Second reptiles: How soon is too soon?

[WrongPython]

A follow-up to the wonderful thread wnateg started. Do people have strong opinions about how long newcomers to the hobby should wait before bringing home their second reptile? What were some things you wish you knew or did when you started to go beyond that first reptile? I've heard quite a few people say that they wished they hadn't grown their collection so fast, but I'm curious as to how fast "so fast" was.

My personal opinion is that one should complete a full "quarantine" at a minimum - make sure your first reptile is healthy and settled in, wait a few months, etc. Beyond that, it would be prudent to wait a year - maybe even until your reptile reaches something close to adult size, in the case of larger species - to see how and how much you enjoy owning the reptile you already have and how reptile ownership factored in to your life.

I myself am in the "looking for a second reptile" phase right now, and it's proven to be hard to follow my own advice. There's the slimmest of chances that a breeder I follow will have one of my dream snakes available soon - a pure Denton line anery BCL - and part of me is considering breaking my "wait a year" plan to pick one up if one becomes available. Said breeder won't be repeating this particular pairing for a few years and these particular BCLs can be hard to come by. So, while it definitely feels "too soon" for me, I am very tempted to pick up this specific snake and make it work...

[Bogertophis]

Not to be a total "enabler" but for something hard to come by & from a source you respect & trust, I'd not wait. Life's too short...

In general, so many variables that make "the answer" different for everyone. From my own experience, I was so surprised & thrilled to discover how cool snakes
are, and nothing like how they're typically portrayed, that I didn't wait very long to add others. It was never a budget or space problem, and no one to say "no"
besides myself.

[jmcrook]

Varies from person to person obviously. I went about 20yrs before I had multiple reptiles in my care at the same time and still have never had more than 4 at once.
It’s really easy to want everything all at once, especially with the variety of species and morphs available now that weren’t even a thing when I started close to 25yrs ago.
I’d say get to know your first critter well, get used to the routine of caring for it as it grows, and go from there. I’m also very tempted currently to make a new addition here but also have two snakes that are juveniles/yearlings and have a LOT of growing to do. However I do already have the large enclosures to grow them out into that are very generously sized for their adult sizes.

[Cheesenugget]

I got a lot of snakes in a short period of time. A lot of those snakes were species I had researched months prior to getting my very first snake (When I was undecided so I read about what is available and husbandry on all of them to avoid impulse buying a snake that I could not care for), and they were not commonly found around here or there was something special about the personality that I love. Some of them I wanted for a very long time (ie woma) and waited almost 3 years to get it, which I eventually did. I also had purchased 2 more lizards along the way, as well as adopting another cat because by that point, I believe I had lost my mind with the number of pets that I own, so what's one more, especially a black kitten who desperately needed out of the shelter.

One can always desire and want things. There is no harm in it at all: it motivates you to get a job, keep your job and have things to look forward to. The planning, the joy of preparing and shopping (window shopping or actually buying the materials) can be a lot of fun. I have a wishlist that is constantly changing: I now want captive bred file snakes and still have my eye on a rhino rat.

If you find something rare, more than likely you will find it again in the future, maybe from a different breeder. When I found the locality of the gray banded king that I wanted online, I did not buy it. I had always wanted one for years. For some reason, I did not buy it. It was not the price, or space, my guts told me to wait for at least 30 days and revisit the ad again. 30 days is usually a good wait time for your brain to cool off and think logically, instead of impulsively, to avoid bad decisions (At least that's the idea...). Then it was sold to someone and that bothered me for months. Then I went with my friend to a local expo to pick up insect feeders. Lo and behold, a pet store that I like was selling one, even more beautiful than the one from the online ad. It was slightly cheaper but the price was not the issue.

If you don't want to wait, or you know saying no to this offer will haunt you for weeks or months, then do it. Imo, I would buy that boa..

[wnateg]

Thanks for the shout out.

