Introductions and a Hello!

[HanneysCorns]

Well, I'll be brave and be the first to open up this forum.

I'm Ruth Hanney and my passion is corns. I got involved in the hobby about 5 years ago when we began to attend reptile shows in Southern Ontario. At the time we lived in Guelph, I was an office manager for a taxi company, and my now husband Jeff, was one of the brokers with the company.

As the collection grew in our small townhouse, the furniture seemed to disappear...pretty soon it felt like we were living among the corns literally. Last winter around this time, Jeff decided to sell his taxi brokerage and had a hankering to move to the wilds of Northern Ontario. Now cold weather and I are not the best of friends but I agreed to the move on two conditions...corns would be acceptable (no bylaws to contend with) and there was internet access.

We now live in Manitouwadge ON, half way between Sault Ste. Marie and Thunder Bay. While most women when choosing a new home look at kitchens and bathrooms, my focus was on having room for my corns. We lucked out finding just the perfect home where I could have almost 800 sq. ft. of corn room.

At present our corn room houses 140 hatchlings, juvies and adults. My interest in corn genetics has prompted me to begin and hopefully see to completion many varied projects. Sure, I could probably have purchased the corns I wish to produce...butter and lavender stripes, butter and lavender bloods, goldusts, ultra lavs, but then where's the fun in that?

My favorite time of year is hatchling season. It's just like Christmas for me! Waiting patiently for 60 days to see what's inside and then the excitement of those first pippies in each clutch...nothing thrills me more.

Jeff and I enjoy travelling. We've combined our love of travel and corns, and now with both of us being semi-retired we've found ourselves able to tour some of Canada by attending reptile shows in different provinces and sharing our passion with others.

Well, that's a short synopsis of who I am. I look forward to meeting other Canadian hobbyists here in this forum.

If you'd like to introduce yourself...please do. Just add on to this thread and maybe we can get it 'stickied' to the top.

Ruth

[EeekSnakes]

Name: Christina ( that is ChristinA..... pet peeve, being called Christine. I will answer to almost everything else, Chris, Christie, Tina, yo' beeotch, etc. Just really don't like Christine. Friends usually call me Chris )

Age: I am 29 yrs old. ( May 27/77 anyone have the same bday??)

Location: Strathroy, Ontario Canada

Family: I have a hubby ( common-law currently, the real deal will happen June 23/07 ) named Mark, and 2 gorgeous kiddo's, Kendra who is 10, Kayleigh who is 6. ( Both July babies, and both girls )

Work or school : I'm an Industrial cleaner. Meaning I clean off big machinery with pressure washers, etc. Not your average household/office cleaning.

About me: Let's start off with the bad qualities. I can be very arguementative, and stubborn which can be both good and bad. Sometimes I just don't know when to shut up, and I tend to speak with emotion, NOT my head. Which sometimes you do have to sit back, chill out, and argue your side calmly, instead of emotionally. Hey, I know my faults, and am the first to admit it.

I'm generally easy to get along with, and I enjoy meeting new peeps ( real life or internet). I'm not afraid to say " I don't know" to a question, nor am I afraid to ask a "stupid question". I don't believe there's such thing as stupid questions for the most part. A question is just that, a search for an answer to something you don't know.

I'm fun to hang out with, love to chat ( too much sometimes LOL ). Aside from reptiles, my interests are tattoo's, crafts, piercings, reading, excerise, cooking and much more.

My Cornsnake Story:

I was always a lizard type of gal. I had my bearded dragons, an adopted iggy, leopard gecko's and always looked for other lizards. I was planning on going to the Missisauga expo to look for some other lizards. I put an ad up for carpooling.... I got a young fellow who wanted to come with me. So I picked him up and took him to the show. He was a snake guy, and we talked about that for a bit. When I dropped him off, he asked if I wanted to come in and see some of his snakes. So I did. I was amazed at all the different colours, and to be honest, I had never held a snake before ( other than in school when the reptile lady came in). That day I ended up bringing home my first, of many, cornsnakes. To this day, I blame my addiction on Simon Fung. Hmmm, had I known then what I know now, maybe I would not have taken him to the show LOL. He always said that eventually, I would not be a lizard lady anymore. He was right. I still have 2 dragons, and a small breeding colony of leo's. But the rest are snakes, the majority being cornsnakes. I also have 1.1 BRB's, 1.0 Colombian BCI, and 1.1 normal ball python.

So yah, Simon corrupted my lizard oriented mind, with snakes

[Caroline]

Name: Caroline Piquette

Location: Ste-Foy area of Quebec city, Qc.

Family: I live and work with my boyfriend, Louis since 1995 so, since we are together 24h/24, we often joke and say we are together since 30 years now LOL. We have two kids: Marie-Pier (8 years old daughter) and Élie (2 years old son).

Work: We own a print shop, specialized in high quality printing and Giclee prints.

About Me: Nothing much to say here. Between the business, Louis, the kids and the snakes, I don't have much time left to do anything else. But I love reading good espionnage, action and Stephen King's book. I am trying to improve my English since my first language is French but I still need a lot of practice in speaking it.

