My dad caught snakes, turtles, bull frogs, etc. when I was just a little boy and would bring them home to show me. When I was in second grade he brought home a baby Massasauga rattler. I was so mad when he wouldn't let me take it to school for show and tell. By third grade my buddy and I were out catching every garter snake we could find. I remember there was a small pond out in the woods near our subdivision, that would pop up in the spring from the rains. By the time early Summer hit it would be shrunk down to a large shallow puddle and there would be hundreds of leopard frogs and thousands of baby toads all around it. Easy pickens for the garters in the area which made catching garters pretty easy for us. One time we caught over 70 in a weekend. That is a record that stands to this day for me. By the time I was in high school, I had a corn snake, a ball python (there were no morphs in 78, if only I knew then....), a retic, and an eastern coachwhip. I have pretty much caught every snake there is in Michigan with the exception of the Massasauga. I never did find one of my own.

I honestly cant remember a time in my life when I didn't absolutely love snakes.