NEW REPTILES COMEING FOR SALE AND ADOPTION IN THE NEXT FEW WEEKS !!...CHECK BACK SOON....DAN

TO ALL MY DEAR FRIENDS AND CUSTOMERS.,

ITS BEEN A LONG TIME SINCE IVE UPDATED MY SITE OR BEEN IN TOUCH WITH ANY OF YOU,AND I APOLOGIZE FOR THAT,BUT I HAD DECIDED TO TAKE A HIATUS FROM THE HOBBIE AND FALL OFF THE PLANET FOR A WHILE TO GET MY HEAD AND MY LIFE TOGETHER.MY LIFE CHANGED DRASTICLY A FEW YEARS AGO WITH THE PASSING OF MY DEAR GIRLFRIEND OF 19 YEARS FROM CANCER CHRISTY CARO.I HAD TO DIRECT MY EFFORTS TOWARDS A CURE FOR HER AND UNFORTUNATLY HAD TO CLOSE MY STORE IN MELBOURNE TO TAKE CARE OF HER.

SINCE THEN I HAVE LEFT MELBOURNE,AND MY HOME TO MOVE TO TAMPA IN SEACH OF A NEW LIFE AND A NEW CIVILIZATION AND TO GO BOLDLY WHERE NO MAN HAS GONE BEFORE TO START MY LIFE ALL OVER AGAIN.THIS SITE WILL NOW BE UPDATED MONTHLY TO LET ALL YOU MONITOR AND REPTILE LOVERS KNOW WHATS GOING ON WITH ME.IM PLANNING ON SHIFTING TARPIT INTO A REPTILE RESCUE AND RELOCATION SERVICE THROUGHOUT THE STATE OF FLORIDA FOR I SEE A NEED FOR THIS WITH ALL THE RELEASE AND ABUSE CURRENTLY IN THE MEDIA AND ONLINE.IM THINKING ABOUT A NAME AND I NEED ALL YOUR HELP.IM EITHER STICKING WITH "TARPIT REPTILE RECUE" OR "ROCKSTAR REPTILE RESCUE" SINCE EVERYONE HAS ALWAYS CALLED ME A "ROCK STAR"

LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK OR IF YOU HAVE ANY CREATIVE IDEAS.I WILL BE STARTING A LINK TO A WEBSITE FOR THIS NEW VENTURE...TAKE CARE EVERYONE AND THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT AND LOYALY OVER THE YEARS.I COULDNT HAVE MADE TARPIT SO SUCCESSFULL WITHOUT YOU.

DAN TURNER

YOU CAN STILL REACH ME WITH ANY QUESTIONS OR RESCUE NEEDS VIA A NEW EMAIL AND TELEPHONE NUMBER AT tarpit11@hotmail.com

CELL# 321-215-1839

ME AND SAMMY IN THE GOOD OLD DAYS

I MISS ALL THE SHOWS AND ALL MY FRIENDS

Tarpit Reptiles was started in 1996 by myself Dan Turner.Originally my concept was to biuld one of the most unique retail breeding facilities and stores in florida and concentrate on customer sales,service, and support .My ultimate goal was to teach people about these wonderful creatures called reptiles and go far beyond all the myths and misinformation that had been taught and publisized in the past.I was somewhat successful but unfortunatly the store had to be closed shortly after its opening do to circumstances beyond my control.At that point I decided to concentrate on breeding, and monitors were my top priority.In the years to come I spent my time collecting exceptional specimens and building a very modest but efficient breeding facility in melbourne florida.I bred a variety of lizards and snakes over the following years and always kept my eyes open for new and unique monitors to add to my breeding groups and black throat monitors became my passion.In september of 2001 I produced my first captive bred and born black throat babys from a very special pair of adults I had raised from babys imported in 1998.This was a very special event for several reasons.First is that a very small amount of people were working with this species and they had limited success in breeding them if at all.Second was that I documented and video taped the entire breeding and hatching process which had never been done before with this species or any other to my knowledge.A very exciting year for me to say the least.I am in the process of doing the same with other species that I am currently working with and I look forward to shareing more videos and information with the world.Reptile magazine a monthly world publication on reptiles has contracted me to publish an article due out in the june 2003 issue on my success and techniques with the black throat monitor.This will give everyone interested an inside look into the husbandry and breeding of this wonderful and impressive monitor from Tanzania.In the following pages you will find pictures and information pertaining to husbandry and care of a variety of the monitors in my collection and of other friends.Look around the site and check out the pics and husbandry care info.You might learn something or just have some fun.REPTILES ARE INDEED AMAZEING !!...I hope you find this helpful and informative.Feel free to email me if you have any questions at tarpit@bellsouth.net you will also find monitors and other lizards available for sale directly from me in the following pages..Enjoy !...Dan

HATCHING BLACK THROAT

HATCHLING ABSORBING THE EGGS CONTENTS

NEW BORN HATCHLING BLACK THROAT MONITOR

AN INCREDIBLE SPECIMEN

PAIR OF WHITE THROAT MONITORS

COUSIN OF THE BLACK THROAT

BANDED CAPE WHITE THROAT MONITOR

WOW! WHAT A DIFFERENCE IN PATTERN AND COLOR

Banded Capes are thought to be locality specific."In other words."..From a secific or special place in thier country of orgin.Recently these have become very hard to come by in collections and yet a few breeders are working with them and produceing them on a regular basis..Great!.

Its Tarpits commitment to breed and provide to its customers first rate high quality monitors and lizards from around the world ,and to educate and inform everyone about these wonderful creatures needs in captivity.

PASTEL Savanah Monitors

Another distant cousin of the black throat

THESE EXAMPLES OF WHITE THROATS AND SAVANAHS CLEARLY SHOW THE MAJOR DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THESE MONITORS AND THE BLACK THROAT.AT ONE TIME THE SAVANAH AND WHITE THROAT WERE CLASSIFIED AS BEING THE SAME MONITOR.MANY COLLECTORS AS WELL AS DEALERS GET CONFUSED TO THIS DAY WITH THE DIFFERNCE .NOT ONLY COLOR AND PATTERN BUT ADULT SIZE,LOCALITY,AND SCIENTIFIC DISCRIPTION.I HOPE THIS CLEARS EVERYTHING UP.MANY DIFFERENT FORMS AND HYBRIDS OF THESE SPECIES EXIST BUT ONCE YOU LEARN THE DIFFERENCE IT BECOMES VERY CLEAR.