Hello, new to forum and world of snakes

Hello,
My name is Thea and I am from Washington state. I am new to the forum and to the world of snakes. I have found this forum fascinating. I have been lurking around for about a month now and finally decided to join. I really have to say that I was really afraid of snakes and did not want to have much to do with them for a very long time. To tell you the truth I even questioned others decision to keep snakes. (Now I know why and I understand the addiction)

I posted an ad on craigslist because I wanted to meet snakes and get over my fear. I have met a few people from there and they have offered to show me their snakes and let me handle them. I honestly did not think I would even go for it myself. I used to scream and run away every time I saw one. (LOL, really!)

I finally found someone to show me their snakes. We met at Petco and they brought in three of their snakes. A ball Python, and some others. (If you can tell me what they are that'd be great because I completely forgot. LOL.)

I'm going to post some photos of my FIRST snake encounter.. It was actually awesome. These snakes were very docile and friendly. I just held them and they just chilled out.I thought I would be more afraid of them, but I wasn't. I'm very happy I did it and hope to have many more snake encounters.

The first one is 5 feet. His name is Moose. (My favorite)
http://img159.imageshack.us/img159/8...amonty3ne2.jpg

The second one is Monty and he is 8 feet.
http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/2...amoose1vs3.jpg\

And the third is Jato. He is only 3 feet.
http://img380.imageshack.us/img380/8766/theajatotk0.jpg

I intend on learning more about them and might own one down the line. I definitely want more hours with them-all aspects of their care, handling,etc.

If you're in the Seattle or Tacoma, wa area send me a PM. Maybe we can meet.

Thanks,
Nice to meet all of you!
Thea

Well I can't help you out to much since I'm not really good at identifying snakes.

But I can say welcome! It is awesome that you are trying to get over your fear and its great to see such interest in snakes!

:welcome:

Welcome :), If you ever vacation to my neck of the woods (Sunny South Florida) You are more than welcome to come hang out with my babies

the first pic is a redtail boa
the second pic is an albino burmese python
the third pis is a ball python

Welcome to the forum!! It is always great to see people that face their fears head on and are able to overcome them. :gj: It is fantastic that you have a new found respect for these animals, even if you never own one. And might I say you took a BIG step handling a Burmese Python on your first encounter.:gj::gj:

:welcome: to Bp.net! It's a great place if you're looking to learn about herps. Glad to see someone that's willing to put the time into her research too before jumping in and buying an animal. Too many "impulse buyers" out there (I'll admit I did fall into that category to begin with too lol, I wised up REAL fast though once I found this site).

It's great to hear that you're getting over the fear of snakes. They are absolutely incredible animals and most peoples ideas of what a snake "should be" are totally blown out of the water once they meet a couple of my balls and corns :).

Hello Thea! :hug:

I was in the same boat as you last October! Yes, they are addicting... I still can't bring myself to get within 5 feet of a full-grown burmese! So you are waaaayyy ahead of me now. ;)

We have 2 ball pythons (like that 3rd picture) but they are still young - the youngest one is less than a year and is less than 2 feet long, the other is 2 years old and is over 3 feet long. Our latest addition is a hognose snake. It is amazing how much I've learned about snakes in the past 2 months. Especially with the hognose and the ball pythons - they are completely different characters it's amazing, e.g. balls are nocturnal, hoggies are diurnal, balls constrict their prey (very fast and very efficient and very intimidating) while the hoggie will kinda hunt but is scared of the food and would rather have a dead one because it takes him a long time to get that venom working into the food (very inefficient in my opinion). And even with the 2 ball pythons, they are very different too. The younger one is very easy going, always happy, and eats every time food is offered. The older one is a prissy one - a little thing not quite right with her house and she will refuse to eat - and she's moody - sometimes she's okay with just sitting with you on the couch, other times she'll hiss at you if you even come close.

My son loves to tell everyone that he has 2 constrictors and a venomous snake which almost always gets me a "talking-to" from my parents of how I'm putting my son in extreme mortal danger. :rolleye2: If nothing else, I love having the snakes so I can show everyone there's no reason to fear ALL snakes.

WELCOME!

Welcome to the group :gj:.That lady has one sweet looking albino burmese python:cool:

Hi everyone!
Thank you for the warm welcome. I really appreciate it. Thanks for telling me what they were. I was having a brain fart and completely forgot. The Burmese was very intimidating but after watching the boyfriend hold him for a while he seemed okay. You can tell in my face though with the big one I was very hesitant. I was also very curious. I was like "What can happen in here?" So I just went for it. He's massive. He's all muscle and a little heavy. I'm not sure how much he weighs though.

The owners of the snakes are going to bring them by the house so my little 3 and 5 year old nephews can check them out as well. My 3 year old nephew is really funny because he knows I'm afraid of them so he said "No, that's too scary" but I know he'll be entranced by them. (We'll take pics of their first meeting)

I think my favorite was the Red Tail Boa. He was very friendly. At first I was like "OKay, what's he doing now?" but than I got really comfortable. I may own one of those eventually. Like I said though i'd like at least 100 hours of handling and care time before I even step into snake ownership. It seems like you MUST know exactly what you are getting into and know how to keep yourself safe at all times.

I did have one concern. I was reading stories about snakes escaping from their cages. How do you prevent such a thing from ocurring? Anyways I really plan on getting my hands on as many snakes as I can and checking em out all over the place. I'm really curious now!!

Can you all tell me what got you into snakes in the first place? I think mine was my initial "Fear" of them that piqued my interest. I think I am curious about what I fear. I like to study things and ask a lot of questions. Let me know if I get annoying. lol.

Anywho, thank you so much for the warm welcome. It is very appreciated!

I think I'll kick off my shoes and relax here for a while. ;)

Thea

LOL. I forgot to mention that my sister said I was crazy and she laughed at me. She'll laugh even harder when I tell her I may own one someday. LOL. It was hilarious. The other day I told my sister I was going to see some snakes and she gives me this look like "Why in the world do you want to do that?" and than I showed her the photos. My nephews thought it was extremely cool and want one now. LOL. My sister just rolled her eyes.

My mom thought that I was crazy and was wondering why I'd see some snakes. She was like "What?". So funny. My dad thought it was stupid and asked me why I wasn't conquering logical fears (like my severe test anxiety). Ah. My family is hilarious.

I really liked the Red Tail. He was really cool. I hope to see them again soon.

Oh and I have 2 cats, and a little Chihuahua. LOL