Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Do you guys remember the first snake you purchased? The type of snake,where you got it, how much it cost etc... As I watch my collection grow I was thinking back this morning about my first snake that ended up leading me where I am now.(story time bare with im no jeff lol now hes a great story writer) Anyways I purchased my first snake about 20yrs ago give or take a couple of months I know it was summer time. I had seen her for sale many times as she was always in the pet store window I walked by everyday on my way to and from school. It was one of those pet stores that had kittens and puppies, fish and birds and then there was her. She was the biggest snake I had ever seen (at that time for a 9yr old lol).
She was almost four ft and she was a sweetheart for being w/c.
Well I had finally saved up enough lawn mowing money to go buy her and just like todays pet stores that dont know a whole lot about reptiles (or was just trying to make some money off a clueless little girl at the time) told me ALL the stuff I needed to take care of her. First I needed a 15 gal tank i needed bedding,a heat light, a heat rock and a water dish. Needless to say I got everything he said I needed and her. Took her home and got her all set up. I was the happiest kid at that moment Three or four days go by and she no longer is active like she was when I first got her I started to worry I stopped in to ask the guy if that was how she was suppose to be. He said yeah that snakes are like that.I told him when I took her out she felt warm. He said warm? Hmmm and I bought a smaller watt heat bulb.Went home switched bulbs. She looked hot i put some cool water in a tiny water dish (that now I know was WAYYYY to small for that size of a snake)She went over to it and kind of curled around the dish. Well to make a long story short I ened up losing her about a month after I got her too much heat she couldnt soak no humidity all and all a sad but very learning experiance and not once did the man at the pet store say she needed to be sprayed or that heat rocks are BADDDD he was the one that sold it to me. But anyways does or should I say CAN anyone remember thier first snake and what happened to it or if you still have it? Hope to read about others first snake experiance. And thanks for reading mine.

Nice story!! Its always good to hear about how people got started
in the industry. I was 8 when I was bitten by a rattlesnake. I
was in the hospital for 2 weeks, and that fear became my reality.
That was a long story short, but wanted to add to your thread. I
hope you have a great day!!
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Kenny Bowman

"Symetry Exotics"
Honesty is my only way, you dont like it? Sorry!

I got my first snake Febuary 19th 1993. She was a large female ball python about 4 1/2 feet at the time. For my 16th Birthday from my father. I loved her she died right before christmas in 2003.

OK, you made it much easier being the first snake I "purchased"!! Like most of us I was catching critters from the time I was able to. Snakes, fogs, lizards, turtles and bugs of all kinds. Was never allowed to keep any of the reptiles as a kid.

My first purchased snake was a Burmese python I named Annie. Bought her as a hatchling back in 1987 for $189. Kept her for several years until my wife and I were ready to have our first child and decided a large constrictor in the house with a small baby was not a good idea. Got lucky and found another keeper that had a male and wanted to breed them so...

That led to a BP, a Corn and then I saw pics of BRB's in a book and had to have them. My first BRB's were back in 1988 and have had them ever since. My first Boa was a BCI I picked up from EBV as a B-Day present from my wife in October of 1989 - Elvira. Elvira stayed a pet all her life, she passed away in 2006 at 17 years old.

>>Do you guys remember the first snake you purchased? The type of snake,where you got it, how much it cost etc... As I watch my collection grow I was thinking back this morning about my first snake that ended up leading me where I am now.(story time bare with im no jeff lol now hes a great story writer) Anyways I purchased my first snake about 20yrs ago give or take a couple of months I know it was summer time. I had seen her for sale many times as she was always in the pet store window I walked by everyday on my way to and from school. It was one of those pet stores that had kittens and puppies, fish and birds and then there was her. She was the biggest snake I had ever seen (at that time for a 9yr old lol).
>>She was almost four ft and she was a sweetheart for being w/c.
>>Well I had finally saved up enough lawn mowing money to go buy her and just like todays pet stores that dont know a whole lot about reptiles (or was just trying to make some money off a clueless little girl at the time) told me ALL the stuff I needed to take care of her. First I needed a 15 gal tank i needed bedding,a heat light, a heat rock and a water dish. Needless to say I got everything he said I needed and her. Took her home and got her all set up. I was the happiest kid at that moment Three or four days go by and she no longer is active like she was when I first got her I started to worry I stopped in to ask the guy if that was how she was suppose to be. He said yeah that snakes are like that.I told him when I took her out she felt warm. He said warm? Hmmm and I bought a smaller watt heat bulb.Went home switched bulbs. She looked hot i put some cool water in a tiny water dish (that now I know was WAYYYY to small for that size of a snake)She went over to it and kind of curled around the dish. Well to make a long story short I ened up losing her about a month after I got her too much heat she couldnt soak no humidity all and all a sad but very learning experiance and not once did the man at the pet store say she needed to be sprayed or that heat rocks are BADDDD he was the one that sold it to me. But anyways does or should I say CAN anyone remember thier first snake and what happened to it or if you still have it? Hope to read about others first snake experiance. And thanks for reading mine.
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
26.49 BRB
20.21 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

