Your first time seeing or holding a snake

This is me (left), Circa 2000, Cleveland Ohio, holding the tail of an Albino Burm. The moment captured here is my very first exposure to snakes or reptiles in general. Being taught to fear snakes as a child, I think you can tell from my expression that this was a life changing moment.

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i2...74009A89E6.jpg

Shortly after this I was gifted a rough green snake. Which led into BPs, and eventually into what I think is the most beautiful species.

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i2...DE287021D8.jpg

It's been said many times. Educate the future generation, so that they are able to see through the sensationalized nonsense that is passed off as truth.
This is a key factor in preserving our right to keep these animals.


Feel free to share photos or stories of your first experiences with snakes or reptiles.

My first experience with a snake was with a rattle snake in the Mojave desert. I was 4 maybe. I wanted to pick it up, but my friends pulled me away.

My first time holding a snake was a cotton mouth I found while chasing a newt in west Virginia. I brought it to my friend, and he freaked. He made me put it in a bucket and we took it to someone that knew a lot about snakes, I think. He lectured me about how that snake was dangerous and all that, then told me to be careful and never be afraid. I was maybe 6 then.

Hi I just joined the forum. The first time I saw a snake was when I was like 3 years old. The first time I touched one was when I was about 5 years old and ever since then I love them.

The first time I ever touched a snake was at an educational thing at our local library when I was 4 years old. I got to hold a cornsnake and touch a burmese python that was big enough that it took several people to hold her when she was stretched out. I was never really afraid of them or anything. I've been picking up random wild animals since before I can remember.

Im a country boy and ran wild in the woods. I don't remember the first snake I held but I played with them all the time. My favorite were always the Hognose.

I used to hate snakes when I was little I wouldn't even go into the reptile house at the zoo. But then I began to watch Steve Irwin and I realized what amazing animals they were and shortly after that I held a huge albino retic with some of my cousins at the age of 11. Since then I have gotten three snakes and my love for snakes keeps growing.

We had a pet rat snake when I was about 5 when we lived in Texas. It sparked a life long passion for animals and reptiles, though after the snake passed, I didn't own another one until I purchased a ball python a couple years ago.

My first reptile was a lizard my mom caught and put into a shoebox to show me when I got home from daycare. I wasn't any more than three, but i already loved dinosaurs, and that rather cemented my love for anything scaly.

My first snake was in middle school, when one of the boys brought his pet ball into our science class for a week. He got it out, and no one else wanted to hold it but me, so he put it around my shoulders, and it instantly snuggled up for security and warmth. I was smitten. I told him straight out that if I could get away with it, he wouldn't be getting the snake back. He laughed, and so did I, but I was only half joking. I really would have taken the baby home with me.

My first remembered experience was with a baby copperhead.
I spent a lot of time at my grandma's growing up and she lived in a tiny town that seemed infested with them. Across the street was a church we played at all the time and my brother and I were headed to the playground when the tiny thing crossed our path and Jesse almost stepped on it so it tried to bite him. I found a sizable stick (a switch or twig really) and smacked it on the head. Thought it was dead so I played with it for awhile. Then I had to share it with my favorite lil cousin Jaxon... He of course told the adults about it and I had to give it up to grandma who threw it in her dumpster... Later my uncle went to throw something away and it was looking at him so he freaked out doused it in gas and burned it alive. :tears:
Later the church hada little fair and a handler brought out their boa or a really big ball (Im not sure anymore). Grandma said I let it out of the bag so I could play with it.

RIP Grandma She hated snakes but never crushed my love for them.

I saw lots of snakes growing up in the wild and in zoos. The first time I ever held one was the day we bought Violet 😂

I used to be very afraid of snakes, a fear taught to me by my own mother and step-father. That fear followed me into adulthood. My first snake was a garter snake back in 2004. That snake wanted bite me every chance it had. I took a break from snakes for about four years until I saw my first normal ball python in a pet store. I was so intrigued by one of them that I asked to hold one and I was deathly afraid to do so because of the possibility of being bitten. Now I cant get enough of these amazing creatures and I have plans to one day breed my two females. My point is that the fear of snakes can carry well into your adult years. Sometimes you just have to step outside your comfort zone and face your fears.

