How Did It Happen?

Just curious to hear everyone's stories. How were you introduced to herpetology and keeping reptiles? Did you have a "click" moment or was it gradual?

I used to be scared of snakes, not other reptiles but snakes especially. As a kid, I was easily surprised at my encounters with them because it was all very fast and sudden. I didn't like the way they moved and I was scared of the bites but after the initial shock was over I would be disappointed that it had gone to hide and I couldn't look closer.

Then I fell down the herp YouTube hole, which drew me in for some reason. So after a year of consuming snake content I decided I wanted to go to my first Expo this past March. It was my first time holding and seeing reptiles up close! I even convinced my boyfriend to hold a snake, and it opened it up to the idea of owning one. So the following month we decided it'd be my birthday present to start keeping my first snake!
Always liked animals, never expected to like something that used to really scare me enough to actually own one.

The first snake I ever held was a banana enchi BP :)

I was just talking about this in one of my recent podcast episodes. Love hearing about the initial spark behind the hobby.

For me— I bought a Venus fly trap from a grocery store when I was about 15. That lead to learning about creating vivariums, which naturally lead to keeping geckos! A year or two later I purchased my first reptile, a crested gecko... 12 years later, I still have him!

https://www.animalsathome.ca/bonus-t...ake-huge-cage/


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I never gave much thought to snakes: though I always liked animals, it wasn't until I was well into adulthood that I was offered a snake & decided to accept.
He was nothing like I had imagined: shy, not trying to bite me, not "slimy" (lol) and rather cute & curious. I guess I've always been one to stand up for the
"under-dogs" (which snakes truly are!) so then one snake led to another...stop me if you've heard this before? :rofl:

And we've lived happily ever after....:snake::snake::snake::snake::snake::snake::snake::snake::snake::snake:: snake::snake::snake::snake::snake::snake::snake::snake::snake::snake::snake::sna ke::snake::snake:

Been fascinated by reptiles for as long as I’ve had memories. Been catching them since I learned to walk. Spent 2yrs from the ages of 8-10 wearing my mother down with persistent pleading and research on captive care and maintenance before she caved and got me an anerytheristic corn snake “Spot” for Christmas of 1995. Been almost 24yrs now since my first snake and I’ll keep them until the day I die.


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I have always loved animals. My 7th and 8th grade science teacher Mr. Mitchell kept a few snakes in his classroom including two boas, a BP, and a kingsnake. Just seeing them every day we got used to them. I was very honored when he allowed me to help clean some of the cages of some of the other critters he kept. The two boas were housed together and one day we came in and found a bunch of live baby boas! That was really cool!

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Originally Posted by FollowTheSun

I have always loved animals. My 7th and 8th grade science teacher Mr. Mitchell kept a few snakes in his classroom including two boas, a BP, and a kingsnake. Just seeing them every day we got used to them. I was very honored when he allowed me to help clean some of the cages of some of the other critters he kept. The two boas were housed together and one day we came in and found a bunch of live baby boas! That was really cool!

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LUCKY YOU! :D
I got a pair of my Trans Pecos rat snakes some years back from a very nice guy, a teacher in Maine, who taught science the same way, with lots of snakes in his classes,
even breeding them. (I know he did corn snakes & other kinds too- boas I think?) That's just awesome, wish there were more like that, but it also takes schools with
open minded administrators.

I've always loved snakes since I can remember, I was never scared of them and when I encountered any in the wild I'd have to pick it up. We only have garter snakes here where I live up in Canada so I never had to worry about ever finding venomous snakes. My mom owned a pet store and she was going to see the local snake breeder to see what he had and how he did things. My mom always made sure she got her animals from legit sources. Well she decided to take me along since she knew how much I love snakes. Well when we got there he had lots of ball pythons, all breeders, except one little baby normal ball python that hadn't sold yet. I had him in my hand and he was just so cute, staying there to get some of my heat, even my mom found him adorable and she wasn't the biggest snake fan.

I know it's a terrible thing to do but it was an impulse buy, I just had to have him and he was only $40 too. My mom already had a display terrarium set up in the store (which was in the house) so I didn't have to worry about needing to find all the supplies as I could just go downstairs to the store and get anything I needed. The only thing we were both worried about was my dad getting angry but he didn't mind at all as long as I took care of him. Well once I got him I spent hours researching about ball pythons and got his enclosure set up properly.

