Katie: Reptile Convert and Love of My Life - Post about converts you know!

Many of you know about Katie. She's my fiancé since (9-21-17) and we have been living together for a year this July. We will have been together 2 years 6-21-18!

Without so many words, Katie is the love of my life and the best partner I could ever ask for. Neither of us are perfect people (who is), but we really are perfect for each other.

Now, we volunteer together, cook together, watch similar shows (except sports - I love sports and Katie could care less), both love dogs (hence having 5! Two from me and 3 from her), and enjoy many similar things. However, when it comes to hobbies, not so much!

I have reptiles. Katie had never touched one until she met me.

I race cars and have a proper sports car; The Beast. Katie likes trucks and doesn't understand why I would want to drive a stick shift and go fast.

I collect rare Whiskey and Katie virtually never drinks. I smoke cigars, she has asthma.

Katie paints and writes. I write for work and on forums (like this one), but Katie does it for fun. Regarding painting, unless it's Painting with a Twist - where I get to drink and paint - no thanks. I am hardly artistic or creative.

Regardless, we make it work, and work well and with lots of love!

Now, back to the reptiles.

Katie's parents are terrified of them and Katie, although hardly afraid, had never met or touched one until she met me.

Since then, I acquired Frank the BTS, moved into her house (agreed on together - she could have moved into mine, where I had a reptile room, but logistically this made more sense although there were some compromises), and after I moved in, also acquired Behira (a female BCI). I did take up 1/3 of our finished basement initially with tanks, which wasn't great for anyone, but then upgraded to a Boaphile stack (6X2' and 6 FT high - 4 6X2 tanks and 1 6X2 split into 2 3X2's because one of the geckos decided to become aggressive after 5 years!). The boaphile stack takes up about 1/8 of the basement, so we have a lot more room now.

Initially Katie wasn't crazy about any of them. Then, she liked Frank. Then she liked Frank a lot. Then she liked Shayna (the BP), then Figment (the Corn), then the Geckos. However, she would not watch the geckos eat. She hates bugs.

Then Behira came and Katie was cool with her. Then she nailed me with a feeding response and Katie didn't like her anymore and potentially wanted to get rid of her. Then I hook trained Behira and now they are best buddies.

Now, she will even watch the geckos eat!

This week, she asked if she could help feed Figment!

Tonight she watched me feed Behira and Shayna, and, wait for it....FED FIGMENT ALL BY HERSELF!

She hasn't watched them eat in months. The first time I fed Behira was the last time she watched them eat.

It was really funny.

I opened the tank door just a touch after putting the thawed mouse on her tongs. She stuck it in and when Figment came over to grab it, she freaked/got scared, and dropped the mouse 2 inches onto the ground/his body.

He could have cared less and grabbed it and gobbled it down.

Katie was nervous she had hurt him by dropping the mouse and was upset. I told her, "Does he look hurt? He's too busy going nom nom nom to complain about it anyway!" He is, of course, fine. Katie was worried her fear caused her to drop the mouse and hurt Figgie. I told her he was fine and, "How many people are brave enough to feed a 5FT snake? You did great. You are a great Snarent!"

She said she jumped when Figment grabbed the mouse and almost screamed when I fed Behira and she struck.

Between us reptile friends, I still jump when I feed Behira! I told Katie that too. However, let's keep that on the down low! Hard to get used to your tongs getting hit by a freight train!

She has grown so much with the reptiles and in trusting them and trusting me and my judgement with them.

I am so happy and so proud of her.

Pictures below for those that don't follow my other threads (and just in case she tells you they are MY reptiles, here is evidence to the contrary).

POST about reptile converts you know and/or have converted!

Me and Katie!

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Katie and the crew!

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One more of Katie and Me!

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True love if ever I saw it. :gj:

What a great love story !!

What makes it even better is that it is REAL ! Katie sounds like a gem. I wish you two many, many happy years together :)

Great back-story! :sweeet: The only thing better than keeping reptiles ourselves is helping others to understand & appreciate them too.
Life would be so boring without our pets to surprise us, make us laugh or just try to figure them out.

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Originally Posted by hilabeans

True love if ever I saw it. :gj:

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by zina10

What a great love story !!

What makes it even better is that it is REAL ! Katie sounds like a gem. I wish you two many, many happy years together :)

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It is REAL! And it is true love! Doesn't make it perfect all the time, but it's about as close as we can imagine.

That's what REAL TRUE LOVE is!

Thank you for the kind comments!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

Great back-story! :sweeet: The only thing better than keeping reptiles ourselves is helping others to understand & appreciate them too.
Life would be so boring without our pets to surprise us, make us laugh or just try to figure them out.

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Katie has embraced "our" reptiles about 30%, versus my 100%, if I had to quantify it. However, that is way more than I ever expected and that number seems to be growing.

I love being able to share my love and joy of reptiles with her, and others.

i could read about you gushing over her almost regularly! ...almost!

oh i tease. [emoji39] my parents are my converts, but they didn't get much choice. i moved back into their home with Yellow in late 2015, and well i now own 7 snakes. i pay my dues, i do what's expected, so they only get to complain about my pets. [emoji6] here's some pics of them complaining!

