Posted by:
wstreps
at Thu May 21 13:29:31 2009 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by wstreps ]
Mid sixties. I was around 6 . The first one I remember buying I believe was a Red sided garter snake. I got it from a little pet store on Oganse Ave. I already had a little collection , dekays, garters and waters that I caught . The one I bought was different then what I was catching .I don't remember a time when I didn't have snakes. The one thing about Philly is for a big city it had a lot of places to go look for stuff. Woods and creeks . All the guys in my family are avid outdoors men that took me everywhere. I was born into it.
From there things escalated VERY fast.
My Mom loves animals and she totally indulged my obsession to say the least. I started getting everything from places like Martins Aquarium, I ended up working there as kid that was an experience. The Pensawken Mart always had weird stuff like tiger rats and elephant trunk snakes , cribos , department stores Woolworth's , Grants usually had boas and baby caiman or gators. Doctor Pet Centers always had a decent reptile selection.
The Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia used to have live reptile auctions. I was to young to bid so my Mom had to. One year I got a baby eastern indigo snake for 10 bucks with the cage . When I ran up to get it . Channel six news interviewed me.
Another year I got the second place raffle prize it was a big imported ball python. First prize was an adult amazon basin emerald tree boa that went to some guy in a snake skin vest. I could tell he was an insider. To this day I feel cheated.
I also got mail order stuff a bunch of dealers that would advertise in the back of Field and Stream magazine. The mail man would bring the packages to the house or sometimes I would have to pick it up at the post office . If there was reptiles for sale I found them. Stuff was cheap. My area was a hot bed of reptile guys. Lots of guys who shaped the industry. By the time I got out of grade school my collection was cooler then what most of the country's zoos had. It was exciting . Sometimes I really think its a shame that it became a business.
Ernie Eison
WESTWOOD ACRES REPTILE FARM INC.
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RE: A question for all the long time keepers - wstreps, Thu May 21 13:29:31 2009