I was 23 when I got my little Crowley and now over 5 years later I still have him and just love him so so much. He has been an amazing therapy pet and the best little companion I could ever ask for. I'm so glad I got him, I almost didn't as I usually like to research pets before getting them but the breeder explained mostly everything before I did buy him. Buying him was the best decision I've ever made, now Crowley is ever so spoiled having his own room to come out and play in.

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Originally Posted by Valyndris

I've always loved snakes since I can remember, I was never scared of them and when I encountered any in the wild I'd have to pick it up. We only have garter snakes here where I live up in Canada so I never had to worry about ever finding venomous snakes. My mom owned a pet store and she was going to see the local snake breeder to see what he had and how he did things. My mom always made sure she got her animals from legit sources. Well she decided to take me along since she knew how much I love snakes. Well when we got there he had lots of ball pythons, all breeders, except one little baby normal ball python that hadn't sold yet. I had him in my hand and he was just so cute, staying there to get some of my heat, even my mom found him adorable and she wasn't the biggest snake fan.

I know it's a terrible thing to do but it was an impulse buy, I just had to have him and he was only $40 too. My mom already had a display terrarium set up in the store (which was in the house) so I didn't have to worry about needing to find all the supplies as I could just go downstairs to the store and get anything I needed. The only thing we were both worried about was my dad getting angry but he didn't mind at all as long as I took care of him. Well once I got him I spent hours researching about ball pythons and got his enclosure set up properly.

I was 23 when I got my little Crowley and now over 5 years later I still have him and just love him so so much. He has been an amazing therapy pet and the best little companion I could ever ask for. I'm so glad I got him, I almost didn't as I usually like to research pets before getting them but the breeder explained mostly everything before I did buy him. Buying him was the best decision I've ever made, now Crowley is ever so spoiled having his own room to come out and play in.

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Hard to say which of you is luckier...that really was meant to be, I think. :gj:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

I never gave much thought to snakes: though I always liked animals, it wasn't until I was well into adulthood that I was offered a snake & decided to accept.
He was nothing like I had imagined: shy, not trying to bite me, not "slimy" (lol) and rather cute & curious. I guess I've always been one to stand up for the
"under-dogs" (which snakes truly are!) so then one snake led to another...stop me if you've heard this before? :rofl:

And we've lived happily ever after....:snake::snake::snake::snake::snake::snake::snake::snake::snake::snake:: snake::snake::snake::snake::snake::snake::snake::snake::snake::snake::snake::sna ke::snake::snake:

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That's basically how it happened for me too. I don't have an elaborate (if not cliche) story about catching snakes as a young boy and falling completely in love with reptiles. While my brothers
and I did catch garter snakes as children they never really peaked my interest until adulthood. My first one was totally and impulse buy and I was so fascinated with him after a few months that I decided reptiles we're my thing for sure. And here I am now 7 snakes and one bearded dragon later.

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Originally Posted by Toad37

That's basically how it happened for me too. I don't have an elaborate (if not cliche) story about catching snakes as a young boy and falling completely in love with reptiles. While my brothers
and I did catch garter snakes as children they never really peaked my interest until adulthood. My first one was totally and impulse buy and I was so fascinated with him after a few months that I decided reptiles we're my thing for sure. And here I am now 7 snakes and one bearded dragon later.

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I was a frog & toad-catcher as a kid, but I never kept any, they were quickly released...the snakes were too fast & very scarce (racer types). I just loved playing in
the woods, & snakes never occurred to me until way later. I still love finding frogs & toads in my yard, & I also get a few garter snakes & box turtles. When I mow
the grass, I'm on the look-out...there's a few toads that I've watched grow up, and I move them out of the way for safety...they don't seem to mind either.