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a recent TV show they like to watch featured a kid bringing home a pet corn snake; the mom was actively freaking out and saying how it would kill the family. i then hear my mother go "that little thing?" it was an incredible moment of knowledge that i had passed down to them trumping normalized fears and IT WAS AWESOME!!!

Let's keep this thread going! Reptile converts - who and how?

I wanted to write about another convert of mine, my mother.

My mother used to be petrified of snakes. Literally couldn't even hear the word without freaking out!

When I was ten years old, she became open to the idea of me having a pet snake as she realized a lot of her fear was based in anxiety and past experiences. She got the point where I was able to have a pet snake when I got older (but was still living in her house) and would happily hold and interact with calm snakes.

She likes all my current pet reptiles. Figment, the corn, moves a little fast for her, but she still holds him, even though it makes her a little nervous. Shayna (the BP) and Behira are both super docile and, for the most part, slow moving, so she loves holding them. She doesn't mind the Leopard Geckos, but isn't crazy about Frank the BTS. She says he looks prehistoric and although he doesn't scare her, and she will pet him, she usually doesn't want to hold him.

Now, my step-father says he's indifferent, and I got him to pet Behira for the first time yesterday, but I think he's scared too. He seems better every time he sees the snakes. Not sure he'll ever be excited about them though. My mom really enjoys them now.

Anyway, here are some pictures of my mom with Behira from yesterday:

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Two more converts!

Katie had foreign exchange students for years. Her biggest success is Ana. Ana is from Mexico and stayed with her 3 years ago when she was 15 to almost 16 years old. Ana is now almost 19 and came to visit us for two weeks, starting yesterday.

Ana's best American friend, and Katie's adopted American exchange daughter, Claudia, came last night as well to stay through the weekend.

Neither are fond of reptiles. Ana got chills every time I said snake, and Claudia scrunched her face and looked nervous.

We talked about it last night and they looked at the tanks, but that was it.

Today they let me take everyone out, but were only going to look, or maybe a quick touch. We got way beyond that! Claudia touched Cleo the Leopard Gecko and Figment the Corn, and held, that's right HELD, Frank (BTS), Shayna (BP), and Behira (2 year old BCI). Ana pet Frank, Shayna, and Behira! Big steps for one day!

They asked a lot of good questions and seemed genuinely interested with the reptiles by the time we were done with the hour long show and tell and touch session.

Here are some pictures of the reptiles and the new converts!

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Katie got me Solana (our baby Scaleless Sunglow Motley Corn Snake) for our anniversary last week. Well, she came last week, but we ordered her at the beginning of June.

She is our last snake for a long time and Katie helped pick her out and also named her.

Katie had been against getting another snake, but when she saw a picture of Solana, and heard how chill was already (at 1 1/2 months old), she said, "she's worth getting another snake for."

Fast forward to our 2 year anniversary last week. Solana came and Katie could not wait to meet her. She has literally been gushing over her since and I had to beg for Katie to let her digest (she ate on Sunday - happily) for two days after eating and not to handle her (she did listen).

I don't know how to explain it, but Solana has brought out the reptile momma in Katie. She adores her and is excited about watching her grow up and having her for a long time. I joked in Solana's thread, that she is Katie's therapy snake. Behira (BCI) is my therapy snake and Reptile Companion Animal (RCA), she always cheers me up.

Katie had a rough day yesterday and literally a minute into holding Solana, she was smiling and laughing.

Yesterday, Katie said to me, "I miss Behira, I haven't held her in a couple of weeks." What? Say again? Historically it's been a chore, unless Katie is unoccupied and in a perfect reptile mood, to get her to hold them when I clean their tanks (versus putting them in their holding containers, which are fine, but I've been trying to get Katie to interact with them more), or any time for that matter.

Today, she held everyone......Snakes (4), geckos (held 2/3 - Kayla was not in a being held mood especially), and Frank (BTS). She truly seemed to enjoy interacting with all of them and everyone had a good time (well except for me - I was cleaning tanks!).

This a vast departure from, "They are your reptiles," and, "I tolerate them." I know she didn't completely mean those statements, but there was some truth to them as well. Reptiles are my hobby and passion, and Katie was nice enough to let me move in with my two dogs and reptile crew, but although crazy about the pups, could take or leave the reptiles. They didn't add anything to her life like they do for me.

I am very excited about how far Katie has come and how much Solana has gotten her to the next level. I don't want to jinx it, and I don't know if she'll ever be cleaning tanks or feeding (regularly anyway), but even if this as is far as she comes, it's pretty awesome.

I love everything about this thread!

Looks like the exchange girls had loads of fun with your reptile family
Keep up the good work


Sent from my TA-1024 using Tapatalk

Please check out the link below to a thread which shows my niece and nephew with Katie and the reptiles.

I'll try not to be redundant here, but Katie is doing incredibly well with the reptiles and I am so happy and proud.

She adores Solana (the new Scaleless Sunglow Motley Corn Snake Baby - 9G) and that has sparked her passion a little with all the reptiles.

