Epiphany - (awakenings)

[infernalis]

Ok here is a topic for you all, can you put a finger on the exact moment that you suddenly decided that you simply must have a pet snake??

What factor forever changed who you are?

I'll start......

I have always been fascinated with snakes, yet maintained a casual stance, pick em up, say hi, put them down. I was that way for more years than some of you have been alive.

Then one day, Samantha (My daughter) captured Xena and asked if we could keep "it", we were living in a rental and Mr. Landlord did not want any pets. But I asked anyway, he said sure as long as we keep it in the fish tank.

That was the first winter we ever had a snake in the house, and honestly it marked the end of ever spending another winter without a snake in the house:D

Then Xena had babies....... THE END:eek::D:p

[Garter_Gertie]

Mine truly was an epiphany. I can be really stupid and slow sometimes, not being able to see the forest for the trees.

Mine came when Dave said, "Why don't you get your own garter snake?" when I asked if I could keep Winnie at my place during the week. It truly never occurred to me to get my *own* snake. MY OWN SNAKE! Never thought o'that.

Since then there's been no looking back. Nor will there be any going back.

Sure wish I'd discovered snakes a long time ago.

[punky_jen]

I was 14 i think, had was going to adopt a kitten from a local cats home (we got a kitten by the way) and there was a show with reptiles on at the centre, a big albino burm was there, and that was it for me. I still dont have a burm, but i will do one day.

Got my first snake, which was a corn a few yrs back.

[Stefan-A]

Ok here is a topic for you all, can you put a finger on the exact moment that you suddenly decided that you simply must have a pet snake??
Yes and no. I've pretty much always known that I'd get a snake. What finally triggered it, was when I realized how common they had become and that frozen mice were available in my local pet store. To give some context, it only became legal to import exotic pets in the late 1980's, so the entire hobby was up until then in the hands of people with snakes smuggled into the country illegally or in the hands of people who were breeding animals imported before the ban. If you ignore those people, then the keeping reptiles as pets is a very new thing here and the hobby is still growing quickly.

Suddenly all practical reasons why I couldn't keep snakes disappeared just like that.

[Sid]

Wayne, My start was much the same as your's. I would find them and play with them as a child (and knew if I were caught by my parents the snake was domed). I married in 1966 and was visiting a pet store that had two Eastern Garters for $2.00 each. Those came home with me.

My wife being terrified of snakes, I only kept most short term. Catch and use to educate scout troops, etc. Then a few years ago I set up a reptile room and have them ever since.

[infernalis]

Sid - I was blessed as a child, my mom was addicted to Garter snakes already, and I think she was the first one to introduce me to them.

But that was back when she used to take us out in her Buick convertible with the top down, jamming out to the in dash 8 track:D

Luckily, she got to see and hold Xena a few times before she suddenly had a heart attack and passed away.

We moved out of the rental, and as a new homeowner now have the freedom to add as many snakes, lizards, mammals and whatever we want.

Mom had this "extra" living room, one that no one ever "lived" in, well after my sister decided she needed all the display items from out of there, Dorothy and I decided to make it into a reptile room.

Some day when it is close to finished, I'll back up and take a big picture.

[ssssnakeluvr]

hmmm..I was always catching them when I was a kid...finally in 1980, my freshman year of high school I built a big snake cage....I acquired my first garters then and have had them pretty myuch since then, along with numerous other herps.

[gregmonsta]

After always playing with lizards and slow-worms when I grew up in Germany the idea of owning a pet snake was always at the back of my mind ... one day (approx age 14/15) I came across a 'first snake' book in waterstones and just had to buy it .... this became my bible and as it spoke so fondly of Garters I finally ended up with two lovely ribbon snakes for my SYS project :D ... and that's how it started :)

[count dewclaw]

Well, I never really had a chance as a kid. Then my husband and I bought this old farmhouse with the "magic basement" and I started escorting snakes from the basement back outside. One spring day we noticed a bunch of garters sticking their heads out from around the old artisian well (no longer used by people) beside the house. We were picking them up and showing them to the kids, but we put them back. Later that summer we caught another garter and decided to keep it for a few days so the kids could watch it more closely. We let that one go. Then this year I decided I wanted to keep some of the pretty Easterns from our yard, but found out that's a no-no in NYS, so let them go...so now I'm looking for Pugets (actually have a lead on some, if they ever get born).