I’ve always liked pretty much all animals and would catch lizards and frogs as a kid, but didn’t keep them as pets. I’m now 35 and my kids BEGGED me for a snake for like 6 months in a row. Finally broke down and ordered our first BP in January. The kids had done some research and assured me we had what we needed for him, but when he arrived I realized his tank wasn’t getting warm enough with only a UTH. I panicked and did a deep dive into ball python husbandry and spent a lot of money buying him a bunch more stuff. After joining all these BP groups I kept reading about them and looking at ones for sale and a month later I came across a girl I had to have. So then we had two! I’m kind of obsessed now and have plans for about 6 snakes of various species I plan to get, but my husband is making me slow down lol. I also have started getting supplies together for bioactive enclosures, so in addition to my snakes I have 3 species of isopods, springtails, and millipedes.


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My Dad would take me fishing with my brother and I would always start looking for garter snakes. He wouldn't stop me just encouraging me to find one. Then that magical day where I was told I could keep one inside. Mom alittle ughhh about it but as long as I kept up with everything. So that's was around 8 years old and now at 49 I have Garters and lots of them. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...669123de94.jpg

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I was into aquariums before I got into herps. I kept planted tanks with a special interest in catfish (corydoras and plecos) and oaches. I was actually a mod on a freshwater aquaria forum when I was in college.

Post-college, I didn't have the time to maintain my aquariums and after losing most of my fish to a parasite outbreak, I decided to take a hiatus. I was beginning my teaching career (I'm an art teacher) and wanted a different class pet. During college, I had used reference images of ball pythons and leopard geckos for some artwork and had developed an interest in them aesthetically, so I figured some kind of reptile might make for a good class pet that didn't make noise and was hypoallergenic. Because of my previous interest in planted tanks, I decided to go with crested geckos that could live in a planted vivarium.

I also had an interest in snakes and larger lizards, but due to living arrangements (I was poor and also renting at the time), I didn't explore other options until I got married and was able to rent at an apartment complex that allowed other animals.

When I found out that snakes could be fed frozen/thawed rodents and after making sure my husband was ok with it, I got my first 2 snakes, a KSB and a western hognose.

Now, although I still have my crested gecko (she is going on 13 years old) and some other geckos (gargs, leachie), I find that I prefer snakes. They are easier to handle, less "jumpy" and I prefer their easier maintenance routine (less frequent feedings, etc.).

I just recently got back into fish with setting up a tiny 5 gl planted betta tank, but reptiles are my main interest at this point.

I was an animal lover as a kid, I even carried a reptiles and amphibians field book with me everywhere. Used to got hunting for salamanders and all sorts of other critters.
Then, when I was about 7, I was on a Cub Scout hike and I looked down and saw a 3-4ft black rat snake right where my foot was about to land. After that, I was terrified. I had a nearly exact repeat experience during a ruck march in basic training. That just reinforced my fear.

Earlier this year, I started taking an interest in reptiles again and decided that the best way to conquer this irrational fear was to learn to care for a snake. I figured that by interacting with it on a day to day basis I could overcome the lack of understanding that gave way to fear. So I got Sushi, my ball python. Then a funny thing happened, I realized that I'm not actually afraid of snakes, I just believed I was. Turns out, i really love these guys. In fact, caring for them and handling them is almost a meditative experience for me.

I picked up Sushi on March 1st. Last Friday I picked up my second (and last, for the foreseeable future) snake, Doc, a male BCI. I'm 36, and I don't want my snakes to outlive me and wind up with nowhere to go when I pass, so these two will probably be it for me, unless I get something a little less long-lived down the road.

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

I was a frog & toad-catcher as a kid, but I never kept any, they were quickly released...the snakes were too fast & very scarce (racer types). I just loved playing in
the woods, & snakes never occurred to me until way later. I still love finding frogs & toads in my yard, & I also get a few garter snakes & box turtles. When I mow
the grass, I'm on the look-out...there's a few toads that I've watched grow up, and I move them out of the way for safety...they don't seem to mind either.

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Toads were my favorite (hints my username!). We cought some frogs but not a lot because they're fast little buggers! We also loved catching salamanders. We had a lot of those around.

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Originally Posted by Toad37

Toads were my favorite (hints my username!). We cought some frogs but not a lot because they're fast little buggers! We also loved catching salamanders. We had a lot of those around.

