Mel's Exotics

I’ve added a new “Extra” to my BMAC page – an adorable sticker of Chibi-Pryce!
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/melsexotics/e/87556

This is my first attempt using BMAC to sell anything, so I’m not sure it’s set up correctly. If you buy one I need your address for shipping, but I’m not sure if BMAC has that setting, so the first purchases may be a bit wonky.

If this goes well we have some really adorable merchandise coming in courtesy of Fire & Ice Designs. More on those coming soon! My goal is to be able to send something each month to BMAC members, but also to have it available as a one-off purchase for those who want to control what they’re getting.

And BMAC members, I need your addresses to ship you a present too as a thank you!

PS: If anyone is a BMAC whiz, lmk. Thx!

Hey friends,

Tomorrow is my first “big” shipping day of the year. I’ve only got 5 shipping kits on hand (the others are already shipped to me but haven’t arrived yet), so tomorrow I can send up to 5 babies to their new homes. As soon as the additional kits arrive I can send out the rest too.

Shipping animals across Canada is always stressful for me, but I want to take a moment and give thanks to the company that makes it possible: Reptile Express. Sam and his team work really hard to make sure every animal I send out gets safely to it’s new owners, and they’ve made it very convenient too. Having services like this available means a ton to me <3

I’m working on basic shipping video to show how I use Reptile Express’s products and services; keep an eye out for it on my YouTube channel in the coming days:
https://linktr.ee/melsexotics

Many thanks,
Mel

Hey friends! Yesterday we had some sunshine here and most of the babies had shed recently, so of course I did a mini-photoshoot. Enjoy!

RC1 – Unclaimed:

RC2 – Sold to SP:

RC3 – Sold to AF:

RC4 – Sold to AH:

RC5 – Unclaimed:

RC6 – Unclaimed:
 

RC7 – Unclaimed:

RC8 – Unclaimed:

RC9 – Sold to AS:

RC10 – Unclaimed:

RC11 – Sold to RM:

RC12 – Sold to CJ:

RC13 – Unclaimed:

Rajah – Unclaimed:

Tony – Sold to SC:

Tigger – Unclaimed:

Hobbes – Sold to MD:

Roar – Sold to DN:

Some were in shed, sorry. Once they’ve shed out if they’re still here I’ll get updated photos. But most of the babies will be leaving next week (shipping supplies are en route to me!) to their new homes. If you’re one of the folks getting a baby, please consider sending me updates sometime. I’m loving the look of the babies and can’t wait to see how they grow 🙂

Hey friends!

I figured I’d better follow up yesterday’s odd post with a new post today. I just finished a very helpful therapy appointment, I’m pretty sure I’ll be financially ok for at least a few months, and best of all, my partner’s doctor called and she has a clean bill of health!

I’m still open to selling/rehoming some animals, but I’m not going to panic-sell my whole collection at least. So yay. I’m going to take this week to take stock of everything and see what is still possible for me to achieve in 2022.

I’m still hoping to visit the CRBE in September, but whether I’ll be able to film/vend/transport/etc. depends on funds and whether I can get some helpers. My friends at Fire & Ice Designs will be there, so I absolutely want to do some promos for their amazing art.

I would love to attend other expos, but unfortunately don’t have the funds for that. If anyone is going and wants a travel buddy, let me know 🙂

Umm. I still don’t know what to do about Beyonce. Still waiting on vet to confirm if treatment is even available. She’s herself at the moment, but I’m not comfortable with her condition. She needs more supportive care for sure, so I guess I’ll focus on that while we wait for more news.

My family of Monkey Tails is doing great, but needs a new enclosure. I don’t have the funds for that, so I’ve put them up for sale for $1k each. Ideally I’d like the trio at least to stay together. If I manage to find a better enclosure before they sell, I’ll keep them.

My Peters Banded Skinks include a cohabbed group of 7 and an individual that need some supportive care. I’ve listed the group for 300 each. I was hoping to sell them all as a group to someone who would try to breed this species, but I’m open to selling them individually. Keeping them would require an enclosure upgrade and I don’t think I can afford that unfortunately. So if you want to get into this incredible species let me know.

I have 3 yearling pink tongue skinks looking for new homes. All European imports, said to be unrelated lines. Priced at $500 each plus shipping.

For blue tongues I’ll make them their own post, but I will say I have the opportunity to buy another litter of northern babies wholesale from another Canadian breeder. Right now I can’t afford it, but if there’s enough demand I can bring them in with my severance pay. I just don’t want to have more mouths to feed if I don’t have a new job in a couple months.

If you’re interested in buying an animal, please email contact@melsexotics.ca.
For videos (I’m working on a new one about Shipping right now!) check out my YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpVkgO0dtLfCSwr6Ds0CP_A.
If you want to chat, join me on my discord: https://discord.gg/zPSnM3rZdx

And if you want to send some financial support I have a Buy Me A Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/melsexotics.
It’s new and I’m trying to figure out how to add member perks and maybe merch options. Right now I’m looking at stickers, calendars, rings, and even things like “animal sponsorships”.

One thing I wanted to do this year was a handle-the-animals event. Have people come visit and spend time actually interacting with the animals. The animals love having people over to engage with them, and I love spending time with other animal nerds. So I’m going to try to set that up since I guess I have some time right now. I’ll have to come up with a plan, so stay tuned for that.

This has been another long run-on post, sorry. Writing this out is helping me organize my thoughts and hold myself accountable. I’m going to end here for now. I’m going to go make KD for my fiance and I, and then I think Thindra is coming over and we can do some critter chores together.

Be well, my friends.

