--VIDEO-- Herp Nation LIVE, The Gift of Zonata - WATCH HERE!

[Scott Waters]

Herp Nation LIVE with Dan Krull

Conversation:
- California Mountain Kingsnake (Lampropeltis zonata) "gifting" of captive offspring.
- Native Reptile Propagation Permit (California)
- Staub Cactus garden (teaser)
- Red Milk Snakes (dan krull teaser)

Visuals:
- Mitch Mulks at his lab in Santa Cruz (2008). The most genetically diverse L. zonata collection in the world.
- Images of Mitch's personal collection and offsrping. (sneak peek image below video!)
- Rock Damage at some l. zonata locations in CA.

Host:
Dan Krull

Guests:
Mitchell Mulks
PhD student
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
University of California, Santa Cruz
Earth and Marine Science Building D450
Santa Cruz, CA 95064
Sinervo Laboratory

Rick Staub
Director of Chemistry
Bionovo, Inc.

[vimeo]http://www.vimeo.com/22724327[/vimeo]

Sneak Peek! One of Mitch's zonata.......

[Jeremiah_Easter]

Zonatas are simply kick ass. I dig the idea of gifting these to see if they will affect the market. Interesting concept, it will be fun to watch over the next couple of years to see if it works.

[KingCam]

Zonatas are simply kick ass. I dig the idea of gifting these

Agreed

[Fundad]

Two top rate people right there..

Good Stuff
Fundad

[erik loza]

Great stuff, Rick.

I love the cactus garden.

[Verhoodled]

Wow -- that's my kind of Saturday morning TV.

Thank you to Scott, Dan, Rick and Mitch for a terrific discussion. Another awesome segment by Herp Nation Live! Thanks to all involved in its production!

[Brad Alexander]

You guys are dumb and nobody likes zonata anyway.

[Scott Waters]

You guys are dumb and nobody likes zonata anyway.

I'll translate for Brad, "Wow! You guys are producing high-quality webisodes with intelligent discussion and a level of appearance within our community than you will see nowhere else. Its about time we had an outlet that raises the bar and represents not only the field herping community in a way that is more accurate, but also shares with us interesting captive work that is being done."

That is what Brad said, translated by someone who KNOWS that Brad appreciates high-quality work. His own personal work is done the same way.........done right, like HNL is doing with these discussions.

Right, Brad? Kind of like you posting another one of your amazing photographic pieces of art, and me saying, "Those mountains are ugly". This is after you post an super-creative and groundbreaking level of photographic genius, like you always do. You would know that what I meant by a silly comment about the mountains is actually a HUIGE compliment because I couldn't find anything wrong with the image.

Yeah......that's right.

HNL is a place for a higher level of discussion, just as FHF has been for years. Look for me and Dan to break this thing WIDE OPEN this year. We are moving at a fast pace, waiting for no one, and pushing forward an agenda of education first.

Gotta run, shooting another show in a few minutes! Yes, the time has come for a 24 year veteran of tv news, commercial production, national and international news coverage, to step up and help this community create a new outlook. One of education first.......not the newest ball python morph. Don't care. That is boring and old news. We are here to advance this community, not watch it spin it's wheels. "Dumb it down" ended with HN Magazine, and continues now with HN LIVE. Enjoy the ride!

If you'd like to help advance with community, rather than sit on the sidelines (not you, Brad, this is a general community alert), then please contact me about what you feel needs to be discussed within our community. We WANT the "difficult" topics, not the easy "Show us your new Python morph". Sure, we'll cover those from time to time, they are cool in their own way.......but our theme is education first.......then all that other stuff.

Ah, thanks Brad, I feel better pounding my chest with pride, knowing what we are doing WILL raise the bar in this community. Our FHF members inspire us every day.

Scott

[Scott Waters]

Wow -- that's my kind of Saturday morning TV.

Thank you to Scott, Rick and Mitch for a terrific discussion. Another awesome segment by Herp Nation Live! Thanks to all involved in its production!

Its says more about you, than it does us! YOU are wanting something new, something better, something more valuable to this community, and we are acknowledging that commitment by doing these types of pieces. We'll do some "fluff" from time to time, yes, but this is what we are doing first......education. See ya next time on HNL!

thanks,
scott

[justinm]

I think this is an awesome idea and I had asked Mitch for one of these extras when he first posted them on captivebred. I would gladly give one of these beauties a good home, and frequent meals.

[Dan Krull]

Thanks for the compliments folks!

Scott is right on. You have no idea how ready we are to bust this thing open and show you something you've never seen before.

I'm really excited about where we can take this.


Dan

[Coach]

Nice piece Dan. Now if you really like tricolors theres a little know snake species in west Texas you may want to see.

[Zach_Lim]

Excellent segment, though I might be biased because I simply love everything zonata
Looking forward to more Herp Nation segments like this one...and for that Rick Staub zonata documentary!

[Natalie McNear]

Very nice video, guys! I loved every minute of it. Those zonata are incredible.

