Bluekat
New member
I am a single father with 3 sons. The oldest is 9. I also have a small collection of reptiles, mainly snakes, that I have kept for nearly 15 yrs. Since my children were old enough to walk and keep up with Dad, we have taken nature hikes and I have tried to educate my children on the different types of snakes that naturally occur in our area. When my oldest son was 5, he collected a banded water snake(which he still has) while we were on one of our hikes. When he turned 6 he purchased (with his own money) a pair of hatchling cornsnakes. I have educated him with the small amount of knowledge that I have and he has read every snake book that I have and now his corn snakes are adults and he is waiting for his first clutch to hatch. So now we are getting to my peeve. My son has a genuine interest in snakes and he saves his own money to purchase them. I do not allow them to get on the internet unsupervised, but we usually check out different herp related sites together, and if he sees something he likes and has the money for, I usually make the arrangements. I am honest with the people we deal with and sometimes that honesty blows up in our face. I have contacted several different people(breeders) about purchasing some of their animals and I usually let them know that my son is actually making this purchase( a sense of pride on my part) and 9 out of 10 times they will try to get us to purchase a completely different animal than what they have advertised. For example: 0.1 adult Ghost corn for sale. We answer that ad and our reply is usually, "that animals is inappropriate for your son, but I have this normal looking corn that would be perfect for your son and I will let it go for the same price." Now unless I missed something, a corn is a corn, some good some bad. I feel as if the are trying to make a buck by scamming my son by trying to sell him a $75 snake for $150. He has already been ripped by some dude in florida who had a couple of snakes listed on reptibid and my son sent his hard earned $250 and never received a thing. I (used) to enjoy meeting and dealing with fellow herpers, but in the last 7 or 8 yrs it seems as if the real meaning and privilige of owning these animals has been so twisted that the herp community is now a community full of scammers, rip-off artist and general low-lifes that will scam a 9 yr old. I also know that there are also genuine herp lovers, who are into herps with all good intentions, but how can you tell the scammers from the real deal. I feel that my son has the knowledge to raise most any non venomous reptile ( excluding large constrictors) and I know that he probably has more knowledge than those who spend a wad of money for high end herps and are doing it only to make a buck and have only been doing it for a couple yrs. Am I to deprive my children of the joy of watching a sand boa crawl under the sand. Should I only let them keep what we can find on our hikes. I have tried to teach my children the value of conservation and have tried to teach them about the benefits of CAPTIVE BRED, but then some asshole rips my son for $250 or he tries to sell him a cheaper animal at the "morph" price. So now what has my children learned. That the benefits of captive bred is sending your money just to line someone elses pocket. That conservation means save the wild animals , but dont buy from the breeder because you may or may not get what you paid for. I guess the best lesson learned is to buy only from a reputable breeder, but then how is my son going to sell his first hatchlings. Or for that matter, in the words of my son. " Dad. who is going to buy your babies". My views of being able to own and care for these animals is that its a privilege,and being such we should also be educators. That is how it used to be, but not anymore. My son was educated in the way the world really works. How working for your money, cleaning up peoples garages, raking their leaves, running their errands and all the other crappy little jobs he took just to have the money to be able to have and do something that he loves, only to have that HARD earned money taken(stolen). Does this make for a good impression on what a little hard work will reward him with? I dont think so, but then again I am just a small time hobbyist. I usually give my left over animals to the kid down the street who doesnt have a dime, or to my childrens school hoping that the other children can learn the joy of reptiles. I have since replaced the $250 that my son was ripped and I now I feel that the hobby that I have had and have loved doing for the last 15 yrs has now gotten tarnished by the actions of a few people who are either in the hobby strictly for the almighty buck, or the scammers ($200 for captive bred ball python with african ticks) WOW!!! So now I am left in a delimma. I have tried to explain to my children that there are people who would actually do them harm for their money, but then this leads to mistrust and I as a parent think that we have to have some trust, or my sons teachers will have a big problem. I guess I just had to vent, but I also feel that being a reptile hobbyist for 15 yrs I do know a little about their care, and being a single parent for the last 4 yrs I do know my children and their capabilities when it comes to keeping reptiles. So when someone tells ME that the snake we are trying to buy is inappropriate, just so they can sell the "normal" for the "morph" price, it makes me more irritable than a bullsnake being probed with a fence post and when they actually steal my childrens money I am about as personable as a wild caught 15 ft retic. My children love reptiles and snakes in general. They have had their instances, as we all have when the snake just didnt want to be held, was in blue and that hasnt deterred their interst a bit. But then someone has to rip them off and that hurts them more than any nip a snake could ever inflict.