Today she spent an hour with me and Meghan and Christopher (niece and nephew) and the reptiles. However, instead of observing, she was the one handling the reptiles and showing them to the kids. She worked with them holding and touching the crew, etc. All I did was take pictures and observe.

It was wonderful to see her happy and confident with them and being both reptile handler and "teacher" to the kids. Katie has come a long way. Very relieved and very happy and very proud.


https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...61#post2629861

This is my "So this is my life now" face

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Katie and my buddy, Scott, who volunteers with us at Monday Night Social Club with the Special Needs/Mentally Challenged Crew, came over for lunch today and to hang for a little bit.

He's very unlucky and very lucky at the same time.

He has colon cancer, and is fighting it off, and going to be fine. He has his last dose of chemo this coming Tuesday, and then two weeks of chemo pills. I say unlucky, because he's close to my age, a relatively young guy, and he had to deal with this. However, lucky, because he went to the hospital because of weird pains, which I think turned out to be gas pains, not something serious, but in the process, they found a huge tumor in his colon! If he hadn't had a bad taco that day, they never would have found it and he wouldn't be with us today. Weird how life works sometimes. G-D works in mysterious ways.

Worked that way for me too. When I got degenerative kidney disease at 23, I was taking a medicine that got broken down in the kidney and developed toxicity from the medicine. That had very unique symptoms. The doctor who was prescribing it recognized them and sent me to the hospital for an IV flush/fluids to get the medicine out of my system so it didn't cause damage. When I got the to the hospital, I was severely dehydrated and they couldn't get a vein in 15 tries. They brought the "expert" in on the 16th and finally got one. They drew blood and ran labs and found a) I was in deep kidney trouble, and b) my potassium was 7.8 and at 8.0 your heart stops. Your kidneys regulate potassium, but since mine were shutting down, they weren't doing a good job. I was an orange juice and banana for breakfast guy. Not good. They gave me a medicine to flush out the potassium (99/100 people crap it out and it lowers their levels fast). I projectile vomited for 5 hours. 2 hours after the first blood test, the second one showed my potassium at 7.9. The Rabbi came and spoke with me and the doctor's explained that if I lived through the night, I would have kidney damage, but that otherwise, I would probably be okay.

Well, I did live through the night, and I am here today, with a wonderful fiancé, great friends, a killer reptile collection, and my mother's kidney.

The point here, and I have digressed and will get back to the actual point of this post, is that if I didn't happen to be on that medicine, I would have died that night, and never would have gotten to meet Katie, have all these cool animals, continue to have great friends, etc. So, yes, life can be strange sometimes, and yes, G-D can work in mysterious ways.

Back to Scott, the unlucky/lucky guy. He can't work right now and has been going a little crazy at home. So I invited him over for lunch, some male bonding, and some reptile time. He likes the reptiles, but has had very little experience with them. Also, his previous experience has been with his teenage girls, and they dominated the time with the animals. So today, he really got to spend time with the animals he wanted to see and hold. He had a great time and it was a real eye opener for him.

He gives so much to his community and it was great to give something back to him today and cheer him up, even if it was just a little.

Pictures below:

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It’s great to share our love of reptiles with others, and I always enjoy seeing that point where people begin to think differently. You can almost see the gears turning when they realize there are more to snakes and other reptiles/amphibians than they may have originally thought. It’s also cool to have someone over to share your specific pets with by letting them see and handle them. My bp’s are always great for this because of their calm demeanor and reasonably small size...plus those little faces. :P

I ran into an old friend recently and he asked if I still have my “pets”. We were in a small local pharmacy and this started a whole discussion with him and the staff on keeping snakes as pets. He is truly phobics about snakes...another of his friends literally made him turn white and fall to his knees by draping a rubber snake around his neck as a joke...so not funny. But even with his fear, he always asks about them, the types I have now and how old/big they are. He’s willing to learn and hear about them in an abstract way, though he just can’t handle being near them. And he knows they mean a lot to me, so he asks about them...something I appreciate greatly.

Looks like Scott enjoyed his reptile day with you, nice when you can cheer a friend up especially one one that's having a tough time at the moment.
Everyone looked to be nice and chilled, little feliz looked nice and relaxed too but looks so tiny compared to behira she's proper filling out now and looking nice and stocky, such a great collection Dave

Sent from my TA-1024 using Tapatalk

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dianne

It’s great to share our love of reptiles with others, and I always enjoy seeing that point where people begin to think differently. You can almost see the gears turning when they realize there are more to snakes and other reptiles/amphibians than they may have originally thought. It’s also cool to have someone over to share your specific pets with by letting them see and handle them. My bp’s are always great for this because of their calm demeanor and reasonably small size...plus those little faces. :P

I ran into an old friend recently and he asked if I still have my “pets”. We were in a small local pharmacy and this started a whole discussion with him and the staff on keeping snakes as pets. He is truly phobics about snakes...another of his friends literally made him turn white and fall to his knees by draping a rubber snake around his neck as a joke...so not funny. But even with his fear, he always asks about them, the types I have now and how old/big they are. He’s willing to learn and hear about them in an abstract way, though he just can’t handle being near them. And he knows they mean a lot to me, so he asks about them...something I appreciate greatly.

