Reptiles and Relationships?

[big J]

over the past few couple of years me and my wife have put together a pretty decent collection of reptiles, fish, animals in general. I now know how much i don't like dogs and cats as pets ( no offence to you dog and cat people out there), my 4 year old loves every minute of it, and my wife now thinks i'm nuts(as if she didn't before). I have gained about a million friends and joined the local herpotology society. Anyway I think i have found something that will stick with me for the rest of my life

[Lumpy]

Other than the fact that my Dad wouldn't step foot in my house if he knew I had a snake, I'm good.

Lump

[adamanteus]

I've been around reptiles pretty much all my life, but I can't say that they have effected my close personal relationships one way or the other.
I've met some nice people along the way..... and some less nice too.

[drache]

it's definitely good for my relationship with my daughter

[dashnu]

it's definitely good for my relationship with my daughter

I second this, it has been a huge thing for my two daughters and I.

On another note my livingroom has 2 ball pythons 3 easter garters 2 northern ringnecks two easter milk a leapord gecko and a green anole in it.. If I ever get another date in my old age the poor girl that comes over to my house may very well walk out the second she walks in

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

Reptiles don't affect my personal life... they shape it. Reptile shows are a must, even my boss knows that if tehre is a reptile show nearby I will not be working no matter what!! As for the relationship aspect, the first time eddie met me, it was new years eve. We had a party and invited some people in the area (including his family, they live a 30 second drive from my house) and he decided for some odd reason (hearing from his little sis there was a nice girl that lived there) to leave a party in the city to come to my house. Well, I was very drunk, and when he came in the door the first thing I said after HI was... hey come here i want to show you something REAL COOL! so here i am after many shots of rum, showing this guy ive known for 5 minutes my huge collection of what was then only about 30 snakes. I thought for sure that he thought i was a basketcase. After that we went into the basement and played pool and i shamed him by beating him when he was sober. We have been together every day ever since

but he always beats me in pool now

My family, honstly, before me, had not a clue about reptiles. Alls I did between the age of 10 and 14 was read snake books! I wanted a california kingsnake and it took me 4 years to convince my mom to be in the same house as a snake. "hey, this little guy isnt so bad shannon"

and the collection has grown ever since. My family friends and everyone else in my life fully respects my addiction to snakes, and I simply do not cross well at all with people that hate snakes. "why do you hate snakes?" I say?

Usually, i get a childish response like, they are evil and slimy. I do understand that some people have a legit, uncontrollable fear of snakes. And I respect it.

[infernalis]

Shannon, That was VERY cool.. awesome in fact and thank you for sharing it.

Brett - Trust me, if this old crank can find a lizardlovinbabe (sorry Shannon, had to) at 41 (44 now, and she is just as excited when a new snake arrives as I am now) you still have PLENTY of dates ahead of you.

I'll write the novel later...

[Jenlang_79]

When I first started dating Scott(before we had kids) we went to a cabin together with some mutual friends. There were so many frogs there so I would catch them every once in a while and bring them in the cabin..a few of my friends were afraid of them so I let like five of them loose in the morning..it was funny..anyways..they called me frog girl for a long time after that!! Scott thought I was a little weird but he still wanted to get to know me (risk taker!!) Now Scott and I have two kids together and someday we will get married(seems like we are anyway). He threatens to leave me if I get another pet all the time..lol!!,...but I usually find a way to get him to forgive..he can't resist my charms..lol!!:-)
My girls love reptiles and I think the most fun they ever have is when we go herping together...I need to find the herping society local around here..I would love to join it!!
My Mom is funny..she is sooo afraid of snakes so she won't step foot in my house...that is ok cuz we usually have dinner at her place.

[infernalis]

My mom once placed a gravid female garter in a wicker hamper, Mom was a child at the time, 1953 or something like that.

The snake gave birth, the babies fit through the weave, and my Grandmother went ballistic.

Both Grams and my Mom are passed on now, that story had been told to me many times over the years.

So my passion for these animals may be a genetic thing

Then last week, I read about someone here with a wicker hamper story, I immediately thought of my mom.

Mom was very helpful when we started out with Xena, and she helped with Xenas mate Speedy, unfortunatly Mom passed away about 8 weeks before any babies were born.

[Tori]

How reptiles have shaped my life....

Well, we don't have any company come over for some reason. I will never have to worry about my brother coming to visit and wanting to stay over (he's terrified of snakes). He can be very annoying sometimes and I don't get along with his wife, so no loss there. My son caught a garter to send to me and discovered that not all snakes have nasty tempers, he was amazed at how calm it was, not like his big pythons at all. May have made a convert there. Maybe now he will stop rolling his eyes when I talk about them. They are too REAL snakes. Snakes aren't "pushy" like cats or attention hungry like dogs, I may never have a "normal" pet again. My boss likes to leave little notes to annoy me like "lizards have bad breath" or "snakes are evil", but he is just trying to get a rise out of me. Kind of like the rubber rat I keep finding everywhere at work, can't convince him I have a freezer full of real ones, why would I be afraid of a rubber one? I never realized how many people are afraid of reptiles before!