Mentor?

When you all started in this hobby, did you have a mentor or did you figure it all out on your own? If you did have a mentor, how did you two come together and establish this relationship? There are plenty of times where I wishedI had someone who was well rounded in all the reptiles I keep that I could talk to. Sometimes google just doesn't have the answer to my questions... sigh.

The people in this forum were my mentors. :)

I met a tattoo artist in my area who had a collection. At the time I had a bunch of lizards, but hadn't gotten into snakes. I credit him for getting me into the hobby, but we never kept in touch. From my first BP on, it's been forums and blogs and videos. While I value the opportunity to work closely with an expert, I think it's also important to branch out and get other perspectives, so this has worked out really well for me.

Videos and forums are always great! I love the FB groups also! The guy I got my boa from helps me out big time with anything boa related. Other than that, it's usually the internet.

I had some friends and breeders locally who let me check out their setups. I do the same now for people when they come over, to help them avoid the mistakes I made.

There is someone that i always text for small questions, im sure i annoy him, but his advice helps LOL

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Originally Posted by Tsanford

There is someone that i always text for small questions, im sure i annoy him, but his advice helps LOL

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This place is great but knowing your locals is better. :gj::gj:

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Originally Posted by PitOnTheProwl

This place is great but knowing your locals is better. :gj::gj:

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Definitely. I have Underground Reptiles and formerly known as Ben Siegle Reptiles within 30 minutes so their knowledge is also helpful but a lot of the times they throw the "how can I make money out of this" aspect into it and end up trying to sell me things…


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Forums are a big help, there were a few local people that I talked to bouncing ideas off of each other and a few individuals on here that I frequently annoy with PMs.

I have never had a sustainable mentor in this hobby. I started keeping herps in the early nineties, before the internet..gasp! It was incredibly hard to get reliable information. Pretty much had to read the books available, and rely on the advice from the 16 year old kid at the local reptile shop. Once I found out that pet store advice was awful, it basically turned into trial and error with the information that I had.

I would definitely be wary of using a large pet store as your source of info. Like you said, they are in this business to make money, and their motivation will always be mostly just that. While I do think that a store like Underground is making strides to become legitimate, they do have some way to go. I have watched youtube videos where the owner gives care advice and sometimes I just wince hearing what he is saying. You have to understand that their type of care is conducive to keeping large numbers of animals and selling them quickly, not preparing for the longevity of the animal.

I know that many of us on here would be happy to act as a mentor to someone new in the hobby. I have frequently given out my personal email and phone number to people who have asked on here, and will continue to.

I pretty much figured it out on my own. :) When I did have questions, this forum and my local reptile store were always quick with answers though!

My dad, who kept reptiles since he was a kid, had a great store of general husbandry knowledge that helped me not make as many mistakes. There was also this fellow, Mike, who owned the petshop where I spent as much time as I possibly could in my early years. Dad and Mike always did their best to steer me in the right(usually safer) direction - like that time I came in looking to get a baby monitor and walked out with a newborn bluey, or that time I was eyeballing the imported bloods and went home with a captive born brazilian rainbow boa. That shop did a great deal of breeding in house but I was only interested in general husbandry at the time. Still, we had a pretty good thing going. I wanted to work with as many species as possible but was limited in space. I generally bought babies and would raise them up for 2-3 years then bring them back to Mike for store credit. He received subadults in great condition for breeding stock and I got to broaden my general knowledge with yet another species. Even though I moved away Mike was always available to offer advice, via phone, for many years to come.

The people on this forum help us out a lot. But we ended up meeting someone at Publix one day that was a MOD on this site and he ended up becoming one of our friends. He mentors is still to this day and we go to him for advice all the time. Great guy!


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