Publication Identification

Field	Information
Country	United States
Publisher	T.F.H. Publications, Inc.
Publisher address	One TFH Plaza, Neptune City, New Jersey 07753
Magazine title	Reptile Hobbyist
Publication status	Discontinued under this title following the 1999 merger into Reptile & Amphibian Hobbyist.
Publication run	First issue: Volume 1, Number 1, 1995.  Represented issues continue through February 1999, before the title merged in 1999.
Editor	Tom Mazorlig, identified for later represented issues; issue specific editorial assignments may have varied
Printer	Pending research update
ISSN	1083-432X
Language	English
Publication type	Specialist reptile and amphibian hobby magazine covering husbandry, breeding, species profiles and natural history
Publication frequency	Monthly

Preservation Significance

Reptile Hobbyist has strong preservation significance because the collection includes Volume 1, Number 1, the inaugural issue, together with a substantial group of later issues extending through February 1999.  That combination makes it possible to document the publication from its beginning through the period immediately before its merger into Reptile & Amphibian Hobbyist.

The magazine is also significant as a record of 1990s American herpetoculture.  Its covers combine captive care, breeding, species profiles, field observations, taxonomy, husbandry and general natural history.  Snake related material appears repeatedly, including ribbon snakes, carpet pythons, kingsnakes, cobras, green tree pythons, ball pythons, African house snakes, rat snakes, sand boas, pine snakes, Asian beauty snakes and Asian rat snakes.

The represented run documents a period when specialist reptile information was still distributed primarily through printed magazines, books, breeders, shows and mail order networks.  Because the title later disappeared into a successor publication, the physical issues preserve a distinct publication identity that would otherwise be easy to reduce to a brief bibliographic reference.