Socially Uncomfortable Gamers: Opportunity

I find that hardcore gamers have a difficult time communicating with non-gamers in the ‘real world’. Most hardcore gamers I run across are highly intellectual, creative but socially uncomfortable face to face. I think this is sometimes a cause from becoming a hardcore gamer and sometimes the effect of becoming a hardcore gamer.


It seems in today’s society the most fashionable form of entertainment is the television which is such a bore to a highly intelligent and creative person. After a long day of class or work there is literally millions of people who don’t want to then just ‘sit’ in front of a television. These people seek interaction and stimulation but are too tired to ‘go out’ or have never quite enjoyed the ‘nightlife’ scene. MMORPGs which were introduced in the 90’s finally gave a large swath of our society a ‘nightlife’, a place they could make friends and be challenged with quests, economics, or whatever type of ‘real world’ interaction they would like, but virtually, from the comfort of their computer.

While most of the masses discuss the latest entertainment news, sports team/player, movie or television show in daily conversations, the Gamer is unable to relate. Why? Simply because the gamer isn’t entertained by the television and is therefore never exposes themselves to the fictional story lines, entertainment who done its or the athletic feats of the latest stars. A gamer has a truly loved hobby, the virtual world in which they interact for fun and stimulation, but unfortunately, those that do not understand this virtual world and hobby cannot relate. Thus a conversation between a gamer about his love, with a non-gamer who has no hobby or love outside of the mundane class schedule/ work and television entertainment is at a loss to find common ground.

I see and speak to gamers daily, but not about gaming or virtual worlds, I speak to them about the counter-culture world that many gamers are discovering can bridge the gap between their virtual lives and their real lives….I speak to them about my love….EXOTIC SNAKES! I breed exotic snakes, specifically, Kenyan Sand Boas, which are a very small (males rarely exceed 14”), safe (non-venomous), docile (very chill or bite) and unique pet. Most people have never owned a snake or have never thought of owning a snake, gamers included. But, what I am finding in our snake business at www.SandBoaMorphs.com is that more and more of my clients have one thing in common, MMORPGs.

I think there are multiple factors for the attraction of a Kenyan Sand Boa to gamers. The first reason, quite frankly, is social reasons. We are all bored out of our mind in daily ‘chit-chat’ and ‘small-talk’, the key to a good conversation is there being something interesting to be discussed and unfortunately, people have seemed to forget that BOTH sides should be interested in the subject! Regardless of if you are terrified (needless/senseless) or love snakes or not, if someone tells you they have a snake, you inquire more. When was the last time someone outside of your gamer friends asked follow up questions about your avatar or his/her latest accomplishments? Our gamer clients have found that sitting down at the coffee shop with their pet snake wrapped around their wrist or resting comfortably in their pocket has gotten them more attention and broken the ice in more social situations than ever before. When was the last time you were sitting alone and someone you had never met walked up and started talking to you? Instead of fake listening to the masses drone on about the latest sitcom or college football rankings they find themselves leading the conversations about their second favorite hobby, reptiles. In addition to thousands of topics, there is the physical holding, manipulating and feeling of your snake that can be shared with a new acquaintance or long time friend. Once you establish a common bond with someone a friendship then has a foundation to build upon. My experience with gamers is they tend to be, how do I say it, a little less concerned with worldly institutionalized decrees of how they should look and act. In a superficial world, this puts the gamer at a disadvantage, however, walk in the room with a snake in your hands or just talking about your snakes and it give the gamer an immediate ‘edge’. I have 100’s or gamer friends and ‘edgy’ is not a word I’d use to describe hardly any of them, but it sure doesn’t hurt to be seen that way. It makes them more attractive and mysterious…with an edge.

Once the initial attraction and friendships are cultivated the gamer can now have a real world place to take these friends. I’m not talking about the ho-hum kids pet store, I’m talking about the 1000’s of reptile shows across the United States that go on ever single weekend that you’ve just never heard of. The Reptile world is a 1.5 billion dollar industry that is going on all around you and you can visit and see 100,000’s of thousands of reptiles every Saturday and Sunday, probably within a couple hours of your home. You can visit our website www.sandboamorphs.com to see our show schedule for 2012 (we will attend over 30 weekend reptile shows this year) or you can go to http://www.reptilechannel.com/reptile-events/reptile-events.aspx at Reptile Channel to see the shows nearest your location. The hobby of owning and caring for reptiles is growing exponentially because the ease of care, inexpensiveness of the hobby and how little time you truly have to dedicate to your new pet. Our Kenyan Sand Boas are found in east Africa in a very hot and dry environment. As with any pet, you want to create an enclosure as close to their environment as possible. The desert environments are the easiest for new hobbyists to create because to create it you only need a 10 gallon aquarium, a pet heat pad, some sand and a water dish. Our sand boas can be housed their entire life in a 10 gallon aquarium by placing the heat pad on one side of the aquarium, dumping the sand in the aquarium and putting a water dish on the opposite side of the heat pad. Because they are from east Africa and they are snakes, you can forget to feed and water them for multiple weeks and they will be fine. Snakes are cold blooded and unlike your cat or dog, they only require being fed every week or two. The reptile industry has gotten smart and makes the care of snakes super simple by selling snake owners a package of frozen mice to feed their snake. Once every week or two you procure an appropriate size mouse out of the freezer bag and place it in a cup of hot water to thaw it out. Once it is warm, you simply throw the mouse into the aquarium as you go to bed and your snake will eat it. Your now done taking care of your snake for the next two weeks. There’s no vet checks or necessary shots for Kenyan Sand Boas, they enjoy being held and chilling in your hand or pocket. The cost to feed a Kenyan Sand Boa for a year is as little as $20. They are unique and different like most gamers we know but give you a topic of conversation to relate with anyone. We’ve witnessed many gamers meet their soul mates and genuinely increase their quality of life through the simple purchase of our snakes which for a nominal fee can be shipped to your door. Please take a moment and check them out at www.sandboamorphs.com .