Many thanks,
Mel

Hey friends,

If you haven’t seen already, I lost my job on Friday.

I managed to stay busy until now so I didn’t have time to really think about it. But right now I’m out of urgent to-dos, and now it’s hitting. Thankfully I talk to my therapist tomorrow, because I feel very lost right now.

I’m going to try a technique Kortny taught me: Worst, Best, Most Likely

What’s my Worst case scenario (be reasonable here)?
I have to put Beyonce down and rehome all of my animals.

What’s the Best case scenario?
Somehow I get enough $ to keep most of my critters, do necessary enclosure upgrades, and pay for my CRBE trip.

Now what’s the Most Likely scenario?
I have to sell off most of my Critters for now and work on saving for more adventures in 2023.

Hmm. I’m not sure how I feel now or whether that helped.

Ok, let’s try this. My BMAC takes off AND I get great severance AND I get a great new job. What would I do?

Well that seems unlikely, but ok. I come up with some fun merchandise to send to supporters and to sell at events/online. I get all the vet treatments for Beyonce and I replace the MTS family enclosure. I upgrade the lights for the PTS and PBS. I pay for myself and my team to attend the CRBE, maybe even other upcoming expos. I start the new job in the fall and the job is so interesting I don’t even care that it’s winter again.

This is such a weird post. Maybe I’m just thinking aloud, or maybe I’m sharing in the hopes others might help me.

Do I need help? I don’t know. I honestly can’t tell if I’m falling apart or coping well.

There’s a thunderstorm outside. I’m going to close the computer and go watch the rain. I hope y’all are doing well this evening.

Many thanks,
Mel

Hey friends. If you’re in a position to afford it, check out my new BMAC. It has one-time and ongoing support options, plus I’ll be adding extras and merch as I figure it out.

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/melsexotics

Hey friends,

2022 hits again. I lost my job. I’m trying so hard to stay optimistic, but just… fuck.

I’m not sure what this means for ME or my animals. If it takes me a while to find a new job I’ll have to rehome everyone, as I simply don’t have any financial “cushion” left. I’ll continue to update my website and social medias as I figure out more.
https://linktr.ee/melsexotics

I’m looking into options like selling calendars or starting a membership program that gets cute stickers or something. Sometime to let me keep my animals in the hopes of a better 2023. Honestly I’m feeling pretty lost; if you have any advice or suggestions, please reach out.

Anyways. I’m still getting the current babies out to their new homes this month, and I might even have someone willing to send me more babies to find homes for, so that’s exciting. And hey, I finally have time to edit my backlog of videos, so yay I guess.

No matter what, I’m keeping my chin up. 2022 may have hit me hard, but I’ve been fighting back the whole way and will continue to do so. I have cute animals and good friends all around me. I’m still going to be around animals, even if I close the business, and I still want to contribute to my community however I can.

I’ll stop rambling here. I hope you’re all doing well, and if you’re not, know that these shitty times won’t last forever <3

Many thanks,
Mel

Hey friends!

The new babies from Rob Conrad (@RobsIguanas) are all in shed right now, so these photos don’t do them justice, but I promised to put up photos ASAP so here they are:

RC1

RC2

RC3

RC4

RC5

RC6

RC7

RC8

RC9 (shedding now, look at the colour difference!)

RC10

RC11

RC12

RC13

As each one sheds I’ll take updated photos out in the sunshine.

These babies are already spoken for. BUT. I might have found some more babies that I can bring in and resell! It’s a work in progress, but stay tuned for more updates 🙂 I promise I’m trying really really hard to make sure everyone who wants a baby northern can get one this year. Thank you all for being so patient and supportive. My customers are the best <3

Hi friends!

2022 has been an usual year so far, in part because some of Canada’s biggest blue tongue skink breeders (including myself) had astoundingly bad litters this year. With 9 females bred I’d hoped for dozens of babies – instead I’ve ended up with half a dozen. And I’m not the only breeder who had this luck either unfortunately. Thankfully some of the smaller blue tongue skink breeders across Canada did produce some litters, so there are some CBB babies available across Canada, but definitely fewer than usual.

Now of course this was the year I decided to try pre-sales. Suddenly I had 20 people I’ve promised babies to, and only 6 babies to send.

So I reached out to my blue tongue breeder friends across Canada. The blue tongue community is a special community – we all love these animals so much and love getting the babies into new homes. Most years we work together to discuss breeding plans, who’ll be at what show, etc. We’re friends who all share the same goal – promote this species we adore.

I’m rambling here, but long story short the hero of the hour is Rob Conrad. Today he shipped an entire litter of 13 stunning baby skinks to me. He drove them to the FedEx hub in Ontario, and tomorrow morning I pick them up from the hub in Winnipeg.

Y’all, these aren’t average babies. Rob works with some high-end animals (like Fiji Iguanas! Those are so damn cool.) so these babies are from a Caramel line bred to a Sunset line. I love that Canadians get access to these unique linage skinks.

Rob isn’t the only hero though. Steven from Reptile Express jumped in to help when I made an error setting up a shipping label. He got it fixed and a new label sent in no time. I use Reptile Express to ship my skinks across Canada, and year after year they make it easy and most importantly safe.

Anyways, I have to run for now. Babies arrive tomorrow, Thindra will be around to help me set them up in their temporary bins, and pictures will be posted by Wednesday.

If you’re not already on the pre-sale list I’m sorry, I don’t have more babies. I am downsizing right now – I just started updating my available page yesterday, so if you’re in the market for an older skink or a skink of a different species please take a look.

Many thanks,
Mel