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I agree, it's very nice when people who don't "get it" or even like reptiles, or snakes, ask about them because they know they are important to you. That sounds like a good friend and a good person Dianne.

I always tell people I am not a pusher. If you want to see them, I will show you. If you are ambivalent and don't know what to expect, they might surprise you. Many people have been blown away with how calm and docile my pets are and end up touching and/or holding them. Some just get closer than they expected. Others get just as scared as they thought, but appreciate that I put them away, or respectfully keep my distance. I am not here to perseverate fears. I am here to help people overcome them and help get rid of the ignorance that surrounds these wonderful and interesting creatures. If ignorance is creating or contributing to a person's fear, I want to help get rid of that, if they are willing.

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Originally Posted by richardhind1972

Looks like Scott enjoyed his reptile day with you, nice when you can cheer a friend up especially one one that's having a tough time at the moment.
Everyone looked to be nice and chilled, little feliz looked nice and relaxed too but looks so tiny compared to behira she's proper filling out now and looking nice and stocky, such a great collection Dave

Sent from my TA-1024 using Tapatalk

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Yeah, Scott had a great time. He needed it.

Everyone was on super good behavior, although Figment was a Spaz, per usual, to start. I had to show Scott how to really support to him and gently restrain/guide his neck to keep him focused and calm(er). Everyone else was great as usual. To be clear, Figment never freaks out or gets scared or strikes, etc. He just loves to move and explore and gets super distracted, or so it seems, all the time. "What's over here? Oh, what's over here. Okay, saw that, now what's over there?" Solana is the total opposite. She's the chillest corn snake I've ever met. Most corns are in between, but she's boa like and he's Spaz City. I've had them both since 9G, so it's just individual personality I think.

Behira is definitely starting to fill out. She's still super chill and awesome and a joy to handle though. She was really good with Scott and he was blown away with her strength at 1,200G. I'll be interested in what he has to say at 6,000G+. :). She's so gentle, it won't matter.

Feliz, wow, what a sweetie. He's chill as can be. I've also been working with him every other day and we've been getting to know one another. We've both been very respectful. The other day, I took him out. He was wrapped up and it was clear he didn't feel like exploring and was a little nervous. We had a little "chat." He said, "Dad, I'm a little nervous. I'll tell you what. If you let me stay wrapped up around your fingers and in your hand like this where I feel nice and safe, I'll stay really calm, and there won't be any hysterics or nipping, or hissing, or anything like that, okay? If I feel like exploring, I will, otherwise, I'll just chill here and feel safe, okay?" I said, "Sure Baby. You do whatever makes you feel comfortable. I want you to learn that I am here to protect you and care for you. I will never hurt you or make you uncomfortable on purpose. I'll let you chill for a minute or two, but if you don't start exploring, I'll call it a day and put you back."

After a few minutes, I put him back and let him be. Today, different snake. He was happy and exploring and calm and curious.

Notice Shayna and Yafe didn't come out. Yafe needs to heal and doesn't need the excitement of a new friend right now. Shayna is basically brumating. Additionally, the Leopard Geckos didn't interest Scott too much, so I let them be.

Rich, I envy your Boa collection, so it means a lot to hear you say how much you like my collection. I went for rarity ((either in species (Feliz, Ezzy, and Ferry) or morph (Solana, all the Leopard Geckos, certainly when I got them)), or both (Yafe - IJ/Darwin Albino Hybrid), or a species I really wanted but made sure the animal was something I've wanted for a long time (Frank - BTS, Shayna - Albino BP, wanted since 1992, Behira - BCI, since I was a kid), and I wanted all of them to be the most handleable/calmest the breeder had. I don't just want display animals. I like to interact with my animals and bond with them and allow others to experience them that way as well.

I have zero complaints about the collection at this point.

Thanks dave
I too like to interact with my reptiles and like you have chosen most that not many people have in the UK too so pretty rare over here.
I used to own corns so really get the difference,they very rarely keep still , lol and alot of people are like why won't they just sit and chill with me but I feel it's just a corn thing.
Boas on the whole are the opposite, I've got a few that virtually never hold on to me and that can be a challenge if they slither off you onto the the furniture, and you see there Tails slide right off and then I've a couple that hold on for dear life, my red pastel the other day when I took my last pics, I really couldn't get her off that twisted branch,I had to get help.while I held the snake they twisted it out, boy is she strong she's over 2000 now and as you say I really don't know how people cope with a snake 6000+ .
I didn't expect to see yafe in the pics as I know he is getting back to health,fingers crossed he's passed the worse niw

Really look forward to seeing your in-depth posts most mornings, keep them coming better than the depressing news to read while having breakfast

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My mother came over today and spent some time with the reptiles. Here are some pictures.

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Looks like mum had a great time with the critters today’s


Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk

Another great thread. Good luck to you both!

