Why do you keep reptiles?

[Crotalus75]

As long as I can remember I have been completely captivated by reptiles especially snakes. I can think of several defining moments that lead my life down the road to ophidian fanaticism.

I remember finding my first snake (Heterodon platyrhinos) behind my grandmothers pool when I was about 3 years old. It was a life changing experience to see this little critter spread it's neck, vomit toads and roll on its back and play dead. I had never seen anything so fantastic in all of my little world.

I recall numerous family trips to the Field Museum and Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. I would spend hours just staring at the numerous preserved specimens (especially the anaconda....I dreamed of seeing a snake that size!). I loved trying to learn all of their exotic latin names and I was amazed at how many gorgeously different specimens of reptiles and amphibians there were. The HUGE alligator snapping turtle at the aquarium took up quite a bit of my time too, although I always hated to see him in such a tiny aquarium.

Camping was something that my family did several times a year when I was a kid. I would spend most of my time looking for unusual arthropods, amphibians and reptiles. I would often see snakes that had been beaten to death on the trail. This would always break my heart and I wondered why anyone would want to hurt or kill something that I saw such intense beauty and harmony in.

These are just a few of the many defining moments of my scaly little world as I was growing up.

These animals were not something that I had to learn to appreciate. They have always been like a fine painting or a symphony orchestra that would play in my mind every time I saw one of these animals scoot across the leaf litter or poise in perfect position to ambush a passing mouse. To me they are evolutionary adaptation at its finest creative moment.

What has started out as a curiosity has literally become my lifes passion (if not obsession!). With each passing year I become more enamored with the mystery and splender of these magnificent organisms.


I am currently finishing a BS in biology with a minor in Chemistry at the University of Missouri. I plan to obtain a doctoral degree in Zoology at the UF Gainesville or University of Maimi. The one thing that drives me to put myself through this punishment more than any other is SNAKES. I love these animals so much that I want to spend the rest of my life working with snakes and learning absolutely everything I can about these fantastic organisms.

Whats your reptile story? Why do you keep these animals? I am curious to hear about other reptile fanatics experiences that shaped their passion for these animals.

[mykee]

Wow, intense. I like to watch them slither.

[burmer]

I had an area near my house when I was a kid. It was ripe with rat snakes, garters, racers and all kinds of other herps. I started off catching garters and was hooked. I can't remember a time when I didn't keep some type of reptile.

[Dani33]

When I was 2 or 3, a neighbour of ours had some sort of python. My mom let me hold it - I loved it. Once we moved to Ontario, my brother and I would always go field herping. We used to catch snappers, painters, fox snakes, garters, toads, frogs, crayfish - anything we could find. These are some of my best childhood memories! We would keep em for a day or two and let em go. We would go whenever we had the chance. Funny, we would find em and I would always have to be the one to pick them up! My brother was always afraid of them! All the other girls were afraids of them - lol. I have almost always been interested and kept something reptilian.

[Linds]

As a kid I was always out in the garden catching garters, or in the window wells catching toads.
When I was 4 years old it was decided I could have my very own pet. We had always had dogs, but I wanted something of my own. My mom sent me and my dad off to the pet store to get my first pet (a hamster), well much to my mom's dismay, we came home with an iguana (who is still alive today :D).

I guess history has a huge part of it, but in addition to that, some of the reasons I keep them these days are...
-they are greatly misunderstood
-beautiful and fascinating
-low maintenance
-unlike people, you get what you see... no hidden agendas, no lies

[chas*e]

I have always been interested in snakes as long as I can remember...never was afraid of them ....I keep them now because ..Soon,the only ones you will be able to see are the ones that we have.........

