Well when I first went into the zoo business, animal dealers were the only source of animals for zoos. And again, many of the animals that were available to zoos at that time, again were the byproduct of the destruction of their natural habitat. Because in the Third World countries:… Read More
What’s your feeling about that today?… Read More
Does it have a place today?… Read More
Well the big pet chains do have a big collection of reptiles for sale, particularly snakes. They’re very popular in pet shops now. Most of these are captive bred. Captive breeding reptiles is commercial. In fact, many of these snakes are now called designer snakes. They’ve crossed six or eight… Read More
Was the pet business a good business to give you a good income?… Read More
It was a fair income. But there were like 60 mom and pop pet shops in St. Louis area at the time. I bet there were hundreds of ’em in Chicago back in the ’50s. This was in 1954 in the ’50s and ’60s, but they were slowly replaced by… Read More
Lotta pet shops today do sell exotic animals, more in the reptiles. Read More
They weren’t captive bred in those days, but they were like $12 a dozen. Baby iguanas, $12 a dozen. Even cotton-top marmosets were $120. $10 a piece for cotton-top marmosets which today are practically endangered. Squirrel monkeys, $25 wholesale. Because they were a byproduct of clearing of the forest. Now… Read More
Your exotics. Well Trudie Jerkins who I met in 1961 when she came to St. Louis for a zoo conference, I met her there and I did import animals from her. Actually, she did the importing but shipped ’em from Florida. She had someone she worked with, Ralph Curtis, at… Read More
I mean I wouldn’t in any way advocate that today. But you had to go through that experience to learn that. Read More
I raised fish as a kid. That was another hobby I had. I raised guppy. I started with guppies, but I also bred Siamese fighting fish. I bred some barbs, raised angelfish. I had some egg-laying fish that I had success in breeding. Now I probably had about eight or… Read More
So it was an easy move in to the aquarium business. So you liked the fish, but you really liked the reptiles. Reptiles. I liked them all. I liked them all. The snakes became my feature. You mentioned that you had other exotics in the pet shop and you even… Read More
How easy were animals to acquire when you started?… Read More
Well when I was out in the pet business, there was a tremendous amount of exotic animals available from dealers that were supplying zoos and pet shops. Because at that time, the concept was the forests, the jungles had to be tamed. There was a demand for sugar, sugar cane. Read More
And I was tryin’ to figure out how I’m gonna send three kids to college and how I’m gonna educate ’em and pay their medical bills. So I went out to the zoo, talked to Marlin Perkins. There was an opening as a beginning reptile keeper in the snake house. Read More
Let’s back up. We’ll get to that. Lemme back up and ask you about your animal business, the exotic animal business. You started with fishes. You said- Tropical fish at 200. Read More
or you just knew they would sell?… Read More
They thought it was pretty funny. So I gave a talk about they can’t see very well. They see movement. They don’t see much more. They don’t hear very good. They don’t have any ears and they use their tongue for sense of smell, so it’s constantly going out. When… Read More
At the end of my lecture I said, “Now if you’d like to touch a snake, you don’t have to. I have a very tame boa constrictor. He’s been touched by thousands of students and you’ll have a chance to touch this.” And so I stood by the door and… Read More
And so the woman that invited me I told her, I said, “I hope that one gray-haired lady. She took notes all through my whole talk, but then she left early.” I said, “I hope I didn’t offend her.” She says, “You know who that was?” I said, “No.” She… Read More