About Us
I’m Charles Thompson the owner of Snakes’N’Adders. At 25 I have been keeping reptiles & amphibians for 15 years. I like many other people nowadays always wanted a pet but with family members with allergies the choices became slimmer and slimmer. When presented with a choice between fish and reptiles I opted instantly for reptiles (although my mother was non-to-keen to begin with!). The rest as they say is history.

An interest soon grew into a passion and I began to keep more and more species. The first five years were dominated by run of the mill herps such as Corn & Ratsnakes, Kingsnakes, Milksnakes, Pine,Bull & Gopher snakes, Leopard Geckos, Bearded Dragons and Berber Skinks. I then began to widen my interests with a particular fancy for boas & pythons. Soon my hobby had become almost a full time job completely dominating my bedroom. Kindly my parent bought me a garden shed which I set about religously converting into a self contained reptile room. Now that I had my own shed (and my bedroom back!) my collection really began to swell. At its peak I had nearly 100 animals under my care. All this whilst still at school studying my a levels.

My collection was paid for by working (far more than I should have done whilst studying) , trading animals for more animals, breeding and being involved with importers and getting animals direct.

At this time I was using the name Thompson Exotics a name which was regularly seen on the various bulletin boards in the internet.
In early 2001 I began working as weekend manager at the newly opened Snakes’N’Adders. As Snakes’N’Adders was a Boa & python specialist I got to care for a multitude of species I had not previously kept. Working with Snakes’N’Adders full time Manager Paul Thompson (a vastly experienced man who was responsible for the inception of both City Serpents- Yorkshires first reptile specialist & Sheffield Exotics) improved not only my knowledge but also my technique. My knowledge was good but as Paul told me “Any one can read a book but translating that into successful breedings is a different thing altogether”. Paul explained this further by giving examples of people (who I later met) who had great memories and could recite latin names hand over fist and could tell you the venom yield of the Outer Mongolian Super Cobra (not real!!!!) yet struggled to maintain a corn snake with out killing it.
Under Paul’s tutoring I became not only a better herp keeper but also an advisor. It was these skills that made me confident in purchasing Snakes’N’Adders from its current owner in June 2003.
The shop has developed into a nationally renowned reptile shop which regularly has visitors from the length and breadth of the country. The reputation of Snakes’N’Adders was helped in my mind by the provision of sound advice from real life experience (not just what has been gleaned out of books) and a vast range of quality livestock ranging from rank beginner to experienced and expert level.

I hope you enjoy the site and your all more than welcome, thank you for taking the time to read this little chapter.

Regards

charles thompson

Owner of Snakes’N’Adders
Email: chaz-snakesnadders@hotmail.co.uk