At what age did you get your first snake?

[Sandi1961]

LOL I was thinking the same thing...I'm 46 and just got my first. I'm already looking for the next. LOL

They are like potato chips...you can't have just one!

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[BR8080]

They are like potato chips...you can't have just one!

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It doesn't help that I have an addictive personality so hystorically that goes for tattoos, firearms, and several other things as well...

I'm considering a BRB or a DB in the meantime.

UGH - these "hobbies" get soooo expensive but in my "older" adult life I've at least made the attempt to tone it down a bit before jumping in.

[Zincubus]

LOL, I feel old! I held my first snake at a zoo when I was 12-14 y/of. I got my first snake, a corn when I was 50...my first BP a few months later...now I have 8 total!

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Similar story to me , then , although I'm up to 21 with possibly another two on the horizon .

Aspergers / addictive nature is a bad mix . ..

[Vipera Berus]

I got my first snake at 9 a lovely little wild morph corn and ended up with 3 tortoises and a ball python. I'm now planning to add another ball and start breeding.

[distaff]

46.
BF found it in the kitchen.

[Yzmasmom]

33 but wanted one since I was 16!! Got 2 within 5 months of each other.

[PythonBabes]

Got Karma and Choco at 15, but I've been wanting one since I was 12, when I first discovered ball pythons!

As for convincing, it doesn't take much with my parents and it only helped that a church member had a ball python too, named Ruben. They were pretty much convinced that bps were harmless after watching me handle him. Its sort of 'out of sight, out of mind' with my mom although she got freaked out when I first brought Karma home, didn't mind Choco much, especially since he's so tiny. She asked to look at Karma when I first brought her home and just stared at her for 10 minutes

[Fraido]

Well, I had a couple corn snakes before, my father bred the ones he had and I got to keep a baby. I believe I was around 11? That baby ended up escaping and I never found it. My dad then got me a ball python some time later, a couple years after I would think, he was an adult and I ended up giving him to my aunt and uncle. Fast forward to when I joined the forums a couple years ago, I purchased a baby ball, that's when I realized BPs just weren't for me. I had thought having a baby would be different, but nope, just not my kind of snakes! I got my boa about a month later, and she is my favourite... so, I consider to have gotten my first snake at 11ish, but didn't really get into it until 16ish. Now I have four noodles in my care, they're the best.

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[Calider]

Got my first snake when I was 11. He was a field-collected GTP whom I still have today.

If there was ever an example of what NOT to do when your kid is interested in reptiles, it would probably be what my dad did in buying his 11 year old a wild chondro. I do have scars, but I have lots of wonderful memories too, and after learning about the sad life some WC snakes have, I feel things couldn't possibly have ended up better for Craig. He has a large, naturalistic enclosure to himself where he is largely left to his own devices and seems grateful to have his meals handed to him rather than having to track them down. It was a potentially disastrous situation which turned into a happy ending.

I love GTPs, but they are not kid snakes. Just because it worked out for me does NOT mean it will work out for your kids. I don't recommend GTPs for children. I'd even be leery giving one to a teenager. They are not "pets", they are more like a living decoration.

[redshepherd]

It was within the first month I graduated college and moved into my first apartment away from home. LOL

The reason being that my parents were just terrified/hated snakes, so didn't let me have one growing up. So once I was free, it really didn't take very long for me to commit. But in the end, turns out I moved back home anyway (to save on the crazy rent around here) and they don't mind all seven of them! haha