Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm curious as to what people bought as their first high end snake. My first was a Coral kingsnake.

A little more to the point...My first high end snake cost about $12. bucks. It was almost more than I could afford at the time. It was a "Coral kingsnake" (aka Santa Monica Mountain Kingsnake) purchased in a pet shop in Santa Monica Calif. (Wilshire Pets). This was around 1972. I still have the old receipt hanging around somewhere.

Anyway, that snake was awesome. It was a neonate and ate five pinkies at the pet shop before purchase. i already knew this was a "good" Moutain king as most wanted lizards at neonate stage. I think it cost $11.99 plus tax. I still miss that snake to this day.
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www.Bluerosy.com

"Pray for Obama. Psalm 109:8".

"They that can give up essential liberty, to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty or safety." -Benjamin Franklin

I could approach this from a few directions. I mean, if you consider what was "high end" 40yrs ago to nowadays, that's one thing. If you just look at what set you back no omatter which era, that's another..
And if you consider what is truly rare, well that could be another too,I guess
I remember paying $8. (2 days of cleaning/feeding hundreds of animals) for a southern hognose from ALABAMA back in about 1969. There hasn't been one found there in many many moons.
Indigos were $25. and that was high for a snake too back then.
To this day, for me to come off of a hundred bux for any snake, it'd have to be nice....haha
As you know I'm looking at some snakes from your friend that would be the most I have ever paid for any animal.
Some of the rarest snakes I've had cost me little if anything.
I think the first hypo FL kings I bought I paid close to $100. for though. I still have one of those females too.
:Mark
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Surrender Dorothy!

crimsonking.piczo.com/

I only have three snakes (as of today!). My first two were 125 and 200 bucks (I have expensive tastes! color is an awesome thing), a gray banded and a hybrid. But I'd consider high end to be a well bred respectable line snake from a respectable breeder. Just purchased an extreme hypo hondo from DMong that just arrived today, so I'd call that my first high end snake!

Congrats Jasmine!, It was my pleasure!. Hope he has a nice long healthy life with you.

enjoy!, ~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Don't know if it counts as high end or not, but last year I purchased a male albino WW Rosy from Jerry Hartley.

reako45

Very cool topic!

My first "high end" snake was a normal Burmese python way back around 1984.. I was visiting relatives in Flushing, NY and a local fish/pet store had a bunch of nice looking hatchling Burms crowded into a 20 gallon tank for $125. ea. Before this i had really only kept animals that i caught locally here in Long Island (garters, box turtles, toads, etc.).. So, at that time a baby Burm was a very exciting change for me!

For the first couple of months I thought my Burm was the coolest snake in the world.. I even named him (the first and only time i have ever named a snake!)... Then at about the 1 year mark when she was up in the 10 foot range and became a agressive biter it was a completely different story for sure!

Burms are now illegal to keep here in NY, but either way there will be No more big snakes for me!

~ Mike Russo

Just curious--how did you get rid of the burm?

At about the 12' mark, I gave that snake away to a pet shop owner here on Long Island..

~ Mike Russo

My landlord went snooping around one day in my apartment(said she didn't)and found out I had a big 14 foot Bumese there when I was in my mid-twenties(1985), and she gave me the infamous landlord "ultimatum"... "it's the snake or YOU" speech..LOL!. So I later donated it to Metro Zoo in Miami/Dade where he would have a much better life than I could give it at the time. He was in a big display show there, was great with people, and was in a breeding program with other zoos in the country, etc.., so it was great for the snake, and I was very happy for his well being, so no regrets there at all. Just about that time, I was really wondering what the hell I was going to do with him anyway..

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Come on Mike you know statistics show that you drove down to South Florida and let it go! LOL
Sorry I could not resist the joke.
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Noah was the first snake collector. ~Eric~

........say that too..HAHAHAAA!

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

LOL..my first Paid for snake was a 26 inch female burm ....$100...pet shop...they shipped it in from FL.....it grew an inch a week for weeks......9 foot one year...I think I overfed it.....never had heat or a light....stayed in tank behind my bed on the floor.....sad I know...but never got sick........around.....1979-ish

..first paid for more $$$....amel ball...2002...$2G.....BHB at Daytona....