[C.m.pyrrhus]

I am allergic to hair :D

[Crotalus75]

LOL :)

[cpt_retic]

caus' my retic bite hurts less then the dogs haha. I live for the (ooohhh aahhhhs then running and screaming routine)haha

[Bartman]

I just find them so incredibly facinating..basically the same as you crotalus..Whenever i see any reptile anywhere i just want to grab it and see what kind it is or just look at it for a little..My first snake encounter in the wild was not to long ago..up at my cottage i saw a garter snake and that just made me love the animals even more.

Since all this reptile/exotic pet owning my life has changed quite a bit. My new "dream" i guess you could say is wanting to go to somewhere like australia or africa to field herp with a friend or something. Just something i would almost die for, the experience to see beutiful creatures..up here in toronto you cant really see much at all, except an occasional toad :)

So basically i keep them because, at the present moment, im not able to go and see them in the wild..it keeps me close to the species, right in my own house :)

[SerpentLust]

hehe my turn:

Since I was old enough to read at 3 years of age, I've been reading and learning everything I can about snakes. When I was 6 years old my mom and dad moved me to a house with a pool and I would get many toads and frogs in it. I've never been the squeamish girl type.

I've always handled anything that I found interesting, like bugs, amphibs...but it took me a long time to actually find my first snake.

When I was 13 years old I handled my first snake. I was at an antique store with my cousin, aunt and mother, bored out of my mind, so I went on a mini hike through the woods nearby with my cousin. She found a toad and trying to act like me picked it up (I knew how disgusted she really was).

And then I heard it, a rustling in the leaves, I looked down and I had found a garter snake. I didn't know how to handle it and I didn't want it to bite me, so I picked it up like I saw my dad's friend do once when we were in BC and it didn't squirm that much or anything, and I brought it to show mom.

So as far as actually seeing them and such. Unfortunately I had only seen two in the wild and then there were museums and zoos. But I was always so intrigued by them. And I have to largely thank my parents. They never discouraged me, they never told me that girls don't play with icky things, they never yelled when they found a renegade toad in my room or a frog in the bathroom sink.

And then when I was 16, my herp collecting Began, it's hard to think that I've only owned pet herps for 3 years. The amount of information I've learned and everything I've learned from them, it feels like I've had them all my life.

But they've always been in my head and in my heart :)

Jenn

[JD@reptiles]

come to think of it i should be afraid of reptiles. when i was 3 my parents brought me into the desert on vacation. they heard a rattle and started to go look for the snake. so they were bringing me through the desert and i was so afaid i was shaking. i just wanted to go back i was in tears and everything. and we never found the snake.

Second experience was when i was 4 i got the tip of my almost taken off by a big common snapper

and later on that year i finally got up the courage to go pick up a garter snake. and ofcourse it bites me. but after all childhood crap i got over it when i was about 5. than i caught lots of garters and kept one as a pet for a while. than got a corn snake, than a ball python, than a ribbon snake, than a rough green snake than lampros and just took off from there.

[~Suntiger~]

I too have many similar childhood memories as the rest of you, and personally nothing beats the feel of a snakes scales or even just watching the way that they move. And since I've started keeping animals I've taken them along to all my family functions in attempt to spread the love to my relatives -- and I can't wait to be the eccentric aunt once my sister starts having kids lol. I think it's very important to try and educate people whenever possible, as these creatures are so misunderstood by so many. I even used to take them to school, and my teachers were so interested that they'd let me talk through the entire class about snakes. Lots of fun! When it comes down to it, my creatures are my kids and I can't imagine life without them.

[SerpentLust]

Suntiger: me too! Whenever I possibly could, I would circle a class presentation around my Spotted Python. Anything to show her off and educate people about her.

I even did a presentation on Indian Pythons and I was like, "And now, a different kind of python I brought for a feeding demonstration" lmao

Jenn

[Crotalus75]

"And I have to largely thank my parents. They never discouraged me, they never told me that girls don't play with icky things, they never yelled when they found a renegade toad in my room or a frog in the bathroom sink."

