We Amazonians all hope your holidays are and will be terrific. We are all looking for an awesome 2009! 2008 was a bit rocky for our country and specially for the reptile industry. While retail is a bit off, people are still buying. We have not had to lay-off anybody, nor have we had to contemplate closing one of our locations. We have a strong inventory of good animals in stock and are ready to supply you all with those choice specimens you so desire.
Come see us after the Reptile Super Show this weekend at the Pomona fairgrounds.
INDIAN STAR TORTOISE
Our Montclair store is just five miles east and Covina location is about 8 miles west of the fairgrounds.
CLICK HERE for a map and driving directions from the show to our Montclair store.
CLICK HERE for a map and driving directions from the show to our Covina location.
By the way. Dr. Tom Greek is going to be at the show. Make sure you go by and say hi. Please do us the favor of mentioning to him you saw this post.
His new practice is now up and running. This is an excellent opportunity to reconnect with an old friend. Tom is the best!
All of us here at ARC hope your holidays are and will be terrific. We recently had our fourth annual company dinner. All the staff brings a loved one and we have dinner at a nice local restaurant. This year we ate at The Sycamore Inn.
SANTA RITA MTN GREEN RATSNAKE
Prime steaks, plus fine fish and poultry. Food was incredible, staff agrees! Beers and other beverages made for a truly outstanding time. The place has fables about the early history of the building. I'll let you ask their crew about the building's potentially sordid past! 2008 brought many new faces to our team. We had a lot of turnover in 2008. The familiar (and not so familiar) faces moving on for various reasons, so the large group of newbies made for a night of story telling. Most had not heard many of Mike's and Scott's stories of ARC's 'early years'. The staff got to hear of our blood (literally) sweat and tears that went into opening the business. Of course, this brings many questions with lots of fun and laughter. Always nice to share like this. We are so proud of our staff and how hard they work for the animals and our customers.
Scott's Goal for 2009 - MAKE A NEW 'OUR STAFF' PAGE FOR OUR WEBSITE. There it is. I said it. Now it has to happen! Phil and I will collaborate on it. Once again, Happy New Year! We hope for a healthy and prosperous year for one and for all.
Our staff member Jose Palafox is going to shave his head and donate the hair to Locks of Love. We are making an eveny out of it. June 16th, 2008 starting at 12 Noon. The idea is to raise awareness for the charity and get other people involved. Everybody with long hair, male/female, blonde/red/black, curly/straight, children/teens/grownups... all are welcome. Hair Donations guidelines found here. The donation form is found here.
Jose has not cut his hair since we've known him. This is a long time. He is graduating high school soon and we've known him since junior high! He is ready for a new look and the fact he can help other folks in need is icing on the cake. This kid has been an important part of our team for a long time now. Almost four years! How many high school kids keep the same job for four years? Come out and support him in his effort.
We invite any and all of you with hair long enough to join us and donate your hair.
CHECK OUT HIS HAIR!
Calling all hairstylists! We need your services. If you would like to donate your skills for this worthy event, we can provide in store and internet cross promotion in exchange. Besides... Jose wants it done right! Otherwise I have to do it!
Amazon will have a discount for all in attendance and special discounts for participants. If you would like to participate in any capacity contact Scott at 909.447.5103.
OK folks, now is the time. Let's have some fun and support this worthy cause.
Wow how does time get away so fast? I keep chasing it but the faster I go the behinder I get. Please accept my apologies for taking so long to make this post.
We recently received shipment of some very nice animals from the middle east. The first ever Uromastyx philbyi or "The Arabian Blue" Dabb Lizard came in. We are the only importers ever to have these!
MORE BLUES!
Not even any in museum pickeld collecitons. Always cool to be the first.
Also in the shipment is some Arabian Sand Boas (Eryx jayakari). These are some outstanding specimens. Well hydrated, feeding well. No ectoparasites. No problems. Just beautiful egg laying boas! Orange eyes on top of the head make these some very interesting animals. The orange eyes seem to make them a different locality than other jayakari in the USA. Get yours now. Clean, beautiful, feeding specimens available. When they shed the tie themselves in an overhand knot to help push the skin down the body! WOW!
ARABIAN SAND BOAS!
Also, there have been some staff changes since my lost post. Tim has moved on to apparently greener pastures. Thus, Crystal Laner has stepped up to manager of our Montclair location. Matthew McDole has been promoted to Manager of the Covina location and Kyle Frost is "vice managing" both stores during Crystal and Matt's days off.
To balance it out we have Jose Palafox (Montclair), Daniel O'Hara (Montclair), Trevor Yehle (Covina), Brad Duarte (Covina), Rory Gresco (Montclair), and Jocelyn McAdams (Both stores)
Everybody is finally out of hibernation mode and ready to go! Our customers are already bringing us loads of eggs! Our incubators are quickly filling up with Bearded Dragons, Leopard Geckos (Check out Kyle's Albinos!), and Corn Snakes! It's going to be a productive year for a lot of folks, and we're in the pleasant position of seeing the smiles on our customers' faces when they meet their new babies!
We have quite a few exciting breeding projects going on here at Amazon as well! The staff in our Montclair store is diligently working on possibly proving out a new genetic mutation in corn snakes.
07 AFRICAN SPURRED TORTOISES
We may also be some of the first to produce captive bred Mexican Lined Pine Snakes, and the idea of these babies has some of our employees giddy with excitement.
Along with our customers bringing us THEIR babies, we get to introduce them to OUR babies. Here is a pic of a long-time customer, Hailee and her new Fantasy Frog! Aren't they adorable? Fantasy Frogs are a new animal we've only carried for the first time this year. They've been a big hit! We've had a hard time keeping them in the store already.
HAILEE AND HER FANTASY FROG
In other news: We have a couple of new faces to add to the list! Daniel has been volunteering with us for the better part of a year and we finally had an opening for him! Now you'll get to see him in our Montclair store on the weekends. Terry is a new addition in general and you can meet him on the weekends in our Covina store.
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