When did you start and why?

[DAND]

The other day I was wondering when did someone decide to keep herps as pets? I remember as a kid going to pet shops and seeing only cats, dogs, birds, rabbits and other assorted rodent like critters available as pets.

Now as a youngster I had kept whatever little snakes I go my hands on (with the exception of the rattlesnake my Uncle slapped out of my hands and killed but I'm sure that was due to his fear for my safety) as pets (I made little outdoor enclosures since I had to hide this from my Mother who was extremely afraid of snakes).

So when did you start and why. Did someone bring you into the reptile world or was it seemingly genetically predisposed like I seem to have been since both my parents feared snakes.

I started back as far as I can remember catching snakes growing up in Pennsylvania. There was nothing but a field behind my house and down at the end of the road was a stream and then it was up the mountain. I quickly found out that garter snakes ate frogs when my "pet frogs" were disappearing and my pet snakes were getting fatter. Then one day I witnessed this and then I was hooked more so on reptiles. I'd have to say this happened between the ages of 4 and 6 years of age and I have been flipping rocks and logs ever since and still enjoy doing so.

 

[PyBoa1964]

My fascination with reptiles started when I was very young ( 5 or 6 years of age). The why, I have no idea cause my parents had nothing to do with reptiles. I can remember my Grandparents lived on the river and me and my cousin used to catch snakes, turtles and lizards by the rivers edge. I remember having snake and reptile books at a very young age and also going to the library and checking out snake books.

My Dad brought me a snake (don't remember to this day what kind it was) in a big ol pickle jar with holes in the lid when I was about 9 or 10 years old. I never held it because it would try to bite every time I opened the lid. I guess it was pissed being an almost 2 foot snake in a glass pickle jar. And now that I am typing this I think it was a speckled kingsnake.

We moved to a house that was on a private lake when I was around 12 or 13 years old and thats when the herping really started. Made my first snake stick out of a one of those yard sticks that was squared on every side. Used a clutch cable (from my dirt bike) as a noose to close around the snakes. Would catch copperheads that I found under the aluminum boat my uncle left on the lake bank to check the trot lines. Would go out in the boat and catch big water snakes with my home made snake noose too. All snakes I caught I kept outside cause my Mom would not let any snakes in the house. Would keep them for a while then let them go where I caught them (except the poisonous ones). Now that I am reminscing about it, I had alot of fun herping when I was a kid.

 

[bakew13]

I also started as a young kid. There was a big field behind our houses with tall grass and small ponds that we called "snake country". My friends and I spent the majority of our childhood in snake country catching all the reptiles and amphibians we could get our hands on.

Unlike most, one of the better qualities of my mom was that she allowed me to bring home the herps I caught. They weren't allowed in the house but we had a 20 gallon tank on our back porch for our many temporary pets. (of course after a few days my mom made us take them back and release them)

When I was a little older my sister returned home from college and had purchased a RTB. I immediately knew I to wanted to own a snake. However for reasons still unknown my mom did not allow me to own one while living in her house. I moved out, my sister got a masters degree in herpetology and bought me my first ball python. Been hooked ever since... guess it was a mixture of my childhood interest and a push from my sister that got me into reptiles. and im sure glad I did!

 

[crissabella]

For me, it was when i was a little girl, and i went downstairs and saw my dad's snake room for the first time. I just remember being in awe and fascinated by every single snake, in every single enclosure, just the way they moved, the way they flicked their tongues, and also the way my dad handled them with such respect.
My dad taught me that snakes were animals to be respected, not feared, and as soon as i could, i went out exploring the woods in our backyard, hoping to find something. The two i remember finding were an Eastern Garter, and an Eastern Hoggnose, which i haven't come across since.
I just want to thank my dad for introducing me to the wonderful world of snakes, because they have brought me so much joy into my life.

And it looks like my 8 year old niece is following in my dads and my footsteps. She always asks to see my animals when she is visiting, and will spend hours in the room, just looking at them in their enclosures.

 

[DAND]

I envy those who did and will have parental involvement in getting into herps. I guess that's why I go out of my way to help those who are interested in herps.

 

[danthebugman]

I'm genetically predisposed to having herps . When I was a kid I'd hunt down and capture all kinds of native critters, though snakes have been and continue to be my favorites. When I was 13 I got my first "pet" snake, a snow corn. My parents were always pretty supportive as long as I took care of my catches and they didn't get loose. One of my earliest memories of a snake comes from when I was a kid and I found a white hognose snake under a bush in the back yard...if only I'd known about genetics like I do today . Now that I have a kid of my own, I'm very glad to see him get excited to "help out" when I'm doing stuff with the snakes.