2012 Kenyan Sand Boa Calendar Available

Our 2012 Kenyan Sand Boa Morphs calendar is now available!!!! This calendar includes exceptional examples of the Kenyan Sand Boa Morphs available in the US today. If you love Kenyan Sand Boas or you know someone who does, this is a must under the Christmas Tree!

The calendar also includes SandBoaMorphs.com 2012 show schedule and can be used to keep feeding, shedding, weights and breeding plans.

Click on link to order:

http://www.lulu.com/content/legacy-lulustudio-calendar/wwwsandboamorphscom/11693957

Secrets in the Sand 11/12 by AARK | Blog Talk Radio

Secrets in the Sand 11/12 by AARK Blog Talk Radio

Check out our radio interview with Alabama Herp Radio....

Thanks again Michael and Keith!

We need a High Pigment Snow Paradox Male

This is the first time I think I've posted looking for a specific morph.

I need a snow paradox male that is 30 grams to adult and is covered in black spots. These are referred to as high pig paradoxes. So if you have a male snow paradox, well any paradox that is covered in black spots...lol, we are interested. Cash, trade, cash and trade, if its got high pigment, you'll come out better in the deal, I promise.

You can contact us Mark@LHALegal.com or through facebook at Sand Boa Morphs. Please include a picture with your correspondence.

Here's a picture of a high pig albino and snow paradox:




Albino Paradox High Pigment (black spots)
Owned and Pictured by Travis Rose

 

Snow Paradox High Pigment (black spots)
Owned by SandBoaMorphs.com, pictured by Jennifer Huntley Photography



Autumn Greetings

Autumn greetings from SandBoaMorphs.com
~from one of our albino paradoxes

~from one of our anery's

~from one of our snow paradoxes

~from one of our albino's

'Rose' Pairs Available

Here is pictures of the 100% het 'Rose's, Rose is the father to all of the below snakes pictured below. We are unsure and have not proven that the 'Rose' gene (if there is one) is inheritable in anyway. 100% het Rose is a lazy way of saying Rose is the father and if he is carrying an inheritable gene these offspring of his will be carrying that gene...they are also 50% het albino. This project is the Rose project of Kenyan Sand Boas that are exhibiting very strange saddle coloring.

We will only sell them as pairs...these are the first females ever sold out of this project....

Rose is the snake pictured on the bottom

$200 a pair plus $30 shipping. Or we can deliver free of charge to Bowling Green December 10th  or Birmingham Dixie Reptile Show December 17th. Please paypal money to Mark@LHALegal.com with the snake # included. There is a lot of interest so first to pay is first to pick.....



100% Het Rose - Female #21






  



 


100% Het Rose - Female #27




100% Het Rose - Female #32





 



100% Het Rose - Male #23





 



 


100% Het Rose - Male #30





 



 


100% Het Rose - Male #22



100% Het Rose - Male #34




















Contact Mark@LHALegal.com for more information.

Vending Columbia Repticon this weekend!

We will have two tables at this weekends (November 5th and 6th) Columbia Repticon http://www.repticon.com/ reptile show. As always, we will be bringing 100's of incredible sand boa morphs. Some are pictured and are available for purchase on http://www.sandboamorphs.com/ . We always encourage presales, and of course, have free delivery to all of the shows we attend.

If you have never been to the Columbia Reptile show, this is the show to attend. There will be 100's of vendors and tables set up with not only the 'usual' but the unusual and the venomous! In fact this is the largest 'hot' (venomous) show in the United States. You will be able to stand nose to nose with pit vipers, spitting cobras, gaboon vipers, mambas and a list of everything venomous if you come. All safely packed away in deli cups with red tape securing them in place. Not only do they have the venomous section but the non-venomous area for vendors is packed full of all sorts of rare reptilia. If you can find the time I highly recommend you make the drive....one nice service Repticon provides is the negotiation of significantly reduced priced hotels...if you go to repticon.com and pull up the Columbia show, there is a 'hotels' or 'accomodations' button. click on it and enjoy the incredible savings!

We look forward to seeing everyone this weekend!

Just Acquired some Rose Line Females

If you've been following this blog for a couple years, you know that my good friend Travis Rose, produced a couple strange looking Kenyan Sand Boas in 2009. We refer to the possibly mutation as the 'Rose' line. The male that exhibitied the most abnormalities, had his black saddles heavily tipped with red/orange, almost like the color of the snake was bleeding through the saddles. 'Rose' is pictured at the bottom.

Travis heldback almost all of the litter that produced 'Rose'. We were lucky enough to get a couple and held back the majority of what we acquired. As our 'Roses' have grown we have one male and a couple females exhibiting similiar traits as the prize of the litter 'Rose' pictured above. Since that time Rose has grown up and has sired a second litter with his mother, an beautiful Albino.

Travis has again heldback a couple from this new litter that is exhibiting again some strange colorations within in the saddles and sent the rest to SandBoaMorphs.com. As we already have a couple year and half 'Rose' sibling females, we are going to let out a couple Rose females for the first time. NO ONE other than Travis and SandBoaMorphs.com owns any Rose females.

As a thank you to our past clients, we will make the Rose Females available to past clients first. I think rewarding loyalty and patronage is a free service we can provide you.

Please contact Mark@LHALegal.com if you are interested in this project...nothing has been proven, we are unsure of the genetics, all we can say is that the babies resulting from these litters appear to have strange colorations which get more strange as they age. We are still about a year away from being able to get more clear answers....male 'Rose's will also be available with a purchase of a Female Rose.

contact Mark@LHALegal.com for more information.