How did you first get started?

Did this start as a hobby and just built itself?

Did you take a loan out to get your breeding stock rolling?

Borrow from friends and family?

Pure luck?


Id like to hear your story whether it ended in total flames or not... LOLO

I started with a Het pied male that I got from Daniel1983 on here. With the intent of making poss hets and just doing pieds. But I like many people got the "itch" so I got set up by Daniel with Sean of EbN a few years ago. It was sensory overload pieds, blast, bees, hypos, lessers, stripes, clown. I had died and gone to heaven. So I placed my order of 5 morphs after picking them up and waited..I learned..I waited...I learn. I got to be a sponge learning about different combos, genetics, and having fun making friends.

This year I produce 2 clutches I'm just getting my feet wet. Next year how ever I am stepping out full bore and going forward with my dream. Now that I have the basics down to where I am comfortable with the breeding process theres no stopping me. :D

It started with an iguana - a baby iguana - that Karl purchased on a whim without doing any research, and I was very upset about, because I knew we didn't have the space for an adult. He just wanted a "lizard" and boy did he get one. Sadly, Zues was not well cared for before we got him and didn't make it.

I told Karl - please let me do some research and pick out something else for this 20 gallon tank - and I purchased my first normal male ball python. I was smitten!

Got on the internet looking for ball python related forums and a whole new world opened up to me. Adam of 8ballpythons was one of the first to reach out to me when my Kashmire was determined to have internal parasites and guided me through my worries, and I made my first het purchases from him.

I also started scouring ads looking for the best looking females I could find!

Three years later, and I've got a great foundation stock of females, and some nice morphs (lemon pastel, mojave, enchi, spiders coming, YB coming tiger, and some het males (clown, pied, hypo) and dreams of more in the future!

I have always been a snake lover, and had boas about 3 years ago. I planned on breeding my boas and even though I knew how much room they needed and there care like the back of my hand, I just never realized that how little of a collection I could have in my condo due to the size enclosures they needed. (I only have one small spare bedroom). So I had to part with my boas, but still wanted to keep reptiles. I got into Leopard Geckos shortly afterwards, and have breed them for 2 years, love it, but still missed snakes. I started doing research and realized that I could keep a very nice collection of Ball Pythons and even breed them and have plenty of room and time to provide the best possible care, I was stoked. I immediately started visiting BP.net, picking up as much info as possible and met so many new friends in the process. I owe so much to friends such as Robin, Ed, Trey, Justin and Brian for helping me learn the ropes and providing me great deals along the way to get me going in the hobby. I am coming up on my first year breeding Ball Pythons and I hope I can have great success, just as a tribute to those who took the time to help me along the way. Ball Pythons rock!!:partyon:

It started as a long time love story for snakes ever since I first encountered a burm when I was 5 or 6, I just knew one day I would have a snake.

Until a few years ago owning a snake was not a possibility, than finally the opportunity presented itself and I bought a normal BP, I soon fell in love with the Bumblebee and I decided I had to have one, even better I had to produce one, and it all started from there.

I started buying a few morphs and hets to work on projects that made me dream and this year was my first year and I produced first clutch including the snakes that got me into this addictive hobby.

Now there is no stopping me, I have several projects I am really excited about and definitely looking forward to the next season.

I started a few years ago when the guy at my pet store let me hold an adult female ball python and a white lipped python. :banana:

it started with a StickInsect for me which became an army of Insects, a Tortoise,a Polecat,then a Hamster then a Gerbil,a Spider, then a pet Crow then finally a Garter snake I was 10 years old and was instantly hooked by the snake.

Been keeping various snakes ever since.:D

I was one of those kids that went off into the woods to play to find animals or just watch them lol Had the PS3 been around back then christ knows what I would have ended up like :)

Well, ive always wanted snakes but never could get one ( You can thank my mother for that....) and last year I went to a show looking for a new Beardie to take home with me. At the last table a guy had a nice set up with alot of different morphs, and i bought a het albino male and a albino female. A little after that i found this forum and my newest hobby set itself off from there! Now im up to ten and not about to stop buying:P Its really just a passion, if you go out and buy 50 snakes to start, id think youd be in it more for the money. You may love snakes but for me that just wouldnt cut it. I just keep working up towards my goal one snake at a time, and could not be happier:D

Started with a normal and got the itch to get all the amazing Bp's I could slowly afford, little by little I've built a nice small collection of morphs I love. Its addictive

I started doing rescue, and ended up with a lot of reptiles, got a couple of BPs, and loved BPs so much I wanted to expand. Bought my Pastel, and the rest is history! :D

I have always always loved snakes and amphibians and... well, everything to do with wild critters!

