The Snake Ranch Guide To Reptile Care

Professional Development Animals & Pets Reptile Husbandry Australian Wildlife Care Pet Care & Husbandry Educational Reference Leisure & Hobbies

The Snake Ranch Guide to Reptile Care (2014, paperback) is the most comprehensive Australian-written manual for anyone ready to move from “interested observer” to confident reptile keeper. Chris Williams, founder of the renowned Snake Ranch breeding facility, distils 30-plus years of hands-on experience into 280 pages of step-by-step guidance on enclosure design, temperature gradients, feeding protocols, common illnesses and legal requirements. Unlike generic pet-shop pamphlets, every chapter is illustrated with high-resolution photos of actual Snake Ranch set-ups, so readers can replicate the same humidity hides, basking shelves and bio-active substrates that produce healthy pythons, blue-tongues and geckos in a professional collection.

What makes this copy especially appealing is its status as a first-edition textbook that has already helped a generation of Australian keepers obtain their basic wildlife licences; the inner cover bears a neat previous-owner name and a short handwritten note, giving it the lived-in feel of a field guide that has travelled from expo to expo. The spine is tight, pages are bright and unmarked, and only a faint crease in the mid-section shows it was actually consulted during shed cycles and feeding times—exactly the reassurance second-hand buyers want.

Collectors and students alike prize this title because it is the only local reference that lists exact batch numbers for mice and rat sizes, includes metric plumbing specs for building a rack system, and provides the current state-by-state permit codes. With reptile-keeping surging in popularity and most new literature aimed at US or European species, securing an Australian-printed, professionally bred manual in clean, readable condition is becoming harder every year. This copy offers that rare combination of practical know-how and antipodean authenticity without the wait or the new-book price tag.

Refer to our eBay listing for a full condition report and many more high-quality pictures of this item.