What got you started?

What was it that first made you interested in snakes or reptiles in general?

Mine was when i was 6 or 7 my grade 2 class went on a trip to the toronto zoo and there they had an albino burmese, they asked for a volunteer and to come up and hold the snake. I raised my hand very quickly and got picked and held the burmese (with the help of the person on staff of course). Ever since then i have been facinated with snakes, i have always bugged my mother about getting a snake and she always shut me down. but now that i am living on my own 12 or 13 years later it was one of my very first purchases. it was a long wait from that day at the zoo, but well worth it. i hope from here my love for and my collection of snakes will grow rapidly.

Well I first got into reptiles in general from this little place called raven hill discovery center. They had many snakes and lizards, they take animal that people no longer can take care of or do not want. I always enjoyed holding the snakes and lizards. But I didn't start wanting one till I was about 11. And now I'm finally saving up to get my own.

My youngest son wanted a snake for Christmas. We bought Suki - one of our BPs - after that I was hooked. Soon afterwards, Smulkin got Neph - our Afrock. He's been interested in reptiles his entire life and was surprised by my interest. Since then, we've expanded our collection - considerably!

When my older sister brought a big female ball python home from college. I was like 5 years old, and the snake was 5'. That was so cool, it was huge compared to me. Then about a year later mymom decided to suprise me for my b-day by buying me a corn snake. Originally I was supposed to get a ball python, but I was young and got tricked into a corn. Looking back, it was better that way. I was far too young to deal with humidity, temps, feeding.

But then I just kept wanting a ball python. I wanted one real bad, they were just so exotic and cool. So I got into geckos, which eventually slowly pried open the door to getting a ball python.

Here is a picture, damn this is old, of my corn snake Rocky. I scanned an old photo last year, and was able to locate the digital version:
http://www.leo-land.net/albums/album18/rocky.jpg

When I was a kid around 7 years old I used to catch green anolls and garter snakes and keep them during the winter time. Then when winter started to subside i would let them go. I did that till i was about 15 then as many kids got into other things like football and friends. Then when i was 22 a friend of mine bought a burmese python. I had been doing these sound off competitions and got a couple of speakers from a manufacturer for free. Well he was interested in my speakers and i was interested in the snake so i traded him 2 subwoofers for the snake. I know how big it got so went to a local herp shop and they bought her from me for 40 bux. I bought my first ball python Jojo that same day. Thats how i got into ball pythons but not untill i did tons of research. anapsid.org and the care sheet on this website helped make my final decision about what kind of snake i wanted. Even though herps is truely a hobby for me i am expanding my knowledge of them all the time. Now I am keeping a Veiled Chameleon and plan on making baby veiled chameleons soon.

For a long as I can remember I loved animals. I would check out all the books on animals I could. My favorites have always been snakes, big cats, and sharks. I remember the my neighbors all called me when there was a snake in their yard (we dont get hots down in the valley). I would always go get it for them then ride my little bike down to one of the feilds and let it go. My mother would never let me keep any. She has always been deathly afraid of snakes. So when I moved out the first thing I did was buy a king snake. My collection has grown substantialy since. I always wanted to get a leopard too but im sure thats not gonna happen ;)

I was one of the lucky one's. I was born into the herp keeping world. My father had allways had snakes as a child and into middle adulthood, so it just carried on through his children, as it is being carried on through my children also. I have had many snakes through my 43 years, though there were periods that I did not have a snake (through the years in the military, even marriage put a halt on it for a while, etc.) but I am back on track and owning snakes again.

