Posted by Joe R. on August 15, 2000 at 17:26:40:
This is like one of those Paul Harvey "The Rest of the Story"s.
Many of us have been visiting International Reptile(I.R.)in Los Fresnos for reptiles and rodents for many years. I am sorry to say at first, I was skeptical about the care of their animals.
Soon my skepticism faded away as I spent time talking herps with them. I learned they are very knowlegible and caring of their animals. They provide good information on how to care for all their animals. I have even seen them turn down sales and talk customers out of buying animals, which would probably not properly cared for. They care about the animals.
A.J. Bird (mgr) runs International Reptile with the help of his brother Ron Bird (asst). They also have a very understanding mother, Angie Bird, which sometimes runs a Bakery Stand in front (and don't worry - she never touches the reptiles or rodents) and her cookies are delicious.
I have been fortunate to learn a lot about several of the animals from Internnational Reptile from captive care to life in the wild. A.J. even told me he saw an Indigo devour a small Rattler last year while mowing the grass. Ron helped me devise a nesting box for my Leopard Geckos which works very well.
When most of the animals in the wild are losing to human development, A.J. & Ron are doing their best to captively reproduce their animals. Their greatest success is hatching and raising several hundred turtles. In fact I will say that thanks to people like A.J. & Ron, many of these species will never feel the threat of extinction in our lifetime.
The Bad News is cleaning so many rodent cages and may be a factor in causing health problems for them. So they have sold off their rodent business to other good herpetologists. Since they will no longer provide snake food, they are also selling off all their snakes as well.
The GOOD NEWS is they will continue with the remainder of their business for now. This is especially great for the turtle enthusiasts. If you want to see some cool baby turtles, visit and check out their various species of Baby Softshells, Sliders, Box Turtles, Red-Foots, and Yellow-Foots currently hatching.
You can also look up their website ad for International Reptile on Kingsnake.com - just where it should be.
Sincerely
Joe Rigdon
P.S. Thanks A.J. and Ron. Over all, I have seen the incredibly vast majority of your animals thriving and that is a lot. I just felt it was about time you both received some recognition for the many great works you both have achieved and I wish you both the best.