaves, blue-eyed leucistics, albinos, etc. New morphs are constantly being discovered and imported, leading to countless combos and an ever growing attraction to the ball python community. I invite you to take a look at the morphs we are working with in our gallery, the projects we have going on, and the animals we have available.
Creation of PhD Exotics
Sharing my passion for animals is something I've always enjoyed. After gaining valuable breeding experience, achieving success in my project pairings, and building a great network of friends in the hobby, I believed it was the right time to brand myself, and PhD Exotics was created. The meaning of "PhD" is twofold: it stands for "Pythons to the Highest Degree," and represents my doctorate degree in applied mathematics. I have found a way to marry these two passions by producing high quality ball python morphs and fairly pricing them based on my own brand of PhD level market research and theories. I now share my passion to make the reptile community a better place for those in it, as well as those outside of it.
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