How/why did you get into the reptile hobby?

When I was born, my father had a young Colombian red-tail boa, so I grew with this snake. Once I was old enough, I started taking care of him, eventually breeding the rats to feed him (while keeping some as pets) and being the only one that cared for him. For some reason, which to this day I can't get an answer from him, my father decided he wanted to sell him at a show. I was very upset about this, since by then I considered him to be MY snake.

Once I got into a place of my own where I knew I'd be stable for a while, I rescued a baby Colombian from someone on Craigslist. I now have two pet snakes, and 2 rescues. I plan to continue to do rescues/adoptions because I've seen the bad conditions they can end up in, and I've seen that most of the people who actually know how to help these snakes won't (mostly it seems because they don't want to spend the money), so they go to people who don't know how to care for them who just want to help.

My first experience with snakes:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7086/7...821ed73bd3.jpg

My biological father had snakes from when I was very young, and my parents' friend Craig had a garage full of racks, and tanks lining every wall in his house. I went through most of gradeschool in southern california, where herps are everywhere and I remember hiking through trails with my parents and the dogs, catching lizards and sidestepping diamondbacks (nearly stepped right into the middle of one coiled up).

I still get excited when I see a red tailed hawk or eagle in the sky. Hell, I was super giddy when I tossed french fries at the flock of seagulls at the closing K-mart parkinglot.. and 100+ swooped down and swarmed the car, blocking others from getting out of the lot. I get excited every time I find a garter snake or chorus frog.

My obsession is really with animals in general, not just herps, but it's worked out particularly well with meeting Brad (boyfriend, for those who don't know) that we ended up both having similar interests, and getting into ball pythons.

The short story is that I was looking for a pet for my kids that did not have fur. After researching bearded dragons, I realized that crickets or roaches were not my cup of tea. I came across snakes, liked what I saw and now here I am! By far my favorite pet and I've had a LOT of different types of pets!

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Originally Posted by Anatopism

Hell, I was super giddy when I tossed french fries at the flock of seagulls at the closing K-mart parkinglot.. and 100+ swooped down and swarmed the car, blocking others from getting out of the lot.

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This reminds me of one time in the beach parking lot this (JERK) in a convertible stole a parking spot that i was clearly going to park in then insisted he didnt see my turn signal and refused to move. So i went to the beach shack and bought french fries then came back and threw the fries in his car which he left the top down in. You should have seen the flock of seagulls that came flying down and ate and crapped all in his car. The car was still there when we left but to this day i wish i had stuck around to see the look on his face. LMFAO

Well, my daughter started all this. And I have fallen in, hook, line, and sinker. We have always had lots of pets, of many kinds. I used to be terrified of snakes. Couldn't even look at them. Long story short, teased and tormented with garter snakes as a kid by some jerk (aka my dad). So I had irrational fears, but didn't want them to rub off on my daughter. She loved the reptile sections of the zoo and pet stores. So I had to put on my big girl pants and deal with it. After several years of being drug around looking at all the snakes everywhere, and begged and pleaded by my daughter for one, I started researching them. I finally decided I needed to actually see her handle one, to make sure she was up for it, for real. Which of course she was. And as soon as I actually held one, it was all over. We brought home our first snake. Fast forward to today, we have 7. And I love them to pieces. We take them for educational/exposure visits to her school every year. And I will tell anybody who will listen how great they are. And anybody who I can, get to hold them. My mother in law actually held our boa today for the first time. :D. My husband never thought he would see the day when I would be near a snake, let alone love them to pieces! So, thank you to my sweet precious child!

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Anatopism

My first experience with snakes:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7086/7...821ed73bd3.jpg

My biological father had snakes from when I was very young, and my parents' friend Craig had a garage full of racks, and tanks lining every wall in his house. I went through most of gradeschool in southern california, where herps are everywhere and I remember hiking through trails with my parents and the dogs, catching lizards and sidestepping diamondbacks (nearly stepped right into the middle of one coiled up).

I still get excited when I see a red tailed hawk or eagle in the sky. Hell, I was super giddy when I tossed french fries at the flock of seagulls at the closing K-mart parkinglot.. and 100+ swooped down and swarmed the car, blocking others from getting out of the lot. I get excited every time I find a garter snake or chorus frog.

My obsession is really with animals in general, not just herps, but it's worked out particularly well with meeting Brad (boyfriend, for those who don't know) that we ended up both having similar interests, and getting into ball pythons.

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Awesome pic! That snake is so cool. That will be my little girl here in a few years playin with daddy's snakes! lol. Brads a great guy and he is lucky to have found a good woman who has the same interests! :)

WE got involved because of my 13 yrear old girl and her mother, meeting 2 very nice people at at store name Brad and Brit. By the time I got home I was taken down to the Petco in Olympia and meet the now Famous Brad and Brit. Well after hearing this man and women speak I fully understood what I was getting into and that they would not sale her a sanke if they felt she could not take care of it right. Well Now we have a few and I would love to get some more, space is getting tough since we do not use a rack system. We spent a lot of time with these two people and they taught us a lot and did a inspection of our home to make sure I was doing everything right, which was very nice of them and gave me peace of mine. I would love to get into Herpetolog but I a bit old but who knows. I have so much more to learn and I hope to be able to see my teaches still but they are very busy, so I read a lot and ask a lot of questions on the Forums to learn more.

I always like snakes but never got one.

So thank you my Wife, my Little Girl and Brad and Brit

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MSG-KB

WE got involved because of my 13 yrear old girl and her mother, meeting 2 very nice people at at store name Brad and Brit. By the time I got home I was taken down to the Petco in Olympia and meet the now Famous Brad and Brit. Well after hearing this man and women speak I fully understood what I was getting into and that they would not sale her a sanke if they felt she could not take care of it right. Well Now we have a few and I would love to get some more, space is getting tough since we do not use a rack system. We spent a lot of time with these two people and they taught us a lot and did a inspection of our home to make sure I was doing everything right, which was very nice of them and gave me peace of mine. I would love to get into Herpetolog but I a bit old but who knows. I have so much more to learn and I hope to be able to see my teaches still but they are very busy, so I read a lot and ask a lot of questions on the Forums to learn more.

I always like snakes but never got one.

So thank you my Wife, my Little Girl and Brad and Brit

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Yeah they are great. I have worked with Brad primarily and he has been a HUGE help. He's always been very patient with me considering I have had a ton of questions for him!

To make a long story short my son wanted a Turtle for his birthday. I am not a fan of water turtles the stink and are very high maintenance. So we got a Ball Python then anonter and another ETC now we have 4 balls 3 rats (breeding) and an incuabotr for next season :) The addiction has set in :rolleyes:

When I was 10 I went to a reptile show at the library and the gentleman had a albino Burmese python. I fell in love right away. After the show I checked out several books on pet snakes and found the albino ball python which was something I could handle a bit better than the Burmese lol So from 10 on I asked my parents for a snake for every holiday, they always said no.When I turned 16 and had a job I asked again if I could buy one. I shared a room with my sister who couldn't get over the idea of sleeping in the same room as a snake. Instead I rescued a Green Iguana! :O She was the meanest thing I have ever owned to this day. It didn't matter to me she was my own pet and I loved her. I would take her out on a leash, she used to like to ride in the back on the car in the sun. Even though she was evil she was my favorite reptile even now when I own my own albino python. I hope eventually I will be able to get another iguana, they are so awesome.