What made you want to adopt a snake?

[Dianne]

I’ve been catching frogs, lizards, newts, salamanders and snakes for as long as I can remember. Unfortunately for my poor Mom, she thought she was getting a little princess when she had me.

When we were first dating, my ex-husband had a boa, that started me with my first pet snake. I purchased a neonate Colombian redtail in 1991 (Sir Hiss from Disney’s Robin Hood cartoon). Then i got my rescued ball in 1992 (Eli). Then added a female Colombian redtail in 1993 (Duncan). For a while I had a rescued male Burmese in 1995 (Tuco, from The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly) until I could find him a permanent home. When the ex and I split up, the snakes went with me.

When I met my other half, he wasn’t wild about snakes but completely supported me. He was on board when I rescued my Colombian rainbow in 1995-1996 (Hudson). At one time I had 42 snakes...mostly pets, but some that were both pets and breeders. As just pets I’ve kept a Colombian rainbow boa, Dumerils boas, a coastal carpet python, a jungle python, an Irian Jaya python, Solomon Island ground boas, ball pythons, and Burmese pythons (2 rescues short term, 1 long term pet). I’ve kept and bred Colombian redtails, Cuban boas, and corn snakes (snow corns and hypo/normal corns). I ended up having to downsize due to some significant life changes where I didn’t have the time or funds to properly care for all of them, so I kept only those I was really attached to as pets - about 10. To this day I really regret giving up my Jungle python and Cuban boas. Hindsight is 20/20.

After losing my other half earlier this year, I decided to get a couple of balls that were on my long-term wish list...my pied and blue-eyed lucy. The lemonblast and dragonfly were just bonuses. I won’t be adding any more large species, but I dare say I’ll probably add more balls and a Cuban boa if I can ever find one again.