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Live From Cornsnake Dinner!!!

Ditto on that "Great thread"! Thanks Nanci.
And thanks for the call, youse all whom I talked to! Next year I'll be there in person to meet you.
 
Thanks for all the updates. After coming in from doing "Honey-Do" jobs all day, this was a great read. Pretty envious I wasn't able to attend . . . yet. Pictures would have definitely made this thread an even better experience!

Thanks!!! :cool:
D80
 
Fantastic thread! Guess I gotta get back to feeding snakes now... <trudging off to snake room>

Rebecca
 
Nice job Nanci, thanx for taking the time to make us feel like we were there....... well......... except for the winning snakes part...;)
 
I will post a utube teaser of what went on at the raffle.. By the way I won 3 times!!!:)
the title will be utube #3 on my personal forum or just click on my signature image
 
I just want to clear something up about the Hotel Lady: she really WAS a hotel lady! NOT Katie! I think she was someone who was supposed to be at the front desk. I think she ended up with 3 snakes. It was funny to watch!!! LOL It was a great dinner!
 
UniqueSnakes said:
I will post a utube teaser of what went on at the raffle.. By the way I won 3 times!!!:)
the title will be utube #3 on my personal forum or just click on my signature image
Click to expand...

WOW -- that was definitely a "teaser." I want more!!!! :crazy01:

Thanx again Nanci - this was awesome. Can't wait to see everyone's pics!!!
 
UniqueSnakes said:
I will post a utube teaser of what went on at the raffle.. By the way I won 3 times!!!:)
the title will be utube #3 on my personal forum or just click on my signature image
Click to expand...

Thanks for the little tease! It was great seeing some folks, though I could only recognize a few of them by sight.
 
WOW!! Really. WOW! What a great read and a great thread. Thanks, Nanci for almost making it like we were there! Very exciting!

Congrats to all the winners! Remember, LOTS OF PICS!!!
 
Sounds like you guys had alot of fun! I've never been to a reptile expo before.. so i might have to head down there next summer!
 
Great thread. Sounds like everyone is having a good time.:)
Wish I could have been there ... maybe next year.
Congrats, to all the winners and hope everyone continues having fun!
 
This was the speech that I gave for the presentation of Rich's award:

We have a very special award to present to a member of our community who has been an inspiration to many of us here tonight. Among the largest producers of cornsnakes in the country, consistently pushing the boundaries in cornsnake genetics to create the next incredible morph and the creator of Cornsnakes.com, the forum which has helped many novice keepers start on the right foot, and has also brought many of us here together this evening - Rich Zuchowski.

Rich grew up with four brothers and a sister in Maryland. He developed a love of snakes at an early age. His siblings also enjoyed reptiles, but not to the same extent as Rich which was probably a relief to his parents as he was always bringing things home.

Rich met Connie in Maryland and they have now been married almost 32years. She has been breeding leopard geckos for almost 28yrs and also works alongside Rich with the snakes. Connie told us that prior to meeting Rich, he was a musician for a while - playing the keyboards. He also worked in the computer programming field both in Maryland and in Florida but gave that up to focus full time on snakes in 2001.

A fun fact about Rich is his picky eating habits - he won't eat anything that he can't see what it is - so no casseroles for him! In fact, apparently he doesn't go out to eat often because he has to know EXACTLY what he is eating. Unlike many of his snakes which have been known to eat just about anything - including a stray finger or two!

Over the years he has kept and bred many species of snakes and lizards but his favorites are the cornsnakes and Indigos. Unfortunately, when he and Connie moved to Florida in 1990, he was unable to bring the Indigos with him. I can only imagine how hard it must have been to make that decision. But if he hadn't, maybe we wouldn't have some of the amazing corn morphs we do today.

To be able to work with what you truly enjoy and love, and be successful, is a great achievement. Rich has been lucky enough to experience that and he knows not all people have the opportunity to do that which makes him feel very fortunate.

Rich was also friends with Dr. Bechtel, since the 80's, and they often discussed cornsnake genetics or just reptiles in general. He actually got one of his first Motley cornsnakes from Dr. Bechtel. On a visit to Rich right after publishing his big book, Dr. Bechtel said Rich’s caramel project messed up some of what he just published. So Rich gave him a bunch of caramels to work on to find out for himself what was up with them.

So tonight, in Dr. Bechtel's memory, and to honor a one of the most respected members of our community, we present Rich with the first annual H Bernard Bechtel Award for Contributions to the Advancement of Cornsnake Herpetoculture.

Thank you Rich - for everything you have done for this hobby. We wish you all the best with Connie in your retirement!!
Click to expand...
 
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