Great to be here!

Hey guys Ian and I'm a newb to the forums. I've been keeping reptiles and amphibians for the better part of my life and have had the pleasure to meet quite a few fantastic people within the hobby. Back in the late 80's I had an opportunity to be working in my friends reptile center when he got the bright idea to start setting up frog terrariums. Now, I know he probably wasn't the first guy to do it but for me it was my first experience w/ tropical frogs and I really enjoyed it. Most species back than were imported and cost A LOT of money... and of course my friend who owned the store had to have them all. I think the first time we got arrow frogs in I was holding the container with these 2 absolutely stunning little blue frogs (sorry I'm not too familiar w/ arrow frogs so I don't know their species offhand) when he said "Ian, ya see them frogs there?" I said "Yeah! They're really pretty!" He said, "Yeah my wife thinks so too... Let's not tell her that I just spent $800 on the pair of them or she's going to kill me and then kill you just because you said they were cool." LOL! But I digress....

Anyway well over a decade ago I got totally fed up w/ crickets and was ready to call it a day keeping insectivorous animals until a friend of mine gave me a bucket load of Discoid roaches. After about a year I decided to spread the word of feeder roaches and in 1998 I guess you can say that's when The Roach Ranch was kinda officially "formed". I took care of regional customers for many years before I decided to open up shop on the internet a few years back. When I got online I ran w/ the name The Roach Ranch and have had the pleasure of meeting many many many more like minded enthusiasts within the trade. I've had a blast and still enjoy supplying reptile nation with feeder roaches for their animals. Aside from The Roach Ranch I play guitar and do quite a bit of touring w/ my hard rock band PISTOL SHOT GYPSY. I guess you could say that's what I truly do for work.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it. I'm glad to have been pointed in the direction of this site so that I can soak up as much knowledge as I can on some of the really cool frogs and toads that my customers keep.

Thanks for having me!

-Ian