How Did It Happen?

I’ve always liked pretty much all animals and would catch lizards and frogs as a kid, but didn’t keep them as pets. I’m now 35 and my kids BEGGED me for a snake for like 6 months in a row. Finally broke down and ordered our first BP in January. The kids had done some research and assured me we had what we needed for him, but when he arrived I realized his tank wasn’t getting warm enough with only a UTH. I panicked and did a deep dive into ball python husbandry and spent a lot of money buying him a bunch more stuff. After joining all these BP groups I kept reading about them and looking at ones for sale and a month later I came across a girl I had to have. So then we had two! I’m kind of obsessed now and have plans for about 6 snakes of various species I plan to get, but my husband is making me slow down lol. I also have started getting supplies together for bioactive enclosures, so in addition to my snakes I have 3 species of isopods, springtails, and millipedes.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

My Dad would take me fishing with my brother and I would always start looking for garter snakes. He wouldn't stop me just encouraging me to find one. Then that magical day where I was told I could keep one inside. Mom alittle ughhh about it but as long as I kept up with everything. So that's was around 8 years old and now at 49 I have Garters and lots of them. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...669123de94.jpg

Sent from my SM-G965U1 using Tapatalk

I was into aquariums before I got into herps. I kept planted tanks with a special interest in catfish (corydoras and plecos) and oaches. I was actually a mod on a freshwater aquaria forum when I was in college.

Post-college, I didn't have the time to maintain my aquariums and after losing most of my fish to a parasite outbreak, I decided to take a hiatus. I was beginning my teaching career (I'm an art teacher) and wanted a different class pet. During college, I had used reference images of ball pythons and leopard geckos for some artwork and had developed an interest in them aesthetically, so I figured some kind of reptile might make for a good class pet that didn't make noise and was hypoallergenic. Because of my previous interest in planted tanks, I decided to go with crested geckos that could live in a planted vivarium.

I also had an interest in snakes and larger lizards, but due to living arrangements (I was poor and also renting at the time), I didn't explore other options until I got married and was able to rent at an apartment complex that allowed other animals.

When I found out that snakes could be fed frozen/thawed rodents and after making sure my husband was ok with it, I got my first 2 snakes, a KSB and a western hognose.

Now, although I still have my crested gecko (she is going on 13 years old) and some other geckos (gargs, leachie), I find that I prefer snakes. They are easier to handle, less "jumpy" and I prefer their easier maintenance routine (less frequent feedings, etc.).

I just recently got back into fish with setting up a tiny 5 gl planted betta tank, but reptiles are my main interest at this point.

I was an animal lover as a kid, I even carried a reptiles and amphibians field book with me everywhere. Used to got hunting for salamanders and all sorts of other critters.
Then, when I was about 7, I was on a Cub Scout hike and I looked down and saw a 3-4ft black rat snake right where my foot was about to land. After that, I was terrified. I had a nearly exact repeat experience during a ruck march in basic training. That just reinforced my fear.

Earlier this year, I started taking an interest in reptiles again and decided that the best way to conquer this irrational fear was to learn to care for a snake. I figured that by interacting with it on a day to day basis I could overcome the lack of understanding that gave way to fear. So I got Sushi, my ball python. Then a funny thing happened, I realized that I'm not actually afraid of snakes, I just believed I was. Turns out, i really love these guys. In fact, caring for them and handling them is almost a meditative experience for me.

I picked up Sushi on March 1st. Last Friday I picked up my second (and last, for the foreseeable future) snake, Doc, a male BCI. I'm 36, and I don't want my snakes to outlive me and wind up with nowhere to go when I pass, so these two will probably be it for me, unless I get something a little less long-lived down the road.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Bogertophis

I was a frog & toad-catcher as a kid, but I never kept any, they were quickly released...the snakes were too fast & very scarce (racer types). I just loved playing in
the woods, & snakes never occurred to me until way later. I still love finding frogs & toads in my yard, & I also get a few garter snakes & box turtles. When I mow
the grass, I'm on the look-out...there's a few toads that I've watched grow up, and I move them out of the way for safety...they don't seem to mind either.

---

Toads were my favorite (hints my username!). We cought some frogs but not a lot because they're fast little buggers! We also loved catching salamanders. We had a lot of those around.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Toad37

Toads were my favorite (hints my username!). We cought some frogs but not a lot because they're fast little buggers! We also loved catching salamanders. We had a lot of those around.

---

Yes, they ARE fast, lol....there were creeks in the woods I meandered in...I remember waiting & watching the bull frogs (& others) where the creeks formed little pools-
pretty sure I always came home dirty...;) I remember finding salamanders too.

Now, when I pick up my resident toads (for their safety during my yard mowing) & talk to them, they seem to listen & don't panic...I find them awfully cute.
I appreciate their service, out there eating my bugs, & my dogs pay them no mind. I hate that so many people just throw poison in their yard so there's no "pests"
or weeds...they mess things up royally & miss how life really works, instead of appreciating nature. I grow tomatoes+ in my back yard too (organically of course).

My mom is a big animal person. She had 2 adult boas when I was born which she kept until I was like 5 or 6, then she gave them to a breeder. We also had a Uromastyx and several fire-bellied toads at some point when I was little, maybe like 7 or 8. So I was always around herps and never had any aversion.

