At what age did you get your first snake?

Curious as to what age everyone got their first snake

Well... my mom has always had snakes and they were "mine" but I didn't cover any costs but I did care for them. the first one that was actually mine, as in I paid for it and and paid for everything, was when I was 12... I'm not sure if that counts as 11-17 or under 10.

i held my first snake when i was 24, and 6 months later i bought a ball python. 😀

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I was about 12. Was a brown water snake. Caught it near my house.

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Originally Posted by tttaylorrr

i held my first snake when i was 24, and 6 months later i bought a ball python. 😀

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Held my first snake when I bought my first ball ... ~3 months ago at 24 🙃

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I got my first snake in my late 40's !!!!

They were never even an option or a consideration when I was growing up even though I had a massive collection of rubber snakes ....

I did have a Tortoise and two ducks , two baby goats , a racing pigeon , cats and dogs , hamsters , rabbits and Guinea pigs , and some Piranhas oh and a pet Pike so I really can't complain . I've tried to make up for things since I got hooked on snakes though ...


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I was ten, almost eleven years old. An anerytheristic corn snake for Christmas that year. Took me like a year and a half of persistent research and annoying my mother enough that she finally caved in hahaa! 21 years later I still actually know and do business with the breeder my mom got the corn snake from. When he heard I got my SD retic he told me all about how he financed his whole ball python operation by selling Super Dwarfs. Apparently I then inspired him to get a pair of SD Tiger Retics and to buy back a pair from his original wild caught bloodline lol


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now I wanna know how everyone got their first snake lol. I got most of mine by sneaking them into the house, without permission but I feel like someone has a fun story. I actually wasn't even supposed to have snakes because my mom and grandmother are afraid of them but being the rebellious teenager I am, I went and bought a ball python from a friends shop he owns and put it under my bed in a tub with a heating pad. Kept it there for 2 weeks and set up a glass tank hoping my mom would just see it and I'd say I have had it for 2 weeks and I'm attached, thinking she'd let me keep it. And it worked. 2 weeks later my dad takes me to the store and I have secretly saved enough money to buy my second snake which was spot my spotted python, and come to find out I was $1 short exactly so I run out and ask my dad for a dollar and he only keeps his debit card on him, no cash. He kind of saw how I needed the money and was curious because I had so much going in and figured it out and went in and just bought the snake for me. He just let me keep the cash too. Third snake I got was my corn snake and I really wanted one, so when we went to a reptile show and I saw one with my parents and I when held it they gave in after not much begging and let me buy him. Fourth snake I just snuck in like the first lol. Anyone else have any fun stories?

I got my first snake at 21, when I moved out of my parent's house. Mom wasn't even extremely psyched when I came home from my first couple years of college with a Crested Gecko. (Constantly reminding me that why when she was growing up, there were wild geckos and they were seen as pests. Mind, they weren't quite so pretty as these, but still, she grew up seeing geckos as pets. Why on earth would you want one as a pet?) The only reptiles I had before then were the anoles my school sent home free after a science project in elementary school. I'm really quite sure those poor things didn't live nearly to life expectancy... I didn't know crap about taking care of them, nor did my younger brother, and no one else in our family liked reptiles enough to care. Never allowed to have a snake growing up. Mother would freak out if I even mentioned I had seen a ribbon snake in the yard (it didn't help that it went with out saying I tried to catch it). Somehow we talked her into letting my younger brother have a scorpion. Still convinced magic was involved in this.

Mind, now if I'm coming home for an extended visit, she grudgingly allows me to bring home the whole family if I'm gonna be there too long to leave them (very very rare, I hate traveling, and dislike leaving my territory for long ^.^) I can't take them upstairs (while she's home) and am technically not supposed to have them out of their keeps, in my hands or otherwise, and I can't remind her that they are actually in the house, but she does let them come into the house. So there's that.

But yeah, lol, moved into an apartment for school, and got a snake as soon as I was able. Been wanting one since my friend got a couple ball pythons in 4th grade.

Held my first snake at 6, bought my first snake at 16

Can't a remember when I held a reptile for the first time, but I got my first lizard , a crested gecko, for Christmas at 15. Then a few months later I got my first snake after finding out a local reptile group had one for adoption and I literally fell in love with him.

