When I was 8 years (1998) old I caught a tadpole while on a fishing trip and it was all down hill from there. The tadpole metamorphosis ended as a Northern Leopard frog and a trip to walmart for a ten gallon aquarium. I housed him in a classic half and half gravel water set up with branches and rocks gathered from the yard. This was right around the time that we got the internet. I didn't know what forums were and every bit of knowledge I got was from library books or care sheets off of the AOL search engine.
The first summer he was fed wild caught whatever bugs I could catch. I had a flat rock that I farmed for worms. Winter came and we ended up at the pet store with my mother completely incapable of believing that people spent money on crickets. We left with some crickets an extra large critter keeper and two green tree frogs. The green tree frogs were awesome and unlike my Leo were much more calm and would even eat from my hand.
All the while I was reading everything I could, discovered kingsnake.com and I just knew everything. I remember going to my first reptile show with my dad in tow to get myself a leopard gecko. The local pet store only sold lizards and frogs. There was everything at this show. This was the first time I got a herp that needed any sort of heat and we got one of the fancy new stick on heating pads.
All told I ended up with about ten frogs 2 lizards and 4 snakes by the time I graduated high school.
I made a lot of mistakes while keeping reptiles as a kid. My parents didn't know how to take care of these animals aside from throwing crickets in for the frogs and lizards. A camping trip killed my anole lizard by way of mother accidental escapee. A corn snake escaped 3 days after I got it never to be found. Because of my parents financial troubles later on I made sacrifices in my animal's husbandry so I could keep them. I started selling most of my animals toward the end of my high school career. I was joining the military out of high school and knew that's not the best environment for pets in general.
I've been out of the military for a few years now and I got a new job that I make good money at and can support myself and then some with. It actually surprised me looking back at how terrible of a pet owner I was. While none of my pets ever starved it definitely wasn't optimal. Every new pet was a rush decision because hey, you don't know if mom and dad will have the money the next week. Everything being purchased all at once. Rush home to get everything set up and stick the reptile in as the dust is settling.
As I got onto ks.com for the first time in almost 7 years I realized this is the first time other than with my leopard gecko that I'm going through this process the right way. Seeing what's out there, how many fewer links are in the breeder section etc. then picking the specie, and finally buying all of the stuff (200 dollars worth of supplies not including terrariums thermostats are expensive) and (currently waiting on it to arrive) I will be setting it up and THEN I will be getting my snakes (two baird's rat snakes already paid for and waiting on my say so to ship).
I picked the baird's because they are sort of an ugly duckling that grow up to be just really awesome looking snakes with shiny blue and deep orange colors. Sort of a representation of my own graduation into adulthood and being a much better caretaker.
I'm not really sure how this post grew so big but I feel like there may be a few people out there who can relate to what I'm talking about here. I remember thinking how rude people were on forums because they'd ask how old I was or I'd see people being asked that. Now looking back I just think, oh that's why. For some reason I feel like the same people asking these questions are asking because of their own past experiences as a young aspiring herper.
Anyways, thanks for reading, feels good to be getting back into it.
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