In my elementary school communal classroom (grades 1-2), we had a garter snake, some red eared sliders, a box turtle, and an aquarium with fish and tadpoles. Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtles also came out around that time (1987) and that couldn't have hurt either Then my best friend got some red eared sliders and I begged my parents for some relentlessly for 2 years until I got some for my 8th birthday. Of course, I wanted more herps but wasn't allowed to get anything else. Well, due to some slick maneoveuring, for my 10th birthday party which I held together with a friend, I managed to talk him into getting me some.

I would say my first real herp however was an Argentinian Horned frog I got when I was 12 for getting on the honour roll. I setup the temperature gradient that the book recommended through a little improvising; I layered a few books over the water heater (my house is very very old) for the warm end and had the other end over the window sill. I fed it appropriately sized feeder comets every few days and it grew like crazy.