Everyone asks me why?!

[LDELPLATO]

Hello to all,

My name is Lance if it doesn't show. I currently own a Amel Stripe corn, and have a baby MBK - so thrilled to finally find one in stock! Cannot wait to get a house so I may own big ones.

In the future I hope to get a bull snake and/or Eastern indigo. If my wife cracks the whip it'll be a Speckled Texas King.

I am relatively new in ownership I had a Python years ago and finally got the urge to come back. I'm located in NJ and I've been to the Hamburg expo and my local boring non-hots show.

It's is a good question, why do we like caring for snakes?

[Scubadiver59]

Welcome to sSNAKESs!! :D

[EL Ziggy]

Welcome and best wishes Lance. I keep snakes because they're AWESOME!!!

[ThirteenRavens]

Welcome! MBK are pretty much at the top of my "need" list...lucky find!

[harlequinnz]

Howdy ho, welcome!

[dave himself]

Hi and welcome :)

[LDELPLATO]

Moderator asked me to post in "welcome forum" but I'm not seeing it.....

[Albert Clark]

Welcome Lance. One reason why people keep snakes is their relentless control of the rodent populations. I am speaking mainly about the wild mouse and rat who decimate farming crops, cause disease, and wallow in filthy conditions. The literature has made the snake out to be the bad guy when in actuality they should be held in high esteem and conserved for all the good they do. Even kingsnakes and some of the large colubrids control wild venomous snakes that may harm children and adults.

[akane]

I appreciate the paint canvas and complexity of animals. That's why I won't have racks except as temporary holding such as if I breed and one reason I don't really get into the morphs much. What naturally occurs is fascinating to see. What nature can paint. I can marvel at a baby guinea pig in multiple colors of an odd pattern for 10 minutes so to watch 2, 4, 6+ feet of snake markings slide by is cool to watch the details. The problem I have though is that mammals are so demanding for care and cleaning with constant peeing and pooping. Feed daily or twice daily. Eventually I developed a rodent allergy which extends to my guinea pigs, who I wasn't keeping up with their cages anyway from the fountain of pee they produce, and the chinchillas. I had to cut numbers severely. Snakes are relatively clean, odorless, stay in their cages if you want, and really injure me less often than the freaking cat and a whole lot less than the rabbits. I've got scars from rabbits. We joke on the rabbit raising forum that if end up at the hospital for something they are going to assume we are cutter from all the sharp bloody lines down our wrists and forearms. Rabbit nails can cut so cleanly it's almost like a scalpel where you don't even know you've been cut or how deep until you realize you've streaked your clothes, the cages, and a couple rabbits in blood. I've gone to martial arts with electrical tape strips crisscrossing my arms and going around my wrists and backs of hands to make sure I don't bleed on people. So while people fear snake bites and the big pythons in particular can do some serious damage if things mess up, injury is actually a whole lot less likely than mammals.

Cleaner, quieter, easier, safer if you just pay attention or stay away from the bigger stuff.... in an array of colors and interesting but overall calm (babies can be more jittery of course) behavior to watch. I like natural enclosures with most bioactive (making an ecosystem of bugs and sometimes plants that cleans itself) because really dirt is cleaner than dirty bedding and actually many have noticed benefits to their house and the air to keep large enclosures of natural materials. Add insects and that bit of cleaning you had to do in place of mammals becomes just watering, adding feeding materials between snake poop meals, etc... while the bugs clean the place. Then to design them so you get to see behaviors like watch them choose where to sun and where to cool. Look for prey when hungry. Show their equivalent of boredom if not enough has happened. Watch the dogs and humans through the glass from their basking spot.

There is a varying level of intelligence in each one. They are not dumber than the smaller mammals we keep as pets and they recognize people. Even the ones you don't handle you'll see heads pop out to check the person coming in the room and know who feeds them. Their behavior appears different but aside from certain stronger instincts due to being predators and often ambush predators that tend to be designed so well they change slowly reptiles have all the same behaviors as your other pets. Some can appreciate that where others are too close minded or inexperienced in animal behavior to see anything there.

[LDELPLATO]

wow, thank you Albert and Akane! This was was mot enjoyable and informative. I personally like the natural enclosures and will attempt in my next upgrade to make it active and install a real ecosystem of sorts. Great stuff! Your all gonna get me in trouble.

Thank you again! Please feel free to continue conversation folks. what a delight! I will try to post pictures of my babies tomorrow. My MBK just had it first shed with me.

[LDELPLATO]

Can someone explain to me how I resize photos so that I may show my crew LoL

[Scubadiver59]

Can someone explain to me how I resize photos so that I may show my crew LoL

If you post on Imgur, and then link the URL of the photo to the forum using the "Insert Image" button above the free text area when you're posting (it looks like the moon + mountains on yellow background), it will size it accordingly.

Then, after you submit your post, all you do is click the top of the photo, where it tells you to click to make the image larger, and click again to make it smaller.

