Blog :

Keep us updated Aaron and let us know what we can do. 

Horrible news!  That is my worst fear....a fire with all the animals.

Keeping them in our thoughts

So  so Sad.............seems this is a big problem this year.  Happened to Bob Clark too......I hope they find out what hapened so we can all learn from these fires.  If it has to do with certain heating devices, thermostats, or anything like that??

I just opened my FB page and saw the pictures. I was heart broken. I pray that its not a total loss. They have amazing people and animals there. My thoughts are with them :(

This is so sad! :( I've had the opportunity to talk to Andy a few times on the phone.. Not only am I a fan of PE but as a Steelers fan I've been a fan of Chad's for years. Very disheartening to see this..

Cindy: it is one of my worst fears as well... I always get this sinking feeling in my stomach whenever I drive past the back of my house (my snake room is on that side) and am relieved when everything is alright.

Jasin: It may.. I run a check of all my heat tape and rope every week but then again I'm neurotic so.. :)

According to a post on another forum by one of it's moderators, PE is reporting that the lizards and people are fine but the snakes were a loss. 

This is so unbelievably sad. 

Oh wow, all these comments about fires and surge protectors are making me so nervous. I have one room where there are 3 surge protectors hooked up on 3 outlets. I know that is pushing it already.

After reading about this, I may "fire proof" my room a little better. I am always a wreck when I leave my animals for work.

I can barely imagine.  Definitely a worst nightmare.

in the midst of all this horror.... they have baby green tree monitors hatching right now heh... a small light in the darkness.

Seeing the photos on their facebook and reading the updates is heartbreaking.... can only pray that there are some miracles left inside....

muckluck - from the title I thought as first you meant they were doing great business.

Sickening and tragic for any animal to die that way - hope the smoke got them first

I couldn't imagine this kind of devastation.  Good luck to them!

This is so horrible.  The images are just almost too much to even look at. It simply makes your heart hurt.

I just saw the latest photos..   There are no words. Heart breaking. From the comments posted on FB they apparently did find one Boa alive. Lets hope there are more.

The newest pictures are just devestating.

I'm sitting here literally in tears. I do not know these people personally, but when something like this happens, this entire community feels the loss. 

This.....

Says it all.

*cry*

I saw one picture and I can't bring myself to look at or read anything more.... the horror of my overheating incident has all rushed back and is overwhelming me right now... but for all I went through, I really feel fire would be a worser evil... I can't imagine what Robin is going through... and how those animals suffered... 

And that's the picture I saw, Aaron... I am just nauseous... 

absolutely heart breaking.... there aren't even words.... for this...

Found out about this a few moments ago and am absolutely heart sick. I had a water pipe bust in my reptile room last night... flooded thru and rained thru the ceiling underneath but ALL OF MY ANIMALS ARE OK, and I wish I could say the same for ProExotics! This is terrible and sickening and my thoughts go out to everyone involved.

Oh my god, my heart just aches for them!

When you decide what we Iherpers can do, let us know.

I am in tears thinking about this.  

I have no idea... I just know I want to do something.

It's not about the money, its'... sheesh.
I don't know.
I can't wrap my brain around this.

Worst nightmare possible. :(

aaron.. what if we did a charity type thing like we did for Sonja? raise money and donate snakes from the IHerp community? I'd be willing to donate some of the hatchlings we have.. they are no where NEAR what they had but, it would be a start..

what do you think?

It would depend what they want to do moving forward... what direction they wanna go animal-wise if indeed they continue.

This topic will be back after the dust settles. Man I hate that metaphor now.

I know ralph davis offered to help rebuild as well.  I know they are planning on moving forward.

I have a feeling that all the "big guns" will be reaching out and offering to help out.. just wish there was something we could do right now! :(

sending our condolences is enough for now...they posted on the facebook page that reading through all those helps them keep their minds off the horror....