My parents (and grandparents) were very supportive and tolerant of my interest in reptiles when I was a kid also. I think that their support was one of the main reasons I was able to really develop an intense passion for these animals.

[lolaophidia]

My folks never appreciated my interest in the scaley critters. As a child I caught any animal too slow to get away and wanted to keep it (ducks, squirrels, rabbits, snapping turtles, sliders, green snakes, garters, black rats, chain kings, etc...). My improvised housing rarely worked out and so there would be a second round of catching in the house. My father is deathly afraid of snakes so the snakes loose in the house were the thing that got me most in trouble. I always read anything I could get my hands on about reptiles (still do). Once I started college, a reptile shop (I shudder now to think about some of their conditions) opened in town and I spent a lot of time there. I loved when they'd get a shipment in and wouldn't know what was in the bags. Half the time I don't think they knew what the snakes were once they came out of the bags. I bought a couple of asian "garters" from them, one of which ended up being a Amphiesma stolata and figured out how to care for them. Moved on to northern banded waters, black rat snakes, corns, chinese water dragons, various geckos, lots of North American rat snakes, just to name a few. Rat snakes are still my favorites, though now I keep mainly asian varieties.
I love learning about snakes, observing them both in my home, zoos, and in the wild. I just think they are facinating creatures- one of the wonders of the natural world. A great means of studying genetic diversity in the captive environment.
Ok, I'm done! ;)

[Edwin]

-always found them fascinating
-low maintenance (suits my lifestyle)
-not much interest in other pets

[Bartman]

Like some of you said, my parents also didnt dis-encourage my intrest. They told me they'd rather see me go toward this kind of stuff and spend my money on reptiles other then things that would be harmful to me (ex drugs!) It worked! :)

[jim mcallister]

-fascinating and beautiful

[BoidKeeper]

I am allergic to hair
Not me but my parents. I wanted a pet so they got me a turtle because of their allergies, that was when I was 13.
Since then I've only gone one year with out a herp. In 2001 I got my firt corn snake. Once I got my own house with my own herp room I was able to grow my collection to aprox 30 snakes.
For me it's not just about keeping any herp it's about keeping the best herps I can find or afford. By that I mean I try to find a Canadian breeder who is known for working with one animal for a long time. Those are the people I buy from, not pet shops or importers.
Cheers,
Trevor

[Soul_Reaper]

I've never had any life changing experiences or revelations that made me want reptiles...i was actually scared of snakes and such when i was a child. But as i grew older and the Discovery channel became available i started learning more and more, until i decided to buy my first one...

They are very intersteing animals and very fun to keep. That's the reason why i keep mine.

[drewlowe]

I've never used to be a big fan of snakes, but boy did i love lizards and toads growing up. I remember going down to the country (rocky and lots of hills and trees). Catching blue racersand collard lizards, i remember asking my mom why thier tails fell off (as i was crying cause i thought i really hurt one, ahhh those were the days.) My grandpa also had a nice pond that had TONS of toads in it along with a few fish. I would go out their just watching the toads for hours on end, and of course catching, playing then releasing them back. It never failed, anytime my grandpa would show me a snake i would take off running. Don't know why cause i would always have to be the first to hold a lizard, toad, or frog.



Originally posted by ~Suntiger~
I can't wait to be the eccentric aunt once my sister starts having kids lol.

HAHA my nephews call me Aunt Freak, (they have since i was 18)... cause of my tattoos and now all my reptiles. Everytime i see 2 of my nephews they BEG me to come up so they can see my herps. It's great knowing i have a huge influence of them. The youngest one loves getting snake skins from me i think his collection is up to 5 skins. then his older brother (12) always askes me tons of questions and he shares the information that he reads. It's great knowing that they may help me inform the rest of my family that herps are GOOD!!!!

