By Russ Case
My May 7 blog talked about the Fun & Games section here on ReptileChannel (what – you’re not familiar with all the things you can do there? Then click here). Now I want to tell you about the “Mailbag” section in REPTILES magazine, and how you can win free reptile merchandise from today’s top reptile product manufacturers and distributors for something as simple as sending in a photo.
There are three simple ways you can win stuff in “Mailbag.” They are:
1. “Where in the World is REPTILES?” This section features a photo of a reader enjoying a copy of REPTILES in an interesting location. Some of the places people have been shown reading the magazine so far include Disneyworld and Camp Liberty in Iraq (now there’s a startling contrast in environments); on a cruise to the Mexican Riviera, during a wedding ceremony with the groom reading his trusty magazine while his wife-to-be and ship’s captain look on, waiting to get on with the ceremony; in a Palm Beach Zoo alligator enclosure – complete with leucistic gator on loan from the Audubon Nature Institute; in a Connecticut cemetery; El Salvador; and under armed guard in Swaziland, South Africa.
“Where In The World Is REPTILES?” got its start when I gave REPTILES author Donald Schultz a bunch of copies of the magazine to take with him on one of his frequent trips to South Africa. I asked Donald to get some photos of people there reading the magazine, so I could run one in the magazine just for fun.
When we received the photo of Donald’s friend Devon Massyn reading the magazine next to a rifle-toting companion in Swaziland (it appeared in the January 2009 issue), REPTILES’ art director, Veronique Bos, suggested we solicit similar photos from readers reading the magazine in different places. She said Glamour was doing something similar, so of course whatever’s works for Glamour will work for REPTILES.
I liked the idea, we began asking readers to send in photos, and now we have a steady supply streaming into the office. People whose photos are used win either a one-year subscription to REPTILES or a one-year extension of their current subscription.
2. “Home Sweet Habitat.” This portion of “Mailbag” features photos of readers’ reptile enclosures. It’s very popular, and people do seem to enjoy showing off the sometimes very creative ways in which they house their reptile pets. This is a sponsored section of “Mailbag,” and the people whose photos are used can win reptile products from a variety of leading reptile companies. This year’s sponsors so far have been Zoo Med, Big Apple Pet Supply, Caribsea, Exo Terra, Fluker’s and CagesByDesign.com. Do you have a reptile enclosure that makes you proud and its occupant content? Then send us some photos and if we use them you can win a prize, too!
3. “Reader Shotz.” This photo feature in “Mailbag” is kind of a grab-bag. Here we will run any reptile-related photo that grabs our attention, though the vast majority of the time “Reader Shotz” photos are pictures of reptiles, sometimes with people holding them. So if you have a herp that you consider a prime specimen and the pride of its species, snap a photo and send it in. This, too, is a sponsored section of the magazine, and people who have sent in photos this year have won prizes from LLLReptile, Pro Exotics, Phoenix Worm, Caribsea, Fluker’s, Exo Terra, Rep-Cal and Zoo Med.
So there you have it: in “MailBag,” right up front in REPTILES magazine, there are three simple ways for reptile hobbyists to win great reptile stuff for free. Check them out, get out your cameras and start snapping! Click on Contact Us for instructions on how to submit your photos via ReptileChannel. Sharing your photos with thousands of reptile hobbyists is a fun way to win some great reptile products.