Personally, I think the most important thing for a new owner would be that it's not a fad. Are you getting something new because you're tired of the old? I would hope not, but it doesn't hurt to ask!

And secondly, that you can manage your time and money to provide the proper care for them all.

For myself, I'm focusing on my scrub python and her setup and getting a new living situation, so I have more space for snakes. Until then, I'm trying to keep myself from getting anything new.

[cletus]

Thanks for the shout out.

Personally, I think the most important thing for a new owner would be that it's not a fad. Are you getting something new because you're tired of the old? I would hope not, but it doesn't hurt to ask!

And secondly, that you can manage your time and money to provide the proper care for them all.

For myself, I'm focusing on my scrub python and her setup and getting a new living situation, so I have more space for snakes. Until then, I'm trying to keep myself from getting anything new.

I think that's a great point. Snakes are like Lays Potato Chips. You can't have just one. People get a ball python and get really excited and involved in the community and get more and more and in the space of a month they decide they have found their calling and want to start breeding. Before long it gets old or too much work and the animals end up suffering. As far as the original question, I think when you are sure you have the means to take care of another animal is a good time.

[Ditto]

When I got my first snake last year I fell completely in love and wanted another within a month. Buuut I was actually really struggling with him that first month, husbandry was all wrong, he wasn't eating and I was so stressed I seriously considered rehoming him because I was sure he would die under my care (I don't think my husbandry was THAT bad but it was a stressful time lol), so I'm seriously glad I didn't end up getting another until about six months later (that didn't turn out well for other reasons that I don't want to get into right now and isn't relevant). I think if I had gotten that second snake I thought I wanted that month I would have ended up regretting it, getting overwhelmed and rehoming both of them.
When I started I thought I would be completely obsessed to the point where I would have twenty within the year (I'm still totally obsessed but I've cooled down with my need for snakes since then lol!). Now over a year later I'm getting ready for my third (but only second that'd be in my care currently) and I couldn't be happier. Also as a side note the only snakes I was interested in last year were balls, I still like them and love the one I have to bits, but if I'm being honest I'm glad I don't have more than one and I'm pretty sure I'll never get another haha.
Anyway, just sharing my experience, obviously this wouldn't apply to everyone but I thought I might as well share

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[Ditto]

If

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[WrongPython]

Thanks for all the opinions guys! If there are still people who'd like to chime in, I'd love to hear from you.

A bit of an update from the BCL front: I reached out to the breeder for prices and availability for both this year and next year. They got back to me and said they'll let me know if anything becomes available from this year's litter, and I'll be going on the wait list for the next litter if nothing's left or I decide to hold off.

I'm still on the fence if I'd like to proceed this year or not. On the one hand, there are somevery nice BCLs in this litter and waiting for a future breeding can be a gamble. On the other hand, it all seems "too soon," anery BCLs are very expensive, I don't have room for the adult-sized PVC enclosure I'd like to just put the new boa in, and...

If you find something rare, more than likely you will find it again in the future, maybe from a different breeder...If you don't want to wait, or you know saying no to this offer will haunt you for weeks or months, then do it.

...Cheesenugget was more or less on the money! I just found a BCL fanatics' group on Facebook a few hours ago that's frequented by a lot of breeders. While not everybody's breeding Denton and other high-contrast lines, there were a plenty of nice BCLs there. Hopefully I'll have another week or two to chew on this before I have to make a decision. I can keep y'all posted if anyone's interested.

[SilentHill]

oh boy. so....husband and i went to repticon b/c i had found a salamander a few weeks prior and was obsessed with it. we left repticon with a baby corn snake and a baby leopard gecko. i think our next snake came a month or two later, another baby corn. then axolotls....and now we're utterly obsessed and have 30 snakes (i think 5 species) and 20 geckos (3 species). also 2 beardies and a peter's banded skink. i know we went "too fast" but we both fell hard for reptiles. we have always shared our hobbies and interests so we enable each other pretty badly. and we don't have kids to spend our money on!