Why did YOU get into snakes/reptiles?

Well the whole animal deal started as a kid. My closest little friends and I ran the only frog/toad rescue and rehab hospital in our area LOL (actually a large refridgerator box but hey we had wards and everything...I'm pretty sure the local frog and toad population were terribly happy to finally have decent medical services!) Then there were the caterpillar races....Speedy my best racer was unfortunately trod upon by my dad one day whilst bbqing with a beer in his hand, but I'm pretty sure dad was just distraught about it LOL. I know I was and nearly drove my parents mad with the ensuing wailing and nashing of teeth (I may have had money riding on Speedy!)

Other than that we had the normal compliment of dogs and cats but funny enough my reverence for the wild creatures came from the father's hunting & fishing. He brought us all up with this mostly unspoken knowledge that animals and their environment were to be admired, managed, respected and used appropriately. It was never really said...it was just done. Gawd help the family member that hunted something and wasted it...down came the wrath of dad! Still makes me furious when people don't see that responsible hunting and fishing is about conservation, knowledge and respect.

As far as herps in particular, for me, it's an incredible rush that a creature that is basically wild by nature is allowing me into it's world in captive relationship. I'll always love domesticated creatures but something in me just connects with the undomesticated. For some odd reason I feel more like the snake accepts my presence more than I've made it do so (if that makes any sense to anybody LOL). As well who couldn't love such a lovely fluid movement, the subtle indications it gives, the amazing fury and power of the strike, the muscles that ripple...on and on....


~~Jo~~

i always liked animals and have had a couple of pets over the years but my parents werent really intothem (Hamster named Lenny and a Red eared Slider name Darien) my sis had a pet wild toad for a couple of years named Betsy and we were always catchin frog together


then one day i was in a pet store with my freind and we were looking at the reptiles and he turns to my and say something along the lines of "ur way to much of a wussy to own a snake" well i could just take that lying down but unfortunatly u had to be 18 to buy a snake there so i wuz stuck.

i went home and went thru my garage andfound this old 40 long fish tank i cleaned it up set it up in my room and went to ny dad and asked him if i could buy a snake

after he caught his breath and got up off the floor (still chuckling) he said those 4 fearsome words "GO ASK UR MOTHER"

i was totally freaked out, i mean i knew that he had an intellectual interest in snakes (and to this day i know that if not for mom he would have drove me over imediatly) but thats the way of things

so i go over to my mom and say "is it all right with you if i buy a snake?"
she looks at me for abouta minute, squints one eye, and suddenly decides to become a psychologist. and says "Do what you think you should do."

"Do what you think you should do." i officaily love that phrase i dont know where she got it from and dont care but she said it with such dripping sarcasm that i knew that i couldnt return home without a snake.

so i get into the car with my sis we drive ove to the store i pick up all of the snake paraphenalia and on the way home i stop at my friends house and scare the **** outa him with my new BP

right then and there he named him Monty Python and it stuck

THE END


ps my mom never forgave me

I was always the "eww gross a snake" kind till I was 16 or so. My now ex bf wanted a bp but his mom was the one that said you do and ur out of the house. We went to petco and I looked at hte bps and held one and fell in love well of course he couldnt get me one so he got me a ferret. Well after him and I broke up I met a new guy and apperantly he always wanted a snake to but we never had the money for the set up and the animal. Then I got pregnant and my new baby took over everything. Finally this past January 15th I got my first bp and it is about 4 and a half feet and healthy plump. It just finally ate for me to .

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Regal Boids

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!

---

Actually mine is a bit boring. I was searching for a pet at various pet stores and basically I stumbled across ball pythons and I had to get one. I looked at alot of potential pets such as: scorpions, spiders, fish, etc. But with the ball python I knew that I could at least handle it, I wouldn't want to handle scorpions or spiders very long, wouldn't be much fun. But that was it, I was just attracted to Ball Pythons because of their beauty and I honestly just thought they were really cool. After that I just became hooked and wanted to know all about them.

Well, for as long as I can remember I always had a thing for the creepy crawlers in general. Around 11 or 12 I recall seeing a large Albino burm show cased around some guys shoulders on the boardwalk in Coney Island. I was curious about these snakes and since then its been a passion.

For me it started when I was about 10yrs old. I caught my first snake (ring neck) under a rock in the backyard. I convinced my mom to let me keep it and she bought me a 10 gallon fish tank. I remember the feeling I got filling it up with dirt, rocks and a water bowl and just sitting in front of that tank for hours. Unfortunately it never ate and I eventually set it free.

My mom felt bad for me and bought me a garter snake for $10.00, I thought it was the coolest! Throughout the years I've caught, bought, bred and sold snakes as a hobby/passion.

As a teenager (many years ago) I remember keeping a Boa, BRB, Norm and Albino Burmese Pythons, couple Kings and Corns and even my 1st Ball Python that never ate and died! My bedroom looked like a zoo more than a bedroom! Snakes simply fascinated me and I love having them around.

Some people find seeing fish swim relaxing, some like to walk their dogs, some like a cat purring on their lap and others like talking to their parakeet. I find cleaning our snake enclosures and handling our collection of snakes relaxing.

Snakes have always amazed me. When i was young i used to go to my grandparents house and look up different snakes in their collection of encylcopedias. I was obsessed with corn snakes back then. Never had one though.

I wanted something new, so i did some research. I've had birds, hampsters, dogs....hermit crabs....

I wanted something new. Something that would make me feel alive when i handled it. I choose a BP, and since then i have gotten another BP, soon to get a corn snake finally, and within the next few years, a hog island boa.

:)

Snakes definitely are addictive, we currently have over 30 sub adult and adult boas and 10 BP's now. Hopefully in the next couple months we'll have an extra 100-120 babies to house, feed, and clean up after. :D

I was always fascinated with reptiles as a young boy. Building "forts" and clubhouses in the woods you come across some pretty cool wild animals, However my favorite were snakes. Me and my childhood friend would go "snake hunting" every day in the summer months. We had this place we called "snake field". We built a tree house out there and spread around all unused plywood and shingles. The next season we had created the ultimate breeding ground for garters milk snakes and black racers. Well now that I'm all grown up and have my own apartment it was time for me to buy one of my own. I chose a Ball Python because I wanted a docile snake that wasn't going to grow to be 8' long. A snake that can be easily housed and not too intimidating to house guests.

I was literally born into the snake world. The day I was born, my father had 2 Indigos and 5 hognose as pets. As I grew I added several more hognose, 2 ringnecks and who know's how many garter's before having to end up letting everything go when we moved from Florida to Illinois in 75. Took a break from snakes until I was discharged from the military in 83. Then I experimented with native wild caught snakes indigenous to Illinois for a few years until my third child was born and no longer had time to take care of them the way I should, so they were returned to the wild. Then in 2003 I came across the opportunity to own a Ball Phython and on a whim did so. Then about a year later my daughter and her then boyfriend told me of a Ballpython that was in very bad shape with burns at a pet shop. I being who I am and not wanting this snake to die, had them go back and get it and I nursed it back to health. Now he/she is a healthy nippy snakey.