When I was 11, my mom bought me a baby BCI for my birthday. At that point it was like 2004 and forums were in their heyday. I was a computer kid, so I was online researching the snake and found my way to several reptile forums (including this one). From there I got really interested in the hobby and started discovering other species I wanted to keep. I ended up with 6 leopard geckos, 2 Ball Pythons, 3 boas, a created gecko, and 3 bearded dragons by the time I was 12 or 13.

Over the course of the next five or so years, I was gradually made to part with a majority of those animals in large part due to having to move multiple times. However, to this day I still have my first Beardie, who is now 15.

Anywho, about three years ago my mom’s friend asked her if she wanted a California Kingsnake that had come into her possession. My mom agreed to take it, thinking that it would entice me to move back home [emoji23] I did... and now she is my girl Cleo. When I finally moved out of my parents’ house last summer and was supporting myself, I took the cal king and the Beardie with me. I got my BP at our local Repticon a few months later, and just a few weeks ago, I picked up my Bredli after jonesing for something in the morelia genus for the past 6 months.

I’m trying to take it slow and be responsible with purchases in order to build a collection that will be with me for the long haul.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by royzft201

My Dad would take me fishing with my brother and I would always start looking for garter snakes. He wouldn't stop me just encouraging me to find one. Then that magical day where I was told I could keep one inside. Mom alittle ughhh about it but as long as I kept up with everything. So that's was around 8 years old and now at 49 I have Garters and lots of them. https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...669123de94.jpg

Sent from my SM-G965U1 using Tapatalk

---

Omg, that is the cutest, smallest garter I've ever seen, it's just so adorable. I always love baby snake pics because of the big cute eyes they have. :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Bogertophis

I was a frog & toad-catcher as a kid, but I never kept any, they were quickly released...the snakes were too fast & very scarce (racer types). I just loved playing in
the woods, & snakes never occurred to me until way later. I still love finding frogs & toads in my yard, & I also get a few garter snakes & box turtles. When I mow
the grass, I'm on the look-out...there's a few toads that I've watched grow up, and I move them out of the way for safety...they don't seem to mind either.

---

I was a toad catcher too!! Best friend used to live in woods with a creek and there were some biiiig bullfrogs. Harmless fun on our, but it's always be a bummer to come across the occasional dead one on nature's part.

I loved spending time at the creek so much that I painted a photo of it in 3rd grade that my teacher ended up submitting to a young artist exhibition little did I know over a decade later I'd be so into herps to own one :rofl:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by alittleFREE

My mom is a big animal person. She had 2 adult boas when I was born which she kept until I was like 5 or 6, then she gave them to a breeder. We also had a Uromastyx and several fire-bellied toads at some point when I was little, maybe like 7 or 8. So I was always around herps and never had any aversion.

When I was 11, my mom bought me a baby BCI for my birthday. At that point it was like 2004 and forums were in their heyday. I was a computer kid, so I was online researching the snake and found my way to several reptile forums (including this one). From there I got really interested in the hobby and started discovering other species I wanted to keep. I ended up with 6 leopard geckos, 2 Ball Pythons, 3 boas, a created gecko, and 3 bearded dragons by the time I was 12 or 13.

Over the course of the next five or so years, I was gradually made to part with a majority of those animals in large part due to having to move multiple times. However, to this day I still have my first Beardie, who is now 15.

Anywho, about three years ago my mom’s friend asked her if she wanted a California Kingsnake that had come into her possession. My mom agreed to take it, thinking that it would entice me to move back home [emoji23] I did... and now she is my girl Cleo. When I finally moved out of my parents’ house last summer and was supporting myself, I took the cal king and the Beardie with me. I got my BP at our local Repticon a few months later, and just a few weeks ago, I picked up my Bredli after jonesing for something in the morelia genus for the past 6 months.

I’m trying to take it slow and be responsible with purchases in order to build a collection that will be with me for the long haul.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

---

I had a similar experience when it comes to research contributing interest, I was also a computer kid but hadn't found the BP community until recently but now that I have I'm falling down a deep hole of love and appreciation for snakes and other herps!

Almost 2 years ago, I was in a really dark place in my life, and starting this journey is one of the things that helped pull me out. For the first time in my life, I was in the grip of something totally beyond my control. I had crippling anxiety, to the point that I could barely get through a day. I have always been the type of person that had to be in control, have a plan, ect and this knocked my world out from under me. It took months for me to realize I needed more help than my GP could provide, and more time to get on a med/ therapy routine that worked. I am much better now. I still have my moments, but those were the hardest 6 months i have ever had to live through.

It was in that time that I took the plunge and got my first leopard gecko. It was something I had always wanted to do, but never took the plunge. I decided that I needed something to occupy myself with, so i dove whole hog into researching reptiles, deciding where I wanted to start, getting a setup ready ect. It really helped me to have a focus. I had no way of knowing exactly how much i was going to love reptiles and their care, or how rewarding it would be. That first leopard gecko now belongs to my 15 year old daughter and we are all hooked. It took some talking to get my husband to agree to the first snake, but now he is fascinated too.