And just for the heck of it, here is a picture of my pride and joy (an Indigo) with my little brother and sister posing with it. Sorry about the quality of the picture, but when it has been inside your wallet for 30+years......


https://ball-pythons.net/modules/cop...l_Yayayaya.JPG

I had a garter snake when I was about 13, I had always been interested in all animals, but I was on a reptile fix for that time. However, being 13, I wanted to interact more with mt pet, and the garter snake wasn't very happy to be handled. My parents mentioned that to the owner of the reptile shop around here, they are very cool, and he said he would be happy to take the garter snake back in and trade up to (drumroll....) a Ball Python. This snake would become Dexter, my first bp. He was about a year old or so when I got him, and I had him for about a year after that. Unfortunately, Dexter just went off feed one day. His cage setup was right on par and for some reason he just wouldn't eat. We even tried an assisted feeding one time, but he wouldn't swallow anything. I came to check on him one morning and he had passed away. We still have no clue as to why his health deteriorated. I guess some things are just meant to be.

The loss of Dexter kept me away from snakes for a few years. But last February I decided to go back to that same shop just to look around. In the snake room was the cutest high gold baby ball python I had ever seen. I asked if I could hold her and it was all over - I wasn't leaving that store without her. I scrambled around the rest of the day gettiing her setup right, then brough her home. Enter Amber.

In my elementary school communal classroom (grades 1-2), we had a garter snake, some red eared sliders, a box turtle, and an aquarium with fish and tadpoles. Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtles also came out around that time (1987) and that couldn't have hurt either :P Then my best friend got some red eared sliders and I begged my parents for some relentlessly for 2 years until I got some for my 8th birthday. Of course, I wanted more herps but wasn't allowed to get anything else. Well, due to some slick maneoveuring, for my 10th birthday party which I held together with a friend, I managed to talk him into getting me some.

I would say my first real herp however was an Argentinian Horned frog I got when I was 12 for getting on the honour roll. I setup the temperature gradient that the book recommended through a little improvising; I layered a few books over the water heater (my house is very very old) for the warm end and had the other end over the window sill. I fed it appropriately sized feeder comets every few days and it grew like crazy.

I have always loved snakes poisnous or not. When I was around 8, my parents took my brother and I to a local amusement park where they had a reptile center. While we were looking at the retiples one of the keepers asked if my brother and I wanted to hold one of their snakes. And I of course said yes. Well they bring out this 9 foot long Burm, they placed it on the back of my brother's and I's shoulders. He has crying like a little baby (he hates snakes with a passion). I automatically feel in love with them. I wanted one for a pet, but my parents (who also hates snakes) would not let me have one. So, when I finally moved out on my own, I began my collection which is slowing growing. Everytime my parents come to visit me, they keep telling me I need to have my head examined. I hope to have many more snakes in the future.

I think the first time I ever paid any attention to reptiles was when I was 3 or 4 years old and was playing in our side yard and was scared to see my mother running toward me with the garden hoe raised above her head. She stopped a few feet from me and chopped an eastern diamondback to kebab bits. A year or so later, I was in the backyard and my brother was playing in the tree that overhung the creek, and got bitten on the elbow by a water moccasin. Another year or so went by and my mother stunned a water moccasin in our yard and took it up to the elementary school for the science teacher, Mrs. Pugh, to put in her collection of jarred critters in formaldehyde, but the principal wasn't quite prepared to have a live moccasin dumped on his desk in a paper grocery sack (the only kind, back then).

When I was about 7, I got a cat who would bring me live snakes -- all non-venomous, thank goodness -- and I'd keep them as long as I could get away with, the longest being maybe two weeks. I also caught frogs, toads, salamanders, lizards, etc., at every opportunity, and was always the one to save the squeamish girls from the scary snakes. I had a friend that I actually had to carry past a snake the size of a #2 pencil, she was that terrified (and about 30 at the time).

I got my first ball python in 1995 from a friend who worked for animal control and had been called out to a motel to get a "giant snake" that a maid found in a bed after checkout. She kept her for a couple weeks and got the setup right, then turned her over to us and we had her for a couple of years before moving someplace they weren't allowed and turning her over to the kids' teacher for a classroom pet. I still regret that to this day, but I am sure she took good care of Timba Lou.