Yeah, I'm sure a lot of the bigger breeders will help out... I'm not opposed to doing something sentimental, supportive, heartfelt... Something to hang in their new facility when they get there, a letter that has been passed around and signed through all 50 states,.... something that shows the good guys that the good guys love em.

that would be quite an amazing feat... a hand signed letter...mailed from person to person.... like one big hallmark card across the nation

or perhaps an easier way to do it would be to have people write a small little something...cut it out and mail it to you... to all be assembled on one big card.... something with that much thought and heartt put into it would be better than emailed signatures...

now that is a great idea! I like Sylvias :)

Here is the news article I found on it :( 3,000+ animals

http://www.kdvr.com/news/kdvr-2alarm-fire-damages-business-in-littleton-20110926,0,1636147.story

we could probably make a book like that

the second suggestion i made was more thought out... mailing it from one person to the next is likely to result in problems...

when i get out of class i will explain my idea more fully

Oh My God  !!   what  tragedy  ..   there are now words  that can describe  what I'm feeling .. I'm sorry for thier loss

Sonja K sent me this link...

I am heartbroken, sick, in tears for them:( That picture is too much to take in.

They are good people.

Even though our Mali Uro wasn't from them Robyn helped me via e-mail get him setup correctly and heal his burns from the heatrock the petstore had him on.

I am in on anything ya'll come up with no matter how big or small.

if we can do what i will propose then it will be an amazing thing i think..... 

but we have proven time and time again to be amazing people when one of our own is in need.... 

I like the idea of something travelling around all our country and ending up at Pro Exotics... a lot of effort, prone to error, and absolutely difficult to pull off... but if anyone can, I have no doubt iHerp can.

I think Aaron need to post something on thier wall from iherp. and we can all comment under it  thats a good start !

ok... my idea... a little bit more error proof than the traveling letter...

is to have everyone HANDWRITE something..as long or short as they want. mail that to someone who will be in charge of collecting and combining them all and basically cut out and glue those sentiments onto larger pieces of paper arranged in sheets and sewn down the middle like a book (because I think we will have enough for a small book) The cover can be a thicker hard piece of card that is either some simple or a collage of animal pictures sent with the sentiments (whicever ya'll like better) 

This is the handmade book idea that i personally like better...

an easier version would be to use a 3 ring binder....

how about a 4x6 printed photo of you with a herp, sign your love on the back and then a huge photo album?

And in addition to that, I'm going to need 49 volunteers for a little project I want to do.

WOW their loss is great ...but seening how fast the community comes together for them with support i am totally floored ... i also like the book idea ... 

I think both. Quick hit, and then epic undertaking :)

Yea I'm in as a volunteer as well. Anything I can do to help.

I can volunteer as well let me know what you need.

I like all the ideas.

I am not a photo scrapbooker person but for my son's babseball team one of the parents took pictures and put them together on Shutterfly I think and had a hard cover book printed.

Is there a way to do this? Have us type up, take a picture or whatever and send it to someone to assemble into a book for printing?

If you like the idea I can ask ehr how she did it otherwise I can go with the flow and send in real paper to someone:)

i'm in aaron :) and i like both ideas actually!

Volunteers like by state or ? I'm sure Colleen and I could collaborate. : )

I'd love to help however I can.

Aaron, im game for whatever. And if you need people from 50 states then you need me. Cuz we only really have me representing DE. There is that other guy, but i think he moved to MD.

Nate you represent vatican city

Yes, there too.

Ive been teary eyed all day. Ive gained such a respect for you guys (and gals) and even though I have not dealt with or had any personal interaction with PE... there is still a very real sorrow in my heart for their loss. It touches & amazes me how this community pulls together in times like this. I know Im pretty new to herps & iherp alike... but I have learned far more from this community than how to care for my snake. Ive seen more passion, dedication, compassion & heart come from this group of people than from any group Ive ever been part of. Just when Id lost all faith in humanity... suddenly.. there was iHerp! Some GOOD Folks here! Might Good Folks! Now THIS is something I am proud to be a part of! I will do whatever I can within my means to help!

Here is a link to a page started for showing support for the Pro Exotics team.