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Yes, they ARE fast, lol....there were creeks in the woods I meandered in...I remember waiting & watching the bull frogs (& others) where the creeks formed little pools-
pretty sure I always came home dirty...;) I remember finding salamanders too.

Now, when I pick up my resident toads (for their safety during my yard mowing) & talk to them, they seem to listen & don't panic...I find them awfully cute.
I appreciate their service, out there eating my bugs, & my dogs pay them no mind. I hate that so many people just throw poison in their yard so there's no "pests"
or weeds...they mess things up royally & miss how life really works, instead of appreciating nature. I grow tomatoes+ in my back yard too (organically of course).

My mom is a big animal person. She had 2 adult boas when I was born which she kept until I was like 5 or 6, then she gave them to a breeder. We also had a Uromastyx and several fire-bellied toads at some point when I was little, maybe like 7 or 8. So I was always around herps and never had any aversion.

When I was 11, my mom bought me a baby BCI for my birthday. At that point it was like 2004 and forums were in their heyday. I was a computer kid, so I was online researching the snake and found my way to several reptile forums (including this one). From there I got really interested in the hobby and started discovering other species I wanted to keep. I ended up with 6 leopard geckos, 2 Ball Pythons, 3 boas, a created gecko, and 3 bearded dragons by the time I was 12 or 13.

Over the course of the next five or so years, I was gradually made to part with a majority of those animals in large part due to having to move multiple times. However, to this day I still have my first Beardie, who is now 15.

Anywho, about three years ago my mom’s friend asked her if she wanted a California Kingsnake that had come into her possession. My mom agreed to take it, thinking that it would entice me to move back home [emoji23] I did... and now she is my girl Cleo. When I finally moved out of my parents’ house last summer and was supporting myself, I took the cal king and the Beardie with me. I got my BP at our local Repticon a few months later, and just a few weeks ago, I picked up my Bredli after jonesing for something in the morelia genus for the past 6 months.

I’m trying to take it slow and be responsible with purchases in order to build a collection that will be with me for the long haul.


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by royzft201

My Dad would take me fishing with my brother and I would always start looking for garter snakes. He wouldn't stop me just encouraging me to find one. Then that magical day where I was told I could keep one inside. Mom alittle ughhh about it but as long as I kept up with everything. So that's was around 8 years old and now at 49 I have Garters and lots of them. https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...669123de94.jpg

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Omg, that is the cutest, smallest garter I've ever seen, it's just so adorable. I always love baby snake pics because of the big cute eyes they have. :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

I was a frog & toad-catcher as a kid, but I never kept any, they were quickly released...the snakes were too fast & very scarce (racer types). I just loved playing in
the woods, & snakes never occurred to me until way later. I still love finding frogs & toads in my yard, & I also get a few garter snakes & box turtles. When I mow
the grass, I'm on the look-out...there's a few toads that I've watched grow up, and I move them out of the way for safety...they don't seem to mind either.

---

I was a toad catcher too!! Best friend used to live in woods with a creek and there were some biiiig bullfrogs. Harmless fun on our, but it's always be a bummer to come across the occasional dead one on nature's part.

I loved spending time at the creek so much that I painted a photo of it in 3rd grade that my teacher ended up submitting to a young artist exhibition little did I know over a decade later I'd be so into herps to own one :rofl:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by alittleFREE

My mom is a big animal person. She had 2 adult boas when I was born which she kept until I was like 5 or 6, then she gave them to a breeder. We also had a Uromastyx and several fire-bellied toads at some point when I was little, maybe like 7 or 8. So I was always around herps and never had any aversion.

When I was 11, my mom bought me a baby BCI for my birthday. At that point it was like 2004 and forums were in their heyday. I was a computer kid, so I was online researching the snake and found my way to several reptile forums (including this one). From there I got really interested in the hobby and started discovering other species I wanted to keep. I ended up with 6 leopard geckos, 2 Ball Pythons, 3 boas, a created gecko, and 3 bearded dragons by the time I was 12 or 13.

Over the course of the next five or so years, I was gradually made to part with a majority of those animals in large part due to having to move multiple times. However, to this day I still have my first Beardie, who is now 15.

