Hello and welcome to GTPKeeper.com
My name is Buddy Buscemi and I have a small collection of Green Tree Pythons. I am a hobbyist, not a commercial breeder, and I keep and breed this species for my enjoyment, the challenge and education.
I have always had a strong fascination for reptiles, especially snakes. As a child I would scour my urban neighborhood by bicycle to find snakes. Fortunately, I had parents that were always supportive of my “weird” hobby.
Riding a bike was my preferred of mode transportation as a child. Around the age of 5 I had to endure a very lengthy stay in a hospital, and when I was finally allowed to return home I was given strict orders not to run but, I was never told I couldn’t ride a bike. From that day forward bicycles have always been a part of my life and today I still enjoy riding my bicycle for fun and exercise.
I began keeping and breeding small pythons from the Morelia, Liasis, and Antaresia families in the early 1990’s.
Around this time I met Tim Morris through a mutual friend while mountain biking in the Patapsco Valley State Park. One thing led to another and the next thing you know I was invited to Tim’s to watch a mountain bike race on television. As soon as I entered Tim’s place I knew he kept reptiles. He had a spare room that glowed red from the red heat lamps everyone used at that time to keep their prized reptiles cozy and warm. Tim showed me around his collection which included Green Tree Pythons. This was the first time I had seen Green Tree Pythons in a private collection. My first thought was how similar they looked to the jungle and coastal carpets I was keeping at the time, and my second thought was “How can I get my hands on some of these beauties?”.
Our friendship grew from there, but I never followed through with acquiring chondros until close to a decade later. Why? Around the same time the cycling team I was racing for had secured a new sponsor. So, keeping green trees would have too wait until I had the time to devote to learn to keep another species. Training up to 20 hours a week, traveling on the weekends on top of a full time job often left little time to care for the animals already in my collection. In the fall of 2002 I had my full of racing as a professional amateur. The following spring my wife and I began preparing to relocate from city life to rural life. I knew our new home wouldn’t have dedicated reptile room and I began selling off my breeding stock of small pythons.
Later in 2003 we relocated and I focused my reptile hobby on one species. I began keeping Green Tree Pythons in 2003, and breeding them in 2005.
In early 2005 my wife and I welcomed our first child, and 21 months later we welcomed our second child. Both of my children are interested in snakes, but my oldest son is usually elbow deep in snake chores along side me and is always curious about all of the husbandry aspects of keeping snakes.
Please feel free to peruse this site and enjoy the photographs. I occasionally have Green Tree Pythons available for sale or trade.
You can contact me via email thegtpkeeper@gmail.com. (omit the spaces) or by phone 410-446-1112 between 10 am est and 7pm est.
Thanks For Visiting!!