 

[Helenthereef]

It has to be a predisposition. No family herpers and no access to herps as a kid, but at 6 or 7 years old I had a collection of rubber snakes when other girls had dolls.

Didn't get my hands on real live snakes until I left home at 21 - began with Garter snakes, then Corn & Rat snakes, then Ball Pythons and Boas and after that it was anything I could lay my hands on!

 

[edf01]

Very fun thread!

I dont know what really started it- I always liked snakes. I never went herping- only saw snakes in the wild occasionally b/c i never went looking for them.

My dad got me a garter snake when I was younger. My parents were divorced, so no snake at mom's house. Sadly the garter didnt last long, but i loved him very much ( was named snakey...lol)

I didnt get into snakes again til way after college. My b/f said he was goign to a reptile show and he was getting a bp no matter what I said ( classic didnt want me to talk him out of it b/c we knew next to nothing about them! luckily we bought from a breeder who gave us info that was good as apposed to pet store)

Eventually, I moved into an apartment with my b/f, and i wanted a snake of my own, not a shared snake. And the addiction grew from there!

There has always been something so mystical about the snakes! Maybe because they have no legs but can still move....LOL.

Plus, havign a b/f who is allergic to anything with fur kinda limted what animals we can keep...

 

[polasian]

Why did I start?...I have no clue. I've always wondered why I enjoy working with herps...I could never figure it out, though. When some see a snake, fear and adrenaline kick in. When I see a snake, joy and endorphins kick it (Sensei, no freudian analogies, please ). I've given up on trying to understand why that is.

I guess its for the same reasons why I prefer a certain color over another. It makes me peaceful, brings me joy. That's the best I can come up with ...I have no logical explanation for it. Genetic predisposition I guess.

 

[hoppingherps]

I would have to say I also started my herp fascination at a very young age. I grew up around waycross Ga near the swamp. Literally the backyard of one of my grandparents homes was backed up to swamp. I would catch green trees on the side of the house, and even run into the occasional pygmy rattler. I did not mess with any of the venomous at first, and my grandfather never really killed any. He would show me up close, and tell me a long drawn out story about him running into way more pygmy rattlers in his day living in the swamp.
My favorite story would have to be when he was about 10 or so of age. He was walking out to an outhouse and stepped on a rather large spreading adder(eastern hognose for those who have not heard them called that). It was black and promptly did its best to be a Georgia cobra He said he had to clear 6 feet in a single jump and from that point on always waved a stick around in front of him as he walked. Back then they thought those hogs were the deadliest.
Now as for the true keeping aspect it did not really start until I was in the hospital with cancer. I developed a fascination to read every freakin book I could get a hold of on reptiles. Once I got home from there the sickness(as my grandad calls it ) hit hard. I had wall to wall herps all the way through my later childhood. Now with a wife( who loves them just as much as me), and a child of my own I just see it as passing down a new family tradition. Both go road herpin with me, and one my fondest memories is of my wife walking in front of my car barefoot and 7 months pregnant catching frogs in toads as I followed her on a rural road.

 

[Casey Hulse]

Genetic predisposition for sure. Always loved "wild" animals. As a child in Calif we would catch Aligator Lizards and Skinks, always on the lookout for a gopher snake or Kingsnake. I do not remember having them as pets though, so we must have released them. My first reptile pet was my fav, a reg. BCI.

 

[Sammich]

As a kid i loved animals. Since my mom is super allergic to cats (and hates them) when i was growing up she extended her allergy-ban to include ANYTHING with fur so that pretty much just left goldfish and herps. Every summer we would go to our summer vacation house (which we moved into later when i was in high school) which was surrounded by woods and across from our driveway & dirt road there is a little pond. Every summer, and after we had moved permanently, i would go down to the pond usually in the morning and catch anything and everything i could find. I would catch eastern painted turtles, garter and ribbon snakes, pickerel, leopard and bull frogs, big snapping turtles, crayfish, spring peepers (the tiny treefrogs) and in the woods around the house redbacked salamanders. I had a great time and those are some of my fondest memories. I loved the snapping turtles the most and one year a big female dug a nest in the flowerbed in our yard. I covered the spot with chicken wire to keep out the skunks and raccoons and couldn't wait for them to hatch! Oh, the good ol days

 

[Southern Wolf]

When I got hooked and when I started are two entirely different timelines.

