As well as building their publishing empire, the brothers have another ‘reptile’ business – KBE Reptiles and Accessories. How they came to work with reptiles is a story in itself. About 10 years ago, 32-year-old Troy was exposed to toxic chemicals that led to kidney failure. To curb his depression (and keep him from focussing on his health problems) Troy started breeding rats to feed his and Denver’s growing reptile collection. Word spread and he started doing the same for family and friends. He realised the business potential and in 2007 KBE Reptiles and Accessories was born with the backing and support of the entire family.

Denver, 27, is a heavy fabrication engineer by trade, but now works exclusively with his reptiles through KBE Reptiles and Accessories and soon-to-be-published, Scales and Tails Australia. Both Denver and Troy try to help as many up-and-coming young herpers as they can as well as liaising with the older, more experienced herpers in Australia and overseas.

Denver brought his first snake home at the tender age of 17 while Joy – his mum – was away on a selling trip (she was the national sales manager for a jewellery company at the time). Denver had gotten his reptile licence, but had been told by Joy that "no snake is coming to live at my house". On returning home from her sales trip – exhausted and ready to relax – Joy found Denver had installed an extremely large adult Carpet Python in his bedroom. Joy promptly kicked both Denver and the snake out of the house. Bottom line? Joy was absolutely petrified of snakes. But, Denver convinced her to let him and the snake stay promising Joy that his new pet would be locked up securely and couldn't get out. She came around enough to look at it occasionally and touch the ‘non-bitey’ end every now and again. Denver took it slowly and eventually Joy ended up holding the python – he got the breakthrough he needed! The rest as they say is history. If you ask Joy today, her response to reptiles is: "They truly are addictive. I fell in love with that first snake and every other snake Denver has brought home since".

She left the company to work with Lorraine Lea Linen again as a sales manager with similar responsibilities. And again she was rewarded for her effort with personal and team awards. She left the company to take up a national sales manager position with Attatude – a jewellery company. She built the sales team up from scratch and stayed loyal to Attatude for two years before moving to New South Wales where she built and managed a tile plant with husband, John, before moving back to Queensland and retiring. But, not for long – part-time jobs were explored before her kids – Denver and Troy – lured her into working for them in their reptile business.

While growing up Joy absolutely hated snakes – was scared witless of anything slimey and slithery. But her boys converted her and she is now just as passionate about reptiles as they are. She even went to the US in 2003 and met some interesting people from the snake world. David Weathers was one – she spoke to him just after he had been bitten by a King Cobra while filming a documentary for Ripley's Believe It or Not. He gave Joy a peak behind the scenes at his zoo in Florida, which he had at that time, where she was impressed by the extensive collection of reptiles from all over the world. Further up the east coast of the US in Allenwood, Pennsylvania, Joy was offered the same behind-the-scenes tour and treated as a special guest at Clyde Peeling's Reptiland.

Back then Joy considered herself simply as the mother of a couple of kids from Australia, who just happened to keep reptiles. But the visit to the US virtually changed her life – she became passionate about reptiles – especially what was happening on the world stage. She also came home with lots of stories for the boys – and began her collection of the very thing that initially scared her to death. She now has about 20 snakes as well as some she shares with Troy and Denver.

Paula’s resume reads like a ‘how to succeed in business’ manual. She is a young woman who has the Midas touch when it comes to business. Paula finds opportunities and niche markets and capitalises on them – building a name for herself as a successful entrepreneur in the process.

Paula has worked in the media industry for close to 20 years and is only now branching out to other industries and enterprises. She worked for Australia’s largest regional newspaper group for just over 10 years – five of those spent in the company’s head office as the national features manager. Her position involved dealing with group editors and staff on the ground while liaising with her creative and production teams to ensure the features published were of the highest quality – both from a graphic and editorial perspective. Paula’s reputation in the company grew to substantial levels. She expanded the features of the group’s newspapers from one or two pages a week to the situation where features quickly overtook the rest of the newspapers in the number of pages produced as well as the amount of revenue brought in. She also incorporated training into her very busy schedule. She had a team of full-timers as well as a long list of freelancers on staff.

Paula left the media group to start a family and take it easy, but within just a few months she got the itch to start working again. This time she decided to try her hand in her own business. She launched a magazine that was distributed throughout Brisbane’s influential bayside suburbs. The magazine was such a success that she eventually decided to partner with another magazine to become the largest lifestyle publication now operating in the Sunshine State. Just about every town in Queensland has one of Paula’s magazines and along with her two business partners, she runs a company of more than 100 employees.

Starting a magazine from scratch made Paula realise how important it was to work closely with clients to understand what type of campaign would compliment their existing marketing activities to maximise results. And by working alongside her graphic designers, Paula developed an edge on the competition – put simply, she knows what works and what doesn’t when it comes to layout and design.

Paula’s reason for working with the team at Scales and Tails Australia is simply because she can see the passion and commitment from everyone involved in the project and she knows that it won’t be hard to produce a quality product with the knowledge and the experience of the team she put together.

Paula believes the magazine will continue to grow simply because of the commitment each person will give to the project. And the one thing that sets this magazine apart from its competitors is Paula’s work ethic … she delivers what she promises.

Tracey has more than 20 years’ experience in all forms of media. She has worked as a journalist and sub-editor for some of Australia’s largest daily newspapers, has been a radio announcer and newsreader for a variety of networks, and was a journalist and producer for Channel 9 in Brisbane.

Tracey’s extensive list of media contacts also allowed her to pursue a high-profile public relations and marketing career for some five years before moving into book and magazine publishing to accommodate her growing family needs. She is based in Brisbane and runs her own communications company.

Tracey heads up a team at Scales and Tails Australia of experienced writers from around the world who specialise in writing about the reptile world. While you may recognise some names, others are relative ‘newbies’ to the Australian reptile scene, but big overseas. Scales and Tails lured them to Australia with the promise of a continually growing readership and circulation and the freedom to write about what excites them in the reptile field. And we would love to see you get involved – send us your story ideas – and let’s fill this magazine with what you – the reader – wants.

Romana has more than seven years’ experience in photography and graphic design. While studying photography at the Queensland College of Art, she interned as a photojournalist in Phuket working on a number of projects for the local Phuket Magazine.

After graduating in 2001, she went on to freelance in photography and graphic design. In 2004 Romana partnered with two other motivated women to start up, Desired Creations, a photography and design business that boasted an 80 per cent referral rate. The company took out the Redland Chamber of Commerce Best Women in Business award in 2006 and was a finalist the following year.

Romana has worked for a number of local and international magazines such as Phuket Magazine, Urban Living, Sub-Tropical Gardening and Style Magazines. She also does commercial design for small-to-medium-sized businesses, and product and fashion photography for the likes of Westfield Carindale, Victoria Point Lakeside, CasaVida and Ahmets restaurants – just to name a few. She also specialises in portrait and wedding photography. 

Due to the success of her first venture, Romana is now working on her own business, Romana Saeheng Photography and Graphic Design (primarily a web-based business). She brings to Scales and Tails Australia a wealth of creative knowledge and the ability to turn the mundane into the magnificent.