I think I've always been fascinated with snakes. It's something about them. I think it's because I have arachnaphobia, and the legs on a spider are the thing that creep me out the most. So whats the farthers from a scary leggy spider? A legless herp known as the snake. :)

Anyway, I think I first really got into snakes when I was in grade 6 and had to do yet another speech(hated those things), and I was thinking "I need a subject that would scare a lot of people.." and the first thing that came to mind at the time was snakes. So I went to the library and grabbed up all the books I could on snakes. While researching in a book, I discovered one certain snake that peaked my interest, and to this day is still my favourite snake. I discovered the sidewinder. I was in awe of how the snake moved side to side like it did. And the beautiful pattern it made in the sand. In the end, 90% of my speech was all on the sidewinder. So a while after that, when my interest in the snakes were put on the back burner of my mind, my mom and sister and I were up town doing some shopping, since it was those sidewalk sales days. And we went by a clothing store, which had a handful of people crowded in an area in the parking lot. I bugged my mom to go there to see what was up, so we walked over. I squeezed through the small crowd and seen a man pulling out a beautiful 8-10 foot burmese(at the time I had no clue what it was. Just knew it was damn big for me, lol). Anyway, the man and his helpers were setting up a little booth where for 5 dollars, you can have your picture taken with the snake. Some could only stand next to it and hold the head up, others could sling it on their shoulders. I was a big kid at the time(always have been) so the man helped the snake up onto my shoulders, then snapped the picture. I only got to hold the snake for a mere minute, but in that time, I had got to feel the power and strength of the snake, and I was in awe. That, again, peaked my interest in snakes.

So, to cut this down so I don't end up writing a book here...skip ahead about 10 years, and we're at present year. About 4 months ago. And I'm bored as hell while sitting online...with nothing to do. So I decide to look up some stuff. I seen a picture of a corn snake, and remembered "whoa, forgot...I love snakes.:o" and started researching on them. I had always wanted a snake, but never even gave it a second thought because I always assumed an exotic and beautiful creature such as the snake must be way too expensive for my budget. The caviar of the pet world, I assumed. But then I looked deeper into it and discovered that you can get your hands on a corn snake for a mere 20 dollars. So for a few weeks I was all into corn snakes. Bugging my mom about how when I get some money in a while, I'm getting one. She wasn't pleased, since she's had a fear of snakes ever since years and years ago some loser in high school shoved a garden snake down her back. So I was looking at the corn snake pics online, and thought "those look pretty and colorful...but I don't know if colorful is for me. I just want an averaged patterned snake". So I did a search for other snakes that make good pets, and came to the ball python. Ever since then, I've been wanting one. I did allll the research I could for 3 months, and even went to my next door neighbours house to hold his BP(and fell in love) after finding out he owns one(and doesn't properly care for it :( I'm getting up the nerve to go over there and try to give him some "advice" on keeping "Monty"). So anyway, now we're at present day, and I'm just counting down the days until I can get my tank and everything, set it up, and bring home my snakey.8)


If you liked this exerpt, and are interested in more, you can purchase the paper back copy of "My Life- The Cody Campbell Story" at Amazon.com

Cool Cody, good for you! Just tell you neighbor you found a really cool site and he should check it out. Then write him down the URL for the ball python care sheet ;)

I'd do that, but not too long ago their computer broke down and they haven't bothered to fix it up yet. The thing that bothered me about the way he was keeping the snake was that it was a big 30 gallon tank, with a small drinking bowl on one side, and on the other side he had two decorative skulls positioned a bit away from eachother, and a flat piece of wood over the skulls to make one crappy hide, lol. The poor snake must be so stressed out. :( But he says the snake eats regularly. So I dunno. Thing that also worried me is that the snake is about a year old now(he got it when it was about 6 months old from a local pet shop that has since closed down) and it's still real tiny. Maybe two feet long. And the thickest part of the snakey is only the size of my wrist, which didn't seem too thick. I asked him what size rodents he's feeding it, and he said smallish adult mice. I asked him if he's tried to do the mouse-rat transition, and he said he wasn't gonna go to rats at all because the guy at the pet shop told him rats are fatty and not very protein-rich. :?