Mom had this "extra" living room, one that no one ever "lived" in, well after my sister decided she needed all the display items from out of there, Dorothy and I decided to make it into a reptile room.

Does it make me a bad mom that I'm already thinking of converting the kids' rooms into snake rooms as soon as they move out? My oldest will be a senior in high school next year.

[KITKAT]

Hmmm...

When I was about three years old (this is one of my earliest memories) I was playing on the porch, and a grasshopper flew and landed near me.

I was frightened and ran into the house.

My mother came out and explained to me that I could watch the grasshopper, play with him, and he would not hurt me as long as I did not hurt him.

I played a game of stomp and fly with him for awhile.

As I grew older, I always brought in bugs in jars, and would have also brought in frogs, snakes, injured baby birds, and whatever else I could find, but my mother would not tolerate the herps.

I often kept pets like this and hid them from my mother.

As a teenager, I had a private room in the basement, and kept a cricket frog in a terrarium, hoping he would sing for me. He later escaped, and after some months, I found him living in a hole in the floor near the entry to our garage, where he found ample food. I left him there and it was our little secret.

So I don't think I ever had an epiphany... I always wanted snakes and other such critters as pets, and when I moved away and got married, my husband worked for the DNR, so I was free to do what I wanted, with some agreed-upon limits.:rolleyes:

[infernalis]

Does it make me a bad mom that I'm already thinking of converting the kids' rooms into snake rooms as soon as they move out? My oldest will be a senior in high school next year.

My kids are already sleeping on the lawn, so I guess your not a bad person.

[anji1971]

And mine are still in grade school, and have already been warned that the decision to move out had better be well thought out and definite, because they won't have a room to come back to!:D

[Garter_Gertie]

Does it make me a bad mom that I'm already thinking of converting the kids' rooms into snake rooms as soon as they move out? My oldest will be a senior in high school next year.

No. It makes an intelligent, far-thinking, reasonable adult and *good* mom to realize and want a life seperate from her kids. :D

[anji1971]

As far as keeping snakes, it's not something I "planned" to do growing up. I always liked them, but was told repeatedly that they "needed to be left outside".
I remember going for walks with my dad, in the very same area I go herping in now, and catching them to hold and examine. My dad was very clear about the fact that he "really didn't like snakes much", but he always showed enthusiasm to match my own about them. And one day when I had a snake in one hand, and something else grabbed my attention, I just kind of thrust the snake at Dad, said "Here, hold this!" and went running to catch the other critter. I returned to find my father, still holding the snake, with a look of pure shock on his face. But he kept holding it, and to his dying day told everyone that he loved me so much, he'd even touch a snake for me!!
A few years ago, my kids found a garter in my mom's backyard, and they wanted to keep it. And rather than using the old "No, they belong outside", I decided to give it a go.
So there began the journey of snakes as pets, and I've never looked back.

[el lobo]

The first time for me was when I caught a smooth green snake at 6 years old at castle rock, MI.

[el lobo]

I wanted to keep that one, but at the time, my parents were adamant that I not take animals out of their natural environment...they still don't like it, but they ignore it now haha

[jitami]

Then one day, Samantha (My daughter) captured Xena and asked if we could keep "it",

Sounds soooo familiar. I was a tomboy growing up. My cousins and all the neighborhood boys were always catching something! I don't think I ever caught anything bigger than a "blue-belly" lizard, but was always holding some snake or lizard for the boys.

Then a little role reversal. Met my husband, became room mates with another couple and both my (then boyfriend) husband and the other guy were laughingly afraid of snakes. The other guy would scream like a girl and my husband just didn't care for them... said they smell... sigh. So I never pursued snake ownership.