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Originally Posted by richardhind1972

...I used to own corns so really get the difference,they very rarely keep still , lol and alot of people are like why won't they just
sit and chill with me but I feel it's just a corn thing...

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Another thing to consider (& not only with corn snakes) is that they appreciate temperatures in the low 70's much of the time (as evidenced by where mine choose
to spend most of their enclosure time) and we are quite a ways above that, around 98.6* so it's very possible that's what their activity should be telling us. Add to
that the fact that they have a thinner build than boas and BPs, so their body heats up faster (& can over-heat faster), whereas a boa takes a long time to warm up,
depending on how large they are, plus they need more warmth anyway. Boas are "just getting started" when corn snakes are "done". I suspect that Solana's being
scaleless, might also make a difference...she has virtually no "insulation".

My large Florida rat snakes have consistently done very well with public "meet & greets"- quite often they settle into the arms of strangers like a baby, because they
have a husky build (7' males) and crave the warmth of their native "Sunshine State". So it's not that rat snakes never chill out with human handling...it's just asking
a lot of a little corn snake. It's easy to forget how warm we are to them. ;)

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Originally Posted by richardhind1972

Looks like mum had a great time with the critters today’s


Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk

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Yeah, she really did, and she always does. I think I mentioned it earlier in the thread, but she used to be petrified of snakes. Couldn't even look at a picture of one. Now look at her! She's come a long way. Great to see.

That's the whole point of this thread. Look at Katie, who wasn't afraid, but was kind of "meh." Now she loves and embraces them. She has her own Leachie, helped me give shots to Yafe, who she didn't even really know yet, and even feeds Figment and Solana! Holding them, forget about it! Regularly! She even takes Behira out after hook tapping/rubbing. She's a pro now.

I love opening peoples' eyes to how wonderful these creatures are. Especially people I care about.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

Another thing to consider (& not only with corn snakes) is that they appreciate temperatures in the low 70's much of the time (as evidenced by where mine choose
to spend most of their enclosure time) and we are quite a ways above that, around 98.6* so it's very possible that's what their activity should be telling us. Add to
that the fact that they have a thinner build than boas and BPs, so their body heats up faster (& can over-heat faster), whereas a boa takes a long time to warm up,
depending on how large they are, plus they need more warmth anyway. Boas are "just getting started" when corn snakes are "done". I suspect that Solana's being
scaleless, might also make a difference...she has virtually no "insulation".

My large Florida rat snakes have consistently done very well with public "meet & greets"- quite often they settle into the arms of strangers like a baby, because they
have a husky build (7' males) and crave the warmth of their native "Sunshine State". So it's not that rat snakes never chill out with human handling...it's just asking
a lot of a little corn snake. It's easy to forget how warm we are to them. ;)

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Suppose I never thought of like that ,I think they are alot more inquisitive too and like.to explore when there younger

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Originally Posted by dakski

Yeah, she really did, and she always does. I think I mentioned it earlier in the thread, but she used to be petrified of snakes. Couldn't even look at a picture of one. Now look at her! She's come a long way. Great to see.

That's the whole point of this thread. Look at Katie, who wasn't afraid, but was kind of "meh." Now she loves and embraces them. She has her own Leachie, helped me give shots to Yafe, who she didn't even really know yet, and even feeds Figment and Solana! Holding them, forget about it! Regularly! She even takes Behira out after hook tapping/rubbing. She's a pro now.

I love opening peoples' eyes to how wonderful these creatures are. Especially people I care about.

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That's so cool that your mum has come round that much.
When my wife asked me what I wanted for our anniversary I said I want Gomez my Guyana and she just said really, and after a week she gave in and gave me half towards him of which I was pretty pleased with, he was way too good to let pass by that's for sure , so I feel that was a small step of having another snake in the house, didn't dare tell I hadn't shut the Viv properly on little Harleys viv and he had escaped, thru a cm gap when I changed his water, lol. Boy did i panick as he could probably fit under the door too, I was just about to give up looking before work and I thought I'd try down the side of the bed and luckily he was there, so she didn't need to know , Lol
That would of been a set back[emoji2960][emoji16]

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Originally Posted by richardhind1972

Suppose I never thought of like that ,I think they are alot more inquisitive too and like.to explore when there younger

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That's another main difference between rat snakes (including corns) and BPs/boas: rat snakes are active hunters, whereas BPs/boas are ambush (sit & wait) types.

So that's where the "inquisitive" part comes in: I really enjoy seeing my snakes & having them look back at me all the time. And it often means they enjoy being
up in their branches & always on the "look-out" instead of hiding. They seem to be a bit more visually-oriented, and because they are more aware of our presence,
they are less spooked by our "intrusions".

My buddy Dan was over today and he met Solana and Feliz and Ferry for the first time. He doesn't have any reptiles of his own, but lives vicariously through me. He likes them, so I wouldn't call him a convert, but he asks a lot of questions and has definitely become more interested of late.

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To quote Queen, "Another one bites the dust!"

Katie's friend Sandy, and her husband Russ, came to visit us last night. Russ is a big animal guy of all kinds, but Sandy had some reservations. Dogs, love, lizards, ok, snakes, NO!

