QUESTIONS FOR THE FEMALE SNAKE-OWNERS

Well, I was going to make a poll out of this, but there are too many questions that I'm interested in asking to make one poll...
Not to be sexist, but I am curious as to how many snake-owning females we have (more than you think, I bet!), & a little bit about what & why.
Indulge my curiosity, if you will, by copy/paste answering the following questions:

1. What type of snake(s) do you own?

2. What sparked your interest in the particular snake(s) you own?

3. Do you have help with your snake(s)?
(This is NOT a married/single question! Some of us have snakes & husbands/boyfriends that want nothing to do with them!)

4. How tall are you?

5. Does your choice of snake have anything to do with your size/age?

6. Does your choice of snake have anything to do with your security/safety factor?

7. What is your age group?
15-25
26-40
41-50
Older than that, but none of your business!
None of you're business, no matter how old I am!

If you feel so inclined, add questions of your own that you'd like answers to, from your fellow female snake-lovers!

1. What type of snake(s) do you own?
Ball pythons (and 5 boas that I am thinking about selling)

2. What sparked your interest in the particular snake(s) you own?
The pet shop I frequented only had boas & I wanted a snake so bad, so I got him. Much later, I stumbled across the wonderful world of balls & have been hooked ever since.

3. Do you have help with your snake(s)? NO...
(This is NOT a married/single question! Some of us have snakes & husbands/boyfriends that want nothing to do with them!)

4. How tall are you?
5' 4"

5. Does your choice of snake have anything to do with your size/age?
Yes; I find that the older I get, the more comfortable I feel with the smaller pythons--especially since I am the only reptile-lover in the house.

6. Does your choice of snake have anything to do with your security/safety factor?
Yes, especially after one particular incident with a rather feisty boa constrictor and being home alone. It's one thing to be worried about something happening with a ball, but quite another if the snake is twice your size & no one else is around.

What is your age group?
15-25
26-40
41-50
Older than that, but none of your business!
None of you're business, no matter how old I am!

1. What type of snake(s) do you own?
Ball pythons, boas, bloods

2. What sparked your interest in the particular snake(s) you own?
The ball pythons were easy. I've always had one or two around and loved them and when I quit working it hit me, "hey, I have the time to breed these guys!". Boas have some really nice localities and impressive morphs, and the bloods are just for fun. Sometimes you just want something with a bit more spice than a shy ball python.

3. Do you have help with your snake(s)?
Nope, just me.

4. How tall are you?
5'11"

5. Does your choice of snake have anything to do with your size/age?
No, not yet anyways.

6. Does your choice of snake have anything to do with your security/safety factor?
Yes. I'm sticking to snakes that I can handle on my own. I'd love to have burms or retics but with no help I have to consider the safety issue.

7. What is your age group?
15-25
26-40
41-50
Older than that, but none of your business!
None of you're business, no matter how old I am!

1. What type of snake(s) do you own?
A female hog island boa and an albino male boa. I started out with a ball python. But with him still being so small at 12 years old I had to eventually move on to something bigger. But I did choose a dwarf species of boa like the hog island for my female choice specifically because I don't think I could handle a full sized 10-12' 35+ lbs snake on my own.

2. What sparked your interest in the particular snake(s) you own?
Ball pythons caught my interest because of their bulk compared to the smaller corns or kingsnakes, which is what made it my first choice at 10 years old. The particular boas because of body style and coloration.

3. Do you have help with your snake(s)?
No

4. How tall are you?
5'4"

5. Does your choice of snake have anything to do with your size/age?
Yeah, mostly size. I don't think I'd want anything bigger than the size my boas will end up being when full grown because then I wouldn't be able to easily handle and cuddle with them without help, and that just takes all of the fun out of it.

6. Does your choice of snake have anything to do with your security/safety factor?
Partially. If one of them at full size did decide to do more than just strike then I definitely wouldn't want one that was so big that I would have to kill it just to remove it from myself.