Am I the only one not seeing the link?

I'm sorry guys...I didn't realize it didn't go thru. Here it is again

http://www.facebook.com/pages/GetBehindProExotics/267811343249816

I've been reading the news articles & the FB posts. Just horrible!

I cannot imagine what they are going through! That is truely my biggest fear.

My heart goes out to them & all of the animals that lost their lives! :(

i'm in. this is great. i can't imagine what they are going through. all those animals....so much loss. so much progress they have worked so hard for, all gone. it's astounding.

I am just sickened by all of this. Just breaks my heart. The anguish the animals went through.

Gecko Haven will do whatever is needed. Someone tell us what we can do. Volunteer, donation....just hoping someone can organize something to help them.

I am very proud of iherp and the rest of the reptile community for responding so fast and trying to help out.

Wow. Utterly devastating. Would you believe the very first reptile in my house was a ball python I ordered from ProExotics for my son's 10th birthday? Considering what they were already working with at the time, Robyn was very patient and kind to a kooky mom shopping for a snake for the first time! 

My heart goes out to them. Aaron, I'm in for whatever! 

This is absolutely horrible. I can't imagine what it must feel like, and to see all those racks that held snakes... devastating. 

If you're doing a state thing, I'll be Utah.

I'd love to volunteer. Just let me know how to help! I can't even look at the pictures, it's just so gut-wrenching.

I've sent Chad an email, and am waiting to hear back from him. I'm sure his phone and email are blowing up, but rest assured I've told him that iHerp is demanding to do something to show our support and love.

We're issuing demands now? This is serious business.

that many melted tubs.... it's as serious as it'll ever be....

I'm not going to let him be a nice guy and say, "thanks, but it's okay".

This is too important. He's done way too much.

let m know what i can do to help

Add me as a volunteer.

Also, they have posted some more, devistating and graphic images on their facebook page. Viewer discretion is strongly advised. 

I'm horrified and sick about this, too. I've looked up to Chad as one of the good guys--in the herp industry and in the game I love--since I was a kid. My heart goes out to him, Robyn and the rest of the crew, and, of course, to all those poor snakes.

Aaron, I will fully support whatever you decide to do in any way that I possibly can.

Oh my gosh, I am going to be sick...I can't even fathom walking in there:(

I am in tears. This breaks ones heart I just...I feel...so bad so many innocent lives...lost. I cannot fathom the total count of animals lost.

I concur although I am a fairly new member to the  herp community my heart goes out to them for their tragic loss

Aaron, thank you for posting this blog!

I just got my new laptop up and running, and started poking around to see what I had missed... this was one of the first posts to catch my eye.  Of course, this has led to my wasting the past 3 hours or more on FB, reading more about this tragedy... but definitely, if there is anything we can band together to do to help, count me in!!

Ditto to what everyone else has said.  I want to help out any way that I can.

Im willing to help in any way i can to.

You've got a volunteer from Oklahoma! Whatever I can do, I'll do. I've never worked directly with these guys but I've heard great things from so many sources. The sheer devastation... I was off work yesterday and glued to their FB page. I was an emotional wreck all day, crying and having panic attacks. I cannot begin to imagine.

Never had a chance to meet the people at Pro Exotics, but have always admired their high-quality reptiles. I had been eyeing several of their classifieds recently and wish I had taken action on them now to save just a few of the animals that were lost. My heart and soul goes out to these great people and hope they can be strong and move forward again. Not just for them, but everyone in the reptile industry. It is really hard to describe how I feel right now, but I am really just sick to my stomach.

I think I will spend some extra time with my collection today and double check all my plugs and wires and think about safety precautions. I wish we could have a sprinkler system here and I want to buy a fire extinguisher for some reason now. This unfortunate event would be my worst living nightmare and hopefully something good will come to the people at Pro Exotics from this expereince. Something, anything...

Life is so precious. God bless!

I do hope they will accept the reptile communites help on this. It is what we do. Support each other!!  We want and need to be able to do this.

