It's a little late since as of October I have had my girl Lily for a full year, but it was in February that I really got into the hobby when I added my male spider to my collection.
So here is what I have learned in the past year in not particular order:
1.) Heat lamps just don't work for most snakes
2.) Tanks don't work very well for snakes - you have to work twice as hard to keep proper temps and humidity
3.) Heat pads should have at least a dimmer of them
4.) Most people at chain pet stores really don't know anything about the reptile they are selling you
5.) Specialty reptile shops are the best
6.) Having a great reptile vet who genuinely cares and isn't trying to just get more money out of you is key
7.) Morphs are in fact like Pokémon and you just have to catch them all
8.) Racks are probably the easiest way to keep at larger collection
9.) Building a rack on a carpet is going to cause it to most likely not be level when you are finished
10.) If you think the gap is too big it probably is and your snake will get out
11.) Oil works wonders for getting sticky things off of snakes without hurting them
12.) Having a missing snake is stressful and may cause loss of sleep
13.) This site only helps to feed someone's morph addiction
14.) Only buy from breeders with good reps
15.) You can actually have a reptile shipped to you over night
16.) Mites suck
17.) Always be prepared to treat for mites
18.) Ball pythons live to be difficult sometimes and can be super picky eaters when they feel like it
19.) You NEED to have some type of scale so you can keep track of weights during hunger strikes
20.) Hunger strikes aren't something you need to panic about
21.) 1.1.1 means one male one female one unknown
22.) Soldering irons and hot glues are needed items
23.) Snakes think that right after you clean their cage is the best time to go to the bathroom
24.) Snakes like to dump their water bowls over and flood their tubs
25.) If you get f/t hopper mice too warm in water they then to burst (this principle might apply to all mice)
26.) Breeding females are more than willing to take your hand along with feeding tongs and the rat if you give them a chance
27.) Boas are better than ball pythons
28.) Cresties are a super cool
29.) Herp society are the best
30.) Field herping is not just something kids do
31.) Light tents make for great pictures
32.) RI are not the end of the world if you catch them soon enough
33.) Tapeworms look nasty and are scary to find
34.) Snakes don’t take pills well (sometimes even if you try to hide them in their food)
35.) Giving shots is fairly easy with smaller snakes
36.) Quarantine is necessary
37.) Buying frozen rats in bulk saves money but no freezer space
38.) Switching snakes from mice to rats isn't always extremely difficult
39.) Getting water dishes at the dollar store will save you some money
40.) Breeding ball pythons takes an extreme amount of patience
41.) Getting peed on is gross
42.) Musk smells horrible
43.) Getting bit really isn't that scary
44.) Once you've been bit enough times you get pretty good at reading their body language
45.) Snakes do things on their time not yours not matter how much you wish otherwise
46.) Anti-reptile legislation (bans) suck, but if you are dealing with local people and do so professionally there is a good chance they will at least listen to you
47.) The HSUS is not a friend of any pet owner
48.) The hobby can get expense really fast once you start getting into the higher end morphs
49.) Not everyone is going to respond kindly if you tell them you keep reptiles
50.) Snakes and geckos make fantastic fairly low maintenance pets
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