7. What is your age group?
15-25

1. What type of snake(s) do you own?

Adult female ball python, baby male Borneo STP, (soon) adult female BRB

2. What sparked your interest in the particular snake(s) you own?

They are very pretty, fun to hang out with, and fun to watch

3. Do you have help with your snake(s)?

No. Aside from a few friends, I'm the only one I know who has the guts to hold either of them. ( I don't get it. Cu is the sweetest thing ever to walk the earth and Sangre is too small to cause any real damage.)

4. How tall are you?

Not sure, lol. Over 5'5".

5. Does your choice of snake have anything to do with your size/age?

No. It has to do with personal preference and my experiance with other snakes.

6. Does your choice of snake have anything to do with your security/safety factor?

A little bit. I do not feel experianced enough with snakes to own a retic, burm, conda, african rock, or any venomous snakes, but I imagine I would feel the same way if I was of the male gender.

I am coming to this thread late but here goes
1. What type of snake(s) do you own?
3 corn snakes so far, more corns & other species to follow as budget & space permit.

What sparked your interest in the particular snake(s) you own?
A friend gifted me with a corn snake years ago. It died unexpectedly (temps were OK, no regurgitation, dunno what happened). Very upsetting. I didn't get another snake for 10 years, then saw a craigslist amel... S/he is super sweet & I'm hooked!

3. Do you have help with your snake(s)?
Nope. I'm in a relationship but my partner will cuddle the snakes but not clean or feed.

4. How tall are you?
5' 5" Dunno what it has to do with snakes, though. I hope to add boas to my collection in the future when I have enough living space to provide proper housing to a BCI. Probably before that I will try to get a Dumerils or other smallish boa. Before that...

5. Does your choice of snake have anything to do with your size/age?
Nope. Just to do with my available space!

6. Does your choice of snake have anything to do with your security/safety factor?
Nope. I think common sense is the most important factor in working with big boas or pythons. I don't ever see myself as having enough space to care for, say, a retic properly. But if I did have the space & $ I would certainly consider a retic. The poor things often end up outgrowing their living situations, after all!

7. What is your age group?
None of you're business, no matter how old I am!

1. What type of snake(s) do you own?

I started with corns~ but now only have Ball pythons

2. What sparked your interest in the particular snake(s) you own?
The size and feel of a big boid~ with the smaller more easily handled size appropriate to my situation

3. Do you have help with your snake(s)?

No~ I have a husband and two teenage sons. They have NO interest in the snakes and offer NO help of any kind. Snakes apparently are NOT cool if MOMMY is into them. Any of them will help IF I ask~ but it's obviously just a favor to me and not something they have any interest in or desire to assist with~ and I HATE to ask for help.......so I pretty much do everything physically possible all by myself.

4. How tall are you?
5'3"

5. Does your choice of snake have anything to do with your size/age?

I LIKED the big boids~ but it was important that I keep snakes that I could handle all by myself without having to ask for help every week. Thats why I chose the BPs~ they have the look and feel of the big boids to me with the smaller size that can be handled individually.

6. Does your choice of snake have anything to do with your security/safety factor?

Yes~ I want to be able to control any and all situations as the occur without depending on someone to "help" me. I hate having to ask for help~ and would most likely allow myself to get into a dangerous situation rather than ask for help if I kept an animal too large for me to control by myself on a regular basis.

7. What is your age group?
26-40

1. What type of snake(s) do you own?

ball pythons and boa constrictors (bci)

2. What sparked your interest in the particular snake(s) you own?

not sure. always liked them.. then helped out with the "science class" boa when I was a youngin.. just loved them since.

3. Do you have help with your snake(s)?
(This is NOT a married/single question! Some of us have snakes & husbands/boyfriends that want nothing to do with them!)

Only if I ask the hubby to help.. which is rare.. usually he helps by buying some f/t rats or something

4. How tall are you?

5' 3" ... *we wish to welcome you to munchkin laaaaand*

5. Does your choice of snake have anything to do with your size/age?

nope. I just like the personalities on both.. and I personally won't own something I can't alone handle.. and even an 8 foot tall person would have an issue holding a full grown anaconda by themselves.. lol

6. Does your choice of snake have anything to do with your security/safety factor?

nope.. just likes them is all

7. What is your age group?

I will be 28 this coming Tuesday GO GEMINI!!

