# Tales from the "old skool"



## nick gilchrist (Oct 16, 2008)

I mentioned in my "Helloo" bit in the into section that i would post up some stories from the early days of reptile importing..

see my intro..

http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/introductions/433491-helooo.html

So. hopefully. after reading that...you may enjoy some tales from my experiences in the rather "shady" world of the 80s

I was in my early 20s when, being the entreprenaurial type..i suddenly stumbled upon the wonder of the "underground" reptile world. it started when i was invited to a friends house one xmas..and to my utter amazement he showed me his pet Iguana...now bear in mind..this is wayyy before they were common! I was gobsmacked..I HAD TO GET A REPTILE!! HOW COOL!!..he told me that he would take me to where he had purchased it..THE SERPENTARIUM in Walsall.... So one Sunday we set off...anyone old enough to remember will know that this was a lifechanging experience to someone who had only seen reptiles in zoos!..a dark. slightly dank. 3 story building in the heart of Walsall..with a normal petshop at the bottom...then you walked through the door and climbed the stairs...at each landing huge wall tanks with huge lizards. to the first floor. little side rooms..with nothing but tarantulas, frogs of untold size and origin. huge pythons. it was an assault to the senses..every tank had something different...and..the most incredible thing! they had prices on! OH MY GOD! you could buy them!!:gasp: unheard of! ..you could buy them!! you could take it home!! arghhhhh. I was like a kid in a toy shop. at each turn another amazing creature would appear...look whats that? Oh my God..its A RATTLESNAKE!! IN BIRMINGHAM!!:gasp:

This was my first day..my lightning bolt...i had absolutely no money on me..but i had to go home with something...anything.... My girlfriend at the time just raised her eyebrows..realising it wasnt going to happen..as we walked back down the stairs..with me scanning every damn tank to see what i might afford..on our way back to the car...i spotted something..my brain registered the price..we walked outside..to the car park..as they all got in...I said..i have to get something....with that i went back and bought my very first ever living breathing reptile...as time would tell (about 90 minutes) not a good choice! I didnt care!..i had my own SNAKE!! a hatchling...BLACK RACER :notworthy: (It doesnt get much worse!)

WE returned home with it in a plastic bag..it was dead before we pulled up outside my house!

WELCOME TO THE JOY OF IMPORTED REPTILES NICK!

from this point........of utter desolation...and within 3 years i had become one of the UKs top reptile importers and sellers..

I will continue this in stages if you would like to read more.....: victory:

but in the meantime...here are some pics of my old reptile shops....just to show the results of what happens if you are an "enrepeneur" and someone sells you a BLACK RACER!



























Oh!! and my friend,,remember..the one with the Iguana that inspired me.......I did get one eventually.ELVIS


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## jools (Apr 4, 2009)

I remember this place. I started keeping reps in the 1970s - back in the dark ages. Going there (it was about a 2 hour journey for me) was thrilling and the only place I could get many reps from. They got me a Nile monitor at one point. Just about everything was WC from memory. Very little care advice given either. Oh happy(?) days.


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## nick gilchrist (Oct 16, 2008)

jools said:


> They got me a Nile monitor at one point. Just about everything was WC from memory. Very little care advice given either. Oh happy(?) days.


 
Probably because there wasnt a hell of a lot of captive bred around then! certainly not enough to fill a shop..i imagine if they did it would look like todays ones..corn. king. corn. . royal. royal. corn king. leo. corn corn leo le lol ,

care advice for a w/c nile...open bag..shut door..stand back! :whistling2:


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## daz30347 (Aug 30, 2007)

*Visit*

Remember the Serpentarium very well,but cannot imagine Dave Lester selling a snake in a plastic bag
Did you pay your 20p to go upstairs?,lol


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## nick gilchrist (Oct 16, 2008)

daz30347 said:


> Remember the Serpentarium very well,but cannot imagine Dave Lester selling a snake in a plastic bag
> Did you pay your 20p to go upstairs?,lol


 
Lol..no unfortunately for me i think it got bagged up bu a " saturday kid"...as time progressed I got to know Dave very well.and would often visit years later for new "hot" snakes after opening a venoumous section in a new shop...but more later of that!!:whistling2:

I can`t remember if i did pay 20p..but rest assured Dave subsequently had £1000s off me in the latter years!!


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## grannykins (Oct 9, 2006)

Wish I'd have got into reps back in the 70's. I'd have had so much more experience.


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## jools (Apr 4, 2009)

grannykins said:


> Wish I'd have got into reps back in the 70's. I'd have had so much more experience.


