When did you start the whole snake game ?

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Originally Posted by Mike Cavanaugh

27 years... man, I am getting old...

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Age is only a number. :P I'm at 25 years, but I got my first pet boa for my fourth birthday - gotta love an understanding mother! ;)

i have been keeping and owning reptiles since i was about 4. started with toads and salamanders. then i got into aquatic turtles. after awhile and before they were illegal i got into box turtles and bred them for awhile. then i moved out and went to school. thats when i was finally able to own my own snakes. i bought a neglected corn snake from a friends brother. then i bought a pair of kenyan sand boas and a cal king. came home from college and didnt tell my mom i had them till i was 10 minutes from home....lol she actually fell in love with them once she got to see and hold them. i then found a snow corn at an agricultural auction of all places and bought it, no intentions of breeding so i didnt care if it was a male or female. well after some research i found out i had a pair. i decided to just go for it. after watching them breed i prepared for eggs and babies. 26 eggs my first go at it. lots of babies, lots of mouths and hard to get rid of at the time. well then i got my own house and it just exploded. soon i had 75 corn,king and milk snakes!!!! well i decided to thin down. got down to about 15-25 animals. then my buddy sent me a free pastel female ball. then it started all over again...
now i have 35 or so balls, 5 corns and hundreds of rats...
im 30 years old now...with 2 kids a wife and a dog and lots of herps...lol

I'm fairly new to the game, I got into snakes summer of 2008. We did have a leopard gecko growing up though! lol

I had been intrigued by reptiles at an early age like most members and purchased my first ball python when I was 13.

Now almost 8 years later I used that very same female I purchased and she laid my first clutch of pastel x normal hatchlings.

I currently have 5 ball pythons after selling hatchlings, 1 blue tongued skink, 1 crested gecko, Rottweiler, and a fat cat haha.

I am the poster child for the kid that always told his parents he'd have a snake room when he moved out, I did exactly that. You can breed with any amount of income as long as you put aside what you're going to need for food/upkeep and can manage your responsibilities. My best advice is don't plan to make any profit your first few years, that way if you do you'll be surprised :) oh and also buy your females early on so you can begin the few years it takes to raise them up. males can always be bought cheaper as ready to breed adults.

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Originally Posted by mattchibi

Reading all your responses has got me so hyped!! I cant wait to get my second snake and start expanding my collection!

The parentals are old school & Chinese and are frowning at the fact that my new amazing black PVC enclosure looks too much like a coffin & they want me to exchange it for something that looks nicer. (LOL) I said "When I move out im gonna have a whole snake room, you know that right?" My mom looked terrified XD

Im only 20 now, still got lots to learn. I guess I have from now until I have a stable career and im out of school to learn about breeding bps, hopefully I'll know everything there is to know by then ^^ Thanks for sharing guys, more responses are welcome too! :)

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Same here...my parents are old fashion Chinese folks. LOL

I was always interested in them as a kid but never could have them. My friend got a blood python and after holding her I had to have one. We went up north and looked at the place he got her but they didnt have anything I was interested in. So my wife told me about the Indianapolis State Fair had a reptile show. Went down there and came back with a spider male and a female pinstripe(my wife had to have her). That is where she also fell in love with the pieds.

We ended up getting 2 more at the tinley show along with my rack. So up to 4 at the moment with many future plans. Hoping to get 2 females from the tinley show in march and another rack. Hopefully a female fire and lesser.:D

Well about 25 years here. Started with slamanders and garters at about 6-8, and progressed to catching big black rats, and then onto a yellow rat, burmese, a few balls up until I was about 18 and didn't have the time or discipline that they required and got out for about 12 years. I've since returned to herps and I'm currently concentrating on balls and I have about 20 and plan on about 7 pairings this year. Can't wait for some of the fire stuff I'm gonna be working on.

Don't let your parents dissuade you, but try to be respectful and informative and you may win them over. I've had my mother snake sit for me a couple of times. Normally when I plan to trade something at the steel city show we'll just stay with my mother ( who lives 15 min away) and she'll watch my son and my snake and loves to do it. I'm sure that your particular cultural issues make it alittle more difficult, but best of luck it is a very rewarding hobby.