Meet Corey & Erin Heft | Ball Python Breeders

We had the good fortune of connecting with Corey & Erin Heft and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Corey & Erin, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
We have a passion and love for ball pythons and wanted to share that passion with others. We pride ourselves on providing people with knowledge to not only own a possible pet, but to also give information about snakes in general. There are a lot of misconceptions out there about the animals we work with and we strive to help educate people and show them what we love about these amazing and fascinating creatures. We already enjoyed these animals, but really having a love and dedication to creating that dream goal carries you through each day.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
One key challenge we had to overcome was to not spread ourselves too thin. You don’t need to pick 20 projects to focus on and make yourself stand out; instead you pick out a few and work on improving those few. Focus and direction is key. We did not start out this way. We ended up going in multiple directions out of excitement and over the years we have had to refocus from what we did in the beginning.

Our Story:
Erin: For me, my passion was to be an Entrepreneur and own my own business. Being an Entrepreneur is all about taking risks. You have to be ready and prepared that you might start a business and put your whole soul into it and then it turns out to not be successful. That has to be a risk you are willing to take. Since I always had a passion to own my own business, I put it all out there and rolled the dice. With my current “Monday through Friday” job, I am able to use my ability to talk to and relate to people when it comes to talking to people about ball pythons.

Corey: Early in my childhood, I had two jobs that I replied when all those adults asked me “what do you want to be when you grow up”. I wanted to own a pet shop or be a computer programmer. I am lucky enough to be able to do both in a fashion. While breeding these beautiful animals is not a pet shop, I get to spend time daily with them and learn their personalities, habits, likes, dislikes, etc. Additionally, it feeds a bit of my more scientific and curious side of the brain with the genetics involved.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
First of all the Denver Zoo and then the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. Of course, one of the best things that Colorado offers is our beer. Going to the many micro-breweries around the city and mountain towns. For example, Dry Dock Brewing, Estes Park Brewery or Weldwerks Brewery to name a few. Going for a hike in the mountains (spring/summer) or going skiing (winter). For the “nightlife”, going to Comedy Works or Denver Improv. Going to Adventure Golf and Raceway or K1 Speed (Indoor Go-Kart). And of course, because we are reptile nerds we gotta go to reptile shops like Wild Things Exotic Pets or 5280 Reptile Room.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Any and all ball pythons breeders who helped us along the way – Our buddy Richie Agnew for getting us into the reptile world, Dustin and Miranda Beers, Mariah Tritz and Jimmy Brown with High St. Exotics, Justin Kobylka at Kinova, Matt Gambrel at Olympus Reptiles, Scott Johnson at Snakes-A-Lot, Billy Rows at Mutation Creation, J.T. Tomlinson at ReptiChip and USArk just to name a few.

Website: www.coloradocoldbloods.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/coloradocoldbloods

Facebook: www.facebook.com/coloradocoldbloods

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtXFciu-Ye5qQkfAB8fpH6w

Other: www.morphmarket.com/stores/coloradocoldbloods/