Why Do We Have Collections?

[Trochu]

The requirements of multiple snakes is very easy even for the average person to meet. Heat and food once a week, it relatively cheap to keep multiple snakes. They take up a small foot print in the room and require no extra activities. They don't require interaction either besides cleaning and feeding. It's about as low maintenance as it gets for a pet.

My dog takes up more time than 30 snakes I have... a lot more time. When she was a puppy and getting all her shots, she cost a lot more money also. Shes all over the house, and requires a backyard, take her for walks, brush her, hair is all over the house, feed her 3 times a day ect. The requirements of a dog are so much greater than a snake or even 30 snakes.

^Agreed. They are kinda like fish, once you have one, it involves relatively no work or cost to get another. My dog likely requies more attention (feeding/walks/petting/grooming, etc), work (cleaning up after him, vacuuming when he's in shed, etc), and money (he was expensive to buy, expensive to feed, and expensive at the vets) in two weeks than my snake requires in a year. If the requirements of a BP were the same as a dog/cat, and you had more than 10, you'd likely have the SPCA visiting your house.

[evan385]

I wasn't saying snake keepers are hoarders, but that the people who keep a dozen cats are. Oddly enough the same doesn't apply to herp people, my wife says because of sanitary reasons. That is 30 cats are a lot more messy than 30 pythons.

Now if I can only get my wife addicted

Yes that's true, much less messy. I want other herps too but mostly ball pythons. Maybe a dragon or three and some geckos. Eventualy want to breed all types of exotics. And good luck getting your wife addicted. That would sound bad if we weren't talking herps lol

[truthsdeceit]

because they are like pokemon and i gotta catch them all!!!!!!!!

Me too!
I'm addicted to animals in general (see signature, lol) but before snakes it was never feasible to take care of more than a few at a time. Snakes are beautiful animals that don't need a lot of care, and also don't care if you give them attention or not.
And because they make such great display animals you can argue they're living art.

Also snakes have given me an excuse to own tons of rodents.... which I also love and now they have a purpose.

[SlitherinSisters]

I have to agree with the addition argument. It's so easy to keep several of them, even a dozen/s. I'm sitting with a collection in the low 20s and it barely takes more time to care for them than it did when I only had a few. For something that doesn't take up a lot of time or room it's easy to get a lot of them. Dogs/cats take up a lot of room, you see them all the time and you basically have to spend hours with them every day, nothing like snakes.

[Dracoluna]

Coming from someone who used to breed/show cats (Japanese bobtail and Maine coons), I can tell you that there is a huge difference between 20+ cats and 20+ snakes. Don't get me wrong, I loved the cats, but it was more than a full time job and the cost was tremendous. The last time something went wrong with a litter of kittens, it was over $6k in vet bills alone. Granted, if something goes wrong with my herps, they'd get the best vet treatment as well, but luckily, I have yet to have to deal with that. Also, snakes can be left for awhile when I go on vacation. The furry critters need someone to come over. Even though my hubby isn't fond of snakes, he's already agreed that once the furry animals are gone, we'll stick to reptiles.

[Evenstar]

Coming from someone who used to breed/show cats (Japanese bobtail and Maine coons), I can tell you that there is a huge difference between 20+ cats and 20+ snakes. Don't get me wrong, I loved the cats, but it was more than a full time job and the cost was tremendous. The last time something went wrong with a litter of kittens, it was over $6k in vet bills alone. Granted, if something goes wrong with my herps, they'd get the best vet treatment as well, but luckily, I have yet to have to deal with that. Also, snakes can be left for awhile when I go on vacation. The furry critters need someone to come over. Even though my hubby isn't fond of snakes, he's already agreed that once the furry animals are gone, we'll stick to reptiles.

I raise and show German Shepherds. We have 6 dogs and a cat along with the herps. I also used to have 2 horses not so long ago. My hubby and I actively show our dogs in agility, obedience, and German seiger shows and SchH. I agree with everything that's been said so far.

In addition, I think herps are so addicting because they are easier to care for and have fewer expenses. But also because there is so much variety - not just with morphs, but among the various species as well.

I know I will always have a German Shepherd - they are amazing dogs! But the dogs' care is also amazingly expensive. I am at the point in my life where we are taking a hard look at what we do with the dogs and we've decided to hold off breeding for awhile and keep to only 2 once the older ones have passed (which hopefully won't be anytime soon).

BUT the herps on the other hand... Well, I plan on obtaining a few more boas and I'd reeeally like to get a pair of Angolan pythons as well. Those of us who love animals find this to be a wonderful hobby that satisfies our love of animals yet be a bit more financially possible!

[truthsdeceit]

But also because there is so much variety - not just with morphs, but among the various species as well.

I definitely agree with this. I want one of each... which frustrates my roommate since he wants to breed and having a corn, a king, a red tail, a python ...ect does not help.

[MasonC2K]

Since no one has said it. I will. Part of the reason is...

To show off!

Admit it! You love being able to show people your most prized snakes and say "Look at what I got!!!! Isn't it cool?!?!?!?!"