My Corn Snake Story: Hmmm. I always loved animals. But when I was a kid, we could only have a bird, a cat or a dog. Later on, about 12 years ago, I bought my first snake. It was a corn. Back then I didn't know really all I know now and internet was not what it is now. So some time after I bought a king and put the 2 in the same aquarium. The king never ate the corn but I remember one time having to cut a mouse that both had decide to eat at he same time. A bit after that I had to sell them because I went away and I could not keep them. I was really sad.
Then, about 2 years ago, I managed to make some trade with Kathy Love (printing product for snakes) and the passion for corns really hit me at this time. Since then, the collection grew up quite a bit. I have about 100 snakes (holdbacks, yearlings and adults) plus still several hatchlings. This year was my first breeding year and I produced about 150 babies. Next year I should have about 500 babies with a lot of stripes one.
Not so long ago I felt in love with stripes corns and I decided to concentrate on them. Next year, if Murphy look away and I get lucky for some of these, I could produce in stripe version: amber, butter, lavender, blood, granite, fire, amel, anery, hypo, snow.

Unfortunately, since I live far from the shows and with the kids, I can't attend to a lot of shows. But I should be in both Kemptville shows this year.

[MattKennedy]

Name: Matt Kennedy

Location: Red Deer, Alberta

Age: 23

Family: I live with my fiance, Kylie. We'll be getting married in June of 2008.

Work: I'm currently in training to work as a correctional officer with the Correctional Service of Canada. I had spent the last three years doing the same job with the province of Alberta.

About Me: There's really nothing to say about me. When I'm not at work, I'm dealing with the corns, when I'm not with the corns, I'm sleeping. Life is pretty simple for me.

My Corn Snake Story: Ever since I was young (well, younger) I had always wanted a snake. My parents are terrified of snakes though, so I couldn't own one until I moved out. In May of 2004, I broke up with my then-girlfriend. She had always told me that if I got a snake, we could not date anymore. So, one day I broke up with her and the next day I ran out to buy a snake. Just to make a point...

So, my first corn was a female Anery A. I owned her for a year and then bought two more. And then two more. And two more. And things are growing exponentially since then.

We aren't huge breeders and we don't expect to produce mass numbers like many of Canada's big breeders. However, we keep about 16 breeders of various morphs and we produce enough hatchlings each year to keep us both busy, but not overwhelmed. I know how busy 40 hatchlings can keep us, I don't know how a person with 1200 can do it.

This year was our first year breeding and we produced about 40 hatchlings. Next year we expect somewhere around 120.

[EeekSnakes]

Hey Matt,

CONGRATS!!!!!!! Have you set a date? I'm getting married June 23/07 . One day before my hubby's bday

Originally Posted by Matt Kennedy

Name: Matt Kennedy


Family: I live with my fiance, Kylie. We'll be getting married in June of 2008.
.

[MattKennedy]

I think we will be getting married on June 28, 2008.

[TandJ]

Sounds like I have been influence by Molson products..

I am a Canadian but I am stuck in a great divide for now.. I live out in the California Desert.. I find myself trapped between the beauty of the desert and hell of a Metropolis type of additude.. I came to California a number of years ago to Wed my LA Girl and to take on the new responsibilities of being a Dad.. As much as I hate California I have a deep, sincere love for this place. It has given me a truely distinctive growing point in my life..

I am considering a move home, where I know T and J's corns would and will offer a different group of blood lines with a highly diverse group of genetics and a really good group of high qaulity animals.

Our present goal at T and J's is to not become a mass breeder, rather a breeder of higher quality, and genetical diverse animals. We are looking into future Dilute projects, once we prove our dilute het group out.. We are currently ramping up to some fantastic projects in the next few years. 2008 will likely be the year where will have numerous clutchs cooking with more disireble clutchs ( Motley's of sorts, hypo projects and some blood projects ) .. 2009 will see the ability to produce some real diversity as a number of our multi het animals should be in prime condition for breeding..

It would be nice to get back to Western Canada, I miss the Praries from time to time, and occasionally miss the quaint honesty of the quiet towns, even if sometimes I really can't stand the ideas of the locals *lol*..

Ah well, maybe one day we can make T and J's Corns in Western Canada a reality, but I also know that would not be a place where we would be overly accepted ..

Anyways, enough of my babbling drival..

Regards, Tim of T and J

[Gintha]

Hello everyone!

My name is Heather, I'm a 25 (tomorrow) year old student from PEI, majoring in Botany and Physics!

I've got 4 corns, 2 males and 2 females, 3 are from Caroline hehe. Treasure is around 2 years old, I've had him the longest. Hunter is the oldest and crankiest, but hes just too cute! Onyx is around Treasure's age, shes the second crankiest hehe, and Buttercup is the baby, not even a year old, shes a little speed demon.

I'll post some pics of them in the picture forum after I take some new ones, Christmas themed prolly =D

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

[MattKennedy]

Hey,

Happy birthday, Heather. Welcome to the forum.

Matt

[ArcadiaReptiles]

Name: Camille(Most people call me Cami )

Age: 19 years old(my birthday is on february the 20th)

Location: St-Johns Newfoundland

Family: My boyfriend Al and our 23 snakes and 5 lizards)

Work or school : Working at Penningtons but applying at a call center

About me: Im trying to figure out what to say about myself... Im french. An Acadian from new Brunswick. I met my boyfriend on a reptile forum and moved to Newfoundland to be with him. Been living with him for 7 months no and am competely happy.

My Cornsnake Story:

I rescued an iguana from my school and nursed him back to health but couldnt keep him. I decided after that i wanted to have a good beginner reptile. My friend who owned a little snow corn was going to ontario for christmas and asked me to babysit her corn. i fell in love and the rest is hystory. we have 8 corns and i still have a long list i want.