The proprietor of Ophidiophile Farms is David P. Tracer. Well with the word "proprietor" I almost make it sound like a business. I suppose it is technically, but really I consider myself a hobbyist herpetoculturist with an incredible love of snakes. I do not make my living selling snakes - I have a day job that I am very satisfied with - if I can pay for my hobby and maybe make enough to increase my breeding stock in any given year, I'm very happy. I caught my first snakes, an Eastern Garter, Eastern Hognose, and Eastern Milksnake all during one summer in Pennsylvania in 1971. The Eastern Milk laid a clutch of eggs, some of which I managed to hatch out and that's it - I was hooked. I've kept snakes continuously since that summer (wow, it's now over 40 years!), but coined the name "Ophidiophile Farms" and actually started selling offspring through this website in 1993 (with the first version of the NCSC web browser Mosaic!). Despite our relatively low profile among herp sellers, we are actually the longest continuously-running herp site on the web.

Among the snakes Ophidiophile Farms has captive-bred and produced are Corn Snakes (many varieties), Trans-Pecos Rat Snakes, several species of Asian Beauty Snakes, Trinket Rat Snakes, Radiated Rat Snakes, Japanese Rat Snakes (mainland, albino and Kunashiri), Dione's Rat Snakes, Pueblan Milk Snakes, many varieties of Bull, Pine and Gopher snakes, Eastern and Texas Indigo Snakes, Rosy Boas (California and Arizona variants), Brazilian and Colombian Rainbow Boas, East African Sand Boas, Boa Constrictors, Ball Pythons and much more. Apart from snakes, we have bred many gecko species including leopards, tokays and pictus as well as black-knobbed sawback turtles. We were the first U.S. breeders to produce captive born Blue Beauty Snakes in 1997 and some of our observations on the species were included in the first article about them in The Vivarium magazine. I have published articles on herpetoculture in Reptile & Amphibian Magazine and the newsletters of the Pacific Northwest Herp Society, Toledo Herp Society, and Alberta Herp Society. I have also given several lectures on herp husbandry, breeding and natural history to groups including the Colorado Herpetological Society and the University of Wisconsin College of Veterinary Medicine.

As a business, our #1 concern is customer satisfaction -- we want those who buy from us to be happy with their purchases. I know what it's like buying a snake sight unseen - I've done it myself lots of times - and really appreciate when a snake is truthfully represented. I am also happy to provide care and breeding info to anyone, whether they purchase from me or not. I still get a thrill with every egg that pips, and enjoy helping others share in that same joy.

So that's about it. The ophidiophiles at Ophidiophile Farms really are Snake-Lovers!

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