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......JY

I have mostly only been able to afford fancier morphs AFTER they've become common (read: affordable), so I'm guessing my first "true" high end snake was that amel/hypo allegedly WC yellow rat. Oddball looking thing that started a lot of breeding projects I was never able to see through. Owing now to time/space/$, I keep smaller species of pueblans, and my female (a possible hybrid) is so damn gorgeous I think she's high end. Or at least high class.

WOW 15 bucks for a zonta multifasciata! Man those were the days.

Scott

For me it would have to be the L.t.sinaloae that I bought in 79 for $30 bucks. It was an adult too!

Scott

I don't know what I'd consider high end...high in skill requirement--Vine snakes were up there, imported, parasite ridden, difficult eaters, etc. In terms of price...the first really expensive snake I bought would have been probably...hmm...my albino tiger retic I'm buying now? As a kid I'd have said my Argetine boa (like 150 from Pro Exotics years ago). That was the first time a snake (as opposed to the set up) was a chunk of cash for me. And he's still a great snake

and if you refer to high end to mean good specimens of a species...hmm...that argentine would still apply to that. Most of the ones before him were rescues/WC's...a bp that a kid in my scout troop didn't want, a cornsnake (ditto), a garter my cat brought in. Things like that.
I had some yellow ackies (small monitor) back when they were pretty rare but they aren't snakes.

I'd consider him my first high end snake I was like 13 or 14 when I got him. That photo is a bit old, him in a 4' vision...he's got a 6' coming in, as h e's grown since that pic was taken and is in the 7-8' range. His last shed was like 120" long

Wow that is really cool man. And you even got a pic!

I am loving this thread!
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www.Bluerosy.com

"Pray for Obama. Psalm 109:8".

"They that can give up essential liberty, to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty or safety." -Benjamin Franklin

An albino Cal king from a fellow named Bill Brown in the Los Angeles area. This was my first introduction to captive bred (captive bred on purpose anyway) kings and especially CB color morphs. He showed me a CB Sinaloan too, and I think I almost cried with joy that it was possible to do this in captivity. I was young, and this set me afire with enthusiasm.

Many years later, the next one was an albino ruthveni. I won't embarrass myself and say the price I paid. Awesome animal though.
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Mark

My first high end snake, and the only one in my collection i had to pay for, is my Brazilian Rainbow Boa. Paid around $250 for him,and that included a female ball python that i included as a trade. Definitely worth the money, he's a great snake, has a great temperament, and a fantastic eater

Chrissy
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1.0 Ball Python-Siegfried
1.0 BRB-Pedro
1.0 Blair's Phase GrayBanded Kingsnake-Elvis
0.1 Paradox Albino Sand Boa-Cleo
2.2 Dodoma's
0.1 pug mix

Well, I guess I would consider a high end snake one that I did not catch and had to pay for or trade. The first snake I owned that I did not catch was a retic that a friend had and gave to me because he was tired of getting bit. I had the snake for about a year and never once got bit (after some gentle handling.) This also happens to be the snake that was mauled by the rat that I left in his cage. I had no idea what husbandry was in those days. We were on vacation a few months after his recovery from that incident and the heat went out while we were away. He was frozen stiff when we returned. Poor guy, I still feel bad til this day. Survived the horrible rat attack only to freeze to death a few months later.

The guy I sold my above story Retic too had a mutual "stoner" friend of ours that reached into the cage to mess with it while doing "Quaaludes" and got bitten to a bloody pulp..LOL!

But didn't feel it, or care about it until the next day of course..HAHAHAAA!

Ahhh yes!,....the good ol' days!

~Doug

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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

LOL!!!

Well no wonder!...He was taking bootleg fakes!
:Mark
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Surrender Dorothy!

crimsonking.piczo.com/

You're right!,....those are probably 75% diazapam(Valium)..LOL!

I always looked for the tel-tale "signs of "bootlegs" too, such as the size of the letters, and the way the "4" looked..LOL!

Good old-timer(from experience) eye Mark!..HAHAHAHAAA!

Like these............

