Shandra, David, and Anastasia Amon

 

The company is run by Shandra with the help and support of her loving husband, David, and their daughter, Anastasia. Along with their growing collection of snakes, they are owned by three dogs, two cats, six hedgehogs, one prairie dog, and a supply of rodents. (No, this is not Noah’s Ark, but it feels like it sometimes!) Shandra has a Bachelor of Arts in Russian and a Master of Education in Instructional Technology and currently home-schools their daughter. 

 

Their story starts like many others. Shandra had two snakes when she was in college in Texas. One was a California kingsnake and the other was a ball python. While the California Kingsnake was nice, she quickly fell in love with the ball python. Fast forward twenty years, and their daughter wanted a "reptile". David was hoping to get a water dragon, but Shandra was leaning towards a ball python. Shandra knew they were solid and docile and would be a good first snake for Ana. So, while David was away on business, Shandra took their daughter to The Enclosure in Plum Borough, PA. They brought out a cornsnake that was about as big around as Shandra's pinky and very "lively". She could barely keep a hold of it herself. Shandra pictured that snake getting dropped on the floor where their cats and/or dogs would kill it, or it would escape. Shandra asked if they had any ball pythons because she didn't see any on display. They brought out “Apophis”, and he was calm and sweet and large enough for their daughter to hold without squishing it. Shandra purchased him and surprised David. While Shandra's husband wasn't initially thrilled with the idea, he soon warmed up. Shandra started researching online and found N.E.R.D.'s website with their collection of ball pythons. She couldn't believe all the beautiful morphs they had in their collection! That's when it happened - Shandra told her husband she wanted to start breeding designer morph ball pythons, and, as they say, the rest is history!