About Us

When I was around four years old, my dad showed me a black racer slithering through the yard behind our house in northern Virginia. He said “That’s a snake, you don’t want to go near them.” And I, being the ever independent and stubborn person I am, ran after it trying to chase it down. Since then I’ve been fascinated with all herps, but especially snakes. I received my first pet snake, a ball python, as a birthday present from my mom when I was 9 and had him for 5 years. The purchase of Galadriel started the ball rolling and within two years I had five snakes, including my first two carpet pythons. Working at a snake farm just heaped more coals upon the fire and pretty soon I was starting to breed them to see what offspring I could produce. I've slowly proceeded to add a snake here and there over the next few years. I've tried to split my additions between boa constrictors and carpet pythons since those two species have piqued my interest. I appreciate the calm disposition of boas and the wide variability in carpet coloration and pattern.

I graduated from the University of Florida with a Bachelor’s in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation. I plan to pursue a Master's degree in the near future, but am currently searching for the right topic. I have a wide array of ecological interests including island biogeography, dispersal patterns and recruitment linked to gene flow in populations, invasive species interactions with native species, and community level interactions (ie - competition for resources). As an ecologist, I have an ever expanding Life List of animals I have to see in the wild before I am too old and senile to appreciate them. I've visited Costa Rica and Namibia on wildlife trips and I hope to visit Thailand, Indonesia, Papua/New Guinea, Australia, and the Amazon region sometime in the future. During my travels, I like collecting various animal parts: bones, teeth, feathers, skulls, tanned hides, and study skins. My favorite collection piece is a caracal skull I brought back from Namibia, Africa.

I am currently employed as a zoo keeper in Moody Garden's rain forest pyramid. The pyramid is ten stories tall and a square acre with an elevated walkway through the canopy level and a terrestrial path. I mostly help manage the herp collection, but on occasion work with other taxa.

Kyle Finn, owner Ghostfish Herps