What turned you on?

[Reptilian]

Ok now, what turned you onto keeping snakes?


I'll go first. I kept having a nightmare about a giant yellow snake attacking me. The nightmares go so severe that I ended up swinging my fiance at night. So I decided to face my fear and get into snakes. Yeah it's a iddy biddy corn but still...

I hope some day to face my giant yellow snake and handle him. He was kinda like a giant yellow anaconda.

[BloodySyn]

Well i always wanted a snake since i was a little boy. But u know mom's NO!!!! snakes lol. So when i moved out some odd years later my buddy was selling some so i was like hey i will buy one now thats how i got into collecting bp thats my little story hope u all like

[Blu Mongoose]

Not too sure. I have been carrying them around since I started finding them as a kid. Just never got over my fascination with them. Doubt I ever will!

[panthercz]

I've been keeping reptiles since I was 6 or 7, snakes included. My parents use to own a pet store, so I was raised around animals of all kinds. I loved reptiles probably because not many others did and they are so misunderstood. Being around them at such a young age I was able to see 1st hand how cool they are, and in the case of snakes how beneficial they are.

I like all animals, but reptiles and fish are what I enjoy the most.

[Sausage]

Well, when I was little we had a pool. Little garter snakes would get in the pool and I would jump in and save 'em. I had always wanted a pet snake, but only got one recently.

[Epona142]

My father was into reptiles, big time. I grew up with a burmese python who died when I was 18 of a liver problem, and we ran a reptile rescue for quite a while. I was never without reptiles until a few years I was on my own, my husband bought me a little ball python and resparked my renewed interest and love!

[rabernet]

When I was elementary aged, my mother used to take my brother and myself to the Nature Science Center in Winston-Salem, NC and they had some sort of summer program.


I remember falling in love with Helen the Hognose - unfortunately, the king snake somehow escaped and Helen went missing, never to be seen again. I had a hard time liking that king again! LOL

So, fast forward, Karl - like many impulse buyers we know, got a baby iguana because he wanted a lizard for a 20 gallon tank that we were no longer keeping fish in. I immediately get online to research the care of them and when I saw their potential size, I was livid - I knew that we could not properly care for an adult. But Karl loved Zeus, so much to my chagrin, we became an iguana owner. Zeus never really did well though - he just would never really eat, and seemed sickly from the first day - he passed away a few months later.

Knowing that tank wouldn't stay empty long, I had already fallen in love with ball pythons (in fact, tried to talk Karl into taking Zeus back and get a ball python instead - which he refused). So I started researching their care because I knew that if I didn't put something in there, he would likely get another iguana - and he agreed I could get a ball python if I took all the responsiblility for it.

Fast forward to summer 2005 when Kashmire entered my life and made me fall head over heels in love with ball pythons. Here I am today with my little collection!

Oh yeah, my mother is VERY frightened of snakes - when she found out I was getting Kashmire - she said "I knew we should have never had you volunteer your summers at the Nature Science Center!"

[AzureN1ght]

I've been really fascinated with reptiles since I was a kid. I grew up in Florida, where wild lizards abound and I used to spend my days catching Anoles and Skinks. Frogs were fun, too...and I caught the occasional garter snake. I remember once in particular we caught a jet-black snake... It was either an Indigo or a Hognose... I don't remember it looking like a hog nose in the face, but it did do the "play dead" and "throw up your meal" tricks to try and scare us off Mom never let me keep any of my little play mates.

The Reptile House at the Zoo was my VERY favorite--I could have spent all day looking at what the had in there...

When I moved up north and was 13 or so, I got it in my head that an iguana would make a great pet. But a PetCo lizard with a PetCo setup mixed with an inexperienced young owner didn't bode well for Keoke. He died of intestinal mites--at least that's what the vet told me. Reading things on here, I'm sure it was more like "intestinal -parasites-"--he was only with me for about 6 months.

After that, my mother REFUSED to let us have any more reptiles (or pets in general for that matter). And she never would let me have a snake--for in truth, I would have rather had a snake than a lizard.

Now, I'm in college--and I only live at home during breaks. I had the money, the knowledge and the room for a snake. I was researching BPs, found BP.net, met Kara, went to NERD and the rest is history

Wow...that was long-winded. Sorry!

[Reptilian]

I like reading everyone's stories. Keep 'em coming!

[darkangel]

I have always been absolutely terrified of snakes. Not reptiles in general -- my brother had several leopard geckos growing up and I thought they were interesting and sweet. Snakes always had me spooked -- I stepped on a water moccasin when I was a kid, I was surprised by a snake that had gotten into my bathroom in an apartment...

Late last year, I was at a pet store, and a customer came in with a King snake wrapped around his neck. I have no idea what possessed me to do it, but I went up to him and asked if I could touch the snake. I did and I loved it. Soon I was going to reptile stores and local pet stores and asking to handle the snakes. I was shocked that they were so gentle and curious and how soft and warm they felt. After a few months of research, I decided on my first ball python. And wouldn't you know that now I can't wait till I feel experienced enough to get another... Hooked!