Just been perusing thru Youtubers private collections,both exotic,domestic and mixed,preferably birds,aquariums and herps. I came across this: A US Herper paid a visit to Jan Paul Groens astoundingly impressive herpetology collection in the Netherlands in 2018,where he had turned his entire house into a private herp collection,even digging out a basement to build a stone floored and flanked reptile/fish grotto. BUT, i'm gutted to hear that just very recently the guys collection was shut down,broken down and apparently the animals were stolen.What a savage blow after 25 years dedication and building the house.! Theres no other concrete news about the whats and the why's and the hows about the demise of this collection.? Aside from this,i often wonder if there are other massive dedicated private collections out there in the world?
Most of those with massive collections do so at the expense of their animals' care, especially the amount of room each animal gets. Being private means no income from visitors to improve spaces. It also means no USDA or other inspections to check on their care, unless someone directly reports animal abuse, ESA violations, etc.
Didn't know about that part of the collection was stolen but I do know that his ( former ? ) girlfriend started an breeding-facility for her own where she is keeping ( and breeding ) the same animal-species as they did at the old location. The new hall was completley build-new ( a serie of videos about the progres can be found on their FaceBook account ) and the results can be seen in this YouTube video :
I can imagine the cost of the upkeep might be a drain and some private owners could let the care of their animals slip due to this. Nonetheless,with regards to the more dedicated keepers who have care in their minds,some collections can be quite stunning
The collection is indeed lost. As far as I know (so my appologies if I was informed incorrectly) Jan Paul Groen went thru a devastating breakup with the girlfriend on the video. There was a legale dispute, he was not given access to his own house resulting in the death of several animals. Then he was accused of animal cruelty by his girlfriend and got inspectors to investigate him. Finaly she took most of the animals and started her own reptile company (see the video @vogelcommando posted).
Another interesting private collection is the bird collection of Jacobo (also known as Jaco) Lacs in Panama.
These are great videos of fascinating collections! Pardon my digression, but I can't help but to wonder how these people are able to find the time to look after and care for their collections or how they can afford to maintain them for that matter... It is easy to wonder about the price tag on their utility bills (especially electricity)...
On both video's you see people who are earning their money with breeding and selling animals. For instance those tegu in different colors are sought after and expensive.
