Hello,

Where to start? Well my name is John Light and I'm 25yrs old. I like romantic evenings and long walks on the beach...Just kidding lol. Well my name is John Light and I am 25yrs old. I live in South Florida, pretty much lived here all my life. I'm married to a wonderful wife (Ashley)whom has given me 2 little girls (Autumn 6, Olivia 4 months). I currently work for the Seminole Tribe of Florida, Fire Rescue. It's the greatest Job I could ever wish for! My work schedual is 24hrs on and 72hrs off which leaves me plenty of time for my passion, working with reptiles.

When I was younger growing up I had always enjoyed reptiles but my parents would never let me keep them. I'm one of 5 children (the middle child, lol - "the forgotten one") and I'm sure that was more then enough for my parents as it was. That was never good enough for me, I was always out catching lizards and snakes. I had the usual names growing up such as Snake Boy or Lizard Boy lol. It wasn't till I was in the 6th grade that I met a friend whom was really into reptiles like myself. He had told me about the "Daytona Reptiles Breeder Expo". He kept ball pythons and that's pretty much where I got started. Later that year we had contacted a wholesaler and purchased about 30 baby ball pythons which we split between us. My parents had no idea, I kept them in shoe boxes in my dresser! One night I was feeding them and my oldest sister caught me. I had already had these animals for about 3 months without anyones knowledge. She grabbed the box of baby ball pythons and ran into my parents bed room. I can remember this moment all to well. Melissa said "Mom, Dad, look what John has!". My dad was never a fan of snakes, both he and his father had the motto "The only good snake is a dead snake". My mom was pretty freaked out by them. Anyways after they had calmed down we had come to an agreement. I could keep two of them but the rest had to go. I explained I had them 3 months with zero smell or any other problems and that was a good arguement. I picked out two of the ball pythons and the rest went to a pet store. I was then able to purchase a cage and heat lamp. Finally I was keeping them correctly and began working on my husbandry. My parents both changed their mind over the course of a year and they would actually handle the animals! Later on when I wanted new animals my parents explained that they didn't want a zoo and I had to sell what I had in order to get other animals. Well I was one of 5 kids so I sold the two ball pythons to my sister so they were still basicly mine and I went out and purchased a Suriname red tail boa. This went on and on over the years. My dad even got into them enough to assist me in building cages along the way for my animals.

My interest in Venomous Reptiles really became a big thing for me around the time I was 17. I had tried to begin logging hours around that time but when I gave my parents the paper to sign that would enable to me begin working with them they wouldn't sign it. They had agreed right up untill the time that they began reading and it stated about 10 times or more "The person and company you will be working with are not liably for Serious Injury or Death". Mom and Dad didn't know a whole lot about venomous snakes and that really turned them off! So I had waited untill my 18th Birthday to sign the paper. I went from Pygmies and Cotton mouths to Cobras the third day. Elapids had always been my passion and I was a quick learner. Like anyone in the hobby I had a few close calls in which I had to step back and really think about what I was doing. I was given bad info and had mentors that didn't know what they were doing. I had learned I really need to get serious and look into whom I was going to work with! I had an Egyptain Cobra come within Inches of biting me in the chest. I was told before I began to work with the snake that Cobras do not come out of their cages. Well that animal shot out and if my arms weren't fully extended I may not have been here to write this blog today. I owe most of my experience and mentoring to Joe Switalski. He helped me to fine tune my skills. Joe imported many rare and exotic species which gave me experience with animals I may have never seen in person if it weren't for him. I've had experience with animals such as the "Ethopian Mountain Adders!". Joe was smart in that he evaluated my skills and let me move up when he had thought I was ready. My experience with venomous now includes pretty much everything from Pygmy rattlers to Paupa New Guinea Taipans and Mambas! It wasn't untill I got married at the age of 23 that I applied for my venomous permit in the State of Florida. I had logged well over the required 1000 hours and had two letters of recommendation from two well known people.

As I stated earlier my parents had come up with a rule for getting new reptiles. I had to sell what I had to get something new. I credit this rule for the reason I had gotten into brokering reptiles. I've had some very rare and exotic species some still have never had the chance to work with especially at such a young age. I must admit I reget selling them and wish I could of kept evertything along the way! Eventually I wanted to progress and breed the animals I had. My first success was a pair of Rio Fuerte Beaded Lizards. I had a female lay 20 eggs. This is not only a hard species to breed but the incubation period was not a joke. I had managed to make every rookie mistake in incubation! I was however lucky enough to hatch 1 baby beaded lizard! The following year I produced the first clutch of True Indian Local Spectacled Cobras in about 5 years! I had a much better success rate this time. Out of 20 eggs I hatched 16 of the little ones! You can bet I was estatic when these little guys began to hatch!

After my second child was born I began to rethink things a little. I still love working with venomous but I wanted to bring my now 6yr old daughter into the hobby. She was into reptiles early on but now she had wanted to get involved. I sold off my venomous collection and had decided to get into breeding ball pythons which is where I am today. There are so many colors and patterns that there is a flavor for everyone! My daughter began naming the pythons and runing around the house with them around her neck. She was always eager to show off her animals to anyone that came over. I now have about 60 ball pythons which will be breeding this year. I will likely keep venomous in the future but for now I'm happy without them.

Well that's a pretty good background of myself and how I became a part of this amazing hobby. Sure there are many more stories including ones with 12' reticulated pythons roaming my room, wild caught rat snakes leaving sheds around my house, and so on. But for now this will give you a pretty good idea of where I'm at.

I've manage to build a great reputation in this hobby by the means of selling quality animals at great prices. Not to mention customer services for life. I will go out of my way to help people out. With this day in age the Herp Trade has evolved and I want to eventually be right up top next to those well respected breeders. I plan on getting into alot of different reptiles in the next few years, stick around as I will surely update my blod as to what's going on around these parts!

Thanks for reading,
John Light

Here are a few photo's for your enjoyment:
First reptile ever hatched a Rio Fuerte Beaded Lizard:


True "Indian" Local Spectacled Cobra:


A few Ball Pythons I'm currently working with: