Well the title basically says it all but I’ll specify anyway, so I am aware that this pandemic has impeded on many of your plans for your animals (as well as my plans even though I dont currently have any reptiles) so what are your exact plans after all of this? I personally plan on heavily investing (agian) in my collection as well as attending a few shows and possibly helping some friends of mine vend at their first show as well as getting into boas as a side project while I have ball pythons as my main focus. I personally think this time we have all been stuck in quarantine has allowed us to have more time to focus on our animals and further think about our future plans with our projects or possibly even buying into some new projects. Very excited to hear everybody’s future plans after this all blows over!
Both my husband and I have been fortunate enough to continue working through the pandemic, so we’ve been able to make investments in more animals and expand our projects. Still not a lot of big plans, but I at least have some little goals I hope to meet in a couple years.
Good luck with rebuilding! I heard you had a pretty solid collection. I’ve been following your other thread hoping to hear good news.
I also plan to rebuild my collection and breeding stock.
I had all my projects laid out, and spent about 3 years figuring out exactly what I wanted to produce. I went with species and morphs I enjoyed so if it didn’t work out, at least I’d be stuck with snakes I liked.
At the beginning of February 2020, I was diagnosed with gastrointestinal bleeding.
Over the last few years I developed stomach issues that just didn’t seem to go away.
It got to the point where I needed medical advice and attention, which I never seek out.
I’ve never had health insurance, and my career doesn’t provide it to me.
I had to pick if my health was worth the risk, or I needed to find a way to make some money fast.
I decided to sell off my snakes, as they were where all my investments were concentrated.
It was one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever made, but I had to choose that or end up risking my life.
I sold all my equipment and snakes except Pistolero my pied ball.
It took me so long to build that collection with so many hours of research finding what appealed to me as a keeper.
But since I was never was very smart with my money as to savings, I have no one but myself to blame for not being prepared for my health issues that arose.
So while I’ve been on quarantine, I’ve started to rebuild my collection slowly. I was able to find a pair of my favorite species just this last month, and plan to breed them when they mature. I’ll hopefully one day be fortunate to share my love of reptiles and plan to do educational events for younger kids. I’ve also started working on a book, pertaining to snake husbandry with the species I’m experienced in.
I lost a lot of hard work, and my animals which I hold above many things in this world. But in the end I was able to get healthy, and keep my passion alive for these amazing creatures.
So sorry that this happened to you, and that you had to make decisions because of what happened. I will definitely keep you in my prayers. I hope your collection builds faster than you expect, once again.
Riley
Thank you, I appreciate the kind words Riley.
But I do ask that people don’t feel sorry for me. It was my decision to sell my snakes and overall my poor judgement for not taking better care of my health. I definitely have nothing to blame but myself in both cases.
It was a life lesson, that I hope will show some people that you need to prepare for things you don’t expect.
I second that! Originally, I had a plan all laid out for after I graduated vet school. I was going to do a 1-year rotating small animal internship at a reputable private clinic, follow that up with a 1 year exotics internship, +/- 3-5 year exotics residency (that part was more of a dream, those are almost impossible to get), and from there work on pursuing ABVP certification in reptile/amphibian & small exotic mammal. I had an amazing future ahead of me, and I had given everything for it. I was in major debt from student loans, but I was sure that I’d make it through to a stable, rewarding career.
Well, in the interest of avoiding a sob story, here I am, not quite 40, no board certification (just regular license + USDA cert.), disabled, and unable to practice. 
My mom nagged me mercilessly, ensuring I always had health insurance, so at least there’s that? 
In terms of my reptile plans, I’m actually struggling! I desperately want to start a leopard gecko breeding project just for fun (not to become a well-known breeder or anything like that), but my common sense knows that my situation needs to change before undertaking anything like that. I just keep thinking about it and getting bummed out that I can’t do it! Hmph!
I’d really love to work on Rainwater Diablo Blancos/White Knights in terms of picking a bunch of monogenic traits to work with. But I’m a huge fan of polygenic, selectively bred projects. Years ago I bred ‘linebred’ snows, and I think that would be fun again, though I don’t know if there would be a market. Melanistic (Black Nights/Black Pearls/etc.) and carrot tail also call to me! I want a 100% carrot tail before I die, by gum, and if no one else has one for me, I suppose I’d best tend to the matter personally. 
Ok, I feel for you then
Thank you for the kind words! In the next few weeks I will be giving somewhat of a major update on the other thread as well as here regarding my projects starting back up! Glad to hear you are progressing at a steady rate with your collection.