Now at 17, I have 8 snakes, 7 cresties, 1 Leo and a tortoise :D

I got my first snake about three weeks ago now, at 19, as a sort of birthday gift to myself. My mom is terrified of snakes, so I wasn't allowed to have one when I was living at the house. I've always had an affinity for snakes, especially the larger ones, after holding an absolutely massive yellow boa with a group of other young children at a zoo when I was about 5.

This is my first semester in college, I'm out of the house, earning my own money, and have a roommate who loves animals just as much as I do. Here's the catch: because I'm a freshman, living in a dorm, animals are strictly forbidden. Seeing as most people on my hall don't give two shakes about the rules, a group of hall mates and I decided to go out and get ourselves some scaly friends. I knew I wanted a ball python, as I love the way they look overall with their cute chunky build and cool color morphs.

I love the color yellow, and because the snake that introduced me to large snakes was yellow, felt I wanted one of that color. That's how I ended up with Kaa.

We started off at a really nice reptile shop near the college, which had a nice variety of ball pythons, namely a beautiful pied, which I was very interested in, but couldn't get myself to pull the trigger on. It just wasn't what I'd had in mind whenever I thought of owning a large snake.

My friend also wanted a veiled chameleon, which the shop unfortunately also didn't have available at the time. I can hear the tsk-ing now (if you already already), but we decided to go to Petsmart to look for a chameleon for my friend. I hadn't even thought about looking at the snakes, but as soon as I looked at the python tags and saw a bright yellow one, I had to see the animal. We asked an employee, and were shown to the back, where all the ball pythons were being held as it was feeding night and they feed all their snakes in separate tubs. I looked at the little yellow snake and I knew deep down he was the one, but I told the employee to keep him there so I could go look at the little pied from the other shop one last time.

Back at the other shop, another friend of mine bought a little abbott's corn snake, before we returned to the box store for the ball python and the girl's roommate's chameleon.

I couldn't bring my new baby home that night because they'd fed him. I didn't mind too much knowing he'd eaten, and anxiously waited until the next day to go pick him up after my morning class.

The 'fun' part of this whole animal business was trying to sneak tanks, heating accessories, and decor up three flights of stairs and into our dorms without any of the snoopy b*tches down the hall or our excruciatingly strict RA seeing us. Everything went fine until three days ago, when one out of the 50 people on our floor decided to snitch and the wrath of our RA came crashing down upon us. Fortunately for my three other hall mates who have their own snakes and chameleons, this berating was only bestowed upon my unfortunate roommate and I.

And now the irony of this all comes around full circle. The snake my mother wouldn't let me keep when I was young is now living at my family home.


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I want to say I was around 5 when we got a pet snake. I believe it was a Texas rat snake

My first snake was a BP, bought with my allowance when I was 13. Second was a corn snake, when I was 15. The deal was that I was allowed to have pets if I paid for them and took care of them, etc. There was a pet store on the way home from school, and I would stop in to pick up rodents on the way home. I had my first job there, too.
The BP died when I was a senior in college in an incident involving a New England winter, a busted heating system, and an unregulated UTH. I still want to cry when I think about it. The corn snake died when I was 34, at which point I got another ball python.


My spouse had never thought much about snakes one way or another before meeting me, but after living with mine for so long, he was almost as upset as I was when the corn snake died. And recently he has started dropping hints about hognoses or garters or other smallish/adorable/more active species. I haven't yet been able to tell whether this is a "if I had unlimited space/resources/whatever" kind of want, or a "I actually want to do this now" kind of want (if it's the latter, there's no reason we couldn't do it tomorrow). So I would say there is a nonzero probability of another snake in my future. Either way I guess I lucked out on spouses. :)

I was under 10.

However, I did a lot of catching and releasing after taking pictures or moving them if they were venomous. I did this with a friend and his brother until we were in our teens then we started doing this on our own.

Now, my first snake I actually bought, meh I was 16 or so?

I held/bought my first snake last year at the age of 25. My Fiance' wanted something to keep her busy at home while I was at work all day. Out of no where she said she wanted a snake and we did our researched and decided a ball python would be our best choice. We ended up going to Petsmart to look at them but I did not want a normal. Luckily we found a local pet shop who's owner breeds his own BP's and we purchased our pastel. After that I just got hooked on everything ball python. I wanted to learn as much as I can about them, their genes, breeding, care, anything I can I try to soak up and that obsession is still going strong. We got our second BP from a local Repticon show near me, we weren't expecting to purchase one but we just had to have him when we saw him.

LOL, I feel old! I held my first snake at a zoo when I was 12-14 y/of. I got my first snake, a corn when I was 50...my first BP a few months later...now I have 8 total!