Skip forward a decade or so and I have boys of my own, dancing around the front yard with 4 or 5 other boys, passing this cute little garter snake around. "MOM, can we keep it?" All the while they're dropping it, it's flailing wildly, musking, generally very unhappy. I rescued the poor thing, now named Sly, from the tortuous little boys ;) and it's lived a life of luxury ever sense. :D

Way back then I got some great advice from the kingsnake forum and KitKat in particular. I had read or heard that their lifespan was about 6 years. So, skip forward almost 6 years and it's time for Sly to come out of his self induced brumation and he's staying hidden. I get a little stressed, thinking, this could be it. :( Finally get up the nerve to check on him and he's fine, but that little scare reminded me of how much I've come to enjoy the little guy and how much I would miss him if he were gone :(

Soooo, I take a couple new pics, get on kingsnake and post an update on my little man and soon learn that a 10 year lifespan is common in captivity :D In the meantime someone has pointed me this direction and I quickly discover that I'm going to *need* more garter snakes in my life in the near future. :p

[Lori P]

These are all great stories!!

I've always loved snakes, but it never occured to me to keep any... until one day I got a call about a neglected ball python. It totally blew my mind... a ball python was such a foreign concept to me. But I'm up for any critter in distress, so while a friend of mine went to get her, I got on the internet and started reading... and that was the end of my snake-free life. LOL

Over the next few months, in my travels over the internet reading everything I could about snake care, I came across an ad for a Puget Sound garter, and HAD TO HAVE SOME!!!!! Then I found this site and lived happily ever after!! :-)

[NikkiSixx]

i have owned/caught snakes my whole life... witch has only been like 15 years! but yeah i have always been catching snakes with my dad ssssnakeluvr.

[Garter_Gertie]

i have owned/caught snakes my whole life... witch has only been like 15 years! but yeah i have always been catching snakes with my dad ssssnakeluvr.

I *thought* that was your dad, Nikki! Welcome! Glad to have you here and see you're picking up your dad's great habits! :D

[NikkiSixx]

well thanx garter gertie. and i have been folowing in his footsteps since i was little.

[jitami]

Hey Nikki... you're a lucky boy to share a common passion with your dad. You'll really appreciate it when you get older! (I promise :) )

I have 14 & 16 year old boys. Fun stuff! Some rough stuff, too, but it seems mostly good. My oldest just got his drivers license and he's having a ball with his new found freedom. He also just got his first job to pay for gas to fuel his new found freedom :)

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

this thread is so fun to read :D

I was not born with a fascination for just snakes... but all things scaley or with more than four legs. When I was in grade school... I was "bug girl"... I had a special fondness for mantids and I also kept numerous giant millipedes, hissing cockroaches and my favorite was a lubber grasshopper.... a large clumsy black and yellow grasshopper from i have no idea where. I cried and cried and cired my eyes out when she died!

I think my parents kind of jumpstarted it for me.. when I was 5 they got me my first pet, a Tarantula! It was a male and sadly he didn't last long. What do msot kids get? a hamster. I got a hamster next. I hated it. that was my last hamster.

When i was something along the lines of 10 years old... I saw a garter snake on the lawn. Me being me of course, I already knew it was a garter snake from my little field guide and I grabbed it. It was a huge oafy garter and it must have bitten my arm 10 times... blood everywhere!! My mom was horrified... me? that was it for me!!! I let that one go, but I ended up finding a separate garter that very same day and she was soooo friendly. Her name was Slither.. even my mom was fascinated by her. I will never forget seeing my mom hold a snake for the first time.. and seeing slither's reflection in her sunglasses. the image sticks with me. Slither came home with us.. and as summer grew old, slither produced 11 little slithers that thouroughly confused my dad who was the only one home. At that time, my parents decided to release both slither and all her young.

After that point, It took me FOUR years to get what was at that time the snake of my dreams: a california kingsnake. To me they were the most beautiful snake on earth. After four years and saving a bunch of change, at 14 years old I got Bandit, whom I still have and whom I call my first snake because, he was my first REAL snake that I really knew what I was doing. I was so happy. All of my friend could not understand why I was SO happy to get Bandit.

My collection slowly grew... I got a second cali king, i rescued her, her name was spooky. she was a big girl. Her time was short with me but she is missed dearly to this day.

Then as I continued to learn more about the reptile world, I read in reptiles magazine about reptile shows and learned that tehre is one an hour from my house! so i went to my first hamburg show and beleive it or not.... my parents bought more than i did!!! I have actually gotten my parents into snakes... not to the point where they read about and buy them, but they appreciate them and take interest. And when they would take me to shows, my dad would always go off on his own and end up buying some random corn or king! On his own, he bought a total of 2 male pueblan milksnakes(sold), 2 adult corns(sold), one baby cali king (never made it), my leucistic albino texas rat, an albino banana cali king (sold) and my pair of okeetees het snow that bred this year!

So that is how i got into snakes.... whew... epic post!

[ssssnakeluvr]

Hey Nikki... you're a lucky boy to share a common passion with your dad. You'll really appreciate it when you get older! (I promise :) )

HAHAHAHAHA by the way....NIkki is my daughter!!!!!! :eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

she was named after Nikki Sixx of Motley Crue....my favorite band!! I just loved the name Nikki....

[crzy_kevo]

well as a kid when i went to go visit my dad out in the middle of nowhere in michigan my sister and i would go out and catch garters just to look at them
then about 6-7 years ago i was doing a school project on a self contained eco system and thought how cool it would be to have a garter snake in there and thought it would be cool to have one for a pet
however i never got around to finding one and even if i had my mom wouldn't have let me keep it

so now that im all grown up and living on my own when i found george i just had to keep him i have always loved snakes

so he just makes the perfect pet for me.

[Odie]

I would find them and play with them, take them home as a child. My Mom would tell my to "Put it back were I got it!!" Even if that ment walking two miles. About two years ago My wife (Robin) came home, after her morning walk, with Strip and we both got infected :rolleyes: We are the proud caregivers to 5 Garters now :D

[jitami]

HAHAHAHAHA by the way....NIkki is my daughter!!!!!!

she was named after Nikki Sixx of Motley Crue....my favorite band!! I just loved the name Nikki....

YIKES :o:o:o SO SORRY NIKKI!!! I had picked up on the Nikki Sixx connection(kinda hard not to) but I don't know why I assumed that she was a he. Ok, I'll keep my boys far away from Nikki for at least a few more years anyway! :rolleyes: :o:rolleyes:

[ssssnakeluvr]

YIKES :o:o:o SO SORRY NIKKI!!! I had picked up on the Nikki Sixx connection(kinda hard not to) but I don't know why I assumed that she was a he. Ok, I'll keep my boys far away from Nikki for at least a few more years anyway!
I am keeping boys away from her.....at least trying!!!!! :rolleyes:

[Snake lover 3-25]

hmmmm.... i always thought that they were cool..... then i moved to my new and current house in 6th grade and was in the yard when i discovered dozens of garters!!!:eek: i invited a bunch of people over... mostly from my neighborhood... and i took them down there... well most of them were guys and all of them were too afraid to touch them... so they'd call me when they saw them and i'd come and catch them... so i was walking/crawling up the VERY steep hill carrying at least 7 when my foot slipped on the leaves and uncovered a snake very different than the rest.... i carried about 8-10 of them up in-between my fingers at the same time and put them in a bin too large for them to escape... most of them were biters but the strange one (who i later discovered to be a brown snake) was very calm... my dad came home and i brought him to the bin now containing over 20 and pointed out the brown one asking if i could keep it... much to my surprise he said yes!!!!! then i went in and told mom dad said i could keep it and she was so mad.... lol but it worked!!!!:D:D


so i guess it was my dad who really got me started!!!:eek: maybe that's why i love him so much!!!!!:D

[infernalis]

So Shanley's first love was a Dekay Brown snake, hmm where have I heard that one before???:rolleyes:

[Snake lover 3-25]

lol they are just SO calm!!!! and non agressive too!!!!:D

[anji1971]

They are sweet little snakes. I find myself turning over a lot of rocks and logs lately, hoping to find one to ease the loss of Stitch. So far no luck, but I will keep looking.;)

[drache]

mine wasn't much of an awakening - it just happened
when I first moved to NYC when I was 20, I lived in a dorm and knew nobody
so I took to hanging out at the local pet shop in my free time
when they got in garters, I took a couple home and one of them became pretty tame
then I had a period of moving around a great deal and being generally unstable, so I didn't have anything but a cat for many years
when Mikhaila became old enough to keep bugging me about a dog, I began inundating her with pics of beautiful snakes and lizards and we found Scott's web-site and, well you know . . .