It would be awesome if people who do have PE lines would be offering something back to them to somehow rebuild their stock.

I am not quite sure where to send our offer of a lesser ghost male or an enchi male or female. But hoping they might be interested.

I saw this on SnakeBytes facebook yesterday. I can't imagine what they are going through right now.  You can sign me up for helping in anyway that I can.

Robyn posted a few updates on another site: an adult boa and a small group of juvenile O. p. coxi miraculously survived! Small consolation, I know, but pretty amazing considering the damage to the structure and everything else inside of it.

This was the saddest news I saw yesterday. I couldn't imagine all that hard work and all those poor animals...The owners and staff are in my thoughts. There was apparently a boa and possibly some rat snakes and eggs (?) that survived. I feel so horrible, and would be honored to help out any way I can.

heres the post from robyn on another site

"Hey everyone.

First of all, SO MUCH THANKS AND APPRECIATION for the love and support. How awesome. On a horrible day, how awesome to have that kind of community. 

The burglar alarm went off because the building got so hot the front windows cracked and blew out, setting off the first alarm. The alarm company called and woke me at 5:45am with the alarm issue. They sent police. It didn't sound good, so I got up, brushed my teeth, and got dressed. 5 minutes later they called back and said they had reports of smoke pouring out of the building. This portion of the building is 4500 sq ft of warehouse space, where we keep all of our snakes, temp guns, offices, and other inventory. 

I arrived 15 minutes later as a few fire crews were trying to cut through the garage doors/loading bays.

Once they got through, oxygen got in, and giant flames came shooting out. 

It took a few hours to get the fire under control, and a few more for smoke to clear. We finally got to go inside at 4pm. It was worse inside than it looked from the outside. Everything gone, just melted. Dead animals everywhere. 

Amazingly enough, one adult boa lived (but her cage did not?!?!???) and half a dozen Coxi juvies. We also were able to save some incubating eggs from the office area. Maybe a dozen total. So weird. 

Ironically, the Sloan Bros came by yesterday to drop off a Champagne male for us. Nice timing boys : )

We appreciate all the support. I am astounded by the offers of charity, fund raising, and straight up offers of free animals to build a collection back. Wow. 

But that is not what we need right now. We have weeks of cleanup and an entire life to put back together. Small steps. Basic steps. 

I have to hire two strongmen to pick me up off the floor once this hits me, cause it's gonna be big, I'm sure. 

Life is so weird. But so good. I have an amazing wife, an amazing friend in Chad, Captain Pleasant in Andy and PE Jimmy. We find strength in each other, and when we falter, we find strength in you guys. 

It REALLY DOES make a difference, your support has an impact. I don't know what the future holds, but I have a size 12 stepping right to it : )

I cannot begin to explain the horror and sickness of walking through the facility and seeing so much death everywhere. At your feet, on shelves, all around you. Haunting, and so sad. 

The cause is for the fire inspector and insurance guys to determine exactly.

Being out of almost all inventory, both live and merchandise, we will have to figure out a way to move forward with customers. 

ShipYourReptiles is independent of the facility, and our guy Kevin is still on the ball and on top of things for SYR, so there is no interruption or effect with SYR. 

I will be attending the Tinley Show as SYR, but won't have anything to offer on the PE side of things. I look forward to seeing you guys there. 

Again, the support is humbling, and so powerful. Thank you all.
__________________
Robyn@ShipYourReptiles.com
ShipYourReptiles.com

and Pro Exotics Reptiles"

that update just made me tear up... gawd he's such an awesome guy.

  This is one of those moments when I have no words except my heart hurts........

:(

I'll help with anything I can when you figure out what's going.

Another update :

"Thank you all for the well wishes and support. It means so much to me, and our entire PE team. 

It has been a rough couple of days. More remain ahead. 

We met with insurance folks today. Just trying to get a basic understanding of what is covered. Things look good on that front, thankfully. 

