Brian Barczyk

[NewSAHSnakeMom]

Busted!!!!

[Pirarucu]

Brian is great with snakes and does a massive amount for this hobby, you will never see me deny that. But a spade's a spade, and his monitor husbandry is not up to par. Even if we ignore the supposed feeding cages with substrate and water bowls, his latest "Night Nile" video shows a three foot Nile Monitor in a four foot wire cage with mulch substrate and a single basking light, and he tells us it's a perfect cage for it. It's not acceptable, especially for someone who helps set the industry standard for a lot of animals, and who is working with a gene that has the potential to kickstart the captive breeding of Nile Monitors and end the mass importation of wild caught animals by making captive breeding more profitable. If he continues keeping those black niles as he is now, we will not see that happen.
Understand that I am not attacking what he has done for the hobby, he has done a lot. But that doesn't excuse promoting terrible husbandry. He even says it himself in the quote you provided:

Originally Posted by Brian Barczyk

I think most people would agree that I make more of a impact on the hobby than almost anyone.

And it is because of that impact that his videos showing monitors in cramped boxes with inadequate conditions are such a blow to their captive care. People look to him to set the standard for proper care for a wide variety of animals, and he isn't coming anywhere close with the niles. But go ahead. Tell me all about how great he is and how he's setting such a good example here.

[nazanova]

I love Brian and think he is an amazing dude that has a great passion for animal and has done ALOT for this hobby like I've said. I know nothing about Monitors so I'm going to keep out of that discussion, but the way he keeps his big snakes i don't really agree with, but that doesn't change my opinion of him.

[millertime89]

As I've said here and in other places. The negativity is destroying the hobby and people like Brian are doing everything they can to mend the bridges once burned but some people refuse the proverbial olive branch that many have offered. It is a real shame. You guys didn't know everything when you started, if you've got the experience you should educate the new people, not berate them when they make mistakes. How many mistakes have we all made along the way? Lord knows I've screwed up.

Edit: just because someone is a "Pro" in one area doesn't mean they know it all. I wouldn't know what to do with turtles or frogs if someone asked me. There are tons of conflicting pieces of info out there.

[Pirarucu]

Here's the thing: Brian is clearly well aware that these conversations exist and has been for years. He obviously knows that many people disagree with his monitor husbandry, including some of the most experienced people in the US. What bridges has he tried to mend? What olive branch has he offered? Care to elaborate on those points? He has not corrected his care, and continues to trumpet his incorrect husbandry, saying in his latest nile video that "I think it's going to work perfect for these Nile Monitors. As you can see, it's a lot of room." Wrong, and wrong again. If a four foot cage is a lot of room for a three foot lizard, I'm a dancing pink bunny rabbit.
I simply don't care what you've done. Teaching incorrect care, knowing that successful breeders disagree with your husbandry, and doing so knowing that you are one of the most influential people in the hobby is inexcusable. Period. End of story. I respect what he's done, but I will not give him a free pass on his monitor husbandry because of it. Passionate? Check. Influential? You bet. Does a lot for the hobby? Absolutely. But does he keep his monitors correctly? No.

[millertime89]

What's wrong with trying something new? How long did it take for people to figure out how to breed GTPs? How long was it until people got retics to calm down and ball pythons to feed (mostly) on schedule? The best people in this hobby still can't get Boelen's pythons (and a number of other species) to breed in captivity. That screen shot is from a video that is now nearly a year old, how are we to know he hasn't changed it up?

You bet he knows about this thread and others, he's a social media master. Never have I seen someone adopt the next thing so quickly and so readily.

[Pirarucu]

Originally Posted by millertime89

What's wrong with trying something new? How long did it take for people to figure out how to breed GTPs? How long was it until people got retics to calm down and ball pythons to feed (mostly) on schedule? The best people in this hobby still can't get Boelen's pythons (and a number of other species) to breed in captivity. That screen shot is from a video that is now nearly a year old, how are we to know he hasn't changed it up?

You bet he knows about this thread and others, he's a social media master. Never have I seen someone adopt the next thing so quickly and so readily.

That's just the thing, he isn't trying something new. The care he's been using is the old standard that hasn't been updated in twenty or thirty years, and it doesn't work. I would love to find out that his husbandry has changed, but I have seen no evidence that it has. It took a long time to figure out how to breed monitors and achieve it with regularity, without the females dying from reproductive issues after their first clutch or two. Here, I'll leave the rest of this comment as a message to Brian Barczyk, and I truly hope that he will read it in full. If you want baby night niles, here's what you need:
Loamy soil as deep as the length of the monitor's SVL to lay eggs in (for niles, this should be in a heated nest box to replicate a termite mound) and basking temperatures in excess of 135°F surface temperature, with around 145°F being preferable. That needs to be combined with a very large cage (A minimum of twice the length of the animal) which ought to have a swimming area and a soil substrate to allow for burrowing. In addition, if the intention is to breed the monitors it is usually best to house them together as youngsters to allow them to develop a social hierarchy and practice the ritualized combat that they will use as adults to ascertain dominance. Individuals kept in solitary for their entire lives will often not know how to interact with others of their own species, and will simply kill each other to decide issues of dominance. In addition, dominance displays and mating rituals are very similar in monitors (so much so that the former is often mistaken for the latter), and the lack of practice in their ritualized combat will mean inexperience in mating rituals as well. Animals that were not raised with others will often not know how to properly court each other, so the male will instead subdue the female by force and possibly kill her in the process.

