What turned you on?

Ok now, what turned you onto keeping snakes?


I'll go first. I kept having a nightmare about a giant yellow snake attacking me. The nightmares go so severe that I ended up swinging my fiance at night. So I decided to face my fear and get into snakes. Yeah it's a iddy biddy corn but still...

I hope some day to face my giant yellow snake and handle him. He was kinda like a giant yellow anaconda.

Well i always wanted a snake since i was a little boy. But u know mom's NO!!!! snakes lol. So when i moved out some odd years later my buddy was selling some so i was like hey i will buy one now thats how i got into collecting bp thats my little story hope u all like :D

Not too sure. I have been carrying them around since I started finding them as a kid. Just never got over my fascination with them. Doubt I ever will!:D

I've been keeping reptiles since I was 6 or 7, snakes included. My parents use to own a pet store, so I was raised around animals of all kinds. I loved reptiles probably because not many others did and they are so misunderstood. Being around them at such a young age I was able to see 1st hand how cool they are, and in the case of snakes how beneficial they are.

I like all animals, but reptiles and fish are what I enjoy the most.

Well, when I was little we had a pool. Little garter snakes would get in the pool and I would jump in and save 'em. I had always wanted a pet snake, but only got one recently. :snake:

My father was into reptiles, big time. I grew up with a burmese python who died when I was 18 of a liver problem, and we ran a reptile rescue for quite a while. I was never without reptiles until a few years I was on my own, my husband bought me a little ball python and resparked my renewed interest and love!

When I was elementary aged, my mother used to take my brother and myself to the Nature Science Center in Winston-Salem, NC and they had some sort of summer program.


I remember falling in love with Helen the Hognose - unfortunately, the king snake somehow escaped and Helen went missing, never to be seen again. I had a hard time liking that king again! LOL

So, fast forward, Karl - like many impulse buyers we know, got a baby iguana because he wanted a lizard for a 20 gallon tank that we were no longer keeping fish in. I immediately get online to research the care of them and when I saw their potential size, I was livid - I knew that we could not properly care for an adult. But Karl loved Zeus, so much to my chagrin, we became an iguana owner. Zeus never really did well though - he just would never really eat, and seemed sickly from the first day - he passed away a few months later.

Knowing that tank wouldn't stay empty long, I had already fallen in love with ball pythons (in fact, tried to talk Karl into taking Zeus back and get a ball python instead - which he refused). So I started researching their care because I knew that if I didn't put something in there, he would likely get another iguana - and he agreed I could get a ball python if I took all the responsiblility for it.

Fast forward to summer 2005 when Kashmire entered my life and made me fall head over heels in love with ball pythons. Here I am today with my little collection! :love:

Oh yeah, my mother is VERY frightened of snakes - when she found out I was getting Kashmire - she said "I knew we should have never had you volunteer your summers at the Nature Science Center!":rolleyes:

I've been really fascinated with reptiles since I was a kid. I grew up in Florida, where wild lizards abound and I used to spend my days catching Anoles and Skinks. Frogs were fun, too...and I caught the occasional garter snake. I remember once in particular we caught a jet-black snake... It was either an Indigo or a Hognose... I don't remember it looking like a hog nose in the face, but it did do the "play dead" and "throw up your meal" tricks to try and scare us off :) Mom never let me keep any of my little play mates.

The Reptile House at the Zoo was my VERY favorite--I could have spent all day looking at what the had in there...

When I moved up north and was 13 or so, I got it in my head that an iguana would make a great pet. But a PetCo lizard with a PetCo setup mixed with an inexperienced young owner didn't bode well for Keoke. He died of intestinal mites--at least that's what the vet told me. Reading things on here, I'm sure it was more like "intestinal -parasites-"--he was only with me for about 6 months.

After that, my mother REFUSED to let us have any more reptiles (or pets in general for that matter). And she never would let me have a snake--for in truth, I would have rather had a snake than a lizard.

Now, I'm in college--and I only live at home during breaks. I had the money, the knowledge and the room for a snake. I was researching BPs, found BP.net, met Kara, went to NERD and the rest is history :D

Wow...that was long-winded. Sorry!

I like reading everyone's stories. Keep 'em coming!

I have always been absolutely terrified of snakes. Not reptiles in general -- my brother had several leopard geckos growing up and I thought they were interesting and sweet. Snakes always had me spooked -- I stepped on a water moccasin when I was a kid, I was surprised by a snake that had gotten into my bathroom in an apartment...

Late last year, I was at a pet store, and a customer came in with a King snake wrapped around his neck. I have no idea what possessed me to do it, but I went up to him and asked if I could touch the snake. I did and I loved it. Soon I was going to reptile stores and local pet stores and asking to handle the snakes. I was shocked that they were so gentle and curious and how soft and warm they felt. After a few months of research, I decided on my first ball python. And wouldn't you know that now I can't wait till I feel experienced enough to get another... Hooked! :P :D