Ringnecks and Garters were my "pets" growing up. Id raise them for a time, feed them, bring them through a few sheds... and release them.

Years passed and i moved to a new town, not so many snakes, but lots and lots of frogs around, so i raised my own tadpoles, who turned into frogs and i let them go.

Went to the pet store with the Beau years after that and wanted to hold a ball python they had, he hadnt held a snake that big before and thought it was the coolest thing ever, so the next day he went and bought him and brought him home. I wanted one so badly, i went to the nearest petco after doing a TON of research and got my very own. Asus ( My First and favorite girl!) After that... and a second BP... the rest is well.... history!

I was like 7 and I got a snow corn for Christmahaunakwansica

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Patrick Long

Christmahaunakwansica

---

BEST HOLIDAY EVER

Hmmm

My best friend and I used to go to the petco in the town over to look at the animals there. We we're infatuated with this grey rat snake (a big one too) and from there really wanted to buy a grey snake. (cuz they look bad ass).

Then I met Chris and bothered him about getting a snake until we went to our first reptile show down in grand rapids. We came home with 2 snakes, a normal and a little baby pastel from TWH, and have expanded upwards and onwards since then. :)

it started in school. every year someone would come to school with a variety of herps and small animals. I was pretty much the only girl who volunteered the hold the snakes. Fast forward to after having my first child and the itch to own a snake had returned in full force and I got a corn snake. that turned to three corns (now only 2 cause one is MIA :( ) which in turn led me to the cornsnake forum and that led me here and now I'm up to seven bp's and plan on getting more. I enjoy all of them and look forward to expanding my collection as time, money and space allows me. :D

I was a Divorcee, and one of my sons was babysitting for a girlfriend's snakes. She happened to have an Albino Burmese that I thought was sooo gorgeous. My son realized that I couldn't take my eyes off the animal and was always looking it..just fascinated.

I had never been exposed to snakes, but being Deaf, I also didn't get most of the fear-programming that most of society has, so when he asked me if I wanted to hold it, I quickly said, "YES!" I didn't know they could be held!

After I held that 6 foot beauty, I was hooked. I researched and found this website (Psst...wanna see my pet snake?) and realized that I couldn't deal with a Burm...further research led me to the BP and I fell in love again. I later met the love of my life and we got married, I shared my desire to own a snake with my new hubby and we went to Afishcondos where he brought me my very first Ball Python (I still have him).

We joined reptileforums (thanks DaemNox and Callalilly for the education) kept a low profile and learned...(he joined KS, but it was not the kind of site I was interested in..too "busy.") We learned and he brought me a Pastel next. He fell in love with the snakes himself and brought me an Albino for an early Christmas present and himself a het albino (he just proved out this year!) before he passed. Since we had wanted to play with the genetics of these animals (he bred fish for a hobby)...and he left me with enough money to have fun...I just immersed myself into collecting the morphs that caught my eyes.

The collection grew and I decided to continue and do what we had dreamed of doing before he died.

when i was young my dad would bring home various creatures along the way.. he was an exterminator so of course he found all kinds of things! It started with a ring neck snake in a water bottle my dad brought home and after showing me it, it was released. ever since i HAD TO HAVE a snake.. when my now DH and I turned 18 he got me my first albino burmese, not long after that it started biting, alot... i got pregnant with my son and we got rid of the snake, then a couple years later we were driving in the car and i begged DH for another snake... that night we picked up a BP and the rest is history.

We didnt get a loan from family, we didnt borrow money, exc.. we saved up and bought each morph, we got everything except two females very young so it was as affordable as possible, for the morphs we couldnt afford (the bee, bel, exc) we bought the ingredients and are going to create our own.

As for borrowing money, asking family for help, exc....for almost 6 months my mil had no idea... just now over a year later my parents just found out. :gj: Thankfully they were all more excepting them I ever thought they would be.

I am the quintessential animal lover. I love fuzzies, featheries, scaleys. You name it, I've had it as a pet (mostly rescues). Add 2 years doing wildlife rescue, and my fate was sealed.

However, I've always had a particular soft spot for snakes. It all started out early this year with baby Marlon, a really young male Pastel . I now share my home with 13 BPs, and 1 Hognose. All, but 2 of my BPs are of breeding size/age, so this coming season I will be busy (I will have YBs, Spiders, Pinstripes, Mojaves, Spotnoses, Pastels, & hopefully, a few Doms-& normals, of course-lighting up my life) .

I did it all with disposable income. I am lucky enough to have a great job, and I live well within my means. Hopefully, after this season, we will be moving to a larger place so I can reach my max cap of 50-100 breeder BPs. I can say that it is a lot of hard work, but I absolutely love my collection.