Thanksgiving is a week away as I write this. So, because my thoughts sometimes tend toward the obvious, I thought I’d consider what I have to be thankful for in regard to this magazine.
First off, I am, of course, eternally thankful for the support of you REPTILES readers. Like McDonald’s used to say, we do it all for you. Without our faithful readers, the world’s leading reptile magazine would be nothing more than a fading memory.
I am thankful for our advertisers, who also are responsible for this magazine’s continued existence, and I encourage you to support them. They are on the cutting edge when it comes to new products to provide your pets with the best care. I remember what it was like before things such as full-spectrum lighting, formulated diets and other herp products were readily available. It wasn’t always very pretty. According to a recent poll, 56 percent of our readers have ordered products through the mail from ads they saw in REPTILES, so I’m also thankful readers and advertisers have forged symbiotic relationships.
I’m thankful for the many terrific authors we’ve worked with. Whatever you want to read about — lizards, snakes, turtles, tortoises, amphibians, breeding these animals, conservation efforts to help them in the wild, places to travel and search for them — all these topics and many more are regular features of the magazine, and we have so many great people to thank for writing them.
Much of REPTILES’ appeal lies in the beautiful herp photos illustrating every issue, so I’m thankful, too, for the talented stable of reptile photographers who have contributed work to these pages. Judging by the photos younger readers have sent us showing many REPTILES centerfolds plastered all over their bedroom walls, I know many of them are just as thankful.
All of you are important people who make this REPTILES editor grateful. To you I say, “Thanks!”