As some of you may now, for a few months now I have been writing a "What's Hot?" column in Practical Reptile Keeping Magazine, where I gather some cool pictures from around the herpetocultural world from recent times, and put them into an article along with some information about the particular projects featured. It's been getting better as the months have gone on in my opinion, and I'm delighted with all the breeders who have showcased their animals through it up till now.

So far it has gone smoothly, but I'm afraid there is rather a nasty error in the issue which is available in shops from June 29th (subscribers may recieve slightly earlier)

If you look closely at the cover, which is now on the PRK website, you may notice it Practical Reptile Keeping - Homepage

I submitted the articles and text, and someone somewhere has confused Dan Wolfe's Fire Calico Ball Python and Jeremy Stone's T+ Sunglow Jungle Boa. I'm not quite sure who is to blame, as I understand it it goes through several "departments" before printing, including a design department. It doesn't matter in any case, and you will always get mistakes in publications from time to time, happens even in the most widely circulated newspapers.

There will be an appology and correction in the next issue, but I just wanted to announce that the mistake is a genuine mistake, and we're all going to take steps to ensure that articles are proof read by the contributor in their final form after design etc, before the magazines are printed.

I'm really sorry to the reptile keeping community for this mistake!

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Mistakes happen, unfortunately when you have a magazine that is only interested in exploiting subject matter for profit and have no regard for the subject its self these things are more likely to happen. Incidentally the add bottom left on page 69, excellent, just excellent – with friends like this who needs enemies!

A very candid and interesting take Chris I understand what you're saying too, I don't think mistakes like this would be made if every member of the PRK team was a genuine reptile hobbyist. After all, to mix up a boa and a ball python and then go and do it again on the front cover is a fairly difficult mistake to make unless you are clueless. I have expressed my views on this to the editor.

I suppose there is a balance, because every magazine so far that has not been available in supermarkets and newsagents and that has been run more by individual hobbyists has folded, as you will be more than aware. There are probably other reasons beyond financial/business dynamics, but you could argue that the only real way to make a magazine work is to run it in a more "commercial" way, based on what we have seen.


The thing is, the magazine is only as good as its writers and many people these days seem to be "too busy" to contribute. I have been asked to write about species I have no experience with and I have turned down such requests, but I am sure there are others who will gladly take my place. Perhaps more people should get in touch with offers to write articles from first hand experience.

I have tried to get lots of people to contribute in that little column I have been working on, and not just from one country. Same with the hognose article I collated, I got the information from 3 respected herpetoculturists and put it all together. This is the way the magazine needs to be in my opinion, rather than lots of 2nd hand information.

I do however think that PRK is a lot more good than it is bad and it must be encouraging interest and working to some extent to rope people into the hobby.

That advert is disgusting really Chris, I hadn't noticed it until now - it rather perfectly illustrates your point

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Does anyone have a picture/scan of this advert?

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Regards James Stroud

I happen to have a buddy over with a working camera, useful

Believe this is the one Chris is talking about:

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Publishing today as the printed word is becoming more and more obsolete is very difficult, and I take my hat off to anyone brave enough to try. It’s a thought business, very few magazines survive on the racks in newsagents or supermarkets for long, most will only carry the top three hundred selling titles and we can never compete at that level. Most reptile shops are reluctant to stock mags with competing ads so it really is tough to get distribution, subscriptions are the key but with the ever increasing postage costs even that become less and less attractive, it really is a tough business.

I would love to see a decent reptile magazine make it in the UK, I really believe that there is a need for one. You are quite right that authors are the key, you need keen and enthusiastic writers to deliver quality articles. However, a publication also needs to put back, contribute, to an interest from which it extracts its remunerations, and I see preciously little of that Practical Reptile Keeping!

Exactly what kind of changes would you like to see Chris?

The stoppage of support for notoriously bad companies would be a start I know, what else would you suggest?

I would like to see some more reputed writers contributing and some more time taken to ensure major careless mistakes aren't made in finalising the articles. I have to explain to two excellent US breeders who were really good to contribute that we screwed up their pictures

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I even offered them free pics for articles when it was taken over and never heard a word! Won't offer again thats for sure.

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Yeh, heard this from a few people. Their loss really Stu, your pictures are brilliant!

If you ever decide to forgive them, contact me and I'll get in touch with them. I think a tutorial article with lots of pictures of light tents and the like would go down a treat too, and it would be by someone who really has delivered on such advise .

You never know, could have been a harmless mistake, maybe it went to spam and they forgot to check it? Maybe it was just ignored, I'm not sure.

Dunno what to say on behalf of the magazine really, perhaps I will ask the editor to comment on this thread?

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Maybe it was as you say mate but tbh reckon they got the email.
I believe someone else even recommended me to supply pics also and they never got a reply either.I'm not fussed at all but a reply would have been nice. Funny though I did see a ghostbuster pic of mine in there few weeks back lol..(not a prob Scott asked)
Yeah maybe an article on reptile photography could be good showing how some of the keen photographers in the hobby do things etc..Seems photography and reptiles go very closely in hand and we have some great togs on this site too...For example Graeme,Dean,Jamie,Karen,Jase and Angi(not on much now) etc etc to name a few off top of my head

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