what got you into snakes/why do you like them?

as far back as i can remember i've liked snakes..i got my first snake at like 4 or 5 years old.
they're beautiful..quiet..and their movements are very deliberate and calculated
they dont need "affection" like some other pets do although i've kept warm blooded animals sometimes i just wasnt in the mood ya know what i mean?im not always the most "loving"kind of guy.

snakes are pretty clean and odor free
they have enough personality for a person like me
alot of people dont like them and i guess that kind of attracts me too.

I've liked snakes since I was 6 years old I believe, that's when I really started to like all reptiles. I like them because they are just so variable. I mean they come in almost every color and size and they are just plain cool.

I like them because not a lot of people have them and it takes a special kind of person to love and take care of a snake. It's funny to see people's expression when you tell them you have a snake (or 2 or how ever many). Some of them just want to see it, some want to touch it, some want to hold it, and then some want nothing to do with it. It's really cool.:cool::cool:

For the longest time I wasn't really afraid of snakes more I was afraid of getting bitten. Then when I went to college I ended up in an apartment that would not let me have any pets. So I started researching snakes and came across BPs. I had hoped after doing enough research I could convince my landlord to let me have one. It didn't work out, I still really wanted one but I let it go. Then about 2 years ago my brother got a baby RTB and I finally got to hold a snake. I thought his boa was just the coolest thing on the planet. Last October I finally got my first BP. I got Lily from a pet store down the street from my apartment. I went in for dog food and left with a snake. :P

As much as I love Lily, if I could go back and do it over I would have re-done my research before bringing her home. I am sad to say that I under fed her for about 3-4 months before I realized I was doing something seriously wrong. I was feeding her 1 live mouse about every 1-2 weeks. I never attempted to switch her from live to f/t or from mice to rats until I brought home my spider. He ate f/t, so I decided to try it with her. I fixed her feeding, she now eats one medium f/t rat every 6 days (she was 700g even feeding her as poorly as I was), and really started to look into morphs and breeding and my collection has exploded since February of this year. :D

They're the underdog, always like underdogs. No arms, legs, ears, eyelids, yet they manage just fine,

Well this is kinda a long story but when I was younger I was a tattoo artist. Well I was working one night and a guy walks in and asks for a quote on some ink. I give him a quote and he proceeds to tell me has no money. I proceed to show him that the door he came in doubles as an exit. He stops me and states that he has a snake he would give me for the tattoo. I had zero interest in this snake, I wasn't necessarily afraid of it just no interest and a healthy respect for snakes. After all snakes bite right? I mean, it's what they do. Anyway, I told him thanks anyway and he left. Well every day for the next two weeks he comes in with the same offer. After two weeks I got tired of saying no and accepted the trade to get rid of him. So I do the tat and the next day he walks in with a 6' Burm in a 20 long! The best part is at the time I didnt realize that was a problem! Luckily there was a guy in there had some degree of reptile knowledge who said I needed something bigger for it to be kept in. So I go get it a larger enclosure and something that locked. :) so for the next month I limit my snake exposure to opening the enclosure a crack once a week to throw in a mouse. Yep, that's right I said one mouse a week. Good grief, how did that thing survive my stupidity. Anyway, a couple months later someone suggested I attend the all Ohio reptile show, so I did. There I ran into a guy who lived literally a mile from me and he agreed to check out my set up and help me out.
That evening this guy shows up to my house nonchalantly throws open the enclosure, yanks the snake out and holds her!!!!! I was appalled! I was certain that at any moment this guy was going to be eaten! Lmao. Needless to say he educated me to a lot of things I was doing wrong or not doing at all and that began a long term friendship/education from him. It all went down hill from there ;). Now were up to 62 snake a few lizards and inevitably more on the way. Over the years I suppose I have owned several hundred different reptiles and I'm not sure what snakes will be in our future but since I now have Becky who is just as passionate about them as I am I can be sure that snakes will always be a part of our life.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ScottNBecky

