What got you into reptiles?

[Lolo76]

I used to be scared of spiders
but I was at a reptile show and for some reason someone was selling tarantulas and thus conquered my fear of them and now I'm fascinated by spiders

I recently tried to get up the nerve to hold a tarantula (also at a reptile show), but it just wasn't happening... one day, I swear.

[bishop40k]

My cousin came to my grandmother's house when I was 4 or so, was walking around and caught a little garter snake and stuck it in a small baby food jar for me. Snake was destroyed by my grandmother minutes later, but since then I have always had a thing for snakes. Moved to Tampa, FL and used to catch loads of native anoles and different snakes. Once I moved back to Indiana, I didn't have much chance to get a snake until last year (within a year I went from 1 to over 50, and now down to 35).

[ShockBunny]

My parents have a photo of me at age 5, holding handfuls of garter snakes over my head. XD We used to catch BUCKETS (like, we actually had a bucket) of them when I lived in Michigan. So I guess it was only a matter of time before I got one as a pet. Time, and getting out of my parent's house for good. My mom is one of those people that is too terrified of snakes to even discuss having one in the house.

I've always loved the way they feel crawling on my skin. I'm a very tactile person, so I find that particular aspect quite appealing. I like my other herps too, but the snakes are really something special. They're so easy to keep! And once you have one BP, you might as well get more. You know. To make the food cheaper. Yep.

I guess the lizards are kind of a substitute for birds for me. I used to have a pair of cockatiels (they weren't able to handle a big move so I found them a nice home). And I miss them. But they are SO noisy and SO messy, and the stench females make when nesting is unbelievable. Reptiles are a nice alternative. You still get the "exotic" feel, but without the noise or smell.

[SpartaDog]

Steve Irwin. Enough said.

[RyanT]

I watched Raiders of the Lost Ark with my grandfather when I was 2 years old. Indy fell in the snake pit and it was curtains from there, obsessed ever since. Had no idea what that movie was even really about until I got into my teens, haha! All I cared about were the snake scenes...and the majority of the "snakes" are actually legless (glass) lizards.

[tress29]

I recently tried to get up the nerve to hold a tarantula (also at a reptile show), but it just wasn't happening... one day, I swear.

Well, this thread is why I got a tarantula, even though I don't have any desire to hold it!

http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/sho...highlight=molt

As far as snakes, we got a leopard gecko right after the divorce. He was kinda snaky in the face. Joined a corn snake forum to do research and ended up with a western hognose instead! But after I joined the BP forum, I did just get my first bp, a normal male about a year old!

[Bill T]

I have loved snakes and most other goofy creatures since i was a kid. I used to come home with buckets full of minnesota gardener snakes and get yelled at lol. Well years later i joined the army and after years of jumping around bases and a few countries came ome to northern mn. I got a call from my uncle who knew of someone giving away a snake. So i called the guy and he gave me my first ball python. A 9 year old male normal we named lucifer. now i have 6 ball pythons and plan on getting as many as i can and keep this hobby going iwth my soon to be wife and i hope our future kids also enjoy our passion. Thanks for reading

[guambomb832]

Well, to start off.... I was a baby and still living in Guam, and in our house we had house geckos and skinks come in all the time, and they were always fun to mess with. Well supposedly from my parents, when I was a baby I found a dead, dried up gecko....picked it up... and I really don't want to say the last part, but it involves ingesting something.... But I've always been fascinated by reptiles.

Then I finally moved to Houston when I was 12(4 years ago), and told my mom I want a dog, but that didn't happen, so I looked for many alternatives. Relentlessly searching, I finally found what I wanted: ball python. My mom and dad said yes, but literally the night before I was going to get one, my mom's co-workers say,"OMG, your son wants a snake? Let me tell you all the bad stories of them!"Oh my goodness.... that stopped me from getting a snake for half a year until my mom finally gave in, BUT THEN my dad said no for some weird reason, so that was another half of a year. Finally, we had a family day out and we were near our local reptile store and I convinced them to take us there. We arrive and we see a cage filled with ball pythons. Well, you know how that happens

But now, I'm still in love with snakes, but I'm slowly phasing out of it and getting into cresteds, gargoyles, and leachianus. Maybe it was the gecko incident of long ago that made it my destiny to have geckos

[ball python 22]

As long as i can remember i was catching bugs, lizards, and snakes. I got my first ball python at the age of 9 years old. My next snake was a motely anery corn snake at the age of 10. Then i got my crested gecko who recently past away at the age of 11. Now at the age of 12 i own a quaker parrot, a 10 year old normal male ball python, and my motely anery male corn snake.