If you feel so inclined, add questions of your own that you'd like answers to, from your fellow female snake-lovers!



8. How many of you have had your love of the scaley ones ruin a relationship ?? Friend? Lover?? IN LAW??

9. Do you have an "if I die" list, of who gets, or what to do with the "collection" once you pass

that one I ask, because I do.. Since hubby has NO clue about the reptiles and such, he asked me to write a "who gets them" list..

1. What type of snake(s) do you own?
Currently, a motley assortment of kings and milks, corns, KSBs, a gopher, and hog island boas.

2. What sparked your interest in the particular snake(s) you own?
As a tomboy, I loved devoting time to catching any herp that had the misfortune of coming within a mile of me, and spending so many summers with them appears to have left me with the indelible impression that including these California natives in my daily life is a vital part of living a normal, happy life. Hogs and KSBs just clicked, and the corns were selected by the brothers and husband I've been trying to drag kicking and screaming into the hobby with me.

3. Do you have help with your snake(s)?
My husband (Steve) and brothers are not really comfortable interacting with the snakes. I can enlist them as an extra set of hands, especially on feeding days, though. Steve did find a way that he was comfortable pitching in that helps me out immensely--- he runs my feeder colonies.

4. How tall are you? Round about five foot seven.

5. Does your choice of snake have anything to do with your size/age?
Age a little bit, within the next decade I think I'd like to spawn. I keep snakes off my list right now that would have a reasonable chance of killing my beagles if they got loose, so I guess I also wouldn't keep anything that would make me paranoid enough to have to run and make sure the latch was done up right 30 times every night once I had a kid.

6. Does your choice of snake have anything to do with your security/safety factor?
In theory, but the only ones that I wouldn't feel secure handling/living with haven't been ones that I have felt a desire to own, so it really isn't much of a limitation. I am a little more limited in avoiding ones that would make Steve squeamish, but he is pretty game considering he's not a herp lover.

7. What is your age group?

26-40

8. How many of you have had your love of the scaley ones ruin a relationship?
Eh, they've made guys I've dated get squirrely before, but they've never ruined anything that I found worth putting much effort into.
They have kept my mother in law from ever setting foot in my place, but that has undoubtedly helped our relationship.

9. Do you have an "if I die" list, of who gets, or what to do with the "collection" once you pass
I am still working on my brothers, and they'd probably keep all the corns. But there is a breeder/home business I've selected that would take them in and do with as they saw fit. They've made donations to junior herp clubs and the like before, and I would love that. I'd also be okay with them selling them, though.


10. Why do you keep the species you work with? What are your goals with them?
Most, just for love of the species. I would like to breed some snakes, like the Hog Islands, but my main goals right now are to continue doing library programs and the like to try to spread an appreciation and understanding of them.

11. Kinda got another one- any single ladies, how do you break the news to potential b/f's? In the getting to know you stage, they typically inquire about hobbies, interests, 'what do you do for fun', etc. It always seem to fit quite naturally into the conversations one has when trying to get to know new people. And if he wasn't interested in getting to know me at all, then I wasn't too interested in telling him because he obviously wasn't going to be around long enough for there to be a problem.

12. How do your friends view your hobby / deal with your obsession?

It runs the gamut from distaste to mild curiosity.

Originally Posted by Abish

11. Kinda got another one- any single ladies, how do you break the news to potential b/f's? In the getting to know you stage, they typically inquire about hobbies, interests, 'what do you do for fun', etc. It always seem to fit quite naturally into the conversations one has when trying to get to know new people.

12. How do your friends view your hobby / deal with your obsession?

It runs the gamut from distaste to mild curiosity.

Pretty much exact same answers from me.

I don't have a lot of friends as I am a homebody and kind of a loner, I spend most of my time hanging out with my guy and our various pets. My friends will feign excitment about a litter or new snake if they know that's what I'm looking for but basically they have no interest. I've made a few reptile friends via various forums and websites which is nice. Overall, the more people I meet, the more I like my snakes.