Karl will tell you that I am the most hard headed woman he ever met. I do not respond well to someone telling me what I can and can't do. I'm an adult, we aren't married (although we'll be celebrating our 11th anniversary together later this month).


He is not a fan of snake, but he does love animals. He has responded quite well to each new addition, surprisingly, although he doesn't interact with them. When I first started my interest in ball pythons, I invited him to a herp show, and he said "you go ahead", as he had no interest.

Well, turns out I needed him to go, so we could use his SUV to transport my new rack from the show (herpenclosures), and he reluctantly agreed to go, and I paid his way into the show.

He had a blast! We separated to look at things that interested us, and he'd keep coming back to find me (or call me on my cell phone) and say "you've got to come see this!!!!" I ended up with my rack, and one new snake - and Karl insisted on carrying her around the show in her deli cup that day.

I knew the tides were turning when we went through the Burger King drive through after the show and I had her in my lap and the drive through lady went "is that a snake????" and Karl proceeds to tell her that she was a ball python, and not a dangerous snake and was very beautiful.

I keep him involved by asking him to name some of them, and refer to them as "his" snakes.

For Christmas, he bought me one of those four drawer Sterilite storage things, thinking that I could house more snakes in it. Bless his heart! Although I can't use it for that (it is being used to house the rat and snake supplies), the fact that he did that touched me.

Last week I was cleaning tubs, and I said "Karl - here's your snake J-Lo! Isn't she pretty?" I almost fainted when he rushed over and scooped her up and said "hello J-Lo!!!!!" (he has never voluntarily held, much less intiated picking up one of the kids). We're making progress, slowly but surely.

I went from a man with no interest in snakes and reptiles to one who went to a show with me just to help me transport a rack, who has now been to Daytona and purchased his own crested gecko, to one who asks me on a weekly basis when Daytona is going to be this year! And he LOVED all the people from BP.net that he met there - and thinks Adam is the man! (well, he IS! LOL) and named one of the geckos after Jamie (Uncle Kracker).

Be patient with him, try to involve him in small ways, get him to a show if you can. This worked for me!