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Originally Posted by Sandi1961

LOL, I feel old! I held my first snake at a zoo when I was 12-14 y/of. I got my first snake, a corn when I was 50...my first BP a few months later...now I have 8 total!

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LOL I was thinking the same thing...I'm 46 and just got my first. I'm already looking for the next. LOL

I was 36. Mine was a rescue. Adult son living with parents and moving soon didn't want it anymore, had tried to sell snake and enclosure for $80. No takers. I had expressed mild interest (since I had no idea how to take care of a snake), and a couple weeks later, parent called my husband to verify if I was serious. Said he would pay his kid the $80, and I could just have it.

Malfoy came to me with just a heat lamp, one hide, no humidity, open screen top, and a mouse buddy that had been living with him for 2 weeks. The water dish had a layer of slime, and some of the aspen bedding had molded at the bottom (who knows how long it had been since cleaned). Malfoy hadn't eaten in 4 months at that point, went another 2 before he ate for me. The mouse he came with died a week after arrival.

Now Malfoy if fasting for the winter again, but he is starting out 1.5lb heavier, and has a much better enclosure. Last thing I really need to get is a thermostat so I can get the UTH going (haven't needed it until now).

36. I was terrified of snakes but a coworker knew someone trying to rehome an anery corn that had been mauled by his cat. I took it in and she helped me get over my lifelong fear, after a few nights of ridiculous nightmares. Lol.

I studied up on care, added 6 more corns from breeders, got my next door neighbor a ball python to thank him for his help with my first snake (he had some years ago but hadn't gotten back into them yet and was looking into it) which turned him into getting 7 more and now I have 3 ball pythons of my own too after playing with his and seeing how different they are to my corns.

Funny how I was terrified all those years and now they are my favorite animal. My 4 year old loves them too, she has one corn and one ball she claims as hers. Lol


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Originally Posted by BR8080

LOL I was thinking the same thing...I'm 46 and just got my first. I'm already looking for the next. LOL

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They are like potato chips...you can't have just one!

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Originally Posted by Sandi1961

They are like potato chips...you can't have just one!

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It doesn't help that I have an addictive personality so hystorically that goes for tattoos, firearms, and several other things as well...

I'm considering a BRB or a DB in the meantime.

UGH - these "hobbies" get soooo expensive but in my "older" adult life I've at least made the attempt to tone it down a bit before jumping in.

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Originally Posted by Sandi1961

LOL, I feel old! I held my first snake at a zoo when I was 12-14 y/of. I got my first snake, a corn when I was 50...my first BP a few months later...now I have 8 total!

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Similar story to me , then , although I'm up to 21 with possibly another two on the horizon .

Aspergers / addictive nature is a bad mix . ..

I got my first snake at 9 a lovely little wild morph corn and ended up with 3 tortoises and a ball python. I'm now planning to add another ball and start breeding.

46.
BF found it in the kitchen.

33 but wanted one since I was 16!! Got 2 within 5 months of each other.

Got Karma and Choco at 15, but I've been wanting one since I was 12, when I first discovered ball pythons!:D

As for convincing, it doesn't take much with my parents and it only helped that a church member had a ball python too, named Ruben. They were pretty much convinced that bps were harmless after watching me handle him. Its sort of 'out of sight, out of mind' with my mom although she got freaked out when I first brought Karma home, didn't mind Choco much, especially since he's so tiny. She asked to look at Karma when I first brought her home and just stared at her for 10 minutes:rofl:

Well, I had a couple corn snakes before, my father bred the ones he had and I got to keep a baby. I believe I was around 11? That baby ended up escaping and I never found it. My dad then got me a ball python some time later, a couple years after I would think, he was an adult and I ended up giving him to my aunt and uncle. Fast forward to when I joined the forums a couple years ago, I purchased a baby ball, that's when I realized BPs just weren't for me. I had thought having a baby would be different, but nope, just not my kind of snakes! I got my boa about a month later, and she is my favourite... so, I consider to have gotten my first snake at 11ish, but didn't really get into it until 16ish. :) Now I have four noodles in my care, they're the best.

