• Posted 12/19/2024.
    =====================

    I am still waiting on my developer to finish up on the Classifieds Control Panel so I can use it to encourage members into becoming paying members. Google Adsense has become a real burden on the viewing of this site, but honestly it is the ONLY source of income now that keeps it afloat. I tried offering disabling the ads being viewed by paying members, but apparently that is not enough incentive. Quite frankly, Google Adsense has dropped down to where it barely brings in enough daily to match even a single paid member per day. But it still gets the bills paid. But at what cost?

    So even without the classifieds control panel being complete, I believe I am going to have to disable those Google ads completely and likely disable some options here that have been free since going to the new platform. Like classified ad bumping, member name changes, and anything else I can use to encourage this site to be supported by the members instead of the Google Adsense ads.

    But there is risk involved. I will not pay out of pocket for very long during this last ditch experimental effort. If I find that the membership does not want to support this site with memberships, then I cannot support your being able to post your classified ads here for free. No, I am not intending to start charging for your posting ads here. I will just shut the site down and that will be it. I will be done with FaunaClassifieds. I certainly don't need this, and can live the rest of my life just fine without it. If I see that no one else really wants it to survive neither, then so be it. It goes away and you all can just go elsewhere to advertise your animals and merchandise.

    Not sure when this will take place, and I don't intend to give any further warning concerning the disabling of the Google Adsense. Just as there probably won't be any warning if I decide to close down this site. You will just come here and there will be some sort of message that the site is gone, and you have a nice day.

    I have been trying to make a go of this site for a very long time. And quite frankly, I am just tired of trying. I had hoped that enough people would be willing to help me help you all have a free outlet to offer your stuff for sale. But every year I see less and less people coming to this site, much less supporting it financially. That is fine. I tried. I retired the SerpenCo business about 14 years ago, so retiring out of this business completely is not that big if a step for me, nor will it be especially painful to do. When I was in Thailand, I did not check in here for three weeks. I didn't miss it even a little bit. So if you all want it to remain, it will be in your hands. I really don't care either way.

    =====================
    Some people have indicated that finding the method to contribute is rather difficult. And I have to admit, that it is not all that obvious. So to help, here is a thread to help as a quide. How to become a contributing member of FaunaClassifieds.

    And for the record, I will be shutting down the Google Adsense ads on January 1, 2025.
  • Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

How old were you when you got your first snake?

How old were you when you got your first ssssnake?

  • Total voters
    83
I was 45 when I owned my first snake. Back when my brothers and I were little, we caught red bellies and played with them all day, but Mom would never let us keep them. They had to be put back in the field by the end of the day. In 3 short years, I now have 39 snakes. This is an addiction.
 
My first snake was a bull snake when I was six. I had been keeping all kinds of spiders and things for quite awhile (including black widows). But I really wanted a snake. So I drew up a little hand-written flyer for my dad. He worked for the state inspecting water systems, so he was always out in the brush and so were his buddies. So he made some copies and handed them out. Apparently a friend of his found a snake and put it in a very, very small water sample box and gave it to my dad.

My dad was not returning home for a couple days, but forgot all about this little box until it started rattling in his hotel room. He grabbed a 5 gallon bucket and opened the box to pour out the snake (which at the time, he thought could have somehow been a rattler). He still tells the story to this day about how that snake kept coming out, and coming, and coming, and coming. Ended up being like a 2.5 foot snake in that itty bitty box.

Well, upon returning home with this very unhappy bull snake....he decided he didn't want his 6-year-old to have it. So we decided to give it to a teacher.

This still left me without a snake.

My parents were building a house at the time. And my dad saw a little garter snake getting water from a leaking hose bib. He picked her up and she didn't even try to escape.

I had that snake for 14 years. She had 2 babies, which didn't make it out of the sacks. I took her everywhere with me. I always had knots in my hair and she would hang herself up in the knots and sleep there. I took her to the mall, grocery shopping....simply everywhere. My mom would even hold her in the bleechers while I was having my swim lessons.