Anywho, about three years ago my mom’s friend asked her if she wanted a California Kingsnake that had come into her possession. My mom agreed to take it, thinking that it would entice me to move back home [emoji23] I did... and now she is my girl Cleo. When I finally moved out of my parents’ house last summer and was supporting myself, I took the cal king and the Beardie with me. I got my BP at our local Repticon a few months later, and just a few weeks ago, I picked up my Bredli after jonesing for something in the morelia genus for the past 6 months.

I’m trying to take it slow and be responsible with purchases in order to build a collection that will be with me for the long haul.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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I had a similar experience when it comes to research contributing interest, I was also a computer kid but hadn't found the BP community until recently but now that I have I'm falling down a deep hole of love and appreciation for snakes and other herps!

Almost 2 years ago, I was in a really dark place in my life, and starting this journey is one of the things that helped pull me out. For the first time in my life, I was in the grip of something totally beyond my control. I had crippling anxiety, to the point that I could barely get through a day. I have always been the type of person that had to be in control, have a plan, ect and this knocked my world out from under me. It took months for me to realize I needed more help than my GP could provide, and more time to get on a med/ therapy routine that worked. I am much better now. I still have my moments, but those were the hardest 6 months i have ever had to live through.

It was in that time that I took the plunge and got my first leopard gecko. It was something I had always wanted to do, but never took the plunge. I decided that I needed something to occupy myself with, so i dove whole hog into researching reptiles, deciding where I wanted to start, getting a setup ready ect. It really helped me to have a focus. I had no way of knowing exactly how much i was going to love reptiles and their care, or how rewarding it would be. That first leopard gecko now belongs to my 15 year old daughter and we are all hooked. It took some talking to get my husband to agree to the first snake, but now he is fascinated too.

One day I came home from picking my daughter up from school. She jumped out of the car before I did and headed inside. Then I heard her scream. I jumped out and ran around the car and saw my daughter hysterically crying pointing at this terrifying creature.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...eb4de6edc1.jpg

This was only our second encounter with snakes in this home. The first was a couple years ago when my daughter was six she told me a big black snake jumped out of our tree and I didn’t believe her. I then went to check the mail and found a big foot black snake wrapped around my mailbox. It was beautiful and I wish I could stumble across one today!

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...59c6d80f49.jpg

Anyway, we found this little guy in our driveway. At first we thought it was a baby before realizing it was a full grown Dekays. We admired it and then let it be. I checked on it every few hours, I could see it out my bedroom window, and realized it wasn’t moving. This was December in Baltimore so it was freezing. I worried about him but having no experience with snakes I just left him be. Two days later he had moved to about a foot under my car and I needed to leave and didn’t want to run him over. My fiancé moved him and we saw he was limp, freezing, just barely alive. I decided that I couldn’t let him die. We brought him inside with the intention of warming him up, feeding him and releasing. So a few days later when he was up and moving we tried to release him. He wouldn’t even crawl out of his tub. When we placed him on the ground he tried to crawl back in to the tub. So we found an area with some leaf litter and left him.

I worried about him all night. I couldn’t sleep. I went out at six am and found him almost dead again. I decided that was it. He was coming inside and living with me! That little guy became the best pet I ever had. He would curl up in my shirt or hand, watch tv with me, climb his little trees in his enclosure and smashed slugs and worms. I completely fell in love. We named him Tandy, if anyone gets the show reference we’re best friends, and he was always in my hand. Or bra. Of on the rare occasion I handed him over, in my fiancé’s hands.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...c06d621609.jpg

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...b560dc385d.jpg

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...4094d85d6d.jpg

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...51bd606d1d.jpg

Tandy lived several months before one day he died. He went from climbing his trees to dead in my hands in ten minutes. It was shocking and I was devastated. But Tandy had introduced me to the world of snakes and I was hooked. Flash forward to now, my fiancé and I run a ball python rescue. We have two sand boas, a hognose, two created geckos, a leopard gecko and four ball pythons. This is a small load for us as we just had a couple ball pythons adopted.