Well, Sandy was very happy to meet the lizards, and we started downstairs, were Frank (Northern Blue Tongue) and the 3 Leopard Geckos reside, as well as 5 of the 6 snakes (Yafe is still upstairs in my office). She said she was okay being the same room as the snakes, and it was okay, if one peeked out, etc. but she wasn't crazy about the idea of them being out.

I am not one to perpetuate fears, and said I would happily introduce her to the lizards.

Russ wanted to see everyone, and I planned to show him the snakes separately.

Sandy met Frank, Cleo, Carra, and Kayla. She was on a roll and doing great. She held Frank and Cleo and even let me and Russ hand feed Cleo some "gecko crack," a small wax worm and a small butter worm (an occasional treat for her and her sisters).

While all this was going on, Figment and Solana came out to beg for food a bit. Sandy saw both of them, and looked, and didn't run. She asked a few questions about the snakes and how they move and their behavior.

I explained that I had each of them since they fit in the palm of my hand (which Solana and Feliz still do - and Yafe almost) and they grew up knowing human touch. They were multi generation captive bred, but no, they weren't genetically domesticated like one of our 5 dogs.

Sandy took a big step and said she was willing to see one of the snakes, if I kept them on the other side of the reptile area.

Figment was out, and being cute and purple, and I explained he had purple eyes, but moved quick. Sandy was intrigued, but nervous about his movement. I told her, it only got better from here, and if she could handle him being out, the others would be easy for her to take.

I took him out and fully supported him and he was fairly cooperative (thank you Figment) and calm (for Figment), but moved around a bit. She was a little nervous, but did okay. Her husband, Russ, wanted to hold Figment, and I let him, and then Figgie started moving a little more and Sandy got a little nervous, but held her ground. She wanted to see his purple eyes, but asked that I help hold him because he was calmer with me. I supported his upper body and helped support his head so she could see his purple eyes. She was intrigued.

Next thing I know, and without prompting, she reaches out her hand, and strokes Figment's side!

That was enough, and she asked me to put him away, which I happily let Russ do.

Next was Solana, who was, as usual, calm as can be, and both Sandy and Russ thought she was adorable and soft. Russ held her.

Shayna was next and being the great snake ambassador she is, was chill as can be. Russ asked to hold her, while sitting next to Sandy, and Sandy said it was okay. She liked the way Shayna moved really slowly and deliberately and she liked her colors. I explained "happy tongue" to them and Sandy pet Shayna a few times. Shayna seemed to like Sandy and slithered towards her to say, "hello." I started to walk the foot towards them, but Sandy stopped me, reached under Shayna's neck, and supported her head! I was stunned. Next thing I know, Shayna is in Sandy's lap!

Are you kidding me? Go Shayna! GO SANDY!

After a couple minutes of very positive interaction, it was clear that Sandy had enough and was at her limit. I put Shayna back and Sandy admitted she had enough and would let Russ meet Behira and Feliz, but that she needed a break and would look from afar. I said, no problem, and told her, I was, "very proud" of her.

Behira came out and Russ really liked her (what's not to like). Sandy walked back over as I was explaining her light and dark phases and that she was a ghost BCI, and has a little "ghost" on her tail; a total coincidence. Sandy wanted to see, so I showed her, and she ended up petting Behira quite a bit, but didn't want to hold her.

Finally, I took Feliz out for Russ to meet, and that was too much for Sandy. He was just too CUTE not to hold! She came back, sat down, and held him for a bit.

They will both meet Yafe, Ferry, and Ezzy, later today (Sunday), as we ran out of time yesterday.

Again, incredibly proud of Sandy for listening to reason, being open to seeing how docile the crew is, and realizing that there's a difference between a wild snake and a pet snake. Her "bad snake" experiences had all been with wild snakes loose in her house or garden, etc. Either way, incredibly brave and courageous.

Also very proud of my animals for continuing to be fantastic reptile ambassadors. Great job Solana and Feliz for joining the Reptile Ambassador Crew!

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That's such a positive story Dave, I love it when this happens, really glad they all played nice for you.
I always dred that one day there having an off day and they nip you Infront someone that's already afraid of snakes
Great pics too

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My mom with the growing crew (except for Shayna - BP).

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Originally Posted by richardhind1972

...really glad they all played nice for you. I always dread that one day there having an off day and they nip you in front of someone that's already afraid of snakes...

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In all the times I've shared my snakes, I've never had that happen. Not even when they haven't done a 'meet & greet' in a while...somehow they seem to know they're safe? I agree it would be awful though, & I've heard of that happening (very rarely) but I just don't personally worry about mine. I think the worst one I've heard of was a large python being held for photos that suddenly bit someone...really makes bad publicity for all of us, & as well as our snakes. We really need to make sure we really "know" any snakes we decide to "share", but I wouldn't worry about Dave's either. ;)

my mother is terrified of snakes. she refuses to visit our home if there are snakes out in the open and she won't stay overnight unless they're all on a different floor. they make her physically ill for whatever reason. i can understand b/c i used to be physically afraid of clowns to the point i would hyperventilate and pass out. i really wish she would come around b/c our snakes are obviously a HUGE part of our lives.

we don't have company over much since we're hermits so no real opportunities to convert anyone LOL!

i love this thread though! thanks for sharing everyone.