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Got my first snake when I was 11. He was a field-collected GTP whom I still have today. :partyon:

If there was ever an example of what NOT to do when your kid is interested in reptiles, it would probably be what my dad did in buying his 11 year old a wild chondro. :psychotic I do have scars, but I have lots of wonderful memories too, and after learning about the sad life some WC snakes have, I feel things couldn't possibly have ended up better for Craig. He has a large, naturalistic enclosure to himself where he is largely left to his own devices and seems grateful to have his meals handed to him rather than having to track them down. It was a potentially disastrous situation which turned into a happy ending. :)

I love GTPs, but they are not kid snakes. Just because it worked out for me does NOT mean it will work out for your kids. I don't recommend GTPs for children. I'd even be leery giving one to a teenager. They are not "pets", they are more like a living decoration.

It was within the first month I graduated college and moved into my first apartment away from home. LOL

The reason being that my parents were just terrified/hated snakes, so didn't let me have one growing up. So once I was free, it really didn't take very long for me to commit. :P But in the end, turns out I moved back home anyway (to save on the crazy rent around here) and they don't mind all seven of them! haha

I was 12. I worked for months doing extra chores for my father to save up money to get my first snake. At the time, I only knew about ball pythons and "red tails" being pet snakes, and wanted a ball python since my father used to have one. I was a little short, having just enough money for the snake but none of the equipment, but my father bought all of that for me. Within a few months, he had also built a custom wooden enclosure for him. A teeny hatchling in a big 4.5'x2.5'x3' enclosure with nothing but a branch and a big box with a heat lamp attached to the top. I don't remember the dimensions exactly, but that's really close. All but the bottom and the front of the enclosure was made from the dip in the wall of trailer. Kinda like a closet but not really. So, I was unable to bring the enclosure with me. He spent some time in a 106 qt tub before we made the 2 6'x2'x3's I have today.

In retrospect, Bud's original set up was horrendous. Absolutely no cover beyond that wooden box, and the heat lamp was attached to the top with a hole cut so the bulb could heat inside the box. The wire came through the top of the enclosure, was stapled along the top and then the wire dangled from the top of the enclosure down to the box. He was always pulling the wire loose and the lamp set up was a serious burn hazard. He does have a small burn on his tail that gets smaller and smaller as he gets older. The rest of the enclosure had zero additional heating, but during the winter the wood stove kept the whole trailer nice and cozy so he never got too cold. So surprisingly he never got ill, and even more surprising, he ate like a hog. He was a serious chunker back then. Then we made our first move and he was a problem eater for 3 years, and now the past year he's been eating really well.

10 years after getting Bud I'm up from 1 snake to 13, having bought 14 total, and 10 of those were bought within the last 2 years. That's about when I got my first job, it really gave me funds for my collection to explode. lmao

I held my first snake when I was 16. I went to a private boarding school, and they had a horticulture center on the grounds. Once they set her in my hands I fell in love, it was so hard to leave after that. I wanted a snake SO bad, I vowed I'd have one as an adult once I graduated, and then graduated college. Last year, December 23rd two days before Christmas, I got my first snake; a snow corn I named Ghost. I was 25. Then, just this past October, I got my first BP, a pastel I named Vespa. It's been an AWESOME two years so far. :w00t:

I got my first snake at the beginning of this year at 19. I had always loved reptiles as a kid but my Gma hated them so I could never get one. When I moved out at 18 the hunt began for the perfect reptile for me :P I was actually looking into getting a crested gecko for a while but then one day while I was at a reptile store browsing I saw a cute little snake snoot looking back at me and asked it I could hold him. I immediately feel in love and after a little under a year of research and preparing I got my boy from the very same store. Now I'm soon to get my second little beep and hope to breed one day

Edit:
Whoops didn't see how old this was, it was at the top of my feed :P


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40. Cuz I drove a truck. And pretty much lived in my truck. Now that I'm 49 and retired. I'm making up for it.

13, little corn snake from petsmart :/ she didn't last too long.. now I'm 17 and have a healthy boa and a adopted ball python who's a bit of a.. feisty kid lol

I am 25 and I got my Bp 2 weeks ago I have wanted some type of reptile for years! But the last year I've been leaning towards a snake, someone at my mom's work suggested a ball python. Once I saw the little face I had to have one!!

My very first snake was a western ribbon snake that I got at our local pet store when I was 7. She lived to be about 6-7 years old. I'm sure the short life was from improper diet as at the time even the garter snake care book my mom got me said to feed goldfish. I also supplemented with wild caught frogs, tadpoles, and minnows - so I'm sure parasites were a thing.
Then when I was ten I caught a rattlesnake and kept it for about a week, until my parents found out and made me let it go...so not really a pet :/
My first permanent pet python (I've fostered / rehabbed snakes for the past 14 years) I got two years ago at the age of 25.