Anyway, I know that was a long story...but it is one that I never get to tell.

Now I have 27 snakes and various other herps....but Dazzy (hehe Daisy) will always be in my heart.
 
My goodness, 27 snakes!! How do you afford that!! Just one snake, and my electricity bill has gone up $30 a month :)

Hopefully, one day I'll have a bunch, but until I've got the ropes down pat, one'll do ;)
 
Let's see...I order all my frozen rodents from RodentPro. I use mainly heat mats instead of over-head heat...and my PG&E bill sits at around $300/mo at any given time of year LOL. But seriously, it isn't the snakes that do my power bill in...it is my diurnal lizards. Keep in mind that many of the snakes I'm keeping right now are just baby colubrids too. I hope to eventually, possibly, get into raising a couple clutches a year, just for fun....but if not, I'll just enjoy my scaled kids either way.
 
I was 7 when I cought my first snake. Was a Garter snake. Me and my 2 brothers cought dozens of these.

Then one day we came across a beautiful black snake. In Kentucky its called a Black Racer. Man he was pretty.

Mom however made us get rid of them all. I still remember the day she wanted to kill us. We had been playing around the creek when we cam across some baby snakes. We were able to catch 8 of them and put them on a plastic milk jug. Once back at the house we put them in the sand pile and started playing with them as we had never seen any snakes like these. My uncle just happen to walk by and you would have thought we were playing with guns or something. Turns out they were copperheads. Go figure adults to go bannanas over something so stupid as a snake. They killed them all we were heart broken as we just didnt understand.

Well we do now, but I still miss those snakes.
 
i was 5 years old when i caught my first garter snake and kept snakes and other reptiles for the next 27 years . i got out of the hobby at that time to make my then fiance happy . she is now my ex and has been gone for a few years . i just got back into the hobby about 9 or 10 months ago when i took in a rescue ball python . for about 8 or so year inbetween i had no critters at all so i guess you could almost say i got my first snake at 5 and then i got my first snake again when i was 41 .
 
I started at about 6 years, collecting frogs out in my Granny's fields.
My Youngest son has had his own Ball python since he was almost 2.
He loves the snakes, and shows a real interest in how to care for them.
 
My first snake probably 7 or 8. My first real snake :) (one not from Maine). In college. I went from Maine to the University of Miami - Florida. Quite a change. My only regret is that I didn't do more herping when I was there - 40 plus years ago.
 
My first Snake was Jakers! I wasn't allowed any Reptiles when I was a kid, and the Garden Snakes were to fast for me to catch! I did get a ton of experience with furry animals though. Not enough in my opion! I was raised on a farm, a couple. One with a barn, and a dairy farm also. Those were the days. It was SO much fun!
 
I think the first snake i ever owned was a Garter snake named, you guessed it. "Jake" lol. Ive had several other garters in the past and a few small Ringnecks too. I still wished i kept some of thsoe ringnecks though. theyre such pretty snakes!

Now im 20 soon to be 21, and ive got Three Ball pythons and And Irian Jaya Carpet. ( most people know this by now im sure) Im getting another Irian Male sometime next week as well.

In total in the Apartment weve got 5 snakes right now. I dont think im ever going to stop!
 
Well I'm kinda new to the herps i started about 4 months ago Ive always had kind of a fear for snakes as a kid. I got a beautiful Brazilian rainbow boa my girlfriends choice and before everyone jumps in on my about the care i researched before i got him i even made a mock tank to make sure i was able to keep the humidity right. I'M NOW ADDICTED I'm getting a gray banded king sometime next week and a pair of pastel balls next month I'm so excited. Snakes make the best pet IMO but you have to love to take care of them i guess its like that with any pet but i have a ritual when i get off work on what i do to keep my skittles happy and healthy.
 
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