I got hooked on snakes thanks to my 8th grade Earth Sciences teach Mr. Kennon. He kept at least 3 snakes in the classroom along with other assorted critters. He would even bring in his personal pet which in 8th grade looked huge on special occasions. I believe it was a full grown adult RTB. One day a juvie western black rat decided I was going to eat it and tore me up trying to defend itself. From that point on... I was hooked. Here is a snake the size of a pencil holding its ground to a giant. Now it seems like everyone asks me... why in the world do you keep them. My stock answer is because I want to be different.... but in reality... the way I see it is.... here we have an animal that has no arms and no legs and is thriving. Could we do that. Im gonna say... nope.

As to keeping them... My parents were against it. My mom is terrified of snakes and I can only assume that dad didnt want to rock the boat (who can blame him... he dont want to sleep on the couch LOL) So I wasnt able to get my first as a pet till I moved out and went to college at 18.

Now I have a small collection and a small breeding business with the animals that I am addicted to.

 

[DAND]

For a short while I was staying with my sister and she couldn't understand why I was into snakes and other reptiles. She hated me having them but every weekend she would have people over specifically to see my critters. One of her friends wanted to see something eat so I decided to feed one of my burms. His enclosure had a 4' high by 3' wide plexiglass window in it's door. I fed through a 4" PVC cap which he quickly picked up as the source where his food came from. Well my sister was drinking that night (well, that wasn't much of a change) and actually stayed to watch him eat this time. As it turned out he killed and ate the large rat not a foot from my sister's astonished gaze while she sat on the floor with her forehead pressed against the window. After the 10 minutes or so it took him to eat it and reset his jaw she said "that was @#$%^%! cool!". I then told her that was why I kept reptiles. It is like watching the Discovery channel without the interruption of commercials.

 

[Sammich]

It is like watching the Discovery channel without the interruption of commercials.

I concur!!

 

[radiotrash]

Guess I'll break the trend. I had no interest in snakes or reptiles of any kind when I was younger. I've only really got interested in them about two years ago? I had a friend get me into them and that's when I started to find snakes fascinating and cute.

 

[DAND]

Guess I'll break the trend. I had no interest in snakes or reptiles of any kind when I was younger. I've only really got interested in them about two years ago? I had a friend get me into them and that's when I started to find snakes fascinating and cute.

I knew there had to be at least one of you like this out among the Fauna membership. So how hard were you hit by the addiction? Is your want list longer than you have list? Or is just one or two to your liking?

 

[Tiger Lilly]

I'm going to have to say I must've been genetically predisposed to reptiles; I certainly had no one to foster a liking for them with a single mother raising me most of my childhood.
My first encounter with one was when we moved to the country and my step-father killed an unknown type of snake when I was 12. He tried to chop the head off of this little creature that couldn't even have been a foot long. I felt bad that he did such a bad job & the snake was still moving, so I picked it up by the tail and carried it around hoping it would die soon and not suffer. I had also heard that a snake wouldn't technically 'die' until the sun went down and I wanted to see if it were true. I don't remember when it actually died, but I buried it. I have been fascinated ever since and got my first boa when I was 17...and out of the house where they were not allowed! I've had at least one snake (boas or balls) almost consistently ever since--some 30+ years now.

 

[NicoleSB220]

I didn't really care for them either...I got into this by complete accident. My ex husband did this as a hobby..got out of it...then got back in the last time 2 years ago with geckos and snakes. Decided about 6 months in that he didn't want to do it anymore. He sold the snakes I kept the geckos. I have a secondary Biology degree...so handling reptiles wasn't new to me...but I have never kept them as a pet until now. Now I am thought of as the crazy gecko lady...but I like it..

 

[Papa Wyrm]

I've always loved em as kids, but it was sorta my kids that got me into it...i caught a little skink at a jobsite in autumn(it was cool so the little bugger was moving slow) and brought it home for my kids to see. i was planning on letting it go, but my oldest son(then 8) begged to keep it. i told him if he was to keep it he had to research it and tell me what it needed for care. this kid amazed me. he found the species, and gave me a list of stuff he needed. we got it and he kept that lil lizard alive for over a year. when it died, i told him i felt he was responsible enough to get something more involved. he researched beardies. we got one...and off to the races we went. now i..err we have 7 beardies and i'm paying off my 6th Ball Python lol. My office is a desk in the corner and cages lining the walls and i love em. my only hope is that breeding them in the next few years will help pay for the hobby, i could care less if i ever make a dime beyond that with em. Its also a hobby that brings all 3.1 kids and my wife and I joy together!!