# Reptiles By Mack - What I didn't know



## LittleButterfly (Jan 16, 2019)

Hey everyone
So recently I have started watching a reptile channel called goherping. I find it really entertaining and interesting and in one of the videos Alex, the person who runs the channel, called 84 pet smarts and asked them where they get their reptiles from. Most of the stores either said they couldn't say, they got them from corporate breeders or that they plain just didn't know. A few of the stores said Reptiles by Mack.
I had heard about them from a video I watched a while ago by Brian Barczyk. I didn't pay much attention to the actual husbandry of the animals because I was distracted by the sheer size of the place. Looking back at the video, I'm kinda disappointed. It is a huge facility and it just seems too big to have all the individual animals be kept properly. I have also looked at news articles and seen that some of the animals have been neglected and that management is very poor. It's just sad to see someone (Brian) who I enjoy watching, support something that I find kinda sad. PETA posted videos and articles about it, which I know to take with a pinch of salt because they also have said that no one should be keeping reptiles as pets.
Also, as Brian was going through some of the ball pythons, I could see that there was barely any substrate in them.
If you feel like I said something wrong or have been misinformed feel free to correct me but do it politely please.


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## Herpetology (Jan 16, 2019)

Reptiles by Mac is known as a puppy mill of reptiles in America, there’s undercover videos where animals have been squished, starved, no water etc, and they just move it on.

If there’s anything about Peta I do enjoy, it’s their undercover videos (yes I understand they edit it to please their audience, but u can’t deny the stuff they do show)

Brian isn’t a bad guy, but his breeding setup is also extremely large, something like 5000 animals.


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## LittleButterfly (Jan 16, 2019)

Herptology said:


> Reptiles by Mac is known as a puppy mill of reptiles in America, there’s undercover videos where animals have been squished, starved, no water etc, and they just move it on.
> 
> If there’s anything about Peta I do enjoy, it’s their undercover videos (yes I understand they edit it to please their audience, but u can’t deny the stuff they do show)
> 
> Brian isn’t a bad guy, but his breeding setup is also extremely large, something like 5000 animals.



Yeah, Peta gives the unfiltered version of what it is. I have seen photos animals bleeding and having other horrible injuries.
Brian does have a large collection and probably not enough staff. Although he has downsized it is still a large facility. 
The sheer size of Reptiles by Mack is probably the first thing that people should notice because that is just a lot of animals to take care of
[doublepost=1547613975,1547613877][/doublepost]And also, some breeders take the rack system too far. It must be so dull living in those conditions with no stimulation and just a water dish and barely any substrate for the rest of their lives


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## Chris1 (Jan 16, 2019)

Unfortunately animals suffer when people get greedy, im sure he could afford enough staff to properly care for the animals,...but that would cut into profits,......

You should have a look into the beef industry over there,....


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## LittleButterfly (Jan 16, 2019)

Chris1 said:


> Unfortunately animals suffer when people get greedy, im sure he could afford enough staff to properly care for the animals,...but that would cut into profits,......
> 
> You should have a look into the beef industry over there,....


Yeah, the passion is pretty much lost when big amounts of money are involved, which is really sad. I dont know why people can just settle for good quality animals that are really taken care of, even if it does mean loss of money. But that's just unrealistic


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## Ella C (Jan 17, 2019)

Goherping is great. Really amusing!
I don't understand the rack system, the point of reptiles (in my opinion) is to be admired and you can hardly admire a snake when it's in a white tub. I understand that it can be used for breeding, but why do people feel the need to keep their reptiles in them for their whole lives? They become more of an object then, occasionally pulled out for the owner to show off.


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## Mick666 (Jan 17, 2019)

I use racks for some of my smaller snakes, the cost of building my enclosures is roughly $1000 the cost of building my racks is under $200 including the heat cord and tubs. I like to use clear tubs so i can look for any mess they've made and check water without opening the tubs. tubs are also way easier to clean. My large snakes are all in display enclosures.


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## rainmonitors (Jan 31, 2019)

i love watching Alex's videos too, relate too much with his awkwardness and humour. that video is especially amusing. really glad that we don't have anything like Reptiles by Mack here in Aus


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## Imported_tuatara (Jan 31, 2019)

commercial breeding in general is luckily not too common here with reptiles.


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## Pauls_Pythons (Jan 31, 2019)

Racks are not the be all and end all of keeping reptiles but for those who keep harping on about them you should consider that some species (and individual animals within a species) do better in racks than in large enclosures.
I swore I would never use them but now I do. And have seen marked improvement in the development of some animals that have been moved into them.

Once you get off your high horse and think about other animals kept as pets and think about birds kept in cages, fish in tanks, rabbits, even cats and dogs in many cases. Even look at your food supply and consider the conditions the chook is being kept in that laid those eggs you just had for breakfast.


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## Barry (Apr 20, 2019)

Well I’ve hit the trifecta, I keep my snakes in a rack , fish in a tank& bird in a cage, probably a good thing I don’t keep my kids in the basement


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