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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

...I was just going on a hunch of course.....
:Mark
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Surrender Dorothy!

crimsonking.piczo.com/

But of course!..LOL!

I was just assuming as well..

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Got all the REAL info from Joe Friday.....

:Mark
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Surrender Dorothy!

crimsonking.piczo.com/

Just the facts Mam/Sir!

Scott

"how's that sir?, my partner and I both know those illicit drugs are illegal to ingest, and will alter your behavior that controls common sense"......

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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

:Mark
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Surrender Dorothy!

crimsonking.piczo.com/

LOL!!!, yeah, I remember that "trippin" episode!

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Dum-de-dum-dum! This is the city. Los Angeles, California. I work here, I carry a badge. It was Tuesday, Feburary 9th. It was raining in Los Angeles. I'm Joe Friday and this is my partner Bill Gannon. We were working the day watch when we got a call!

No man, it's only oregano for a pizza sauce!

Too funny!, I remember that "wild" far-out teenager too..

What a joke by today's standards!..LOL!

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Hey,where you comming up with all these pictures? You sitting on a twenty year old stash or something? Never really missed the damn things till your pics.They put too many little dents on my trucks.Just not quite enough pressure on the brake pedal sometimes! Seemed like we could always tell the luders by the dents on their vehicles.

RORER 714, bootleg fakes..Oh an you guys ARE old. I haven't heard this kind of terminology since the 70's.

Hey do they still make these Rorer 714's or are they called something else besides qualudes?

I mean, just asking.

LOL!
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www.Bluerosy.com

"Pray for Obama. Psalm 109:8".

"They that can give up essential liberty, to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty or safety." -Benjamin Franklin

Rorer quite making them because they were being so widely abused, then Lemmon took over making them, But after a while, they too had to call it quits or the companies would go under from all the legal repercussions getting the pants sued off of them..LOL!

Those things were like M&M's in my neighborhood growing up..LOL!

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

It's funny you know so much about them Doug....LOL
Next we will start talking about Window Pane and Purple Micro-dot.......LOL
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...

Purple micro dot, wow I have not heard that term in a couple of decades. LOL What about green pyramid? LOL
I now a few people that took way too much of that stuff and act a little weird now. LOL
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Noah was the first snake collector. ~Eric~

Yeah, I could share a lot of those stories too, but I will have to just try to stick with the kingsnake venue I guess..LOL!

Here's one from way back for ya John, about 1991

~Doug

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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

I never did own a retic, but a friend of my bass player had one and wanted him to keep it for a month. So he did, but didn't know jack [bleep] about snakes. When I saw the retic, it was big and covered with mites. First thing I did was to clean the tank out a few times, then got down to cleaning the retic. All that done put new aspen bedding into the tank and then the retic. He was a very mellow retic for the size he was, about 8 feet. We use to get a blast taking him down to the 7-11 where they had Indians working. We'd walk in with the retic around the neck and shop around the store, scared the [bleep] out of them, they would not even go to the cash register. The thing I hated was the A hole came back to pick him up, I knew he would end up with mites again and most likely die. That sucked!

Scott

Yeah, giving him up knowing full-well his life is in the balance does suck!. Did you tell the dude to wake up and quit running a reptile "concentration camp" of horrors??

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Yes I did and tried to tell him how to take care of his retic, but the guy was a big coke head, so I'm sure with his burnt out brain he forgot what I told him. Sure that snake died, or was traded for his junk. SAD FOR THE RETIC!

Scott D

........in Orlando tomorrow and Sunday??. I will be a vender there, so hope to see a few of you there!

Guess I better do some last minute stuff here, and get some sleep, gotta get up about 6:00 am tomorrow...ARRGH!

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

If you are really old,prior to 714.s were the "orange A.S sopors"they started the whole ball rolling.

Yeah, I remember all the older kids were messin with those around my neighborhood in the late 60's, early 70's..LOL! But I do however remember 714's going for a mere 50-75 cents a piece!, talk about inflation!

And a kingsnake to stay in theme..LOL!

~Doug

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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

TOO funny, I doubt he even remembered! Hahahahahaaaa!!

Scott

My first greatest find was a jet black hognose I caught that I thought was a real rare gem at the time. I was probably eleven or so. It looked just like one I had seen a picture of in a book, and it mentioned they were hard to find.

