Brian Barczyk of BHB Reptiles
Published Friday, May 16, 2008.
Brian is the owner of a large reptile business called BHB Reptiles. They have been in operation since 1989 and his love for animals goes back to his childhood. He breeds many varieties of snakes and is working on creating a reality reptile show!
TRN: How long have you been in the reptile industry, and how long have you been breeding professionally?
BB: I bred my first cornsnake when I was fifteen and have produced snakes ever since. I'm 38 now, so you do the math, it kind of depresses me. (Laughs) Reptiles have been my main income for twenty years, but I did work a job until 14 years ago when I went full time into breeding snakes. My wife Lori has been full time for 18 years!!
TRN: How many different species of reptiles do you
currently breed on a yearly basis?
BB: I'm not 100% sure how many different species we work with total. In the
process of getting our website ready for launch we had to figure out the
different types of snakes that we work with, including species and color
mutations. Overall, it was just over 300 different types, and that number is
growing! It's already outdated by now I'm sure. (Grins)
TRN: How many reptiles do you care for/keep on
average on a daily basis?
BB: I have no idea but it's in the thousands for sure. Some days are a ton
of work where we might feed close to 20,000 snakes and then other days we might
clean several thousand, so it really depends on the day. And of course our
workers are a huge part of getting all that done.
TRN: What kind of schedule (cleaning, feeding,
etc.) do you run weekly to keep your animals at the standards at which you do?
BB: We always try to keep a schedule of what needs to be done every day of
the week, but with a big collection it's very fluid. You have to be willing to
throw the schedule out when a project needs all of your attention, and then you
play catch up the rest of the week. I would say 90% of the time that's the way it works. Again, if it wasn't for a great crew that's
willing to sacrifice a ton for us we would never be able to keep up the
collection at the standards that we do.
TRN: How many hatchlings do you produce per year,
and approximately how many are held back for future breeders?
BB: Haha, this is a question that I get asked a lot, and it's not that I
want to be secretive, but it's just one of the things that I have never shared
with anyone, even my crew doesn't see the numbers. I know everyone wants to
know, and I would too, but I have never seen any advantage to sharing those
numbers. It's kind of like asking your Grandma for her secret recipe for
Chicken soup. Maybe when I get close to dying I'll share. (Laughs)
TRN: What project are you most excited about this
year?
BB: You know there are so many projects that I'm so excited about that it would be impossible for me to pick one or even ten. Some are
blockbusters, like new Ball morphs. Others are projects like Cal King mutations
that I've been working on for ten years that nobody will even care about, but me
and the small hardcore group of Cal King lovers. I never put the excitement
level on a project because of it's value or the popularity in the market; it's
just what I like and what I'm into. The good news is there's not a lot that I'm
not into, so every year is more exciting then the last.
TRN: We heard you are partnering with Pro Exotics on the Albino Savannah Monitor project. When do you expect to have some of those available and what has been holding this project back as long as it has?
BB: First, yes we are partners with Chad and Robyn from Pro-Exotics. It's
been great having them on board with this project. They have the knowledge,
passion and ability to get things rolling. The albino Savs are only two years old, so it's just been growing them up that's held the project up.
You can't rush things sometimes, you have to be patient. I think it sounds
really good to produce this year, but I'll leave all the decisions to those guys
when it comes to when we'll release them. I've turned the reins over to them,
and I trust they'll do the project great justice.
TRN: I know you are working on the SnakeBytesTV project. Where does it stand right now and what can this project do for the reptile breeding industry once it makes it to television?
BB: Well, anyone that talks to me knows that this is one of my driving
passions right now. I feel that we can really reach the masses if we can first
get the internet site off the ground with a huge following. It's all about the
community. We need everyone not only to watch it, but put it on their myspace pages, facebook pages, e-mail it to friends, become a part of the show by
sending us video footage of their herps, give us show ideas, and spread the word
as much as they can. Every person can help and each new person we get to watch
can become a part of our community. The more hits that we get on the net, the
more promotion that we get from the net. Ultimately, if we can show there's a
huge market for this it really pushes the hand of the netwroks that make the
decision whether or not to greenlight a reptile series on TV. It's a hard
business and I don't think anyone will ever realize the efforts that we've put
into this the last two years. This isn't nearly as much for me as it is for the
hobby. I could have went along the way my life was and been doing great without
all this extra responsibility. I just felt it was time to pick the torch up and
run with it. This is not, and will not ever be, about me or BHB. It will
always be about the industry and showing our living art in the positive light that it should be shown in. If we as a community can achieve that, who knows
where it will go. I would bet that building choppers for a living wasn't as
good of a career ten years ago as it is now after the success of American
Chopper. I hope everyone will join us for the ride!!!
TRN: When is your website set to launch, and what can we expect from it?
BB: We'll be launching both the www.snakebytes.tv site and the www.bhbreptiles.com site in February 2008. You can expect something different from both sites. They will be extremely interactive and updated almost daily. We will be blogging, giving things away, having specials, answering questions on a BHB Mailbag, doing our BHBcast, we will be on both sites everyday with something new. We have tons of ideas, and we also want to take ideas from the community for what else they want to see. If there's a demand for it, I'll make sure we implement it.
TRN: You are already one of the largest reptile breeders in the world, but where do you expect or want BHB Reptiles to be in the next five or ten years?
BB: I haven't thought nearly as much about BHB in the last couple of years as I've thought about the hobby. I want the hobby to explode in the next short while. It's really all I think about: ways to promote, how I can spread the word. I think that if the hobby does what I know it can do and becomes ten times what it is now, I won't have to worry about BHB, things will take care of themselves. Buckle up!!!
We would like to thank Brian very much for taking the time to be with us at Reptile Network. Please visit his site, BHBReptiles.com
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