I loved snakes as a kid, but had a father that didn't want anything to do with them, so it wasn't anything that ever got nurtured. I grew up and pretty much forgot about them, except I've always enjoyed watching them in zoos and such.

But a couple of years ago, my daughter began to show an avid interest in snakes. Her interest re-sparked my own and we began looking at snakes every chance we got, in stores, zoos, or what-have-you. Since then, my own interest in snakes in particular and reptiles in general has blossomed far beyond my expectations!

Hey kids,
I was about 8 years old.
I absolutely LOVED every type of animal in the world.
Except those stupid lions for eating those poor zebras.
Heh.
We had just got a new pet store, so I went to take a look one day.
And I saw the prettiest lizard in the wolrd.
It was a 10" Tokay gecko.
I was 8, so research didn't matter, I didn't even know what research was.
I went to go ask the store people if I could buy him (my mom had said it was okay).
But when I went up to the backroom door, an employee walks out with the particular tokay gecko attatched to his right hand.
So, I sort of walked to the other side of the room, forgetting about getting a tokay.
And I saw a really pretty (he was colored up) golden gecko.
There was only one in the cage, so I just nought the whole thing (when I say "I bought it", I mean my mom did, thanks mom!), cage and all.
I still have that same water dish to this day...
Any way.
I went home with a golden gecko, gello ulikivoskii.
I put the cage in my room, threw some crickets in the cage, and went out side to play, I'm guessing that's what I did.
Anyway.
About a year later, i went back to that same pet store to see about 5 goldens in a big 30 gallon.
I was like..."Ooh, he looks like Geico", so I got another one, and put him in the 10 gallon with Geico (my 'clever' name for my golden).
I loved my two geckos!
But they never colored up after I bought them, I was so sad.
And the year I got the second one, I walked into my room, to see my poor Geico without a tail!
My brother and his friends claimed that they walked in my room and saw about 30 crickets chewing on his tail that was on the other sde of the cage.
He could be telling the truth, i mean, there WERE a lot of crickets in there.
But i think a ceratin person named Ryan (one of my bro's friends that had a week ago, squished a garter snake's head, and threw it in a tree).
Before my gecko's tail had gone missing, he had the greatest personality.
I loved him so much.
Everyday I would get ready for school, and hold Geico for about 10 years, it was the greatest.
But then when his tail waas gone, I couldn't hold him anymore, he kept trying to bite me (if not for his bad aim my mom might have made me get rid of him).
I mean, I used to be able to hold him, and let him crawl on my shoulders, and even the curtains!
But now, he's just almost unholdable.
He bit at me again yesterday.
While I was trying to get him to clean his cage.
Oh, and a year before I got my second gecko (Godzilla) me and my brother went to that store and got about 6 green anoles.
They lived for a while (in their own cage thankfully we had at least that much brains).
But eventually all died.
Oh, and one day, I walked into my room and sat Geico and Godzilla runnning around their cage biting at eachother, Godzilla got nipped on the back once, but Geico was untouched.
I seperated them that day after getting another 10- gallon from the pet store (petmania, out of business for animal uncleanliness, and overcrowding of animals, go figure).
About two years ago, I learned a new word...'research'...
I researched for hours, but I still wasn' getting any better with my geckos.
Until about a year ago, they were in bad shape, but I couldn't tell.
Since then, they've been doing much better.
I've determined they are both males, because of the fighting, and because females don't color up, and lately my geckos have been coloring up better infront of a window.
I have purchased night light bulbs for them.
And they are doing a lot better.
Both geckos were almpst unholdable.
But I can hold Godzilla almost anytime.
but Geico is still angry or something I suppose.
By the way I am 14.
But lately...tey haven't been eating... :cry:
I'm extremely worried.
They go for the wax worms, but not crickets, or mealworms, but stupid PETCO never has wax worms...
And I am afraid to ask my parents to order me some offline.
But I will.
So um...
Wish me luck I suppose.
Goodbye.


