Hey y'all! from Inspiration Exotics

[inspirationexotics]

Hey y’all! I figured since I’ve been on the forums for a couple years, I may as well go ahead and introduce myself. I’m Kayla, owner of Inspiration Exotics, and I started breeding in 2020. I’m a very small hobby breeder (currently a graduate student). I’m originally from Austin, Texas, and knew some awesome reptile community folks down there, but now I live in central Illinois and am attending graduate school for library and information science. I also write (mostly fantasy including dragons, no surprise there).

I work with a few different species! I started in ball pythons, because I’ve loved them my whole life and I loved the genetics. I’m working on enhancers and high contrast projects, so my primary focus in DG, pied, hopefully crypton/monsoon in the future with genes like GHI, lace, nanny, granite, OD, and fire complex and getting really high quality, high-gene expression contrast animals. I have a trio of KZN red T- African house snakes (B. capsensis) growing up that I’m hoping to breed next season and expand into more! This was my first season producing crested geckos, which turned out amazing (I posted a thread in #geckos:crested-geckos about it) and hope to do sarasinorum geckos in the future as well, I have a gorgeous female growing up! Since I have very limited space and funds, I’m extremely picky about my project animals and only have a few in each species.

I also set myself some ethical standards when I started breeding (which not everyone will agree with, and that’s okay)! I don’t work with any genes that have any higher potential to decrease quality of life, so no neuro genes or physical defect genes in ball pythons (I do work with black pastel, but will never breed supers). I also like to provide all of my animals with enrichment. These are things I’m outspoken about because they’re part of my passion of always improving myself and making a positive impact on the hobby where I can, as a tiny hobby breeder.

I’m also super friendly, love to talk, and go to a bunch of shows. Being around people helps with my mental health, which is something I struggle with a lot at times. Nice to meet y’all!

MorphMarket Store: Inspiration Exotics - MorphMarket
Facebook: Redirecting...
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/inspiration.exotics/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyd6nJ73xF0uxRtFV8_APNg (which I would like to update more, but is very hard to keep up with filming and editing while I’m in grad school).

One of my gecko holdbacks this year:

And the first ever BP holdback I produced (from a surprise clutch I didn’t pair for), gorgeous pastel enchi mojave female:

[caryl]

Nice intro, Kayla. Are you planning to stay in Illinois street you finish grad school? Welcome seems the wrong word since you’re already a member of the community so I will say it’s always nice hearing from you. Does that work?

[voodoomagicboas]

Hi, Kayla! Nice to meet you!

So glad you posted: I went ahead and followed you on IG and YouTube; we have recently re-activated/activated both mediums, so it is awesome to have other reptile people to follow. We love this community and having been out of it for a while, being back since 2020 has been a super positive experience!

Also it as AWESOME you are getting your degree in Library and Info Science. I used to work at a college teaching public speaking, and the BEST compliment I EVER received was from my favorite LIS professional who said I would be a great librarian (and that was after working with her for 10 years! I still smile at that!)

Thank you too for sharing about your mental health: I feel the same and made this post about it here on the forum where some other lovely folks shared their experiences…

How do Boas help reduce your anxiety?

Greetings , Boa peeps! I am doing some preliminary research to support my personal and medical application to certify our boas as Emotional Support Animals with my counseling team. To that end, I thought this (MorphMarket ) would be a safe, appropriate and effective place to ask this question: How do your boas help you with anxiety management or any other mental or behavioral health concerns? Please feel free to DM any input or references that you would prefer not t…

In any case, great to “meet” you and we’ll look forward to running into you at a show sometime - and good luck with Grad School!

Susan and Aaron Houts
Voodoo Magic Boas

[inspirationexotics]

Thank you!! I’m honestly not sure where I’ll end up long-term. I do own my home here in central Illinois so I certainly have a nice living arrangement, or I may end up back in Texas where most of my family and friends are. Ultimately, it will probably be determined by where I can get a good job!

[inspirationexotics]

It’s great to meet you too!! I followed you back on IG and will do so later on YT as well - it’s always really great to have other reptile folks to keep up with!

That is an awesome compliment! In my experience information professionals can be picky, so I definitely agree with you that that is high praise! I plan to go into either school libraries or public libraries, I haven’t decided yet!

I also just got my very first boa, a B.c. longicauda I picked up at Tinley a month ago. I’m very excited to watch him grow!

[voodoomagicboas]

What a beautiful boy!! Again, so glad we’ve connected and very best of luck with your studies and your new boa adventures