What age did you realise keeping retiles was for you?

[shmotz666]

when did it become apparant to you that you wanted to keep and maybe even breed reptiles?

i got my first this year, i am 18, but i wanted to keep one since i was 16. :cool:

[Linds]

LOL... before I even knew? I began keeping reptiles when I was 4 years old o>

[shmotz666]

thats really cool though, i mean, you had a great life already planned out, and you didnt even realise, til you were infected with the reptile keeper gene.

kick *** avatar by the way linds, did you take that picture yourself? its wicked.

[CHRISANDBOIDS14]

i keeps frogs from the time i was 6-7, cant remember. but my first reptile was a snake at 10. so the first category is perfect for me!

[672]

I got my first reptile, a veiled chameleon, at 10.

[Lrptls]

i got the worst reptile to own first when i was 10 or so, it was an iguana, it didn't last long =(

[nguyen_inc]

I'm guessing around 8, just like Michele/Lrptls it was a iguana which lasted every short.

[LISA127]

I became interested in and began keeping reptiles at the age of 28. I am now 35. However.........as a child when someone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up my response was (please don't laugh, I was just little!) a turtle trainer!!!! lol And yes, we did have a pet box turtle as kids.

[daver676]

What the hell are retiles? Some type of second hand flooring? :p

[Yve]

i decided to keep them in my 30's..prior to that I moved around alot and could not provide a good stable home for most pets. I've loved reptiles, inverts and many other uncommon creatures since I was little...but I needed to settle down a bit before I would take on the responsibility of keeping one...:)

[mastyx]

I was 34 about 7 years ago when my son decided he had to have a lizard. My husband, boyfriend at the time, and his son had an equana. I went to an exotic pet store and picked out a turtle and a uromastyx after lots of questions and reading on care and feeding. I then took my son to the pet store and let him choose from the two. Part of owning had to come a lot of research which I imposed on my son. If he later lost interest and of coarse he did, he at least learned something. I'm not sure though if he really lost interest or I just took over. I fell totaly in love with the uromastyx he named Jedi. Since than I purchased Laya about 5 years ago, and Chewy about 2 or 3 wks. ago. I don't regret buying my first lizard.

[snakeskin]

Guess I wasstill in kindergarten when i started keeping frogs and salamanders in a bucket..

According to my parents it's gone down hill ever since :)

[m1k3_88]

I dont remember how little i was, it was little though, and i got to pet the retic at some presentation. Ever since then I wanted one, and it took till i was 14 to convince my mom to let me get a reptile.

[reptilesalonica]

My interest for reptiles began since i was 28 (now i am 35).
All my life i had animals, since i was a small child, but never ever met reptiles until June of 1996. I bought one green Iguana, followed 3 days later by an adult green water dragon (here in Greece there are a few herpers dedicated to the hobby) :(
~Greg~

[djc3674]

I was definately no older than 10 when I caught my first garter snake. I kept it for a while...but then felt bad cause I took it from the wild. Then my parents let me buy one from a pet store...(not that, that means anything). He was the best garter snake I ever owned. I used to put gold fish in his water bowl and he loved them. I would get a hand full of worms and he ate right out of my hand without biting me once! Then one day..my mom was spraying around the baseboard heaters...cause she saw ants. She killed my snake...I was so upset. I cried for days. I think she felt worse than I did though..cause she didn't mean to do it.

[wyz]

It started off for us when purchasing a frog eyed gecko for my youngest son (6 years old) , then 2 months after my oldest (8years old) wanted a corn snake.

It started there and then I wanted some (30 years old at the time), then my GF (28 at the time) wanted some olso. Now we have quite a nice collection (in our minds :) ) for oldies that started 2 years ago :)

WYZ

[Linds]

I definitely was one of the lucky ones... my first reptile was an iguana, like many others, however she is still alive today at 20 years old :cool:

Schmotz666,
Thanks! Yup, it was a pic I took of one of my Jamaican boas Halloween of '02 :) Here is the full-sized version...

<img src="http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/508/22slowpokepumpkin2.jpg">

[killaclown]

My first grade teacher had reptiles and ever since then i was hooked. And before that i was hooked on bugs, i went through countles ant farms and kept so man cati[ilers and preys in jars

[Joe]

I was about 18 or 19 when I really started keeping herps, but as a young child I always had garters and turtles and such, so pretty much always, my mother has told me stories of me comeing home with frogs as early as 3 or 4, so they have always been a part of my life I guess!

[marisa]

First reptile in our house was some sort of horned lizard native to California/Nevada. After that I caught lots of wild kingsnakes in Northern and Southern California for the next ten years or so....but never kept any captive snakes myself.

Didn't get my first captive reptile until five years ago which was a couple leopard geckos and then an iguana. Got my first captive snake four years ago and haven't looked back since!

Marisa

[lakeridgekennel]

I have been around reptiles my hole life. My dad has always had them and i got my first one when i was 5. A baby leoperd gecko then a year later i got a baby boa and i still have her today plus more.

[TheRedDragon]

I was about 10 years old or so when my mother brought me over to her friend's house who happened to own a BP and BCI. She took out the BP for me and it curled up on my lap for hours. I knew then that I wanted a snake (or 300), and BAD. :)

[Clownfishie]

I was a bit of a late starter compared to some of you guys -- I guess I was around 20-21 when I got my first herp, an adorable little leopard gecko named Path... soon enough, I decided that she needed a friend, and there was no going back after that. LOL. Now that I'm well and truly addicted, I really can't imagine herps ever not being part of my life...

[ChristinaM]

Got my first dragon just a year ago, at the age of almost 26. Now I am approaching 27 and have:

4 dragons
10, 16, 26 dragon eggs
7 leopard gecko's
3 eggs
1 BRB, no babies cuz she's too young
1 normal corn
1 iguana

( I've been firshkeeping for a few yrs now, breeding included )

[sketchy4]

i got to keep my first leo last year after my uncle really got me into the whole reptile scene.

[bubba]

I was 6 when I caught my first snake, a northern watersnake. All my friends told me it was a water moccasin and it would kill me.

[Yness]

heh
24 years old I was...that would be february of '03 I woke up one morning and decided that I want a snake. Now I'm a man of passing fancy and to be responsible I decided not to rush out and get a snake. I made myself wait. Just to see if it was a fad thing for me. So everynight for about 5 months I came home from work and spent about 2 to 3 hours looking at snakes and reading about them on the internet.

I was obsessed! My brother, whom I live with, and my mother, who I don't live with, finally sat me down and said, "Ok Yness. You've waited long enough. Get a snake."

So I went to petland and held my BRB. I was sold the instant he settled down on me. It was a rookie mistake tho. I would never suggest a brb first. But as you all are aware , snakes are addictive! That was in July. I brought him home in August. In november I happened to be at Cranwill's house with my brother when my brother oh so graciously bought 2 cal kings from him. Later on my brother's fancy with snakes ended and they became MY snakes...more to come this summer too!!!!

[susan]

i was about 5,and my first pet snake was when i was 9.

[creepiecrawlie]

I have loved repitles my whole life. I got my first one at 5 years old. It was an oketee cornsnake. Before that I always brough spiders, snakes, lizards,frogs, and any herp I could find then my mom got tired of me doing that and to me to get a snake.