Erik Paterson
The House Snake Guy
A Little Bit About Me
Hello, my name is Erik Paterson, i'm 17 years old and I live in Scotland. I've been interested in Animals all of my life, Dinosaurs were the initial interest, loved the Jurrasic Park movies! This soon
became an interest in Birds, which slowly evolved into Frogs & I seem to have 'stuck with that'.
For my 10th birthday I was bought a Leopard Gecko whom I called Gexy - I was hooked. Over the next 3 years I accumulated at least 10 Leopard Geckos of various morphs and sizes. Since then I have went on to keep Red-Sided Garter Snakes, Chinese Water Dragons, Bearded Dragons, Boa constrictors, Royal Pythons & an Iguana, the Boa & the Iguana didn't work out so well and I had to give them away to more experienced handlers - i'm, not ashamed to admit that, we all make mistakes & I just wasn't ready for those animals. More Recently I have gotten into African House Snakes, aquiring my first Cape House Snake in 2006 from a local Pet Store, this turned into 2 in 2007 & at one point, just over 70 in 2008 (lots of hatchlings.) Some would say I have a full-blown addiction to these guys and I guess I would have to agree, to a degree, I'm currently working with T+Albino, T-Albino & Patternless morphs of the Cape House Snake and I have a trio of Striped House Snakes, I intend to get many more whenever I am able to.
In 2005 I was hired at a local Pet Store to work with the owners expensive collection of Royal Python Morphs, boy some of those were stunning! I was in charge of spot-cleaning, assist shedding & general day-to-day maintenance of the collection. In 2008 however, my Boss decided to sell-up his collection which left me surplus to requirements, I was subsequently laid-off, we're still on good terms. Since being laid-off from the Pet Store I have been unable to get a job elsewhere, i'm sure most of you are aware of the current financial climate, many companies are laying off whole departments, not hiring newbies. This means that I've had to keep breeding to a minimum & not take on too much over this past year to avoid having to down-size the collection in any way, so far, i'm doing rather well!
At the beginning of 2009 I began writing a book for myself, "Genus Lamprophis" it was intended to include the captive care on Cape, Brown, Dotted & Striped House Snakes along with in-depth identification of all Lamprophis species, as I began to write it sort-of 'snowballed' and became: "The Captive Care of House Snakes" which, upon completion, I intend to make available to purchase, the writing is complete but I am currently missing a few photographs that I'd have liked to include, more on that as it happens I guess! I am also working with some of the guys on Lamprophis.net forums to create an article on House Snakes that, hopefully, will be put in to 'Reptiles Magazine'.
- Erik
became an interest in Birds, which slowly evolved into Frogs & I seem to have 'stuck with that'.For my 10th birthday I was bought a Leopard Gecko whom I called Gexy - I was hooked. Over the next 3 years I accumulated at least 10 Leopard Geckos of various morphs and sizes. Since then I have went on to keep Red-Sided Garter Snakes, Chinese Water Dragons, Bearded Dragons, Boa constrictors, Royal Pythons & an Iguana, the Boa & the Iguana didn't work out so well and I had to give them away to more experienced handlers - i'm, not ashamed to admit that, we all make mistakes & I just wasn't ready for those animals. More Recently I have gotten into African House Snakes, aquiring my first Cape House Snake in 2006 from a local Pet Store, this turned into 2 in 2007 & at one point, just over 70 in 2008 (lots of hatchlings.) Some would say I have a full-blown addiction to these guys and I guess I would have to agree, to a degree, I'm currently working with T+Albino, T-Albino & Patternless morphs of the Cape House Snake and I have a trio of Striped House Snakes, I intend to get many more whenever I am able to.
In 2005 I was hired at a local Pet Store to work with the owners expensive collection of Royal Python Morphs, boy some of those were stunning! I was in charge of spot-cleaning, assist shedding & general day-to-day maintenance of the collection. In 2008 however, my Boss decided to sell-up his collection which left me surplus to requirements, I was subsequently laid-off, we're still on good terms. Since being laid-off from the Pet Store I have been unable to get a job elsewhere, i'm sure most of you are aware of the current financial climate, many companies are laying off whole departments, not hiring newbies. This means that I've had to keep breeding to a minimum & not take on too much over this past year to avoid having to down-size the collection in any way, so far, i'm doing rather well!
At the beginning of 2009 I began writing a book for myself, "Genus Lamprophis" it was intended to include the captive care on Cape, Brown, Dotted & Striped House Snakes along with in-depth identification of all Lamprophis species, as I began to write it sort-of 'snowballed' and became: "The Captive Care of House Snakes" which, upon completion, I intend to make available to purchase, the writing is complete but I am currently missing a few photographs that I'd have liked to include, more on that as it happens I guess! I am also working with some of the guys on Lamprophis.net forums to create an article on House Snakes that, hopefully, will be put in to 'Reptiles Magazine'.
- Erik