[Tim and Julie B]

Well I have always been fascinated with amphibians:D Funny that I don't currently own any though. I remember when I was about 4 we moved into a trailer on this old dirt road. There were plenty of trees behind it, with tons of trails and such. On the other side of the road was the same, but it was owned by some horse breeders so they cleared a lot of it for pasture, but left all the creek area alone. The creek ran from thier side of the road to ours via a water duct and filled up this "pond" right by my house.

Now, both of my parents have thier fears: my mom hates frogs and my dad hates snakes. Go figure! So of course I had to scare the pants off of them at every given opportunity, right? I used to go to that little pond and flip over rocks. I found so many salamanders and frogs I would spend hours there every day. I used to bring them home all of the time and would keep them for a little while then let them go back in the pond. I have always feared snakes though. Even still I cannot understand thier body language and seem to make them mad when I hold them. So when I was little I used to tell my dad how much I wanted to learn about them and that I was scared but wanted to be brave anyways......so he used to look for garters for me, trying to put on a brave face for his little girl....white knuckles and gritting teeth he would find them and hold them for me. Hahahahaha kids always play thier parents!:D

Then I met Tim. That was the most pivotal point in my herp life. I always loved reptiles, but had no idea that you could go into a pet store and "buy" one as a pet. Or that you could buy crickets to feed them! Tim had always kept something and when we first met he had anolis. (low maintenance, but fun cause he was in college and didn't have too much spare time) I used to watch them a lot and started to read lots of reptile books. I remember looking through one book and coming across a pic of a leopard gecko. I fell in love and told Tim that I wnated to get one. I hummed and hawed for a good 3 or 4 months, not wanting to spend $100 at the pet store, plus the cage and stuff. Then Tim came home one day, about a week before my b-day and asked my if I still wanted one. I said or course and he told me he had just bought a 33 for me and that he also bought me a leo from our best pet store. I was so excited I didn't want to wait to bring it home, so we picked her up the next day! Now I have quite the collection of them and never get bored. Many people think they are beginner reptiles and that only an amatuer would still keep them, or breed them for that matter, but BAH!!! They are fascinating non the less and I will always keep them. I am always learning something new with them and love every moment. Sure, I have other reptiles, but leos are my true love I guess:D Next of course would be our turtles and tortoises:D

That's about it though. Blame Tim....it's all his fault!:D

Julie

[drewlowe]

Originally posted by Tim and Julie B
Many people think they are beginner reptiles and that only an amatuer would still keep them, or breed them for that matter, but BAH!!! They are fascinating non the less and I will always keep them. I am always learning something new with them and love every moment. Sure, I have other reptiles, but leos are my true love I guess:D

I agree Leos where my first "offical" herp and i will continue to always have at least 3-5 in my collection. Can't have just one leo. LOL

[Mr.Lizard]

When I was little one of the most exciting things for me was the heart pounding anticipation and exhiliration of flipping over a piece of plywood or other debris and finding a coiled garter hiding beneath it.
There was never a time in my life when I didn't love reptiles and amphibians.
Their nature and appearance was always far more interesting than that of mammals or birds.
My wife has yet to understand my fascination with these creatures that she sees as ugly.
To me they are living jewels,finely crafted and delicately tiled in exquisite detail.
I'm originally from Michigan where the variety of herps is rather limited,garter snakes,a couple of turtle species,some frogs and toads and the occasional salamander.
Like Crotalus,I was really upset when I'd find a reptile that'd been intentionally harmed or killed and couldn't understand how or why someone would do such a thing to such compelling creatures.
I was so excited as a kid moving to Florida,we've got all kinds of herps here,gators and glass snakes and green anoles are a few which fascinated me most.
I have landscaped my yard to encourage the herp life I love so much. We have several species of frogs taking up permanent residence in one of our three ponds and glass snakes and black racers which are attracted to our low growing shrubs.

--Kevin--

[reverendsterlin]

I've kept snakes, scorps, and tarants nearly all my life. I can sit and watch them and relax just as well as watching fish in a tank. I guess I keep them because they make me happy.