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Originally Posted by SilentHill

my mother is terrified of snakes. she refuses to visit our home if there are snakes out in the open and she won't stay overnight unless they're all on a different floor. they make her physically ill for whatever reason. i can understand b/c i used to be physically afraid of clowns to the point i would hyperventilate and pass out. i really wish she would come around b/c our snakes are obviously a HUGE part of our lives.

we don't have company over much since we're hermits so no real opportunities to convert anyone LOL!

i love this thread though! thanks for sharing everyone.

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Glad you love the thread.

I've converted everyone from friends and family to workers in the house (electricians, contractors, etc.). I've actually invited people over just to show them how calm and chill the snakes are.

Katie grew up with Billy, who has special needs. He has become part of our family and started out very hesitant of the reptiles. At first he didn't want to see them. Then over the next year or so, he would look. When I got Behira, and told him she was a baby, he kissed his hand and touched her. As time went on, he would let me bring out a reptile or two and show him, but he would refuse to hold them.

To be clear, Billy is not very verbal, but can articulate his feelings with his words to those who know him and can understand him (well some of the time anyway). He's a really great guy and good people.

Tonight, we were downstairs near the reptile area, and Billy asked about, "big snake." That's Behira and he seems to like her the most. I asked him if he wanted me to take her out and he said, "yeah."

So out Behira came and Katie got some good shots of Billy petting her. He still won't hold her, but he was happy to pet her.

After Behira went back I asked if he wanted to see Frank, the "big lizard?" He said yes again and pet Frank as well.

We were doing so well that we had Solana come out too. He liked the way she felt.

I am not sure Billy will ever hold the reptiles, but he's come a long way to be asking to see them. I am proud of him.

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Katie's/SunshineWalker's cousins came over last night. Alex is 16 and Meghan is 15. Meghan was interested in seeing the snakes and Alex, well he was a little apprehensive.

Katie helped with showing the reptiles to them and I think that helped the cousins to be calm. Alex even held Solana, and Meghan held Shayna and Behira after being intimidated by their size initially.

In the end, Meghan loved Jeff (BI) and Ezzy (Leachie) the most and Alex loved Ezzy. She was a crowd favorite.

Nice to see Alex come around some and Meghan to face her fears of the bigger snakes. Proud of both of them. Also really thrilled to see Katie interact with the kids and reptiles with me. She rarely interacts with them, although she fully supports my passion. She was even describing to the cousins what a Ghost Boa was genetically and how Feliz is called a red tail boa and how rich his coloring is, especially on his tail.

They met 11/13 reptiles (Kayla and Carra, Leopard Geckos, are a little jumpy and I don't like other people handling them) and held or touched all of them. I didn't get pictures of Feliz as I was cleaning his cage and Yafe was a little high strung.

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Great pics dave, looks like everyone had fun, love it when the next generation want to learn about the reptiles

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My mother was over yesterday and spent some time with the reptiles. I got some pics. It's really great how much she enjoys them (now).

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My niece Meghan came over the other day. It's the first time in a while due to COVID and her being away for most of the summer.

She's almost 10 and she's really grown up with many of my animals. Shayna (BP) turns 8 next month and Meghan turns 10 in December. They've known each other for as long as Meghan remembers.

Meghan held most of the animals when she was over recently, and I asked her who her favorites were. She told me she didn't want to say while holding Feliz (BC) because she didn't want to hurt his feelings. I told her not to worry, that snakes do not have ears, so she could say who her favorites were, and if Feliz wasn't one, it wouldn't hurt his feelings.

She told me, in order, Shayna, Behira (BI), Yafe (CP), Jeff (BI) and Cleo (LG). Yellow is her favorite color, so she likes all the yellow reptiles, but she really like Behira even though she isn't yellow. She also said she likes Solana (Corn) a lot, even though she is Orange. She seems to like to visit with everyone, but it's good that she has favorites too!

Meghan has always been interested in the reptiles, but I am glad they have helped her a) grow up unafraid and b) really piqued her interest. She's even started writing reports at school on reptiles and reptiles books she reads.

I know this thread is about converts, but I think showing someone growing up with reptiles and being open to and embracing them is a good thing too and appropriate.

She may come over next Sunday night, before school starts again, and watch everyone eat.

Here are some pics of Meghan with Shayna and Behira, all in chronological order (for each snake). Behira is 4 and Meghan has known her since about a week or two after we got her.

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Sweet pics! :D

My husband loves all animals but he'd never had a snake until me. His family is southern and very old fashioned. His parents are both super religious and kinda have that "Snakes are evil vessels for the devil" bull:cens0r::cens0r::cens0r::cens0r: going on. He likes our rehab snakes but depending on their status and origin they don't get handled as often. Now that we have our own he's enamoured as heck. He's bonded with our little garter snake and she's his baby. She likes to sit on his glasses and hang out so he just enjoys having her there while he watches tv or plays games. I constantly catch him looking over at her enclosure and making kissy faces or calling her cute. It's really adorable.

