Well guys, it's nearly October which means the hatchling season (with the exception of amphibians) is over. This month was the month for Amazons, and boy did they show out!!
I've talked about this in the past, but for those who don't know, my journey with amazons actually started back when I was about 14/15 years old (2007/8). I had gotten some through the local mom and pop pet shop on special order and named them "Frick and Frack" because they were always ready to bite! LOL Shortly after, I had gotten a couple more. I enjoyed them, and wanted to try breeding them, however at that time, the attention to breeding boas was not quite in my wheelhouse yet. After breeding BCI a few times, I got the hang of the cycle, but Amazons were not the best learning species for me. Upon downsizing all those years ago, I had let the ATBs go up for sale, and moved them on.
Fast forward to 2018/19, and that is when the Amazons came back into my life. At an auction at NE Carpet Fest, I bid on a CB animal produced by Keith McPeek, and won it. That is the animal that changed my perspective on the species. I expected it to be a display animal for me. Something I wouldn't touch all that much, but would look nice in a bigger viv. Well, true to form for me, I became infatuated with it! It didn't try to bite, and I could really just enjoy interacting with it. Of course, this led me to want to get another, so I started doing some research and began seeing all of the insane CB animals that had been produced since I had last kept ATBs as a kid. I got my hands on an imported RED animal... and I mean RED!!! After that animal came in, I knew it was game on. I already knew about the variations within the ATB phenotypes, but after doing all the research of how far they had come in the previous decade both in the states, and Europe, I knew I needed to get a group together.
Before I left NERD, I had about 20 or so Amazons focusing mainly on red and bicolor animals, but some other phenotypes in the mix as well. I was building a small army, and enjoying interacting with them. Compared to my first time working with them, I also had much more experience working with arboreal animals, and understanding their behavioral patterns and could avoid being bitten better than back then! LOL
Fast forward a bit to living in NC, and I still had an incredibly diverse collection of reptile species, but the ATBs were quickly begining to take over. I made the decision (that a lot of folks called me crazy for) to pivot BMR away from Balls and Morelia as primary focus species, to ATBs. It stemmed from a couple of things - first, and arguably the most important, I was truly falling in love with the species. Genetics and breeding aside, I just genuinely enjoy ATBs, and two, I had gotten in Carnage. Carnage is the animal you see on the homepage of the website - that high white insane calico. Carnage was an imported animal, and a pivotal part to all of this. At the time, when Carnage came in, I quarantined him, and got him established, but then realized, I didn't have a female I could pair him with. So I reached out to my buddy Brandon to see if he wanted to do a breeder loan, and he agreed. While he did breed, sadly, she never took and there were no offspring from there. I got Carnage back, and paired him up in 2023 to a yellow tiger female I had called 'Tigress'. Those resulting babies were probably some of the best red calicos produced in the country at the time. On the ATB spotlight page of the site, that video is from that litter.
Sadly, Carnage had gotten sick and passed the following year, and I was devastated! I was happy I had one of his offspring, that I called Mischief, and the other males in the litter went to good friends where I could easily get animals from this lineage as babies were produced in the future. This litter is what locked it in for me that I NEEDED to focus on Amazons. This year, Mischeif sired a litter of babies, so we now have the first generation of Carnage grandkids, and I am thrilled!
Over the last few years, I have adjusted the collection of amazons a bit to focus on some of the things I am most focused on producing (mostly red and bicolor animals), but I have a little of everything here - yellows, gardens, reds, bicolors, tricolors, tigers, leopards, etc. There's still a few phenotypes on my list to get here, but all in due time.
2025's season kicked my butt! A had a couple of litters born, that unfortunately just failed to thrive. They were all very picky feeders and just overall not what you want to see babies be. However, this year was a HUGE boost in morale! Multiple gravid females for a total of 3 litters and 22 offspring! Crazy to say, but as these guys all begin feeding and growing, I'm already planning for 2027!
The future of ATBs is looking great here, and I couldn't be more excited! Thank you to everyone who's stopped me at shows to talk amazons and discuss their new excitement about the species! These guys are truly misunderstood, and overshadowed by their cousins, which I understand, but I don't think is fair - so we're gonna be shinning a spotlight on them for the forseeable future!