I've ALWAYS wanted a snake but living with my parents as a teenager that was a no go period, no questions...obviously when I was in the Marines that's was again a no go lol....now being in my own home and my then fiancé (now husband) surprised me for our 3rd anniversary told me to just get anything and everything I needed and wanted for my first BP....almost two years later we now have 2 BPs (Ramsey-norm BP and Ra- Pastel) 1 BCI (Anubis), 2 Dragons (Cleo and Neffy), a Russian tortoise (Cornflake), and we just today in fact purchased our first Crestie (Dracarys) mind you all these animals were in fact purchased all with in the last 4-5 months minus Ramsey lol he's the eldest got him 2015...[emoji23]

Got my first reptiles when I was 22 which was almost exactly 20 years ago. Time flies!

I got my first snake when I am 24 and he is a ball python, my dream snake :)

34 lol. One of my snakes I've always considered my son's, so I guess he got his first snake at 6 months old! Haha

You should have had an "old geezer" category! lol

I "inherited" my first Ball Python from children who moved to upper Michigan this year. I'm 62. I also inherited a ball python "rescue" a couple of months back. While I've always loved reptiles, I just never thought about being responsible for their care until this year. And yes, I know that Balls are a long lived little snake. I have a plan in place should they outlast me. lol

I got Wanda when I was 18, but I held my first snake when I was maybe 7 or 8?

first experience with reptile(s) i had was when i met my step father when i was 8, he had an african spurred thigh tortoise and two ornate box turtles. then when we moved in he had to get rid of them due to the size they took up so he donated them to a nature center to help and teach kids! fast forward a few years later weve moved a couple times now, i was 13-14 i got MY first reptile, a redfoot tortoise. two years later again, now living in a different state, i became obsessed with lizards, 6 months later i went to repticon and bought my bearded dragon. then about 8 months later i started learning about snakes and getting over my huge fear, 6 months after that i got them to agree to a snake and a week later (yesterday) she arrived at my front door! (a western hognose) so im 17 with a tort, a beardie, and a hoggie! now my dad is becoming interested in another tortoise now that we live in a house again, also all my pets ive paid for, except the food. the snake is the exception cause i just bought food in bulk, cant necessarily do that with a beardie or a tort!


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Caught my first garter snake in 2nd grade. I was 7. Caught every snake there was to catch in Michigan except a Massasauga rattler. My Dad caught a baby one once. I had a small collection including a corn snake, an eastern coachwhip snake, an eastern kingsnake, a retic, and ball python back in "80" or "81" but ended up getting rid of them. Who knew?

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Originally Posted by rlditmars

Caught my first garter snake in 2nd grade. I was 7. Caught every snake there was to catch in Michigan except a Massasauga rattler. My Dad caught a baby one once. I had a small collection including a corn snake, an eastern coachwhip snake, an eastern kingsnake, a retic, and ball python back in "80" or "81" but ended up getting rid of them. Who knew?

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My grandmother used to get so mad at me for catching pygmy rattlers. In my life, I've caught more rat snakes, corn snakes, and black racers than I could even try to put a number on. I still do it to this day

First Python at 12/13 yrs old..here I am 30 years later.


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I LOVE your Avatar!!! lolol

10 years old!

The neighbor girl had caught a wild milk snake in our field when I was a kid and I thought it was the most beautiful animal in the world, then I got a subscription to Reptiles Magazine which absolutely blew my mind. I remember looking at the pictures of albino ball pythons thinking "That just can't be real". So I begged and I begged and I begged and then I saved paper boy money my parents finally gave in and I went and purchased a baby Okeetee corn snake :cool:.....and it's been 17 years since then (I'm 27 meow) and I haven't lost that love of the animal in general since.

I was catching garter snakes as long as I can remember. I never kept one as a pet though, my mom said we could keep any animal that we catch for one day and then we had to let it go. I remember getting bit a lot when I was a kid and lots of blood dripping down my arms LOL. Here's a photo of one of my first snakes, I'm on the right, I was probably about 10-12 years old. My best friend at the time was on the left. This photo was taken back in the 1970s, we lived in the village of Fredonia Wisconsin.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...irst-snake.jpg


After that I didn't catch or keep snakes until I was almost 50 years old, I think my first snake was this Arizona Mountain King snake.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...cond-snake.jpg