My Grandma is also a snake convert, from my Dad. He had snakes in his room from the time he was a teenager and when he grew up to be a Herp she wasn't surprised. She made a fuzzy safe ballsack for Snoot to help calm him and loves to just wander my snake room when she visits to see any new rehabs that have come in. Since I keep their stats pinned with their enclosures she'll spend time just stopping to read each sheet and comment things like "Oh wow, you've grown so much! I'm so proud of you!" to them. It's wonderful to see.

A close friend of mine, who lived in the Washington DC area, is moving pretty close to me here in CT. We've been friends for 21 years and she's never met my reptiles. She's up in CT doing some stuff with her new house and stopped by for a short visit.

She met Frank (BTS), Solana (scaleless Corn snake), Cleo (Leopard Gecko), and Behira (BI) (reptile wise - she also met the four pups and Lincoln the Betta fish). She was very impressed with Frank and Cleo and held Cleo and let Frank nudge her and sit on the chair next to her.

She was amazed by Solana (my smallest snake and very chill and beautiful) and touched her right away. She had never touched a snake before and didn't know what to think. Then I took Behira out and she wanted me to stay a few feet away at first. Ultimately, she pet Behira a few times and commented on how different she felt than Solana, but also different than she expected.

It was a short visit, and she's working her courage up, but it was a success. She said she enjoyed meeting them, was impressed with the tanks/setup, and that if felt like visiting a zoo or museum, being able to see all these cool creatures.

She wasn't afraid of the snakes to begin with, but was a little apprehensive and didn't know what to think or do at first. She didn't hold the snakes, but it's a good start. We will get there.

Another convert!

I think this is one of the best feelings in the world...watching people overcome their apprehension about reptiles & see it change over to curiosity & admiration. :D Good "job"! :gj:

When I took my baby KSB upstairs and handed him to my at-the-time 91-year-old mother, and she took him and with wonder in her voice said "I never imagined they felt like this!". Now he has to go up and visit her every once in a while.

My mom originally wouldn't even entertain the idea of having a snake in the house, but now she's fully on board with me getting a second one and often comments on how cute she thinks mine is. Still not interested in holding a snake though, unfortunately!

Well, still...she's come a long way & I give her a lot of credit for admitting they're cute. That's a great start. :gj:

I face-timed with my best friend and his wife and kids tonight. He's my blonde and blue eyed buddy who "Jeff" the BI is named after. His daughters are 8 and 10 and they wanted to meet the reptiles.

We did show and tell for a bit and they asked a lot of questions and were really interested that Boas gave life birth to young, that reptiles cannot create their own body heat, and that snakes like boas can eat every 3 weeks and still grow.

I think their favorites were Behira (BI - she was big and calm), Yafe (CP), Solana (scaleless corn), and Ezzy (leachie), who I called a pajama lizard and they got a kick out of that. Ezzy also "spoke/chirped" for them. They thought it was crazy that Ezzy and Ferry (Chewie) can climb walls. I showed them Ferry in his tank climbing the back wall and it blew their minds.

Zoe, who is ten, was less interested in the beginning, but now, when they come to visit next, wants to hold Behira. Nela, who is 8, isn't so sure, but we will see.

They live in Maryland, but haven't been to this house yet (I've been here for 4 years). Jeff and his wife Hana have, but not the kids. Now that they are older and excited about visiting Uncle Dave and Aunt Katie and the zoo, I am sure we will see them soon enough once COVID is done.

MORE CONVERTS! Yay! Young ones too!

Have told this story before elsewhere in the forum but it still kinda fits here.

Last Christmas season we had both sets of my nieces and nephews (2 each) over and of course they all wanted to see my BP Zebes.

Fascinatingly, the girls were far more enamored with him, the eldest (she just turned 13 last month) in particular constantly asking me the whole visit if she could hold him. At one point I allowed her to hold him for a little while on her own and he just settled right down in her hands. I of course made it clear that he was to be held only once a day and made sure they were gentle and quiet with him, but it was wonderful that they were so eager to interact with what's normally such a misunderstood creature while answering as many questions they had about him as I possibly could.

I chose a BP partially with visiting kids in mind given their placid dispositions, and Zebes has surpassed that expectation. I couldn't be more proud of my boy for being a shining ambassador of his kind to the next generation. :snake:

My mom came over for my birthday today. We spent a little time with the reptiles and I got some pictures with her and Behira and Feliz. She held all the snakes but Figment who is deep in shed. Yafe is just going into shed, and was a little hissy coming out, but was fine once out. He is faded, so I didn't take pics. Mom hadn't seen him in a while and was really impressed with how much he's grown.

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Your mom's a "pro" now! :D Very cool "convert" indeed.

hApPiE bUrPhDaEy, DaKsKi!


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Originally Posted by jmcrook

hApPiE bUrPhDaEy, DaKsKi!


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I'll second that! :bday: :snake2::banana::rockon::colbert2: