New to the house!

[Flatheadhunter3]

Hi everybody,
New to the site here. I tried to post something elsewhere on here but I dont know what happened to it...I might have done something wrong in posting so here goes attempt number 2:)...

Im a 36yr young Marine with a wife and 3 kids. Three things I have loved to do all my life are fish, train martial arts and collect reptiles and bugs and any other animals I could get my hands on...growing up, I used to catch frogs, salamanders, garter snakes and all that stuff...as an adult I have owned a red tail boa (columbian), a western diamond back that I caught on my back patio when I was stationed in California. Countless fish (oscars mostly) and a big goofy rottweiler named Duke (R.I.P.)...anyhow, I hope to learn alot here and meet some good folks who dont mind alot of questions!

[Flatheadhunter3]

Hello everyone,
I thought that I had a post on here somewhere but dont know what happened to it...Im new to the site and looking to soak up some knowledge. I live in Arizona and want to use my garage to house a few pets after I get things ready. My garage normally gets into the upper 90s/low 100s in the summer time...Im looking for solutions to cooling the temps down to something more desirable for snakes...I was planning on starting with either a rosy boa or sand boa and eventually aquire a ball python...I owned a red tail boa and a western diamond back in the past but I was stationed in California at the time...thanks for the help and I look forward to the learning experience here!

[Feebo]

You had a Western Diamond back Rattlesnake and you need to soak up knowledge?! I`d have thought you`d want to be pretty knowledgable about snakes before you own something that can kill you!? Anyway lol welcome to the forum, you`ll like it here it`s a great forum :) Cor it seems odd to have to think about cooling things down for snakes, it`s all about warming things up over here ! lol

[shaunyboy]

hello and welcome,like feebo said over here we certainly dont have to worry about the heat (especially scotland).there will be plenty guys over your way that will have dealt with it.i'm sure once they've read your post they will let you know how they got round the heat problem.its a really good forum with a lot of knowledgable decent folk.you got any pictures of your previous diamond back ?
cheers shaun

[Flatheadhunter3]

Thanks for the welcome! I dont have any pics of my snakes with me at the moment since Im deployed. Got a few at home...lots of good they are doing for me there huh?:rolleyes:

It was really not such a smart way that I ended up with my rattler. When I was stationed in California, I was picking up my kids' toys one day and when I picked a toy picnic table, I found this little guy coiled up right where my kids usually play:eek:!! unlike a lot of folks I know, I dont think that killing snakes is an answer in these cases. Since I had a smaller critter box, I took him inside...I know...not smart at all...

He and my boa became the talk of my street as my kids told eveyone they knew and all their friends would come over to our garage on feeding days. Eventually a few parents came over as well and it really became a bit educational for everyone...after watching the rattler bite the mice and seeing them die, the kids always got to see just how fast and dangerous a rattler can be...so awareness was raised. I guess I was just lucky that no one told any athorities...Im sure I could have gotten into some kid of trouble.

When I moved to Arizona my rattler died while I was in Kuwait...it was in a buddy's care and it just stopped eating one day and died before I came back home. By the way, no one ever handled the rattler except for me...on rare occasions.

[infernalis]

http://www.thamfriends.com/mat.jpg

[shaunyboy]

hello and welcome,theres a lot of good decent folk on this forum,you'll enjoy it here.
cheers shaun

[Geckogal]

Welcome :)

My oscar Sneaky died couple weeks ago, was the cutest lil baby fish i ever kept, they got so much character! So wat reptiles you keep currently?

[marvelfreak]

Hello and welcome! An thank you for all you do for our country. And know we don't mine questions at all. Ask away im sure somebody here can answer them. Oh and by the way we love pictures around here. So feel free to post some of you reptiles.:)

[Flatheadhunter3]

Thanks for the welcome!:)

I dont have any reptiles right now. My rattler died years ago while I was in Kuwait and my boa passed years after that. After I get back off this deployment, I plan to build a vivarium and evetually house a ball python...my real desire is to get a piebald! Those are some really cool looking snakes! I was going to start with Sand Boas and and eventually build my collection from there but now Im thinking about skipping straight to Ball Pythons.

[Geckogal]

Dont forget to post us pics of ur costom build enclosures too :rolleyes: when you finished building it.

[Flatheadhunter3]

Still trying to come up with a good plan...all my other ones have been glass enclosures...since finding this place I've seen a few pics that have me thinking. I want to construct one that will look as natural as possible...I will be sure to get pics though!

[Hillsberry]

Welcome to the site! Can't wait to see some pictures of your snakes.:P

[infernalis]

combined the two "welcome threads" into one. ;)

[siz]

Welcome to the forum!

[Freebody]

hey welcome to the forum. marine, nice im dropping my papers off on monday to join the military, ie armoured soldier :) praying i got the brains to pass the tests.Im not the brightest light bulb but i try hard :P
We want pics...we love pics :)