I have been interested in snakes since i can remember. Every time i saw one on tv i would just imagine me having one of my own. First time i held one was at the zoo and it was a normal ball python.

I don't remember how old I was as it would have been when I was a kid in the 70's. Me and my friends would catch Garter snakes and they would bit us on the hands it was funny because they had such little mouths. My grandfather who was part native american taught us to catch them but not hurt them and to always let them go after we had checked them out.

The first time I can remember touching a snake was in grade school. I believe it was 3rd grade. I remember someone bringing in a larger snake, I believe a red tail, and the class getting to touch it. Sparked a lifelong interest in snakes. I remember wanting one as a kid and my mom wouldn't let me have a snake. Guess I've made up for that as an adult with 23 and more on the way. ;)

My first experience with a snake was my cousin's ball python. I couldn't have been older than four or five. I was petting her and at one point, in all of my five year old wisdom, wiggled my finger in front of her. Pow! I got tagged. I turned to my father with wide eyes (and he would always swell with pride when recounting this part) and said, "Dad! Beebee KISSED me!!" It's been true love ever since.

Other fond snake encounters include catching a ring neck snake in the Poconos (it's now my white whale - haven't seen any since) and nearly stepping on a rattlesnake sunning itself in FL after a night of heavy rain.

The first time I can remember holding a snake was was perhaps 4 or 5. I was playing outside on my grandmothers driveway and found a worm. I was having a blast letting it slide through my fingers and watching it wriggle around. Then the cat snatched it from me and killed it. I ran to my dad bawling about the worm and he went to run the cat off. Turns out I had been playing with a Pygmy Rattler (which were really abundant in the area) for who knows how long. Well that of course sparked a panic and my parents worked to instill a healthy fear of snakes in me.
It didn't entirely work out. I still loved to watch them and I would collect turtles and lizards, but I never touched a snake again on purpose until I was in my adult years and my snake crazy friend brought over his ball python. Now I have more snakes than he does! lol

Held a kingsnake at a summer camp I was in back in 5th grade. That was 15 years ago and I just got my first BP a month ago.

I was scared of snakes, as a kid (thanks, dad) but have always been intrigued by them. I first handled a boa and a ball python, briefly, a few years ago. I really didn't start handling and feeling comfortable doing so until about 6 months ago when my son left his young female ball at our place when he moved. She is such an easy going, lovable little snake (getting much bigger since my care and moving her up to rats) and I enjoyed her so much that after a lot of research (mostly on here) I bought my own - a young Hog Island Boa. This snake is gorgeous but a bit more of a handful. Thanks to being used to handling the ball, nothing worries me too much about handling the boa, even the hiss every now and then doesn't bother me. It's funny, she hisses at me (sometimes, but getting less frequent) and I tell her "calm down, be quiet, you're coming out..." like I'm talking to one of my kids or something!

I was scared of reptiles my whole life but when I was 20 I was with a girl I really liked and we ended up in a situation where I was asked to hold a friends ball python. I couldn't wimp out in front of her so I held it and it was dope. Ended up wrapping around my arm and hanging out with me for like a hour, evaporating my fear of snakes.

I had touched snakes at small town fairs for a couple years but I didn't actually be the sole holder of a snake until I bought Monty, my normal, now 3 year old male. The breeder was very good in making sure I got the calmest, gentlest of his clutch. My daughter and I spent an hour at his house, all while holding Monty, passing him back and forth. We met 3 of his females and 3 of his males. He kept them in racks. 3 curled up tighter when he pulled open the drawer, 2 hissed and curled up and one fake struck. He pulled out the female that fake struck and she settled down within 20 seconds, curled around his forearm and stayed there for 15 minutes.

My husband had a garter snake mating ball of about 400 snakes fall directly at his feet when he was 8. He had been deathly afraid of snakes until two weeks after Monty came home. Now, he often takes Monty out of his tank, drapes him around his neck and calmly does his thing on the computer or plays video games.

