Bryan Christy

Well, the Burmese Python–the same species I got when I was thirteen by telling my mother “Socrates” would grow no bigger than my ten gallon aquarium–hit the Today show this morning.  The Burmese python is the snake that got me and alot of other snake kids off the ground.  It’s also the species that launched designer reptile breeding, turned a number of hobbyists into millionaires, danced with Britney at the MTV Awards,  fueled a decade of wildlife smuggling, and killed a child in Florida a few weeks ago.

Here’s the TODAY show report.  The snakes reporters get excited about are tiny compared to what’s out there.  Below is my version of a Burm, and an annecdote from behind the book. 

Bryan Christy Walking a Burmese Python

The Burmese python in this photo came to Strictly Reptiles one day while I was working there.  A local stripper (Stephanie “the water cannon” Evans) had used the snake in her act, but her husband felt it had grown too big for her to handle so he brought it in to Strictly Reptiles to sell.  Mike bought it for around $150 and sold it before the guy was out of the parking lot.   Of course, there are bigger ones out there.

This Saturday, August 1, The Lizard King turns one!   The book will celebrate with the release of its paperback edition (officially Aug. 5) and I will drink a case or so of whatever is handy and keep writing.

It has been an incredible year.  I have shared the story of Agent Bepler and Mike Van Nostrand and global wildlife trafficking in four countries, for the US Fish & Wildlife Service, the Malaysian Academy of Sciences,  the Law Faculty of the National University of Singapore, the Siam Society, for veterinarians, conservationists, true crime readers and reptile lovers, and most recently as a Centennial Speaker for the US Justice Department.  I’ve done radio, tv, newspaper and magazine interviews around the world, and through this website I’ve had contact with people in 78 countries.  The Lizard King has been adopted as a training tool for  law enforcement in SE Asia and I’m told it was a source of inspiration to New York state agents and prosecutors in Operation Shellshock earlier this year.  Director David Frankel and Fox 2000 Pictures have optioned the book for a film!

For me, the book is not only a window on wildlife trafficking.  It is the story of fathers and sons and the paths we take in life as shaped by that relationship.  My father was afraid of snakes.  He would not have cared much about how well the book was doing, either.  He just didn’t place alot of emphasis on what other people thought.  He would have cared alot about whether I enjoyed researching and writing it.  He would have loved my answer.  I wrote the book in a style I thought he would have enjoyed.  He liked crime stories.  And he liked people.  This book is one of his gifts to me.

(Updated 7/31 below) The reptile keeping world is up in arms over a House Bill, HR 2811, which would ban all python imports.  According to PetHobbyist.com:  “Congressman Kendrick Meek of Florida has authored a bill, HR 2811 , that would ban the “species genera Python” from being imported or sold across state lines. While in response to the recent Florida death of an infant by her parents’ Burmese python, the law is written such that it appears to also ban snakes such as the ball python — an animal usually included on zoo, herp society, and pet information resources as a good snake for first time pet owners.”

Ball pythons can make good pets and there are some great overseas breeding and ranching projects of chondro and other pythons, too.  Banning all pythons will no doubt increase black market trafficking of not only pythons but of other wildlife, too, and will put legitimate reptile breeders and dealers here and abroad out of business.  There are better legislative options than a blanket ban on all pythons to improve protection of the environment, the public, and the animals.

Unfortunately, some leaders in the reptile industry (e.g., USARK) are lobbying Congressman Meek and others to change the bill language to ban only imports of Burmese pythons.  This is a silly proposal which ignores (more…)