Well this is kinda a long story but when I was younger I was a tattoo artist. Well I was working one night and a guy walks in and asks for a quote on some ink. I give him a quote and he proceeds to tell me has no money. I proceed to show him that the door he came in doubles as an exit. He stops me and states that he has a snake he would give me for the tattoo. I had zero interest in this snake, I wasn't necessarily afraid of it just no interest and a healthy respect for snakes. After all snakes bite right? I mean, it's what they do. Anyway, I told him thanks anyway and he left. Well every day for the next two weeks he comes in with the same offer. After two weeks I got tired of saying no and accepted the trade to get rid of him. So I do the tat and the next day he walks in with a 6' Burm in a 20 long! The best part is at the time I didnt realize that was a problem! Luckily there was a guy in there had some degree of reptile knowledge who said I needed something bigger for it to be kept in. So I go get it a larger enclosure and something that locked. :) so for the next month I limit my snake exposure to opening the enclosure a crack once a week to throw in a mouse. Yep, that's right I said one mouse a week. Good grief, how did that thing survive my stupidity. Anyway, a couple months later someone suggested I attend the all Ohio reptile show, so I did. There I ran into a guy who lived literally a mile from me and he agreed to check out my set up and help me out.
That evening this guy shows up to my house nonchalantly throws open the enclosure, yanks the snake out and holds her!!!!! I was appalled! I was certain that at any moment this guy was going to be eaten! Lmao. Needless to say he educated me to a lot of things I was doing wrong or not doing at all and that began a long term friendship/education from him. It all went down hill from there ;). Now were up to 62 snake a few lizards and inevitably more on the way. Over the years I suppose I have owned several hundred different reptiles and I'm not sure what snakes will be in our future but since I now have Becky who is just as passionate about them as I am I can be sure that snakes will always be a part of our life.

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This is an awesome story! Thank you for sharing it. :)

I can remember when I was in second or third grade and I saw a garter snake slithering through the grass beside my house. I remember not being afraid at all, and I just ran up to it and grabbed it up. I set it up in a cardboard box with some grass in the bottom and sat outside with it for at least an hour, just staring at it and touching it and whatnot... Then my mom called me in for dinner and when I came out, it was gone. I remember being really sad because even if it had still been there, my mom had told me I couldn't keep it anyway.

After that, I always had an interest in animals and reptiles. Around the same time, our class went to one of the high schools in our district for a tour of the biology wing, where the high school kids did presentations and hands on demonstrations with all of the animals. I remember my favorite being the "giant" burm that was about 12 feet long. They lined us up sitting against the wall with our legs stretched straight out, then they laid this snake on top of our legs and let it slither across. It was the COOLEST experience of my life to that point. I remember looking forward to being in high school just so I could be the one working with the animals and giving the demonstrations. When high school enrollment came, I asked the counselor what class it was that you got to handle the animals and do demonstrations for kids. I was told it was Environmental Education, which you couldn't take until junior year. Ugh... So, I set my academic course and make sure I took all the prerequisites to get into that class, which I ultimately did... That's when I found bps. We had one named Billy and he was the coolest snake. I used to go over to the rack and pull him out at the beginning of every class and I would have him around my neck or just hanging out with me every day until the end of class. After that, I wanted one of my own, but still, my mom wouldn't let me. I didn't ultimately get my first snake until I was 29, but I don't plan on ever being without snakes again...

I grew up catching snakes at my upstate new york summer house. By the age of 12 I started keeping ball pythons,burms you name it i have owned it. I love everything about them and love to teach people about snakes. I would love to move down to FL and work for the venom response team. thats my dream right there

I have always been fascinated by snakes but until recently I wasn't able to keep one due to various reasons. But now that I have some (and the number is growing) I am hooked solid and am hoping to produce a clutch of balls this year (if I get a spider of sufficient weight and Hera gets big enough).

It really is an addiction.

i'm an animal lover so i see no fault in creatures, even the ones i'm deathly afraid of.
i had a bp when i was 19 cuz i saw it in the pet store and fell in love with it.
i'm the kinda person that does things that are different, so owning a snake to me, back then, was out of the norm as i'd been raised catholic and my parents tried to raise me with the whole "snakes are the devil cuz the devil was a snake in the bible!"
mindset. i was always like "whatever..."
i've always wanted another bp but was determined to do it the right way, with plenty of research on their care requirements and all the supplies needed to properly care for it, etc.
now i have Nyx, a mojave female hatched by our dear frankie.

Growing up, I was terrified of snakes (thanks to my mom who still is lol), so when I grew up and moved out on my own, I decided that I didn't want to be afraid of something that much. About 15 years ago, I figured the best way to confront my fear was to face it head on. I searched the local ads and found boa constrictors for sale. I went and bought my first snake. Although I was SO nervous around her, I made myself handle her and eventually, we bonded. She was a great pet for many years. She got sick, had to be put to sleep, and I was devastated. After her, I began to get into ball pythons (due to their smaller size) and now, our house has been taken over by snakes! They really do make excellent pets. They are low maintenance, beautiful to look at, quiet, don't have to be house trained, and inexpensive to feed. My fiance and I have 5 children and we have been teaching them that not all snakes are "bad" like most of today's society thinks. They are amazing creatures and fun to own as pets. Two of our sons (ages 7 & 8) have their own ball python in their room that they take care of and handle and our 1 year old will have one in a few years. I'm going to start breeding next year and going to let the kids help out with that. They love baby animals! So my love for snakes actually started out as a fear. I have tried doing the same thing with spiders, but I just couldn't overcome that one. I went to the pet store, petted a tarantula, and freaked out lol. Don't like mice either, unless their frozen food for the snakes :)

well not the long ago i catch snake in my shop garden snake i give the snake to my son 10 years old he start researching about the snake. Feed this snake
He start taking about snake every day so i got him the first ball python and just felt in love with them now im getting my own BP

