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How did it start with you?

DAND

DAND

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I must have been a herper in another life and it just carried over into this one. Even since I was a little kid I have been fascinated with everything that slithered, crawled, jumped or skittered around, much to the horror of my Mom. She hated to do my laundry because she never knew what she would pull out of my pockets.

So, how did it start with you? Was there a significant event or person that got you started keeping herps?
 
I have always loved animals ever since I was little. I remember that for part of each summer when I was a child we would stay with my grandfather who built his home (himself) by a small brook in Connecticut, and I would catch frogs, snakes, turtles etc. that lived near the brook.
My parents and grandfather were always interested in my catches and discussed what they knew about reptile lore. I would place my prize catches in a cardboard box, and by the next morning the inhabitants would always have mysteriously escaped (I am sure, now, that my folks returned them to their homes each night after I went to sleep).
 
I was introduced to the world of reptiles by a helpless Corn Snake.
Although as I child, I captured my fair share of indigenous reptiles, I was never particularly drawn to them - just another critter to play with for a short time and then release.

Then several years ago a baby Corn Snake became caught in a glue trap that had been put out for mice at the place where I worked. After extracting him from the trap, I set about nursing him back to health. In the process of learning about him and his needs (this was before the existence of the World Wide Web) I became hooked.

It wasn't long before I made my first snake purchase: an Albino Black Ratsnake named Samson. He is still an active breeder for John @ Suncoast Herpetological.

Most of you know the next part based on your own experience: One snake becomes, two - becomes four - becomes twenty. I now maintain well over a hundred permanent residents with this number swelling dramatically during baby season.

Hello, my name is Mike and I'm a reptile addict.
Now, where did I put that info on the 12 step program for herpers?

Have a great one,
 
But what I want to know is if how many

of us were fascinated by DINOSAURS first and THAT bled over to living reptiles ! That is what got me started more than 50 years ago and some of my other friends. My first memory of being mesmerized by a reptile was a little southern skink juvenile that my Dad insisted was " poisonous " due to its blue tail down in good old Alabama. I spent about 2 hours filming this guy with one of the very old 8 mil. movie cameras.
 
Hm, I don't remember being too fond of dinosaurs or any other large animals that looked like they could eat me when I was a kid. I think my fascination started with the painted turtles, leopard frogs and salamanders we would find up at my grandma's cabin. They were easier to catch than the fish anyway. lol

The first reptile I ever kept was a baby painted turtle we found in our driveway one spring. We must have been on their migratory (?) route or something, because there were at least two other years when we found a baby turtle in the exact same spot.

Aside from the family dog that my mom had when she got married, the first 'pet' I ever had was a green parakeet. He led the family into a bird breeding business that eventually occupied an entire small farmhouse out in the country where we raised literally 1000's of birds. I also had a polish dwarf rabbit named Blackie (Guess what color he was... :hehe: ) that lived to be 14, despite being slightly crippled in the hindquarters. I'll never forget the first and only time he bit me though.

Good thread idea, DAND. I haven't thought about the 'pioneers' in quite a while. :)
 
I grew up with woods and fields all around me and a creek running through our back yard. It was just the perect environment for a kid to get into critters.
 
When I was 6 years old we moved to the house I grew up in. My grandfather (who had come to this country from Hungary when he was 19) saw a very long snake in the grass when he came to inspect the house and declared that it was a good sign. I think that is what began my fascination with snakes. I spent most of my growing up years hunting for snakes, been bit by quite a few of them....mostly garter snakes.

I bought a Solomon Island Boa baby when I was 22. It was eating only house geckos. I was ignorant about reptiles and when the local pet stores no longer could get any house geckos my little baby starved to death. I swore I would never have another snake. (This is the first time I have ever told anyone about that experience.)

About 3 years ago my son Daniel expressed an interest in snakes. His father knew someone at work who kept snakes and was getting rid of most of this collection. Now my kids dad was deathly afraid of snakes, but he managed to bring a 28" okeetee corn home with a 10 gallon set up. It was a major step. Now the man can walk into my snake room/bedroom and grab a 58" boa with no fear. He will only handle the corns and the boas, but it's still a big change.

But I digress. Several months after getting okeetee we were offered a very young normal corn that was considered by it's owner to be too aggressive. Snake # 2. The collection has grown by leaps and bounds ever since. I now have 6 corns (+2 hatchlings that are loose in the house), 2 blood pythons, 4 ball pythons, 3 kings, 2 beauties, 5 boas (one of which isn't mine), and 11 assorted geckos. I have another female BCI coming....an Alex Hue Pastel baby. Then I'm going to need a couple of het for albino boas.

Colubrids are cool, pythons are nice too, but boas.....true love for sure!

So that's my story, from childhood enthusiasm to young adult trauma to middle age passion/obsession. Things can only get better, too! So many snakes, so little room........ :cool:
 
living and growing up in the cojntry you see everythin.. i always loved animals... but for me it started with a ball named lucille (how fargin ironic)
 
It started even before my first memories. The story in my family goes, that I learned to crawl so I could get to the cat. It just snowballed from there.
 
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