To summarize the reasons for these requirements:
The lack of a heated nesting box will cause the female to hold in her eggs longer and become egg bound by her third clutch. It will also commonly cause congenital defects and dead eggs in any clutches she does end up laying.
A lack of proper heating will lead to a faulty metabolism which will not be able to properly regulate and handle the food that is consumed, leading to an overweight lizard with very little muscle mass. The endocrine system and immune system will also suffer and malfunction, often causing kidney failure and a heightened vulnerability to pathogens that would normally be handled with ease.
A lack of deep substrate to burrow in will deprive the monitor of its ability to regulate the humidity of the air it is breathing, and it will become chronically dehydrated and eventually die of major organ failure and gout. Theoretically if the humidity in the cage is kept high enough they can do well without burrows, but I have yet to see anyone achieve this.
The lack of communal rearing will increase the risk of violent breeding and may cause the death of an animal when they are introduced. This is not always the case, but the risk does go up considerably, especially with species such as niles.

Brian, I would love to see these reproduced in captivity. Truly I would. It would be a tremendous step forward for the monitor sector, and would help decrease its reliance on imported babies, most of which never live to see their first birthday. Breeding morphs in captivity gives us the opportunity to make captive breeding a profitable and thus more appealing endeavor, leading to the end of a trade which currently relies on cheap imports. These niles present a chance to achieve in monitors what Bob Clark's breeding of the first albino Burmese Python achieved for the snake hobby. A shift to captive breeding the species instead of importing tens of thousands each year. If anyone has the resources to succeed with this project, it's you. It tears at my heart to see such an opportunity not being given your all, and to know that unless something is changed this project has a good chance of dying out. I truly hope that you will consider making the changes necessary to succeed with these incredible animals.

[franks]

Pirarucu- I agree with your points. I am not really chiming in because I have nothing to add to your opinion about monitor husbandry. You are correct.

When you are that influential you will be held to a higher standard and rightly so. People are looking to you to tell them how to keep their animals- that is alot of responsibility. There are many big breeders that are keeping our hobby alive and affordable and he is one of the more prominent ones. I intend no disrespect to him at all, I just wished people who are getting into the hobby seeked more to replicate the animals environment instead of trying to replicate the way a breeder with a thousand animals keeps his business investments.

[nazanova]

Originally Posted by franks

I just wished people who are getting into the hobby seeked more to replicate the animals environment instead of trying to replicate the way a breeder with a thousand animals keeps his business investments.

This is the best part of your whole paragraph to me!! I hate it when people think because they've seen breeders with hundreds of snakes keep theirs in rack systems or tubs that they can do the same with their like 2 snakes. It really frustrates me! Like if you only have a few, don't try to cut corners and be cheap, give them a loving home they deserve! Would you keep a full grown dog in a tiny cage, plain cage for most of it's life?

[nazanova]

There's a new video on Animal Bytes TV (Snake Bytes TV) about Monitor Lizards. When I see the sizes of the Monitor enclosures in this video compared to the one in Brian's latest Monitor video, it really makes me think and question if he should own Monitors at all.

Monitor Lizards Madness! Crittacam : AnimalBytesTV - YouTube

[David VB]

Originally Posted by franks

Pirarucu- I agree with your points. I am not really chiming in because I have nothing to add to your opinion about monitor husbandry. You are correct.

When you are that influential you will be held to a higher standard and rightly so. People are looking to you to tell them how to keep their animals- that is alot of responsibility. There are many big breeders that are keeping our hobby alive and affordable and he is one of the more prominent ones. I intend no disrespect to him at all, I just wished people who are getting into the hobby seeked more to replicate the animals environment instead of trying to replicate the way a breeder with a thousand animals keeps his business investments.

A BIG +1 on the whole post

[Judy@TRR]

Originally Posted by Pirarucu

Here's the thing: Brian is clearly well aware that these conversations exist and has been for years. He obviously knows that many people disagree with his monitor husbandry, including some of the most experienced people in the US. What bridges has he tried to mend? What olive branch has he offered? Care to elaborate on those points? He has not corrected his care, and continues to trumpet his incorrect husbandry, saying in his latest nile video that "I think it's going to work perfect for these Nile Monitors. As you can see, it's a lot of room." Wrong, and wrong again. If a four foot cage is a lot of room for a three foot lizard, I'm a dancing pink bunny rabbit.
I simply don't care what you've done. Teaching incorrect care, knowing that successful breeders disagree with your husbandry, and doing so knowing that you are one of the most influential people in the hobby is inexcusable. Period. End of story. I respect what he's done, but I will not give him a free pass on his monitor husbandry because of it. Passionate? Check. Influential? You bet. Does a lot for the hobby? Absolutely. But does he keep his monitors correctly? No.

