Reptile & Amphibian Forums

What was your first experience with snakes?

Mine - I was about 10 years old (over 20 years ago). I was looking for lizards, and felt something under my foot in the tall grass. It was a Pacific Gopher Snake. I picked it up and initially thought it was a Rattlesnake because it was vibrating its tail, but then it bit me - and it didn't hurt very much. I knew Rattlesnake bites were suppose to hurt a lot because of the fangs. Then I looked at the tail and saw that there was no rattle, and it didn't look like the Rattlesnakes I had seen at the Academy of Sciences.

So I brought it home and tried to hide it from my Mom. Well, she saw it, but did not react the way I thought she would. She put it in a container, and we went to the pet store to buy a cage for it - turns out Mom likes snakes, something I didn't know until then.

The next day, we bought a mouse for it. The pet store (East Bay Vivarium) said not to try to feed it the first day, because it might not eat the first day it was caught. We bought the mouse at a closer pet store.

I had second thoughts, the mouse was so cute, I didn't want to feed it to the snake. I decided I would let the snake go and keep the mouse instead. I picked the cute little mouse up - and the damn thing bit me. The snake bite - didn't hurt. The rodent bite - that hurt. So I put the mouse into the snake cage, and the snake immediately grabbed it right in front of me and ate.

That's when I fell in love with herpetology.
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3.0 WC; 0.1 CB L. getula californiae
0.1 CB L. pyromelana pyromelana
0.1 WC Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata (gravid)

No way I can remember...

I've always been obsessed with anything to do with nature (no dolls for me when I was a kid), and I was probably catching Pacific Ringnecks and Red-Sided Garters (as well as lizards, amphibians, fish, and bugs) soon after I learned to walk.

It's just always been a part of my life. I did live really close to a state park, however, so I had an excellent variety of wildlife near my house.
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- Natalie
(San Francisco Bay Area)

1.0.0 Banded California King
1.0.0 Mexican Black King
1.0.0 Bay of LA Rosy Boa
0.0.1 Kenyan Sand Boa
1.2.0 Rubber Boas

I probably had found ringneck snakes before that gopher - they (and slender salamanders) could be found in my backyard - but if I did, they didn't leave any impression on me.

I do know that we had western toads breeding in our vegetable garden. We had a "poor mans" irregation system - open ditches. When we would turn on the water and they ditches filled - the tadpoles would surface into the ditches, and then bury into the ground as the water went down.

I also grew up in SFBA - though not near any state parks.
I only found a few California Red Sided garter snakes - most garter snakes where I found them were Western Terrestrial.
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3.0 WC; 0.1 CB L. getula californiae
0.1 CB L. pyromelana pyromelana
0.1 WC Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata (gravid)

My grandmother instilled a phobia in me when I was very little. So I steered clear of anything legless until college, when a sadistic zoology professor backed me into a corner with his boa constrictor in front of the entire lab class. I lept over a lab table and out the door to escape--not my finest moment.

Later I began teaching in a school that was a department of a children's science museum. My co-teacher told me that I owed it to myself to get over the fear, and our 18 kindergarteners agreed with her. Every monday she would retrieve a ball python, rosy boa, etc. from the museum and bring it to our morning meeting time. Starting at the door, every monday I had to take one step closer to the circle of herp-loving children. So that there would be no cheating, they marked my progress on the floor with purple masking tape. Every child LOVED coming to school on mondays!

Eventually I reached the circle, held a snake or two, and decided that I really liked them. I began volunteering with the herps in the museum, and before long was out in the community doing educational herp workshops for other teachers.

20 years later I'm no longer with the museum school, but I'm still doing herp sessions with teachers. My husband and I have 25 snakes and a dozen lizards in our herp room. When I do a workshop, I ask the teacher who wants a snake for a classroom pet to go home and consider the points I have in a hand-out (including getting permission from the principal). When the teacher has procured the correct enclosure, etc. for the snake's life, I will donate a hatchling/juvenile to the classroom. The only stipulation is that if the animal is no longer wanted, it must be returned to me. So far only one has been returned.

I was fortunate to have a colleague/friend who took the time to take away the fear and replace it with a lifelong passion. I like to think that some kids can skip the fear by having a herp-savvy teacher. Karma is like that.
rgds,
althea

> when a sadistic zoology professor backed me into a corner with
> his boa constrictor in front of the entire lab class.

That was completely wrong for him to do.

When I was growing up, I was home schooled - but Mom and I did herptile talks at many schools, the main attraction being our burmese pythons, but we also brought native herps, some exotic lizards, turtles (kids couldn't touch them due to school policy - I guess Samonella related but I don't remember), newts, etc.

One of the rules was that any child who did not want to be present had to have an alternative activity available (never happened) and any child who did not want to see the snakes eat the cute rat had to have something else available to do. A few kids did opt out of watching the snakes eat.

There were always kids who didn't want to touch - but often, those who were afraid to touch them but overcame their fear became the most interested in them by the end of the day.
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3.0 WC; 0.1 CB L. getula californiae
0.1 CB L. pyromelana pyromelana
0.1 WC Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata (gravid)

Somewhere around 40 years ago, one of my classmates brought a very small greyish snake to school. When all was said and done, she didn't want it, and I did. I can't remember how long I had it, and to this day, I don't know what kind of snake it was, but probably a rough earth snake or ground snake. A few years later, and many horny toads (Texas Horned Lizards) and box turtles later, I caught a ringneck snake. I kept it in a fishbowl, covered with screen, in my bedroom. One evening, while watching television with my parents, movement in the carpet caught my eye. I got up, picked up my snake, and put it back in its fishbowl. It got evicted that night, and I was no longer allowed to keep snakes in the house. I did have a few other snakes through the years, but they always had to stay outside. Horny toads, on the other hand, were allowed to come in. Now that I have my own place, there's always reptiles in the house! Currently, 4 lizards and 21 Ball Pythons.

Steve