[Andy_G]

Why do we like caring for snakes? For me I am fascinated by them, I love how they eat, I love all the shapes, sizes, textures, patterns and colours they come in, I love their low maintenance and the fact that they don't require interaction to flourish but they tolerate handling well. Also when I was little I was allergic to everything with fur, so fuzzy pets were not possible. My parents allowed me to get green anoles and red-sided garters and it graduated from there. STILL allergic to cats and some dogs..but I wouldn't be set on having something digging through a pissy sandbox and then walking over my bed pillow after anyways...

[sattva]

When I was a little boy around 1958 I was living 30 miles south of LA... I happen to of caught a California king snake... For two weeks I hauled that poor thing everywhere until it escaped... In that two weeks I had build a rapport with this animal...

Now that I am retired with nothing to do and my wife telling me for 6 years that I need to get a hobby, I remembered that experience I had as a young boy and thought why not a snake...

I originally thought I'd get one really cool snake; One that would challenge me, an exsotic amimal that I can be proud of.... I knew I like Retics... Their one of the few snakes that looks like the head is in proportion to their body... I saw one with silvery blue eyes and that's what I wanted until my wife said "YOU'RE NOT SPENDING A $1000.oo ON A SNAKE"... So she limits me to $200.oo including the habitat... About the only thing that excited me at the time in my price range was a couple of Albino checkered garter snakes... That's when I learned I don't like small snake that you have feed small living fish twice a week... One thing lead to another and now I have about $1500.oo invested into 5 snakes that I really, really love...

Why Snakes? I like the way they feel in your hands, the fact they have no limbs and still can be intimidating with just a mouth... The fact you don't have to feed them that often compared to lets say like my dog who barks at me every night when he wants something... I like the type of rapport I have with my guys... The fact that I have to gain their trust and them mine... A mutual agreement so to speak... Why do I like snakes? their just so damn cool...

[LDELPLATO]

Andy and Sattva thank you. I just couldn't find the words but you did it for me right here. Thank you for reading and I will try and post some pics now that I got IMGUR

[purplephilia]

Errrr...the only reasons I have for caring for a snake (one so far) is because 1) I love animals in general and 2) IT LOOKS LIKE A RAINBOW!!!! Haha I know that probably sounds bad, but now that I've actually got my rainbow here with me, he is SO much cooler than I imagined he would be. I love this little dude so much! It makes me so happy to see him cruising around on his leafy vine superhighway, taking a little dip in his tub, and just generally exploring for hours.

Also, I gotta say that Steve Irwin's son Robert was kind of my segue into reptiles. I'm 34 now and have always loved reptiles as much as any other animal, but I never thought I could have one as a pet because I'm a little overly sensitive/emotional about critters dying (crickets, mice, rats, etc) and I always assumed snakes were commonly fed live prey. In fact when I was about 8 or 9 I had a pet rat at my mom's house and my mom's boyfriend fed my Minnie to his snake while I was gone (at my dad's during the week). :( But I saw Robert talking about a panther iguana and, long story short, I now have a gargoyle gecko and a rainbow boa and I love both of them so much and it feels so rewarding and comforting and satisfying to care for them and provide for them. I have no maternal instincts whatsoever when it comes to humans but I sure feel it when it comes time to do my daily care routines for my non-human babies.

[purplephilia]

Cleaner, quieter, easier, safer if you just pay attention or stay away from the bigger stuff....
Oh my gosh this too! I was actually joking with my friend the other day that I think I'm becoming one of those people who prefers reptiles over cats and dogs (I'm a huge big time cat lady here) because at least my gecko and snake don't growl constantly (my 3yo cat is not a fan of my 1yo and 8mo) or go tearing around the house knocking crap over all the time.

[Magdalen]

really injure me less often than the freaking cat and a whole lot less than the rabbits. I've got scars from rabbits. We joke on the rabbit raising forum that if end up at the hospital for something they are going to assume we are cutter from all the sharp bloody lines down our wrists and forearms. Rabbit nails can cut so cleanly it's almost like a scalpel where you don't even know you've been cut or how deep until you realize you've streaked your clothes, the cages, and a couple rabbits in blood.

OMG I feel you on this one so much! Hahah I got my first rabbit about 6 years ago. I never was much of a rabbit person (my sisters had them as kids and I thought they were boring other than I liked the Californians) but I saw my Harvey needed a home and I'm a sucker for unwanted animals. But I swear he's turned me into the crazy rabbit lady haha. I love that little nutter but I always joke that rabbits are a**holes, cause well they are. And such big personalities too. And that he puts the cats in their place. He's been sick a few times and I always know when he's not feeling well (doesn't put up a fuss getting meds) and when he's feeling better (I end up with scratches down my arm). I figure if I can medicate a rabbit I can medicate anything.

As for why I keep reptiles/snakes because they interest me and I'm an animal lover of ALL animals. I have a bit of a zoo going.