Originally a second round draft pick of the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1993, Chad Brown started a company raising and selling non-venomous snakes after starting to raise snakes while in college at Colorado.

In September 2011, after more than 20 years in business, a fire broke out at the company’s building in Littleton, Colorado, which killed more than 2,000 snakes—some of which were valued at up to $20,000. While a few snakes were found alive, virtually all snakes eventually died due to the smoke.

To date, the company has not started selling snakes again, but has remained active in covering the snake industry at their website The Reptile Report.