It was not long ago back in Sept/2008. I wanted to get a python or a boa. My wife said absolutely not. I asked her why...she stated because she was scared of snakes. She stated if I must have a reptile for a pet, she stated to get a lizard. Reluctantly, I got 4 leopard geckos, bought them from a reptile show. A month later I got really discouraged with them. I told my wife I wanted a snake again...she said NO!!!....I went to the reptile show and traded my 4 leopard geckos for 2 bearded dragons. They were babies and I liked them very much. My wife started freaking out because of all the insects they would eat and I bought roaches and crickets by the thousands. After about 5 months later she begged me to get rid of the bearded dragons which I liked very much. She actually broke down one night and cried when she seen escaped roach on the floor (these are turkish roaches, even if they escaped they will die in the current climate that I live, reason I selected this breed of roach)she freaked out and demanded that these lizards must leave this house immediately. The next day was the reptile show coming to columbus, ohio.....I than asked her if I can trade these 2 bearded dragons that I dearly love for a snake than......she asked me if the snakes eat insects. I explained no, they eat mammals like rats and stuff, but I would not have to keep the rats, just buy one when I need one to feed. She stood up from the coach and yelled at the top of her lungs....PLEASE TRADE THESE DRAGONS AWAY AND GET A SNAKE....so the next day I went to the same reptile dealer at the show again and traded my bearded dragons for a Suriname Red Tail boa......I did miss my dragons....but I do love my boa.....I am happy now.

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.

My first snake was a garter snake when i was like 6-7 yrs. old.

Then when i was 8-9 i begged my parents to buy me my first common boa constrictor off the local paper, it was $100 dollars at the time and was a deal for CB BCI. It was the late 80's.

So i have been a freak since a young child. Lol...
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Richard Ceniceros

>>Do you guys remember the first snake you purchased?

Fun question and really got me thinking. I believe the first snakes I paid for were a group of corn snakes from the KS classifieds in 2000 (was supposed to be a 1.4 group and ended up with a 3.2 group). My first boa purchase was a hypo boa that I got in 2001, paid $300 for her from another hobbiest.

My first snake was an old adult corn snake that I adopted from a vet's office in 1998, he had been confiscated when the prior owner was arrested and dropped off at the vet's, they had no idea what to do with him. I had him for 4 years before he passed away.

Thanks for posting a fun thread!
-April
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'There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness."' -Rainshadow

for 35 years but the first one I ever bought was right after 9/11/2001 and no one could ship except for already known and approved shippers due to the fear of terrorist attacks so I drove all the way from NC to FL to pick up an adult female pastel. She was the first boa I ever bred and became gravid that first year. Because he couldn't ship her I got her for $90 and 20 hours of driving and a couple gas tanks full of unleaded. LOL
I know it has only been 8 years but there are a lot of boas now but I remember everyone of them and all the details. Not to bad for an old fart. Now I gotta go take a nap. All this story time is making me sleepy.
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Ty Hege
Rat Race Solutions
www.ratracesolutions.com

Guys its always fun to find out how people got started here is my first 2 boas. I purchased 1st one was from a pet store not sure what she is but I like her. The other took payments and a few months but i finally got her last year around this time she is 06 khal albino...


and thanks again for all who posted

The first purchased was a yellow rat snake don't rember the price but the second was a boa constrictor imperator that was about $9.99 in the early 70's,Had it for about 8 years and gave it away when we moved. Then later in the 80's went on to breed locality type boas like the crawl cays from the late Bob Sears, Tumbes boas,Boa c nebulosa,occidentalis and others..
Tim Mead.

Ok. This happened last year. My wife kept snakes before we met and they were two full grown ball pythons. When she moved in she said she wanted to bring them. Now being in an area where growing up I had to constantly be aware of my surroundings and still having some close calls with some dangerous herps, I gave her a very curt "Not in my house" line. A few days later she snuck them home while I was gone to work. Needless to say I noticed them really quick. She had one out and told me just to hold it and showed me how. This was the first snake I had held since I caught grass snakes when I was little. She gave me my first snake that day. I knew from our conversations that she had wanted a boa constrictor for a long time. I made some time one day while she was at work to start looking for one. I found her boa at Petco. It was dehydrated, had a small lump from eating a meal, and looked like crap because it had not shed good. I brought her to look at him, and she felt so bad for him that she had to have him. He was a hundred and sixty dollars. I don't regret paying so much for him though I know better now. He has flourished greatly while under our care. Leonidis is her favorite boa, and is really a testament to snakes. My wife unknowingly created a monster with her snakes. We currently have 17 snakes and one monitor lizard. From yearling ball python to an eight foot albino burmese called the "squash". Who could have guessed it?