Why did YOU get into snakes/reptiles?

What was it that attracted you to these animals? Was it their appearance, their history, or was it just a spur of the moment thing? Share your stories!

I bought an Iguana , that was my spur of the moment.Then the Iguana got borrying , bought my dumeral and fell in love.

I bought a cornsnake because they looked so cool. Then I got a ball python and had to get rid of both hjjence i moved. Then when I moved again I got back into the balls and know have a male and a female and have a pair of het yellow bluish albinos on the way! Lets hear your story rusty!

Over the years I have had a few friends that had snakes as pets, and as such I was never a "ewww snakes NO!" person.

Cass however was a "ewww snakes NO!" person. I'd talked about getting one a few times, but she never really liked that idea. But she did like looking at them in pet stores (safely behind glass).

Well, we were in our new PetCo getting some feeding bowls for the cats and we saw the balls. Cass wanted us to get an employee over so I could hold one and she could have a closer look (last time Cass held a snake she hyperventilated apparently).

Well anyway we got out a ball, and I held it for a while, then Cass asked to hold it. I can't remember how long she stood there holding the ball, and talking baby talk to it but it must have been 30 minutes or so.

The next day we went back, and I identified the exact snake we had been holding by the markings on the head. We bought Cleo and never looked back :)

I always liked snakes as a kid...not sure why, but always thought they were cool. My Dad, though...couldn't stand them and not even the THOUGHT of having one as a pet was allowed. LOL (My Dad was the most awesome man in the world, don't get me wrong...just couldn't stand snakes.) So anyhow...as kids are wont to do, I focussed on other interests and pretty much forgot about any desire to have snakes....but never lost that awe of them.


Fast forward many years and I'm now married with kids of my own. My daughter is all into Steve Irwin and Jeff Corwin (a couple years ago) and decides she LOVES snakes and wants to be a herpetologist when she grows up. Her interest was the spark that mine needed to re-ignite.....and re-ignite it did! Something like an obsessive bonfire at this point.... LOL

I was a tomboy as a kid; my friends and I would run around catching frogs/toads/snakes. I was fascinated by keeping them, building environments for them to live in, feeding, and breeding (I bred garter snakes as a kid, kind of accidentally, hehe.) I guess that my snakekeeping, is just a more grown-up symptom of that! And now it's even better, cuz my parents can't say "you can't have those." :)

I got an iguana when I was around 10 and my father helped me raise and take care of her. I also had a red-eared slider that I would like to lie down on the floor and watch him eat. We had to move and unfortunately had to adopt them out. Here I am and I'm 21 and decided to get back into reptiles. I had 2 bearded dragons and I now have a BP and a Rosy Boa.

I wanted a snake since I was around ten but my parents wouldnt let me get one. one day I went over my friends house and he hade a bp. when I first held him I looked at my friend and said im going to get one.well two weeks later I got my baby:D.the best part is my dad loves the little guy every time i feed him my dads there watching with a big grin on his face.now i have two bp's and looking for more

I've always loved snakes. The way they look, move, the mythology behind them (my Medusa/Naga obsession), the diversity... just everything.

I've always been an animal nut, and was a big ol tomboy when I was a kid. Barbie? Meh. Animal Encyclopedia?! Thank you Santa!! lol. Every kind of animal, I loved and am still fascinated by (except for gnats, I HATE them). I'd bring home frogs, bugs, even caught a wild mouse outside once in my hands and my Mom flipped out. In a lapse between pets when I was like 6 or so I caught a housefly named him Speedy and fed him McDonalds honey packets. It was sad and I have issues, but a petless home is unfathomable to me. My Mom wasn't a fan of a good many of my pet choices (Houdini the gerbil, the black widow spider Arachne I kept in a jar on the porch and fed ants, etc) aside from the cats, and snakes were out of the question. I also presumed I couldn't keep a snake because it'd be hard for me to feed live. I get attached to critters too easily :rolleyes:

Then I grew up, moved out, and learned about f/t prey. Bambi eyes at my fiancee (which had already gotten me bunnies and birds) and we found ourselves with a lovely baby corn snake named Falkor. Everything since then has been the fault of these fine forum members. ;) I love all kinds of herps, but snakes are the ones for me. Especially the BPs and Blue Beauties.

ahhh :) well, i think im the same as everyone else when i say "WE LOVE ANIMALS"
i would keep watching animal planet for hours or read whatever animal information i could get my hand's on. but unfortunately like the rest of animals lovers. parents just stand in your way ;/ anyways, my mom threatened to kill it "ofcourse she'd do it, she's nutts!!". so i used to raise street cats and keep them outside "offer them shelter house" i never kill insects , unless they're bad ones like "musqitos or roaches" and thats only if they're in my house. :) anyways. i decided to get a snake after i got married 2 years ago :P "getting a spider was out of the question" :D not even a scorpion .. after along long long discussion that lasted for 2 months, my wife finally agreed on letting me have one at home "as long as i keep it in the bathroom and cover the cage with something" :D went to thailand on a trip. and she was the only BP in chatuchak. felt sorry for it since it was just thrown in a small "very small" plastic tub with no heating pads or hidings. held it and checked the breathing. looked for scars "i found a very small one on its back" no mites :D so i decided to buy her.. lol, at 1st my wife would scream like a baby!!. after she saw how great BP are :D she kept asking me to hold her. now most of the time we fight over to decide which one who can hold her the most :P