Yes but a lot of it would have been very bad and frustrating experience. It might have been different in the large citys but here in rural Shropshire it was such a nightmare that I gave up keeping them for many years. There was nowhere to buy livefood, specialized equipment such as heatmats, stats, uvb etc. or livestock. There was obviously no internet for care information or buying anything. There were no decent books or anywhere to get care advice - even vets had no idea. I even travelled to Birmingham University library but all the herpetology books were either physiology, anatomy or ecology - nothing regarding captive care. Chester Zoo would not advise either. So most of the reps were wild caught and then kept by guesswork. Needless to say the majority died. This distressed me so much that I gave up keeping them until a few years ago when the internet became such a useful tool for the dissemination of information and for specialist purchases.
*I cannot begin to tell you how WONDERFUL it is to be able to keep these beautiful animals in the health and conditions they deserve. *


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## Circe (Dec 31, 2008)

I was a frustrated herper in the 70's. I was just a kid and had read everything I could which wasn't a lot, I had to get my older brother to get me books from the library as I wasn't old enough to have the ones I wanted which were in the adult section. (I remember Weidenfeld and Nicholson's Life of Reptiles Vols 1 and 2). Animals were few and far between, all would have been wild caught I guess and I would have had had no-one with keepers experience to help. I remember writing to every zoo I could and being fobbed off because I was a kid! Lol.
It's only about 5 or 6 years ago when my daughter wanted a corn snake and I talked with her. She said to me, "How would you know anyway? The shop says . .", then I realised reptiles were now popular pets and I started scouring the internet. And discovering reptile shops and other keepers.
What a wonderful tool it is, the internet; info when you want it and I have discovered that I am not the only herpetologist in the world, lol:lol2:


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## johnc79 (Feb 29, 2008)

I can remember the SERPENTARIUM Very well. Brought my first snake when I was about 8ish from there. I used to go every sat and spend hours just looking! I remember seeing it on the news that they was the first in the UK to breed golden pythons or something like that. I used to even love taking a price list home so i could see what to save for! happy days!


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## Ally (Mar 8, 2006)

Have saved the link to this thread in the hope of more 'old skool' reptile stories


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## monitor mad (Jun 16, 2008)

priceless :2thumb: i also purchaced my first snake's at the serpentarium , mine were 3 x water snakes (not a clue what sp) and a 5ft yellow rat snake :no1:
funny old times but as you said "unforgetable" :no1:


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## colinm (Sep 20, 2008)

Ohh all those wild caught Day Geckos for £15 or £20 each. Animals that you dont see today.But as others have said husbandary ismuch better now.


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## premier boids (Aug 16, 2008)

I remember paying my 20p to go upstairs. Does anyone remember the top loading viv he had for a while on the landing, with a dozen or so small rattlesnakes, where he just used to empty a bucket of live mice into?? in front of anyone!... how times have changed.

I kept my first non native reptile in the late 60's, a pair of green lizards, and I bred them, but my god was it difficult getting the food... no crickets back then, it was down to hatching flies from fishing maggots, mealworms if you could get them, and sweepnetting in the fields! sooo hard in the winter to keep them alive.. 

I found an old price list recently from the early 70's.. rhino iguanas £8, giant sungazers £15, and all the wild caught australian animals now unavailable.


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## nick gilchrist (Oct 16, 2008)

Nice to see that my initial post has sprung up some old memories for some..obviously not all good..but then that is life..its a learning curve..

"we do what we do. at any one time. to the best of our ability. working within the confines of what we know or have learnt. That we make mistakes or errors in judgement is purely a result of inexperience or ego .
At the end of the day as age and maturity temper our actions , we suddenly realise that indeed life is too short and there is no road back to change what we may have done. but with age comes the wisdom to advise and help others not to make the same mistakes.""


iM DEFINATELY GOING TO START WRITING CRAP FOR GREETINGS CARDS!!:lol2:

I will certainly share many true tales of the old days. as im sure my experiences in the rather underground import world may open a few eyes. I will of course avoid putting actual names to the stories. for that would be remiss. as im sure as the tales unfold. you will understand!:whistling2:


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## colinm (Sep 20, 2008)

There used to be a lot of shady characters in the reptile business.I suppose it attracted people for the quick buck. These days things seem much more above board.


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## nick gilchrist (Oct 16, 2008)

colinm said:


> There used to be a lot of shady characters in the reptile business.I suppose it attracted people for the quick buck. These days things seem much more above board.


 
LOL Trust me..they are still out there! just hiding behind a legitimate frontage!!:whistling2:


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## nick gilchrist (Oct 16, 2008)

Ally said:


> Have saved the link to this thread in the hope of more 'old skool' reptile stories


 
okay well first of many here...........

http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/general-herp-chat/443305-old-skool-tales-1-tyres.html


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