-collin

Ironhead, I love that photo! I hope my kids feel "lucky" that their parents (me and Smulkin) kept snakes when they are 43.

Smynx....I have no doubt whatsoever that your kids will grow up and consider themselves lucky to have you two as parents, with or without snakes!

I got into herps as many kids do, when I was young. My family had a cabin in Rushford, NY and every weekend the family and a few friends would go out there to get away from the city. My best friend and I would find a plethora of frogs, snakes, salamanders, newts and toads to catch and observe. Since my mom rarely went to the cabin, my dad was responsible (or not, lol) for the animals we brought home. I remember sneaking toads home in mcdonald's cups. Once home, my mom would have ultimate say over what I could keep and what I had to let go the following weekend.
My first snake was a big preggo garter who had babies right before my eyes. I had to be about 13 or so at the time. I let them all go in a nearby park where garters were regularly sighted.
Now that I have moved out, I can have all the herps I want. But I still look back with a smile on those days of sneaking a snake home and keeping them in secret in yer bedroom. :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by JLC

Smynx....I have no doubt whatsoever that your kids will grow up and consider themselves lucky to have you two as parents, with or without snakes!

---

Judy, that is sooo sweet! I'm all teary-eyed now. And I hope that after a couple years of intense therapy, my kids might feel that way.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Smynx

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by JLC

Smynx....I have no doubt whatsoever that your kids will grow up and consider themselves lucky to have you two as parents, with or without snakes!

---

Judy, that is sooo sweet! I'm all teary-eyed now. And I hope that after a couple years of intense therapy, my kids might feel that way.

---

Hehehe.....I think it's the parents that need therapy after the kids are finally grown! They make me crazy!!

If you don't give your kid something to complain about on Oprah, you haven't done your job. ;)

Marla, in that case, I'm kicking butt!

I had faith in you. ;) My girls will definitely tell you that I am not fair and sometimes downright mean! "Save it for Oprah, honey."

I had always loved animals and at about 10yo i use to go to the pet store with my mom to get fish. My mom raised tropical and fancy goldfish. Anyway the guy that owned it always had all types of reptiles and I would watch and watch them. I was a huge reader back then ran to my library and read every book on snakes. That is when I fell in love with indigo's. I got a anole for a pet and then got another and turned out it was a male and a female and had them for a few years until they passed away. I then talk my mom into getting a garter snake that they guy at the pet store had for sale. ( always had plenty of empty tanks in the house) had him for about 3 yrs until he passed on.
By then I was getting a little older and money was a whole lot tighter so I put my herping aside. But my love of snakes only grew.
So up to current times in the pet store with my son watching the bp's and boa's and told my son how much I would love to have one and he was all for it so home came Ozzy a few weeks later.
Thankfully now money is not near as tight and I have my own place and a child that loves all animals and now I can work on the collection I have wanted for years.
Soon as that son 'o mine is off to college the Indigo will come home :)

I HATED snakes. I couldn't stand them or to be near them with their slimy skin and beady eyes; Just waiting for the moment they could strike or wrap you up and kill you. Snakes were simply primitive killers that's all that they were wired to do. I felt that way about snakes for a number of years on and off until one glorious day in high school detention. I was sitting in the biology lab for detention and being the only person in the room the teacher asked me to hold her (to this day I can't recall if it was a Ball Python or a boa... common sense tells me there is a 90% chance this was a BP but my brain tells me that this was a 15' Boa) snake while she cleaned the tank. I told her no way and she told me that if I did it I could leave detention early. So I held my breath and she looped the snake over my shoulder and arm. The skin wasn't slimy. The snake didn't even really look at me. He never once bit or tired to eat my arm... I was confused and astonished as I could feel this solid muscle contract and relax while the snake explored me for a while. After she had finished cleaning the cage and dismissed me I returned multiple times afterward to hold the snake and vowed to one day have one of my own. My mom grew up next to a creek and had nightmares about snakes until she was like thrity so she was not thrilled. I forgot about my passion for snakes and reptiles until just this year I went to visit my brother at college and one of his buddies had a little BP. When I returned to school I went straight to my computer and began researching. On a side note - while in high school and such I had "babysat" various lizzards and a cornsnake so I knew a bit about them and had purchased many books on snakes to read when I initially fell in love with snakes in H.S. Now I finally own one and can't wait to work with a species I haven't worked with before - Borneo STP. :)

well what got me into snakes was my friend let me hold his snake and i loved it i beged my mother to let me get one and she said no :evil: i moved in with my dad and my collection has been growing since. :twisted:

My mom told me recently that I when I was little, I once came home after playing outside and I was carrying a small snake of some sort. I asked if I could keep it, but she refused. Later, when I was 20 and living on my own, I went into work one morning (at a local restaurant) and there were maybe 6 or 8 newborn black snakes in the back kitchen. One of the cooks and I scooped them up into a take-out container, and I took one home with me. It escaped about a week later. :(

Quote:

---

Soon as that son 'o mine is off to college the Indigo will come home

---

Jotay......You wont regret it! The 2 Indigo's that we had were great snakes. Never had any trouble with them, never bit or struck at us and were easy to take care of. Matter of fact, the one in the picture I posted actually got to run free in the house a couple of times a month to take care of any small critter's that might have slipped into the house. We lived very close to swamp land in Florida and swamp's bring lot's of nosey critters so my dad would just let him run free (and never once escaped). I allways say you havent lived until you wake up one morning to find a 7ft Indigo coiled up in-between your legs.

And if it wasnt for the pricey price tag on the Indigo's now, I would own one in a heart beat. Indigo has to be my all time favorite!! Dang I wish I could go back in time.....

I've never seen and indigo,but I have heard stories of how awesome they are.
Any pics?

I have always hated snakes, as per my family upbringing. I told my husband in no uncertain terms he would never have a snake in my house. Well he kept pestering me and so I finally gave in and bought my husband Bob from a friend from work, who was moving and needed someone to take his snake. I was really scared at first and now I love the little guy. I don't really know what I was scared of. I remember the first time I got Bob out all by myself and was holding him in my lap one time when my husband was out. He couldn't believe his eyes when he saw me sitting there holding him. My family of course thinks I am crazy. Now I am just waiting for the day that I own my own snake. Of course I am now a big fan of lizards as well.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Cody

Thing that also worried me is that the snake is about a year old now(he got it when it was about 6 months old from a local pet shop that has since closed down) and it's still real tiny. Maybe two feet long. And the thickest part of the snakey is only the size of my wrist, which didn't seem too thick.

---

LOL, how big are your wrists? I'm a skinny dude and I think if a BP got much thicker than my wrist it would be pretty overweight. 2 feet sounds like a reasonable length for 6 months (mine's about that long at 8 months, although it's a male). Considering a baby BP averages about 16 inches, it's probably already grown over 50% in length and more than doubled its mass. As long as the spine isn't showing it should be adequately fed.

I only got to handle it for a few minutes, so I can't quite remember exactly how thick it was, lol. All I know is it looked quite small for it's age. And even if it's not undersized or anything...the fact that the neighbour kid is keeping him in a pretty empty cage, with just repti-bark and a plank of wood for a hide, and a big UV light overtop(why, I don't know), and he feeds it live mice, and I remember feeling a wound around the snakes neck.....I dunno..I'm just not impressed with how he keeps the snake. I'm gonna probably be going over there tommorrow or sometime soon to see Monty python again, as the kid likes to show off his snakey. Maybe I'll give him some "tips" on BP husbandry.

K, back on topic. :oops:

I guess he's just lucky his snake has tolerated those conditions ;P

In case you have difficulty persuading him to switch from live to f/t, make sure you mention that he will eventually have to feed his BP's rats. It's pretty difficult to imagine a cute little mouse doing much damage to your BP, a full-grown rat definitely looks like it could dish it out. This was the major point that convinced me to switch.

But yeah, back on topic, LOL.