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/05...2166bdfb22.jpg
First time holding a big boa!

1.2 Normal
1.1 Red-tail
0.1 Albino corn

My first exposure besides school events was when I was 17. Friend of a friend, who is now an ex girlfriend, had a pair of ball pythons that she brought out. She wanted to explain something about one of the snakes and quickly handed the other one off to me. I was surprised, I wasnt afraid, just never held a snake before and wasn't quite sure what to do.

Then it yawned, that really made me not sure what to do and I was kind of nervous. It sat in my lap for a half hour because I wasn't sure if it liked me or not and had zero idea how to read a snake. I of course couldn't admit it trying to impress the future ex girlfriend, so I pretended we were chillin.

Lesson #1 snakes yawn and it means they more than likely just woke up. The more you know.

Hmm... let's see.. I think I was four or five years old. Maybe six. I've always been an animal lover. For as long as I've remembered, I've been surrounded by animals, especially birds (dad is a parrot guy). I hadn't seen any snakes except in pictures before then, but for some reason I was uneasy about them. However, whenever something scared me a little, that meant it fascinated me even more. I was curious about snakes, but I didn't want to be near them.

I was invited to a friend's birthday party, and my mom told me somebody was going to bring snakes. I wasn't sure if I wanted to go, and at one point I almost refused to, but she made me. I remember all the kids sitting in a half-circle around a man in the backyard. I sat as far away from him as possible, and I remember being relatively tense and ready to jump up and run if I had to. I was kind of a shy kid at that point in time, so I wasn't sure what to think of the guy, either. My mom had always said that people would buy reptiles without realizing what they were getting into and when they got big, the owners weren't prepared. I believed her, of course, so I had to be a little worried about somebody handling animals they didn't know anything about. That's when he pulled out a huge female corn snake, red and black and orange... and one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen. I was still worried about it, but I didn't even want to blink, I didn't want to take my eyes off of her for a minute. My little brain was working a mile a minute, trying to determine how it could eat, how it moved and whether it was actually a threat. I remember the man pulling out her shed skin and telling us, "...she only sheds her skin about once a year. Touch it. Cool, right?" At that exact moment, the snake decided to do her business right on the lawn. He continued, ".... erm, and that only happens about once a year, too! You guys are, uh, lucky!" I remember telling him there was no way she could only poop once a year. After that, though, I was completely relaxed around her and more curious than ever. Before then, snakes were almost mythical beasts to me. They were like dragons (which I absolutely loved, by the way). Rare, dangerous and nothing like a human. I remember my exact thought from then. "Oh. I get it. It's an animal like everything else. That's ok, then." As soon as I came home, I followed my mom around the house asking for a snake. The response I got was, "Never in a million years is a snake going to live in my household." I kept asking over the years, but no, no and no was the answer. That changed, of course. If you think about it, snake poop is the only reason I own snakes today. :rolleyes:

The first time I held a snake was... uh... last year. The class got a pet albino corn snake, and I was ridiculously excited. I loved the thing. I always was taking him out, touching him, cleaning his cage. I had been losing interest in snakes, but he made my fire burn ten thousand times stronger than it ever had before. I spent every day researching snakes for hours at a time, only stopping to eat (and sometimes not even doing that). My mom finally gave in... sort of. She said I could have a lizard. I didn't want a lizard, though. I told her that it was a nice offer, and lizards are cool too, but I felt that I would be more interested and involved if it were a snake. Plus, they sounded more difficult and I don't like bugs, soooo... A few months later, she finally decided it would be ok if I did everything and didn't ever ask her for help caring for it. She and my dad bought the supplies for my birthday, but I insisted on paying for the snake myself. I wanted it to feel like my pet. I researched corns, kings, milks, hoggies, Brazilians, Dumeril's and so many more. I researched so many that I was able to recall care requirements for five different species off the top of my head, and could remember random tips for others. Ball pythons were under my radar. Mom thought their heads were creepy and I was worried about their feeding habits. I was watching a lot of SnakeBytesTV, and I started to realize that my favorite episodes were of the ball pythons. The variety and that solid python body made me think twice. I decided that I absolutely had to have one, and I didn't want a normal. I researched local breeders, and when I went to my first reptile expo, I found a teeny tiny one month old ball. I bothered the breeder at the table for four hours (man I feel bad for him o.o), and he answered all of my remaining questions. Her morph is onyx pastel, so I call her Onyx. Then one thing led to another, and the collection has grown quite a bit. I left the school with "my" corn snake for most of this year, but now I'm back. Unfortunately, I'm now a little worried about his health (seems to have an eye issue), and I'm still trying to get him to a vet and figure out the issue.

