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We
believe that the key to successful volume production, while maintaining high
quality, lies in the design and construction of the facility. We have
poured heart and soul into ours - and are proud to show it off!
Initially, we modified a large portion of the basement of our home to house
our growing collection. Soon, this proved inadequate and we rented warehouse
space to hold it all. We found that providing the quality care we were known
for was challenging in this space. Maintaining controlled temperatures was a
problem, and having to drive to 'work' every day made it a chore. Seemed like
every time I needed a fresh picture or something, the animals were in one
place, the camera in another, and me in yet a third! It was becoming obvious
we needed a custom designed facility.
We knew we wanted to live in the mountains of Colorado. So we
began construction of yet another home and facility. Hard decisions were made
regarding the course of our business. We decided to stay at a smaller size and
keep the quality high, focusing on producing the very best!
To begin, we
purchased a 7.02 acre plot located in Fremont County, Colorado. This is between
Canon City and Westcliffe. Access is pretty good with two paved county roads
a half-mile away. |
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 With
a view like this, you can see why we chose it! The only thing prettier is some of Monica's
Leopard geckos!
Forgive the blurry thumbnail, this panorama was taken from the front deck. It
covers a full 180 degrees...
We wanted
this to become the view from our living room! (Also my friend Kurt Miller talked
me into it, although he still denies it). |
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 We
selected this little area to become the building site. The land is covered in Pinion
Pines, with a lot of Ponderosa Pines scattered about and a couple of Junipers as
well. I measured one of the larger junipers and estimate it is several hundred years old. They are one of the longest lived and slowest growing trees
in Colorado.
Further uphill in the acreage there is a small meadow area, and there is
also some grassy meadow down in the front below the house. Mule Deer are everywhere,
and Elk wander through also. Bobcats are frequently seen and Mountain Lions are in the area. Black Bears are plentiful. Smaller animals like Least Chipmunks, Rock
Squirrels, Abert's Squirrels and Nuttall's Cottontails abound.
Birds are everywhere, and we've seen Clark's
Nutcrackers, Pigmy and White-Breasted Nuthatches, Mountain and Western Bluebirds,
Pinion, Steller's and Western Scrub Jays, Evening and Black-Headed Grosbeaks, several types of
Hummingbirds, Sparrows and Warblers, and one Sharp-Shinned Hawk trying to
kill any or all of the above.
Reptiles are about as well, with Bullsnakes and a few Prairie Rattlesnakes even! This surprised
me, since we are somewhere between 7800 and 8000 feet above sea level. We've
found Mountain Horned Lizards (Horny Toads) and Fence Swifts so far.
Apparently all this game attracted native peoples as well. We've found many
surface artifacts, some modern and some paleolithic. |
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 Plans
were made to construct a new home, situated in the trees and hopefully with a
grand view of the Sangre De Cristo mountain range.
Concrete
forms quickly went up for the two rear basement walls, the ones to be buried
underground. The front two walls will be a walk-out at ground level. |
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 Once
the lower floor framing was completed, we brought in a modular home and had a crane lift the
pieces up onto the foundation. |
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 Fire
retardant siding (Hardi-Plank) was installed overall, and with the metal roof
we hope to be rather fireproof. This lesson was learned when we were faced
with the Hayman fire in the summer of 2003. Try packing nearly 1000 animals
when you are ordered to evacuate in ten minutes! |
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 As this picture of the living room windows shows, we got our view! |
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 The
decks along the front and back of the house were built, and we expect them to be the place
we hang out all the time (unless we are cleaning cages). Once the bird feeders are all installed out in the
trees, it should be a very fun place to be! They have proven to be especially
comfortable now that covers have been built over them. |
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Now,
for the breeding facility!
The VMS facility was designed to hold 918 cages, not
counting mice or overflow cages for surplus hatchlings. Multiple rooms will be created for each type of animal
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plus office, storage and work areas. This should be enough for us to carry on our
work. |
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 First,
we designed our facility with plenty of space and power in mind. Once
the framing was done, a 250 amp service panel and multiple 20 amp.
circuits were installed, with electrical outlets spaced three feet apart on
all walls. No funky extension cord rigs to catch fire here! |
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 Ventilation
systems and ductwork were installed, followed by massive amounts of
insulation. We utilized a unique 'spray-in' foam insulation to provide the
tightest air seal possible. Goes on water-thin and quickly puffs up into a
thick foam.
Shortly after our work was finished, the spray foam machine sprung a leak
inside the installer's van. Filled all available space inside
the van with hardened foam! Took the installer two days to chip it out!
(Sucks to be him!) |
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 Wiring
was also run for a state-of-the-art security system, including separate
deeply dug-in telephone lines. The system includes noise detectors, infrared
motion detectors, door and window open/break detectors and most walls
incorporate a mylar film layered inside which will trigger an alarm if cut!
With five sheriffs living right in the area, response time is really fast!
(Found this out by accidentally tripping it shortly after setup...) |
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Interior drywall was installed and smooth-finished, with
washable paint. Here's the Ball Python room on the left and the Mouse room on
the right. Commercial vinyl composite tile, vinyl baseboard and doors have since
been installed. |
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 Each
room has separate timers to control both lighting and ventilation.
These little units are slick! Multiple settings and manual override are built
right in. |
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 Each room has a digital thermostat controlling temperatures within.
Each can be programmed for night-time drops, etc. This makes temperature
control for breeding a snap! |
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 The Colubrid room has a separate ventilation system controlled by a thermostat designed to exhaust warm air
and intake cold air from outside on demand. This makes hibernation a snap
- just set it at 53 degrees and forget it! |
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 Lighting
is provided by fluorescent lights mounted on ceilings, with Phillips Broad
Spectrum Daylight bulbs installed alongside Phillips Colortone tubes.