These animals are my heart. It took me thirty years to find that thing I was passionate about, that I woke up every day and could not get to work. Today we’ve rescued animals from all over our area and within a few states. We have a feeder source and a snake relocating business on the side. Many people in our area were trapping and killing snakes. We offer to come out and find and relocate them for free. Even the people who absolutely hate snakes and would gladly have them killed prefer a free removal over paying to kill them. We’ve taken in snakes with stuck shed so bad they were mostly blind, tails being cut off and covered in scale rot. Snakes badly burned by heat rocks. Snakes so starved they were on the verge of death and more. There is nothing more satisfying than bringing them back.

One of my favorites was a two year old normal we named Brooksie. She’s the one who came to us almost blind with severe stuck shed cutting into the tip of her tail and scale rot. She hadn’t been touched for twenty months. She hissed anytime you got near her and hid all the time and just hated everything. After a healthy shed cleared away those eye caps and scale rot she totally changed. She would lay on top of her hide and just watch everything. I imagine because now she could see! I took her outside for the first time in her life and at first she was scared but then she loved lying in the warm grass. She was just adopted and seeing this little ten year old girls eyes just light up when she saw her.... it was amazing.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...60212a4a62.jpg

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...b42cdbaad6.jpg

My current pet project is this beautiful boy. He was abused, mistreated, starved, kept in a tub with no food, water, heat. A girl three hours away rescued him and when she realized he had bad wobble and was constantly false striking she knew she couldn’t dedicate the time to him he needed so she contacted us. He’s terrified all the time but every night I work with him he’s gotten better and better. He’s an absolute doll when he relaxes. Even my mother who hates snakes adores him! That’s her in the pineapple shirt holding him.

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https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...10adc4460b.jpg

Sorry for the long post and all the pictures. This is just a hobby I am so grateful to have found. It changed my life. And all thanks to one tiny, cold, lost dekays!


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lusiphera

One day I came home from picking my daughter up from school. She jumped out of the car before I did and headed inside. Then I heard her scream. I jumped out and ran around the car and saw my daughter hysterically crying pointing at this terrifying creature.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...eb4de6edc1.jpg

This was only our second encounter with snakes in this home. The first was a couple years ago when my daughter was six she told me a big black snake jumped out of our tree and I didn’t believe her. I then went to check the mail and found a big foot black snake wrapped around my mailbox. It was beautiful and I wish I could stumble across one today!

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...59c6d80f49.jpg

Anyway, we found this little guy in our driveway. At first we thought it was a baby before realizing it was a full grown Dekays. We admired it and then let it be. I checked on it every few hours, I could see it out my bedroom window, and realized it wasn’t moving. This was December in Baltimore so it was freezing. I worried about him but having no experience with snakes I just left him be. Two days later he had moved to about a foot under my car and I needed to leave and didn’t want to run him over. My fiancé moved him and we saw he was limp, freezing, just barely alive. I decided that I couldn’t let him die. We brought him inside with the intention of warming him up, feeding him and releasing. So a few days later when he was up and moving we tried to release him. He wouldn’t even crawl out of his tub. When we placed him on the ground he tried to crawl back in to the tub. So we found an area with some leaf litter and left him.

I worried about him all night. I couldn’t sleep. I went out at six am and found him almost dead again. I decided that was it. He was coming inside and living with me! That little guy became the best pet I ever had. He would curl up in my shirt or hand, watch tv with me, climb his little trees in his enclosure and smashed slugs and worms. I completely fell in love. We named him Tandy, if anyone gets the show reference we’re best friends, and he was always in my hand. Or bra. Of on the rare occasion I handed him over, in my fiancé’s hands.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...c06d621609.jpg

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...b560dc385d.jpg

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...4094d85d6d.jpg

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...51bd606d1d.jpg

Tandy lived several months before one day he died. He went from climbing his trees to dead in my hands in ten minutes. It was shocking and I was devastated. But Tandy had introduced me to the world of snakes and I was hooked. Flash forward to now, my fiancé and I run a ball python rescue. We have two sand boas, a hognose, two created geckos, a leopard gecko and four ball pythons. This is a small load for us as we just had a couple ball pythons adopted.