Our facility is in a warehouse/office district. Our space had offices up front, with 4500 sq ft of snakes in the warehouse. 8 snakes of nearly 3000 lived. It is a total loss, total devastation. With the smoke and water damage, everything has been lost. We tried to salvage some personal items today, but everything has been touched by fire, smoke, soot or water. 

It is an older building, no sprinklers, and the landlord wasn't about to spend a million dollars to install them. No one envisioned such a tragedy was even possible. 

We have another building across the parking lot housing our monitor lizards and rodent breeding. That is untouched. We are grateful.

I don't know what the future holds. There are months ahead just dealing with insurance folks. We DO have gap coverage that will help pay employee salaries and expenses, thank goodness. 

I don't know that even with the graphic pics at facebook Pro Exotics, I don't know that folks understand the devastation. 

There are NO cages left, we have no inventory left (20,000 temp guns melted, books, thermostats, etc. all ruined), we found 8 amazing survivors, but we have no cages to put them in (Sloan Reptiles are housing survivors locally for us). Phone system is dead, computers are all wet. There are no boxes to pack orders in, nor any tape to close the boxes. Total devastation, for real. 

And it is just surreal. When I stop to rest, it starts to hit, and hard. The outpouring of support from the reptile community is amazing, uplifting, and just awesome. Thank you all, it means so much. 

I can't get the smoke stink off of me, my clothes, or out of my car. But I am lucky. No people were hurt, and when I feel weak, the reptile community gives me strength. Super lucky. Thank you for the support, it means SO much.
__________________
Robyn Markland @ Pro Exotics, ShipYourReptiles.com and All Pro Shipping, Inc."

Thank you for the update, truly at a loss for words for them:(

i hope this isn't out of place or in bad taste!  not sure how many of you are on the bush league site but here is a link that one of the members started for a rebuild fund: http://www.reptileradio.net/reptileradio/showthread.php?t=32830

Aaron or whoever, please make sure you post new blogs on what you want donated so it doesn't get burried here.  I'd like to help if I can. Im super broke....just had a baby.....but can offer photos or something like that.

Lucas, no worries. This is going to be an event for iHerp, plastered everywhere. Sounds like PE is still working out insurance and all of that, once I hear back from them for what they need, we mobilize, and you'll know about it. :)

Lucas if you follow that thread to the end there is quite a bit of back and forth with the whole donation thing. It sounds as though PE will have a donation site set up shortly on their own (if I understand the psot correctly there).

Not to put a negative slam to this awful situation, we all want to help, make it better somehow, we just need to be certain they are going to receive the funds allocated to them and perhaps waiting for them to have their own donation link setup is the best way to do that.

well and becuase they are such a big company and are still going through insurance and all it really seems like the rest of us should just back off and wait a little bit....  i am sure they appreciate all the help but isn't everything a little overwhelming enough as it is right now without having to help people organize charity for them?

Colleen,  I admit I did not read the entire thread.  I just thought I'd put it out there.

As much as I think we'd all like to rush in and save the day while it's the top news story, I'm happy to wait to talk directly to them and figure out what we can do to help. We pulled together for Sonja, and that was after the dust settled. As unlikely as it is, let's pretend that they say "we had our run" and then there's $10,000 that has been pulled together for them... what happens?

They will be recovering for a long time. And iHerp will be there to give them whatever support they want when they're ready. Whether it's direct fundraising, or a really badass animal that we pull together and buy for them.

Lucas-did't mean to come off negative...just wanted us to take a breath:)

Aaron-I agree. I wish I lived near them to help.

When I was in high school our basement flooded and collapsed, it was sickening to pull out piece by piece fragments of your life and have to dispose of it, all with people driving by gawking, and there were not even any lives at stake like they are sorting through. Then there were those people that I barely knew but came over to help out physically and that was appreciated beyond words. Or even the people that could not physically help but offered us a clean sweatshirt or a hug.

They did mention they would be at Tinley, nothing to vend obviously, just a heads up for those attending.

