Katie: Reptile Convert and Love of My Life - Post about converts you know!

A close friend of mine, who lived in the Washington DC area, is moving pretty close to me here in CT. We've been friends for 21 years and she's never met my reptiles. She's up in CT doing some stuff with her new house and stopped by for a short visit.

She met Frank (BTS), Solana (scaleless Corn snake), Cleo (Leopard Gecko), and Behira (BI) (reptile wise - she also met the four pups and Lincoln the Betta fish). She was very impressed with Frank and Cleo and held Cleo and let Frank nudge her and sit on the chair next to her.

She was amazed by Solana (my smallest snake and very chill and beautiful) and touched her right away. She had never touched a snake before and didn't know what to think. Then I took Behira out and she wanted me to stay a few feet away at first. Ultimately, she pet Behira a few times and commented on how different she felt than Solana, but also different than she expected.

It was a short visit, and she's working her courage up, but it was a success. She said she enjoyed meeting them, was impressed with the tanks/setup, and that if felt like visiting a zoo or museum, being able to see all these cool creatures.

She wasn't afraid of the snakes to begin with, but was a little apprehensive and didn't know what to think or do at first. She didn't hold the snakes, but it's a good start. We will get there.

Another convert!

I think this is one of the best feelings in the world...watching people overcome their apprehension about reptiles & see it change over to curiosity & admiration. :D Good "job"! :gj:

When I took my baby KSB upstairs and handed him to my at-the-time 91-year-old mother, and she took him and with wonder in her voice said "I never imagined they felt like this!". Now he has to go up and visit her every once in a while.

My mom originally wouldn't even entertain the idea of having a snake in the house, but now she's fully on board with me getting a second one and often comments on how cute she thinks mine is. Still not interested in holding a snake though, unfortunately!

Well, still...she's come a long way & I give her a lot of credit for admitting they're cute. That's a great start. :gj:

I face-timed with my best friend and his wife and kids tonight. He's my blonde and blue eyed buddy who "Jeff" the BI is named after. His daughters are 8 and 10 and they wanted to meet the reptiles.

We did show and tell for a bit and they asked a lot of questions and were really interested that Boas gave life birth to young, that reptiles cannot create their own body heat, and that snakes like boas can eat every 3 weeks and still grow.

I think their favorites were Behira (BI - she was big and calm), Yafe (CP), Solana (scaleless corn), and Ezzy (leachie), who I called a pajama lizard and they got a kick out of that. Ezzy also "spoke/chirped" for them. They thought it was crazy that Ezzy and Ferry (Chewie) can climb walls. I showed them Ferry in his tank climbing the back wall and it blew their minds.

Zoe, who is ten, was less interested in the beginning, but now, when they come to visit next, wants to hold Behira. Nela, who is 8, isn't so sure, but we will see.

They live in Maryland, but haven't been to this house yet (I've been here for 4 years). Jeff and his wife Hana have, but not the kids. Now that they are older and excited about visiting Uncle Dave and Aunt Katie and the zoo, I am sure we will see them soon enough once COVID is done.

MORE CONVERTS! Yay! Young ones too!

Have told this story before elsewhere in the forum but it still kinda fits here.

Last Christmas season we had both sets of my nieces and nephews (2 each) over and of course they all wanted to see my BP Zebes.

Fascinatingly, the girls were far more enamored with him, the eldest (she just turned 13 last month) in particular constantly asking me the whole visit if she could hold him. At one point I allowed her to hold him for a little while on her own and he just settled right down in her hands. I of course made it clear that he was to be held only once a day and made sure they were gentle and quiet with him, but it was wonderful that they were so eager to interact with what's normally such a misunderstood creature while answering as many questions they had about him as I possibly could.

I chose a BP partially with visiting kids in mind given their placid dispositions, and Zebes has surpassed that expectation. I couldn't be more proud of my boy for being a shining ambassador of his kind to the next generation. :snake:

My mom came over for my birthday today. We spent a little time with the reptiles and I got some pictures with her and Behira and Feliz. She held all the snakes but Figment who is deep in shed. Yafe is just going into shed, and was a little hissy coming out, but was fine once out. He is faded, so I didn't take pics. Mom hadn't seen him in a while and was really impressed with how much he's grown.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/lju8uGD.jpghttps://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/GaO3ZmW.jpg

Your mom's a "pro" now! :D Very cool "convert" indeed.

hApPiE bUrPhDaEy, DaKsKi!


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Originally Posted by jmcrook

hApPiE bUrPhDaEy, DaKsKi!


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I'll second that! :bday: :snake2::banana::rockon::colbert2: