About the Author and Editors

I have kept reptiles for more than twenty years. In that time I have kept just about everything: Macklot's pythons, carpet pythons, reticulated pythons, big lizards, tegus, water monitors, Nile monitors, and plenty in between. Some were forgiving. Many were not. Every one of them taught me something, and a great deal of what is in this book came from those animals.

But the longer I keep these animals, the more certain I am of one thing: this hobby deserves better information than it usually gets. That conviction is why this book exists.

And this guide is not just my experience. We brought in seasoned keepers, breeders, and faculty to review every section. People who have had their hands on these animals for years and decades. We are all students of their stewardship, their wisdom, and their experience, in addition to our own. When we write these books we draw on all of them: this volume is a compilation of many people's opinions and lived experiences, not one person's word.

That is the whole point. No single keeper has all the answers, and anyone who tells you otherwise is usually selling something. What we can do is gather the best of what we have collectively learned, argue it out honestly, and hand it to you in one place, so that it helps you keep your animals better. That is what we hope this guide does.

— Braxton Warren, President & CEO, Citadel Culebra

Editors and contributing experts

This volume was reviewed by working keepers, breeders, and field professionals: the people whose hands have been on the animals for years and decades. The opinions and disagreements you read in these pages are theirs. Names, biographies, and credentials of the contributing council follow.

Kevin McCurley

Co-author of this volume and Chief Academic Officer of Citadel Culebra. Founder of New England Reptile Distributors (NERD) in Plaistow, New Hampshire, with more than twenty-five years in the field. Kevin imported and produced many of the morphs the hobby now treats as standard, including the bumblebee, and has authored books on ball python care and breeding. His hands-on breeding experience shapes the genetics and breeding chapters of this guide.

Jasmyn Brilliante

Co-owner of BVR Reptile Room in Rocklin, California, and a working keeper and breeder for over fifteen years. Together with Tyler Bevers, Jasmyn has run brick-and-mortar reptile retail for more than a decade, keeping and breeding a wide range of species, from ball pythons to crocodile monitors and nearly everything in between.

Tyler Bevers

Co-owner of BVR Reptile Room and, alongside Jasmyn Brilliante, a seasoned keeper and breeder with over fifteen years of experience and more than ten years behind the counter of a brick-and-mortar shop. Tyler's hands-on work spans the full range the shop is known for, from ball pythons to crocodile monitors and everything in between.

Author and founder

Braxton Warren — President & CEO, Citadel Culebra

Author of this volume. Braxton has been keeping for more than twenty years. It started with chasing lizards as a kid and watching the Crocodile Hunter, and it grew into a full zoological-grade collection that runs from twenty-foot, two-hundred-pound reticulated pythons to hundred-pound water monitors, rattlesnakes, and everything in between. He is driven by a deep passion for knowledge and education, and by the mission of improving the educational infrastructure of the reptile community.

— With gratitude to every keeper, breeder, vet, and field herper who answered a question, lent a photograph, reviewed a draft, or argued with us in a way that made this guide better.