[SurfinHerp]

Watching the video and seeing the habitat damage made me think: Why don't we organize gatherings where volunteers go into the field and work in groups to restore damaged rock piles into decent herp habitat again?

Almost every rockpile or outcropping I visit around San Diego County has been damaged, but many of them could probably be restored if a team of strong guys worked together for a day.

Is there anyone with experience doing this type of habitat restoration?

[BChambers]

Simply awesome, guys. Herp Nation does us proud once again.

And yes, that succulent garden is SICK!

[Dusty Rhoads]

Yes, the time has come...to step up and help this community create a new outlook. One of education first.......not the newest ball python morph. Don't care. That is boring and old news. We are here to advance this community, not watch it spin it's wheels.

How refreshing. I couldn't agree more. Like you said, they're cool in their own way, but in the whole vast configuration of things that make herps interesting (<---gosh, that almost sounds like a Jimmy Stewart quote), the 'flavor of the month' captive creation is like cotton candy -- captivating for about a minute -- all short-lived pops and bangs, and very little substance. Thanks for serving up some meat and potatoes, HN!

[allanbartlett]

Great video Scott. I'm partial to zonata as it is and this video does nothing to change that. I think the gifting idea is good overall. I just wish the CA F&G would understand that having zonata on the commercial side of the permit would be a good thing. As Rick pointed out, these animals are anything but rare, just secretive.

[BChambers]

Yes, the time has come...to step up and help this community create a new outlook. One of education first.......not the newest ball python morph. Don't care. That is boring and old news. We are here to advance this community, not watch it spin it's wheels.

How refreshing. I couldn't agree more. Like you said, they're cool in their own way, but in the whole vast configuration of things that make herps interesting (<---gosh, that almost sounds like a Jimmy Stewart quote), the 'flavor of the month' captive creation is like cotton candy -- captivating for about a minute -- all short-lived pops and bangs, and very little substance. Thanks for serving up some meat and potatoes, HN!

I would only add that many of us "old timers" will recall that this is not a "new outlook" at all, but in fact a return to our roots, and the way this hobby began. We never dreamed of the "morph craze", or even that captive herps of any kind would explode in popularity as they have! I personally would never bash the deli cup craze-it is what it is, and is valid in its own right-but I think we have indeed lost something important somewhere along the way. Props to HNL for leading the way in bringing some of that back.

[infidel]

Very cool. I like your and Dan's enthusiam. I asume Dan will down here in Texas filming "something" very soon. I think within three to four weeks you will know if you should come.

[Scott Waters]

Brad,

Thanks for the kudos! To be CLEAR, I'm not anit-morph. If I came off that way, my apologies. Just making the point crystal clear that we are doing this to advance MANY things in our community. It is "easy", in my opinion, to do a latest morph video. VERY easy. Apples in a barrel. And hey, I dig em'! Again, I'm totally cool with morphs. My ball python reference was to use an example of something that already gets PLENTY of "press" within our community. You can find a bazillion cool looking ball python morph (for example) videos on line.......but there is only ONE place where you'll get what you just watched with Dan, Mitch, and Rick! And that is my point, we'll be covering some things that are not covered at all.......like people gifting zonata!

The latest morph is already handled by many others. They can cover those, and I fully support their efforts! We'll do it too, at some point (maybe under a different show title), but they are not on the radar at this time. We will be at some shows this year, so all that stuff will get plenty of coverage, promise!

Regarding you old-timers, yeah, I agree! I grew up with you guys, so you can probably tell that what I tend to cover has been influenced by you old dogs! And I thank you. What is "new" is the platform, amongst other things of course. Just like with those before you old-fellars were young and there were no herp mags.......so you started making them! I read most of them, that's my generation. Its all relative to your place in time. My generation has arrived, am I'm striving for something greater for us. Just like those before us did, and so on.

Take care,
scott

[Scott Waters]

Dusty......sending you an email. Would love to have you on HNL as well! Let schedule it.

scott

[Dusty Rhoads]

Brad,

You're so right. The value of herpetoculture and and even color morphs is enormous. They are tools and teachers of genetics, and such a cool example of human driven evolution or artificial selection. Anyone who can look and see how dramatically far we've come in such a short time, color morph-wise, should also be able to see how even more dramatic change in phenotypes (speciation) has been possible driven through billions of years of change to the environment (e.g., There are now easily 100+ Corn Snake morphs. Even solid purple ones! Consider that, when Bern Bechtel hatched the first Corn morph only a few decades ago!) . And many of the morphs are just GORGEOUS.

Personally, I do feel like I usually learn more about an organism by reading one short natural history note than I do in an entire book of captive mutations (though I buy, read, and appreciate both!!), and so I am glad that HN is allotting time to both interests.

[BChambers]

You know what this site needs? A "Like" button!

[sdFH'er]

I know I'm late to the party but very, very cool idea. Doesn't get much more altruistic than that!
-Shaun