This provides a bright atmosphere with good color rendition. All of the
photos on our site were taken with ambient room lighting only. Alternatively,
red lights are installed on the ceiling and are controlled by wall switches.
This allows us to observe our animals after dark - when behaviors are often
quite different. |
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 Ventilation
is provided to each room by flush-mounted ceiling fans. These are
connected to the digital timers which cycle them on and off as needed.
Perfect for cooling down rooms at night, simulating nocturnal temperature
drops. Set one of these babies to come on at dusk and run until dawn - sucks
extra heat right out! |
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 A big
double stainless sink has been installed in the main work room, to meet health
dept. regulations. We've installed cabinets around and over it to provide
extra work area and storage space. Our gecko egg incubator is nice and handy
at left, and Monica's pet tarantula (a Mexican Red-Knee, E. smithi)
lives in a small cage on the counter. There is a telephone, a satellite
music system, and we even spruced it up with a little original artwork! |
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 A small half-bath is located just outside the work room (on the wall behind the
sink). Just in case I drink too much coffee while cleaning cages!!! |
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 At
VMS, we understand that a quality feeder animal is what should go into a
quality snake. We produce all our feeder rodents in our own facility
from disease-free stock maintained in Freedom Breeder racks. We use only high quality foods - assuring the best
nutrition for our reptiles. Bedding is changed twice weekly to eliminate
strong odors. Few reptiles want to feed on a sickly urine-soaked &
ammonia smelling rodent! Additionally, in-house breeding assures us a
constant supply of fresh rodents in all sizes. |
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 Here's
what happens when Seans' restless mind begins to tinker with the DNA of a
mouse! How did we create this long-haired little guy? Simple: just
kept putting together the ones that had the longest hair! It seems to us
that as long as you have to breed mice, they might as well be attractive.
Many of our customers now own pet mice after seeing them! |
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 Crickets
are the most important part of the diet for our lizards. We purchase our
crickets in bulk from ReptileFood.com and maintain approximately
1000 per ten-gallon tank. They are cleaned and watered daily. We feed a
diet of chick starter, dog food and a different vegetable each day. Here, they are
feeding on zucchini. |
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 Hatchling
snakes are maintained individually in a lidless plastic shoe box rack of our
own design. Each box slides into a melamine rack system. Each is
provided with aspen bedding to burrow in, a disposable water dish
and a heat cable warms the rear of each cage. |
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 Hatchling
geckos are maintained individually in clear plastic shoe boxes. We
utilize paper towel as floor covering, and provide a shallow water dish, and
hide house.
Each box slides into a melamine rack system. This system is incredibly
secure - we've never had an escape! |
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 Small
species, such as Rosy Boas, or sub-adults of larger species are housed
individually in clear plastic sweater boxes. Unlike other breeders'
racks, ours have no back walls. This provides additional airflow through
the ventilation holes drilled front and rear in each box. Additional air
circulation is provided by ceiling fans in larger rooms. No stinky stagnant air in our cages! |
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 Adult
colubrid species, as well as many of our geckos, are kept in larger
polypropylene boxes produced by Rubbermaid™. These are slid into
'lid-less' racks of our own design. Exacting construction tolerances are
required to prevent escapes. We built all of these racks on our trusty
table saw! Monica still claims this period in our lives nearly led to
divorce. At least she kept it to herself! |
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 Each
rack has a heat tape inserted into a routed channel under the rear edge of
each cage. This is controlled by a rheostat mounted into the face panel
of the rack. Many racks also have a convenient electrical outlet mounted
on front - since all available wall outlets are blocked by these racks which
line the walls around each room. |
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 Although
it cost us one box per rack, we also constructed a four inch tall kick panel
at the bottom of each rack. This keeps each bottom box elevated off the
floor where it might get too cool. We felt the safety of our animals was
more important than maximizing use of space! |
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 Our
larger species, such as these Jungle Carpet Pythons, are maintained in large
Vision™ Cages. These units are light-weight molded polypropylene and
are very easy to clean. Removable sliding glass doors make access a
snap. |
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 A
handy work table provides storage and a convenient work surface. With
smooth rubber coaster wheels, it is easy to push around. Sean made it
from scrap melamine left over from building the racks. Some of our racks
also have storage drawers mounted underneath. |
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 After
examining all of the commercially available incubators, we finally built our
own from discarded refrigerators. They are well insulated, have sturdy
doors, adjustable shelves, and hold lots and lots of eggs. Dual
redundant thermostats are installed, controlling heat tape mounted on the rear
wall. Small computer cooling fans provides air circulation throughout.
We also incubate larger numbers of eggs in temperature controlled rooms. |
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 After
receiving some training from our veterinarian, we outfitted ourselves to
perform routine maintenance checks in house. We purchased a 1000x oil
immersion binocular microscope for use in identifying most parasite and
bacterial infections. This has made a big difference in the level of care we
are able to provide our animals. |
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 Look,
we had an actual 'pet' reptile in the house! We kept Cartman (Sean's
pet Gila Monster) in this 135 gallon terrarium in our den. Currently,
Cartman is heading up a breeding project on the west coast. Maybe getting a
little 'action' will correct his surly attitude! Lighting is provided by
a pair of 48" Reptisun™ 5.0 tubes, with two spot-lamps and a ceramic
heat emitter providing heat. While the lights all go off at night, the
heat emitter stays on to provide a hot spot at night. Wattages are
changed throughout the year to simulate temperature cycles. |
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 Packing
orders for shipment. Here's Monica, laughing about "packing herself into a
corner". It's always my favorite moment, putting our little creations into
the hands of new owners. Hearing and reading all your kind words about how
much our hard work is appreciated makes it all worthwhile. Thanks to
all our customers for making this possible! |
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