About Us

VMS is located in the Colorado Rocky Mountains near Westcliffe, Colorado. VMS is wholly owned and operated by Sean & Monica Niland.

We've been involved in herpetoculture and the pet industry since 1977. In 1990, we focused on producing quality reptiles at reasonable prices for wholesale distribution to pet retailers. We sold only to legitimate licensed dealers; we did not sell our animals to individuals. This single-minded approach allowed us to concentrate on volume production of many species while protecting the pet retailers' business as well.

While this concept worked well initially, we began to discover that few retailers could provide accurate care information to the customer. Indeed, many seemed unable to care for our animals properly themselves. As a result, we began offering our animals directly to retail customers via the internet in 2000. This proved so successful that today we seldom wholesale animals at all, they almost all sell at retail. Retail customers can enjoy receiving the same quality animals we are known for, as well as getting first pick on 'special' animals. Additionally, retail customers receive the full benefit of our skills and knowledge to ensure their success with the reptile of choice.

Sean and Monica met and married in 1989. At the time, Sean had not kept reptiles for a year or two. Monica thought his collection of reptile books was 'icky' and had no idea where the future would lead. Shortly after their honeymoon, she was astounded to witness her new spouse cleaning out the savings account to purchase the first known amelanistic Prairie Rattlesnake (Crotalus viridis viridis)! It was an animal he had always hoped to field collect, but being first to breed it would have to suffice. With his interest rekindled, the house quickly began to fill with cages and herps of several kinds.

Monica's surprise was quickly replaced with fascination and admiration for these creatures and soon her interest was drawn to geckos. While she still prefers her cats to rattlesnakes, Monica has gone on to assume the role of gecko master extraordinaire. She has successfully bred numerous species, some considered very difficult by professionals. Her favorite amongst geckos will always be the Leopard Gecko, although she gives honors to the African Fat-tailed Gecko as having the cutest babies. She rates her successful Triblonotus project as one of her most challenging.

Sean has been involved in the pet industry since 1977. Having fulfilled management roles at retail, wholesale, and distributor levels, he is frequently called upon to assist in legislative issues surrounding herpetoculture and the pet trade. Having kept just about every snake specie present in north American collections over the last three decades, his favorite will always remain the Cornsnake.

Together, they live in their home in the Colorado mountains near Canon City. Other interests they pursue are mountain biking, hiking, bird-watching, artifact-hunting, and snow-shoeing. Sean also enjoys fly-fishing for trout in the local streams and rivers. Riding our quad through Colorado's mountains is also a favorite past-time.

What does VMS stand for? We get asked that a lot. Usually Sean quips that it stands for "Very Many Snakes". However, the truth is a little stranger:

While field collecting in the summer of 1989 these two, along with friend Vern Veer, discussed the concept of a full-scale breeding facility to supply wholesale reptiles to the pet trade. Improbable ideas often sound plausible in the middle of the night on a dreary road through the desert, vanishing as quickly as bats at sunrise. But this one struck a chord with Sean. Vern, now pursuing a successful career at the Denver Zoological Gardens, is not involved in the business, but is still the 'V' in VMS.

PS - After four long years of waiting, the amelanistic Prairie Rattlesnake produced a litter of babies. All were female, like the original albino. Three years and three litters later, the results were the same. Sean realized that even if a male were born the following year it would still take four years to reach maturity. This would be an investment of eleven years before a single albino was ever produced! Fearing pending changes in Colorado wildlife laws, and wondering if he possessed enough stamina to see it through, Sean relented and sold the project off. Moral of the story: It's a lot of work bringing some of these projects to fruition - so don't be surprised at breeders asking high prices for the newest color morphs or rare animals. They are simply trying to recoup their investment.

Our site has been optimized for viewing at a screen resolution of 1024x768 or higher. Other resolutions will work, but results may vary. The site has been optimized for Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher, Apple Safari, Google Chrome, and Mozilla Firefox 3.5 or higher. Other browsers may yield varying results. One word about browsers - If you are one of the 7% of folks still using explorer 6, do yourself a favor and upgrade, that browser is terrible. It causes web designers more nightmares than you would believe possible. The newer versions are better, faster, and best of all are available free at microsoft.com.

All XHTML/CSS coding by Sean Niland, VMS Professional Herpetoculture. Any errors or problems associated with it are most likely my fault. After all, I did teach myself to do this. Too cheap to even buy a book! (OK I did finally buy a book, but I held out for years.)

All graphics (except animations) by Sean Niland, VMS Professional Herpetoculture. Any yucky stuff here is my fault again. Bought one of those new-fangled digital camera thingies and had to take it back to see how to put the film in it.... While today we shoot a Nikon D-series DSLR, many of the older (and blurrier) photos on the site may date all the way back to the days when you actually inserted a floppy disk into the camera to hold the photos. Someday perhaps we'll find the time to shoot new pics of everything that needs it...