Loving reptiles must be in our DNA

Well i found out today my daughter from my first marriage likes snakes :O.Now i was never around her so i find it wild that she likes snakes and so do i.So is it possible to have a gene in us that has the power to make us love reptiles? So has anyone else have anything like this happen to you?

I had a 1st cousin, quite a bit older than me that had some type of boa when I was a kid. He (my cousin) had Cystic Fibrosis and died when I was a teenager and his parents donated his snake to the zoo. Unfortunately, Pearl would not eat after Rick was gone, so she died, too.

I started my herp collection (mostly beardies) without really thinking of Rick, but then I learned that he had all kinds of reptiles as a kid. Pearl is just the only one I remembered because the others were before my time.

In fact, when I got my ball last summer, I spent the weekend with Rick's parents, my aunt and uncle. Since he had a female named Pearl, I named my male Onyx.

No one else in the family does reptiles, so, I feel that connection to my cousin Rick, RIP. I just wish it was something we could have shared while he was living.

I just found out recently after purchasing my third snake that my uncle (who died when i was very young, i only met him like once or twice) had all kinds of reptiles growing up. I guess he had a bunch of nile monitors, a few burms, and for a while he even kept a rattlesnake. My grandmother brought this up to me to point out that its only the black sheep in the family that own reptiles haha.

I also found out that my older brother who passed away when i was very young used to keep lizards. I guess it runs in the family :D

I doubt there are many family trees that don't involve a reptile in some way.....

I think that there are just more people out there who like reptiles than we realize... Don't think it has much to do with genetics

EVERYONE in my family hates my snakes....like they wont even come in my room because they are scared they will get eatten

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Originally Posted by marwari31

EVERYONE in my family hates my snakes....like they wont even come in my room because they are scared they will get eatten

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Ditto. Except for my grandpa. He wasn't afraid of anything. But, he killed everything he came across. Other than a few snapping turtles that he kept to eat later. I guess I could get it from him, but have never had the urge to eat my reptiles. :P

my whole family loves all animals.
my dad used to live in the jungles of peru so he appreciates animals a lot. my mom never had a problem with them and she looooves animals. i have 2 sisters, one of them loves dogs and furry creatures but my other sister is like me. she loves ALL animals (big, small, furry, scaly, slimy). i have a brother but he was adopted and he doesn't care too much for animals :rolleyes:...

I'm adopted, and my entire birth family thinks I'm odd, and can't understand what possible redeeming qualities there are with reptiles.

My adoptive brother is very big into field herping (he's a wildlife photographer).

Everyone in my family thinks I'm crazy.

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Originally Posted by joepythons

Well i found out today my daughter from my first marriage likes snakes :O.Now i was never around her so i find it wild that she likes snakes and so do i.So is it possible to have a gene in us that has the power to make us love reptiles? So has anyone else have anything like this happen to you?

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no there is no gene for any of us to love snakes or any other herp. just like there is no gene for a person who is deftly afraid of snakes that there kids will hate snakes. it is a learned response kids don't fear snakes cause they aint heard the misinformation about them ones that do hear that info usually not always grow up to hate them. if it was true to have a gene to like or hate snakes then i would hate them as biggest part of my family hates them

kind of like kids who like liver and kids who don't my cousin always told his son it was chopped steak and he loved it then one day at school or grandmas he was told it was liver he refused to eat it again after that even though he ate it at least once a week up until then and always asked for more till he was told it's real name

Ok everyone i was joking about thier being a gene that makes us love snakes :rolleyes:.:weirdface