I have always been terrified of snakes. I was one of the people that would say "why would anybody want to keep a snake". Last year I held my first BP on my honeymoon. Hubby isn't scared of snakes. He wanted a photo taken with the BP. I wasn't letting him get one up on me. I actually got to hold the BP longer than I anticipated. Hubby kept messing with the camera settings and lolli gagging around. Meanwhile I was starting to get more comfortable with this to me large snake :) I thought he was the coolest thing. I told hubby when we walked away I'm getting one of those when we get home. Now I'm addicted. I have learned so much from this site on how to take care of BP's. So much information that I had no clue about. Now I have 4 BP's, Coral Albino Boa and now a Kenyan Sand Boa. I would love to have more but my hubby says no. He said that 3 snakes ago :rofl:

I have always been fascinated with snakes. My mom tells a story about me carrying a dead snake around for a few days when I was 4 or 5. Finally she got rid of it and told me it's mama came back to get it. When I was 8 or 9 my mom bought me a ball python from her boss. I learned a lot about husbandry with that snake, much at her expense. She got burned from a hot rock. She also ended up with severe rat bites on her back when I left a rat in her cage over night when she was in blue. That required several trips to the vet. And finding a vet to treat a snake was no easy task 20+ years ago. Even through all of that I had her for 14 years. I have no idea how old she was when I got her but she was an adult. She died about 3 days after laying a clutch of eggs about 10 years ago. I still have one of her daughters from that clutch. Before anyone gets all pissed off just remember I was 8 years old and we had no Internet and no BP.net.

As many have said, I used to catch snakes(mostly garters) when I was little. I had forgotten my wonderment at these fantastic creatures until my wife started telling stories of how her father used to keep snakes. Then in Dec. of last year i got my 12yo daughter a normal bp. Besides wanting to occasionally hold it she really had no interest. Me on the other hand became obsessed with getting the husbandry correct and soaking up everything I could find/learn. Well that snake is now technically hers, but we all really know who's snake it is.LOL I now have
added 1.1 pastels and 1.0 pinstripe, and will hopefully have my 0.1 spider soon enough!!! I guess it turned out to be true, you know, them being like chips!:D

As a kid, I too caught a lot of garter snakes and lizards. I never was very afraid of them. I hate when garter snakes pee on me, though...

Anyway, I'm NOT a fan of pets. Especially at my house. They stink, they shed, I'm allergic to cats, etc... So my friend, who's wife is horribly terrified of snakes, owns a ball python. It was being housed at his friend's house, 2.5 hours away. He suggested I get the snake at my house, then he could hang out with her more often (he lives down the street from me).

"NO WAY!!!" I said. I do NOT want pets at my house. It's just a hassle to have to take care of them, and snakes will stink! Plus, I don't want the cost of it...

So we were out working on his parents' remodeling their home. One night he says, "let's go hang out at my friend's house and check out the snake."

Next thing I know, we're taking her home with me, cause I fell head over heels! Then, I find BP.net! Wow, her husbandry was awful! She was 460 grams and 5 years old! :O

With tons of reading and research on BP.net, and other sites, I learned proper husbandry, tweaked and adjusted things (I'm an electrician and heating/cooling technician), and got her set up beautifully. She's up to 1400 grams now and doing great!

Now I have (shared with my friend) 14 adults, 12 babies, and 8 eggs due in 10 days! :cool:

I love BPs!!!! Ball Pythons. See the addiction!

I've always liked snakes, but my grandparents (I was raised by them) were against having any animals in the house whatsoever (even their dogs).

I didn't get my first snake until three years ago when I first moved in with my boyfriend. At the time we had a tokay gecko we purchased from the Petco down the street from our house and we knew the guy in the reptile department really well. We were browsing around one day in Petco for supplies for our tokay when Ian offered us a female ball python they kept in their office. There was nothing wrong with her, she just went through a shed and previous ate a large meal and Ian didn't want to put such a beautiful snake on the floor in fear that it would go to the wrong keepers. He literally gave her to us for FREE (we were completely caught off guard by this), because he trusted us enough to know we would take care of her well, despite how I didn't know a thing about snakes but my boyfriend took care of some awhile back.

Thanks to Ian at Petco, that was the day I found enjoyment in the world of snakes and BPs. :D We also had a checked albino garter we got from him as well, who was terribly cute and absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately my boyfriend ended up loosing him (:rage: !!!), but our BP and the garter were our first real snakes we took care of together!