I hope I don't regret doing this. I don't usually step in at the sites I review for The Reptile Report. And I should say for the record that what I'm saying here is MY opinion as a person, not as Chief Ed of TRR.

I have a great deal of respect for all the sites I visit each day, and for the members that keep them alive and running. We ALL play a critical role in the herping community, no matter what social-media naysayers will tweet about the death of forums.

But when these forums (or Facebook or Twitter) become a place to arm-chair quarterback each other, it becomes a problem. The problem isn't that folks disagree with how Brian keeps monitors, it's that they go about expressing their disagreement in such a negative manner. I know Brian personally, as a friend, and I respect the hell out of him. He's a very humble person. But he's also human. And when he's attacked, he puts up walls, as most anyone would. And when those walls are up, he's not going to see or be open to receiving the very valid arguments that a few cooler heads put forth.

If you sit around talking behind someone's back (when you're fairly certain they can/will overhear you) about how awful they are, they are not going to want to listen to anything constructive you might have to say later.

Instead...if someone is that concerned...take it directly to Brian and speak with him, and with at least a degree of courtesy, if not genuine respect. If you go at him and say, "Your monitor care sucks and it's obvious you're only in it for the money! Here's what you should be doing instead..." he's not going to hear you.

But if you approach him and say, "Hey Brian, I really admire what you do for the herping community, and it's obvious there's a lot of love for the animals here. You have a tremendous influence on how people care for their animals, and for that reason, I'm very concerned about some critical issues regarding monitor care. It would be amazing to see someone with your influence be able to show people the best way to care for these awesome lizards...." etc... He WILL be open to listen.

If you approach it right, you can even fire him up to be an advocate for correct monitor care. But that will NEVER happen with these kinds of behind-the-back rants that serve no purpose but to stir the pot of anger on all sides.

[Pirarucu]

I have already done that several times, most notably after his latest night nile video was first posted. Those messages were all along the lines of your second example, but so far I have not gotten a response from him. I have tried to open pleasant dialogue on the subject but he hasn't replied, leaving this as seemingly the only medium through which I am able to get a message across. You won't catch me saying that he is only in it for the money, he clearly isn't. It's obvious he's insanely passionate about the animals, more so than most people in the hobby. What's been irritating me the most about this thread isn't really the monitor issue in and of itself and his seeming resistance to suggestions for improvement, but rather the fact that many people seem perfectly willing to give him a free pass and ignore any mistakes he makes because of what he does for the hobby. That mindset simply doesn't make any sort of sense to me. It would if there was some necessitating link between helping the hobby and keeping the monitors the way he does, but so far as I can tell no such connection exists, and the reverse ought to be true. Providing and promoting better monitor husbandry would help the hobby even more than he already does.

[David VB]

I commented on his vids several times, all about the giant snakes in those tubs. Every time they got deleted...

[eminart]

Originally Posted by Judy@TRR

I hope I don't regret doing this. I don't usually step in at the sites I review for The Reptile Report. And I should say for the record that what I'm saying here is MY opinion as a person, not as Chief Ed of TRR.

I have a great deal of respect for all the sites I visit each day, and for the members that keep them alive and running. We ALL play a critical role in the herping community, no matter what social-media naysayers will tweet about the death of forums.

But when these forums (or Facebook or Twitter) become a place to arm-chair quarterback each other, it becomes a problem. The problem isn't that folks disagree with how Brian keeps monitors, it's that they go about expressing their disagreement in such a negative manner. I know Brian personally, as a friend, and I respect the hell out of him. He's a very humble person. But he's also human. And when he's attacked, he puts up walls, as most anyone would. And when those walls are up, he's not going to see or be open to receiving the very valid arguments that a few cooler heads put forth.

If you sit around talking behind someone's back (when you're fairly certain they can/will overhear you) about how awful they are, they are not going to want to listen to anything constructive you might have to say later.

Instead...if someone is that concerned...take it directly to Brian and speak with him, and with at least a degree of courtesy, if not genuine respect. If you go at him and say, "Your monitor care sucks and it's obvious you're only in it for the money! Here's what you should be doing instead..." he's not going to hear you.

But if you approach him and say, "Hey Brian, I really admire what you do for the herping community, and it's obvious there's a lot of love for the animals here. You have a tremendous influence on how people care for their animals, and for that reason, I'm very concerned about some critical issues regarding monitor care. It would be amazing to see someone with your influence be able to show people the best way to care for these awesome lizards...." etc... He WILL be open to listen.

If you approach it right, you can even fire him up to be an advocate for correct monitor care. But that will NEVER happen with these kinds of behind-the-back rants that serve no purpose but to stir the pot of anger on all sides.

I agree with this guy. I've come to hate the online community. It's the same no matter what the topic. I've been an avid forum-goes since the mid 90's, and whatever the club/topic/sport, the members are always their own worst enemy. And there's a few that are the self-appointed police of right and wrong. Every time.