Wow... I can't believe I remembered all of this... I am so glad I didn't skip that party. I can't imagine not loving reptiles.

First time I ever touched/held a snake was when I was 9 years old I caught a baby Coastal California King Snake and to this day he is still alive and kickin.. I'm 37 now which makes him 28 years old and he fathered 8 babies from a female.. Ever since then I've had a love for reptiles specifically snakes that will never die..

I grew up with my dad killing snakes down in south Texas. I would catch little grass snakes but anything of size was killed with a shovel. One of my principals in 3rd grade did a dunk tank with his retic, and I thought he was crazy but that it was neat. Fast forward to last summer. Saw this pic

http://ball-pythons.net/gallery//sho...mageuser=56736

on the internet. It was cute, so got first BP in November.

And incidentally, my little girl, instead of her name, is referred to as "Tiny Snake" by myself and all my friends who love her.

I grew up in a Christian/Baptist household, & the fear/hatred of snakes was instilled from an early age. They were cursed above all other animals, the creature th 'devil' used to bring down the fall of man, even though nowhere in the garden of Eden story does it say anything about the devil. Religious upbringing aside, I was & still am a HUGE animal nerd...me & my twin sister loved watching animal documentaries on PBS. Remember Marty Stouffer's 'Wild America'? Aw man, we ate that up! Anything having to do with any animals we loved.

Even so, the upbringing stayed with me. I was fascinated by snakes, but also scared too, until I think 3rd or 4th grade, there was a snake presentation at our school by a man that had corn snakes, boas & god only knows what else. He asked 'how many of you think snakes are slimy?' & most of us raised our hands, myself included. He said 'they're not. Their skin is as smooth & dry as ours' & he got a literal 2 hands full of corns or garters out & walked around & let all of us that wanted to touch them to do so. I was absolutely captivated!
I held a baby corn in my early 20s & really enjoyed that experience & wanted a snake then, but budget wouldn't allow it. My 1st time holding a BP was very recent, at a local PetSmart. I had been researching the crap out of corns & BPs & decided I wanted a BP, so I thought it would be a good idea to hold one before actually buying one (don't worry, I got mine from a breeder)
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/05...b96b99db45.jpg

Now I have my lil Reggie.
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/05...9dc0373d46.jpg

Me & my daughter love him & always look forward to handling days; it's strangely addictive:)

The first I recall was a Plains Garter Snake in Denver, Co. when I was about 9. I kept it as a pet for about a month and fed it Earthworms, then released it.

A few years later, I talked my father into buying me a huge adult Black Rat Snake at a pet store. Holding it at the time was like wrestling with a steel cable.

I have no idea of the first time.

In my day, since I was 4, my Mom would kick me and my older brother out of the house and we had to be back for lunch, then supper. That gives one plenty of time for mischief.

My Dad said that when Mom did my laundry it was always quite exciting because there was always some reptile(s) in my pocket(s). The snakes caused the biggest stir because my whole family hated snakes and still do.

Dad said that when I would come back from camp that was the worst because EVERY pocket had something in it! :)

I grew up in Cyprus and was taught to be very afraid of snakes from a young age and climbed a latter once when i was about 8 and sure enough coiled at the top was the most beautiful snake I'd ever seen. The Snub nose viper. I ran but now have a collection of over 70 different reptiles and im getting into venomous quickly