BP Addiction - How did you know/how long did it take?

[WhompingWillow]

Took me 2-3 weeks after my first snake before I was like, "This is the coolest thing ever. It's like science and art and animals all together." I like using my really outgoing/curious/mellow snakes to help people overcome their fears, I use them when teaching kids so they don't grow up irrationally afraid of snakes, I like watching them snatch f/t right off the tongs and I mentally "grade" them on how well they do...(Yuuuuup. I'm that geek)

One of my favorite parts is how my two young kids absolutely light up around our snakes. We've only put Clark on our son's lap once so far, but he was ecstatic and held so still. And my daughter isn't even two yet and is always pointing and babbling at their enclosures, lol.

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[AnnieHeart]

I'm getting my first Ball Python soon and then I'll probably understand.

[Sonny1318]

Maybe I’m not grasping, but my love of reptiles started when I was a a kid, like quite a few on this site. Some get exposed and become really involved. But others jump in head first, and never are heard, seen again. I hope most that do really give it some thought. I have several hobbies, but reptiles is one of my favorites. And they are living creatures, even though some don’t always see it that way. Sorry if I went off tangent. 😉

[Craiga 01453]

I'm getting my first Ball Python soon and then I'll probably understand.

They're like tattoos, not many people have just one

[Avsha531]

They're like tattoos, not many people have just one

Hear hear😂

[Avsha531]

Ever since I was young, I've really been into reptiles, but was never allowed to own one. A little over 2 years ago, was in a place where I was ready to start so picked up a derpy little sand boa. Last August, I was picking up feeders at my local pet shop and saw a pastel BP. Never realized that these things came in different paint jobs! Fell in love and put a deposit on the spot. Picked it up 3 days later with nothing more than a heat lamp a hide and a glass tank. A few months and a bad shed later, after realizing that the pet store knew diddly squat about proper husbandry, I discovered this forum. Within a month I had decided that I *MUST* have a BRB and after extensive research (I learned my lesson) got one a month later. I now have separate savings for new snakes, and one for new enclosures, in addition to the tattoo fund. Spend hours all the time researching what the next little baby will be, where it will come from, and how to care for it. Hope that helps😎

[tttaylorrr]

so this ended up as a rant lol. TL;DR: it was a slow start, and i staved off the itch longer than most, but the past year i think i've made up for lost time; acquiring 6 snakes in ~400 days.

Yellow, my first pet snake, and second ball python ever held, was an impulse purchase. i spent my first 3 years in the hobby focusing on Yellow (i received him at ~70g) and trying to understand him as much as i could. i stepped away from the forum in that time, but remained a lurk. once i was confident in my husbandry and care did i start getting the itch gain, about 3 years later; snake keeping started to become easy, and extremely enjoyable and rewarding. i thought long and hard about how stressful those first couple years were, and if i was ready for that reality again. but i knew i was much more knowledgeable than i was before, and i was ready for more responsibility and the challenge of a hatchling/juvenile. i made sure to buy from a reputable breeder, and i got my second beep: my Coral Glow girl, Spaghetti.

now Spaghetti was a breeze. it took her almost a month to settle in, but she took off soon after. well, then i just couldn't stay off of MorphMarket...

then Corny came into my life!

so i had been eyeing dark morphs for a while, and the second i saw Coffee Bean for sale, i pretty much pulled the trigger. she's a garbage can and has NEVER missed a meal. it was so fun being so comfortable with my husbandry and just enjoying my animals. weellllll...

enter my Piebald boy, and sort of impulse purchase at Tinley Park NARBC.

this was when i realized i was far from done, but i wanted to set a focus for my hobby. was i just going to keep buying pretty snakes? did i really want to breed? do i have a plan? i sat down and started thinking of a loose breeding plan, creating "breeding trees" of my animals and possible pairings per generation, thinking of goals and how to attain them, thinking realistically and trying to decide what exactly i want to work with. so i decided that yeah, i can do it; i wanna breed.

instead of spending money on multiple snakes and aiming for multiple clutches a year, i kept my focus to buying morphs i like from reputable breeders with some incredible animals and lineage. enter my Pastel Enchi Leopard het Pied from Stewart Reptiles, and my high contrast Coral Glow het Pied male from Vivid Pythons.

and i'm likely far from done.

[cchardwick]

With me it was a bit different than anyone else I know. I've always had a passion for breeding and selling animals all my life and currently have a small farm with a major focus on Black Angus cattle, I have about a dozen cows now. I also breed my two dogs once a year and have chickens and ducks for eggs for food and hatching eggs. And I also sell grass hay to local horse people. My dream was always to be able to stay home and just work with the animals since it's such a passion for me, but I've never been able to figure out how to pay all the bills with the animals I have.

Then about three years ago, not sure how it exactly happened, but I stumbled upon Morphmarket and at the time the Scaleless Head ball pythons were selling for $45,000. I was totally floored. I instantly knew that this was it, this is the part of the puzzle that I was missing on my farm, the snakes would bring in the additional income to make ends meet. And I actually grew up catching garter snakes and I got bit a million times so they didn't scare me at all, in fact I had fond memories of catching wild snakes.

From that point on I knew I wanted to breed snakes as part of my farm income but it wasn't until I went to a NARBC show in Tinley Park that the real reptile frenzy was apparent. That was where I bought my first two ball pythons, a pair of Pieds. I kept thinking, 'where have I been the last 20 years'? It was like I was missing out on the greatest passion in my life. It was like it was an instant revelation to me, I just knew this was the path to take.

From there I started investing every penny I had in my reptile business. My goal is to have a 'modest' collection of about 300 females and about 100 males and eventually construct a building here on the farm specifically for the snakes and rodents. I also plan on growing my herd of Angus cattle to about 50 head and to buy some additional pasture land for them. Then I'll get a couple horses and ride off into the sunset LOL.

[MissterDog]

They're like tattoos, not many people have just one

Haha funny enough I’m getting a new snake and tattoo this year so I guess they really do go hand and hand :p

As far as snake keeping goes, I think two snakes will be my limit for a good long while, but every now and then I do get tempted with MorphMarket lol

[Jus1More]

They're like tattoos, not many people have just one

Totally agree with you my friend! Or addicting like a big bag of delicious "Lays" potato chips, you can't just eat one!!