Yeah I too would like to do a "both/and" something- some sort of card/book or something now, plus something with more "meat" on it, if you will, later on once we know what they'd like and they're ready.

Here is the interview with Chad YouTube via Herp Nation Live with Dan Krull http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pz-pRLixLZI&feature=share

My heart goes out to the Pro Exotic family, what a tragedy,will do anything I can to help.

This is really awful.

Aaron, if you need a volunteer from NC, count me in for anything I can do. 

Just seen the Facebook photos - it's like something from an f-ing nightmare, nearly 3,000 snakes burned - it doesn't get worse than this.

Donation on it's way.

Ok - I don't have Facebook so can't donate on that page - have contacted United Herps for the Paypal info to donate directly - I'll post the info when they get back to me.

Ok - if you want to donate directly, the details are below:

Paypal email pitoon@unitedherps.com  

You must add the subject below to your donation.

Subject: Pro Exotics Rebuild Fund

"Once your donation arrives i will add your email address to the email roster and forward you the most recent email traffic between Robyn and myself.  Also please send your donation in US$. The donations will be sent to PE on 15OCT."

Aaron~ Pitoon is the guy from the BLBC Forum that is coordinating donations.

What I read was that PE would have a link setup on their own...has that changed?

I have no idea... Proexotics FB links to the Pitoon thing, so I'm guessing it's legit.

Any volunteers for coordinating this support book?

United Herps are coordinating the fundraising for PE.

Here's the reply I got after donating.

To all Donators:

I would personally like to THANK each and everyone of you for helping out Pro Exotics during these harrowing times.  You've done so much so far, but i would like to ask one last thing from each and everyone of you.  Please spread the link around, the word of mouth is more powerful than on can think.

Again here is the quick link to the fundsite......  http://goo.gl/tSqat

15OCT is the last day before i forward all donations over to Pro Exotics.

Thank you for your support!

Pitoon

I'll gladly help in whatever way I can. With the book and anything else that can be thought of.

you know I'm in Aaron! :)

Im terrible at coordinating, but i rock at pretty much everything else.

What the pudding Dwayne?

lol. my new WTF, WtSD?

I would be willing to donate an animal - whether it be directly to Pro Exotics (assuming they're going to restart the business at some point) or to an auction where the proceeds will go towards helping them get back on their feet.  Send me a note and I'll pick one of my babies.

I learned of the news as I was shopping for a temp gun, I cant begin to imagine how horrible it must be , from iherp and other sites i have seen its amazing how much support you have behind you, I encourage you and your staff ,and remember that the herp community is embracing you. My prayers and best wishes. Mister/jagomez

I learned of the news as I was shopping for a temp gun, I cant begin to imagine how horrible it must be , from iherp and other sites i have seen its amazing how much support you have behind you, I encourage you and your staff ,and remember that the herp community is embracing you. My prayers and best wishes. Mister/jagomez

I have no words. :(

Update from United Herps regarding donations:

Donators,

Just wanted to blast out a quick update…..

The fund site is currently sitting at $4,193, a total of 127 donators, and 85 shared links to the fund site.

When I set this up for PE, I honestly didn't expect all this support.  It's truly amazing that "WE" as a community can come together to fight for what we believe in, and to support each other in times of need.  There have been donations coming in from all over the world!!!  There's only 11days left!!!

I would like to publically thank the crew over at http://ball-pythons.net/ for putting back up the link to the fund site.  You guys rock!!!  It has definitely helped with getting the word out to everyone.

There are several donators that have made VERY generous donations.  I would like to thank you all for that; it means a lot coming from you all…..especially when you’re a business in direct competition in the same market.

If anyone has any issues or concerns please feel free to contact me.  I do have a show this upcoming weekend up in the Netherlands (Houten).  So I will do my best to reply back as fast as I can.

I’ll close the email out with one of my favorite quotes ….(I’m sure you’ve heard it before)

"What we do in life…..will echo in eternity."    Russel Crow, Gladiator

 Thanks again for your support, spread the word, and share the link!

 Pitoon