These animals are my heart. It took me thirty years to find that thing I was passionate about, that I woke up every day and could not get to work. Today we’ve rescued animals from all over our area and within a few states. We have a feeder source and a snake relocating business on the side. Many people in our area were trapping and killing snakes. We offer to come out and find and relocate them for free. Even the people who absolutely hate snakes and would gladly have them killed prefer a free removal over paying to kill them. We’ve taken in snakes with stuck shed so bad they were mostly blind, tails being cut off and covered in scale rot. Snakes badly burned by heat rocks. Snakes so starved they were on the verge of death and more. There is nothing more satisfying than bringing them back.

One of my favorites was a two year old normal we named Brooksie. She’s the one who came to us almost blind with severe stuck shed cutting into the tip of her tail and scale rot. She hadn’t been touched for twenty months. She hissed anytime you got near her and hid all the time and just hated everything. After a healthy shed cleared away those eye caps and scale rot she totally changed. She would lay on top of her hide and just watch everything. I imagine because now she could see! I took her outside for the first time in her life and at first she was scared but then she loved lying in the warm grass. She was just adopted and seeing this little ten year old girls eyes just light up when she saw her.... it was amazing.

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My current pet project is this beautiful boy. He was abused, mistreated, starved, kept in a tub with no food, water, heat. A girl three hours away rescued him and when she realized he had bad wobble and was constantly false striking she knew she couldn’t dedicate the time to him he needed so she contacted us. He’s terrified all the time but every night I work with him he’s gotten better and better. He’s an absolute doll when he relaxes. Even my mother who hates snakes adores him! That’s her in the pineapple shirt holding him.

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Sorry for the long post and all the pictures. This is just a hobby I am so grateful to have found. It changed my life. And all thanks to one tiny, cold, lost dekays!


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That is a very, very cool story, thanks for sharing! I live in Baltimore for 20 years and never saw any cool snakes in the wild lol

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My story is a pretty simple one. I have always really been fascinated by reptiles and snakes in particular, but growing up was never allowed to have them. I was always bringing home salamanders turtles and frogs as a kid lol.

One day like 4 years ago I woke up and realized that I am an adult who pays his own rent and if i want a pet snake then I can get one. Or two. Or seven...

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Lusiphera, your post made my day. :gj::gj::gj:

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Originally Posted by Avsha531

That is a very, very cool story, thanks for sharing! I live in Baltimore for 20 years and never saw any cool snakes in the wild lol

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I’ve lived here 33 years and other than the snakes I’m called to come remove I’ve only seen those two snakes I pictured. Until two days ago when I found a dead dekays in my yard. I was devastated! [emoji24]


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Originally Posted by reptilemom25

Almost 2 years ago, I was in a really dark place in my life, and starting this journey is one of the things that helped pull me out. For the first time in my life, I was in the grip of something totally beyond my control. I had crippling anxiety, to the point that I could barely get through a day. I have always been the type of person that had to be in control, have a plan, ect and this knocked my world out from under me. It took months for me to realize I needed more help than my GP could provide, and more time to get on a med/ therapy routine that worked. I am much better now. I still have my moments, but those were the hardest 6 months i have ever had to live through.

It was in that time that I took the plunge and got my first leopard gecko. It was something I had always wanted to do, but never took the plunge. I decided that I needed something to occupy myself with, so i dove whole hog into researching reptiles, deciding where I wanted to start, getting a setup ready ect. It really helped me to have a focus. I had no way of knowing exactly how much i was going to love reptiles and their care, or how rewarding it would be. That first leopard gecko now belongs to my 15 year old daughter and we are all hooked. It took some talking to get my husband to agree to the first snake, but now he is fascinated too.

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As someone who struggles in a similar way you do, I've really realized how therapeutic being a reptile caretaker can be. I also had to convince my partner to consider the idea of a snake, but once I got him to hold one at an expo it's history. Thanks for sharing!!

I've always been an animal lover, including reptiles, though only cute furry animals were allowed by the rest of my family. My parents insisted on killing every snake they saw on our property when I was growing up (we lived in rural Texas next to open pastures and woods, of course snakes would wander over), so I half-joked that I would have to take care of snakes someday to make up for all the ones they killed. I finally got my corn snake after I graduated college and was living on my own. I had never actually held a snake before the day I picked out Saturn, and I immediately loved her.