I would be embarrassed to admit aquiring a real live African Ball python was quite a score too when I was young, that was quite an exotic to me, a major score compared to a common boa constrictor.

But the first real prize I bought and was really stoked to have was my pair of het for hypo Brooks Kings I got for $300.00 each only a few months after I first saw them listed on Vince Shiedts (not sure on that spelling)price list for $600.00 each. I should scan and post some of those old lists, it’s nostalgia already.

Fun topic bluerosy.

Yeah, we'll never get those days back. That Vince Scheidt had a very interesting price list, and I don't see some of that stuff he had much even today.

I remember the rosyboa pricelists from various breeders here in the West. It was sort of a competition amongst them to list the most localities. Just awesome for a young fellow taking this all in. The rosyboa was THE collector snake here in So Cal back then. I remember the early IRBA shows in San Diego where table after table had rosyboas. One guy had 4 or 5 large tubs crawling with young San Matias, Bay of LA, San Felipe, etc.

OK, thats it. Gonna go buy a San Matias.
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Mark

Yeah i was one of those guys who had a super long list of Rosy Boa locales. I wish i could dig one up to post but it is in storage.
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www.Bluerosy.com

"Pray for Obama. Psalm 109:8".

"They that can give up essential liberty, to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty or safety." -Benjamin Franklin

I don't know if this qualifies for high end.....
But one of my favorite purchases was at a pet store near the city.....This was actually my first snake purchase ever....
I found a Yellow and black banded california king for $69 back in 1993.....I kept that snake for 13 years before it perished in the a/c accident in 2006......And a couple months later I purchased a BP from the Snake Farm Don Soderberg used to run in San Marcos, TX....After I raised it to adulthood I sold it to a friend......

Those were my first two snakes that I ever purchased....But prior to that I owned many Splendida, Annulata and Emoryi/Meahllmorum that I found around here in South Texas......
Finding a wild Lampropeltis was always a bigger deal than buying one for me......I hope to find some more this year when it warms up.....
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...

Like Mark K. mentioned, this could be looked at a few different ways, but as I recall, I was doing back-flips when I scored the "rare" find of a Reticulated Python from a local neighborhood pet shop I always frequented with my snake buddy Paul Stone(Upscale knew this kid too..LOL!)back around 1974. Before that, I had many different snakes, but the Retic was the most awesome "exotic" at that time that I had. Then again, looking at this from a different angle, I have to say that a few killer Florida Indigo's I had in the very late 60's early seventies where VERY highly revered, and as you know certainly are today, even MORE SO!

The biggest ticket item I have ever bought personally, was an anerythristic and het anery pair of Hondurans when they were first introduced to the hobby for a whopping $1200 dollars..LOL!
And just like everything else in the world, supply and demand enter the picture soon afterwards..HAHAHAA!. So from $800 for one anery then, to $40-45 bucks today..LOL!

Out of ALL the snakes I have ever had Rainer, I think I miss those Indigos the very most, and rightly so man,....I think they are one of THE most regal, and noble of any serpent on the entire planet!!!

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Gosh, this is kind of embarassing... Around 2001 I bought a PAIR of Caulker Cay boas for $750. They grew up to be a very beautiful pair of BOYS. Lovely little boas tho. They've since found new owners. About that same time I paid about $500 for a young adult pair of Aru green trees. Now, those were some awesome snakes, but too hard for me to care for and I don't really like getting bitten. I apparently had more money than sense. Now I don't have either - LOL!!

Amy C.
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Amy Claiborne

'A government big enough to give you everything...is a government big enough to take it all away.'

I am going to say the first high end snake I got was actually two snakes from a pet store my friend owned in Amarillo Texas back in 1983. I was about 17 then and new nothing about breeding snakes but when I saw a pair of amelanistic corns I had to have them. I paid 120.00 for the pair back then and these were hatchlings.
I had kept mostly turtles before then but did bring home a few snakes from the fields once in a while.
I had a few rattlesnakes back then too that I caught.
Those amelanistic corns started a passion for snakes with me though.
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Noah was the first snake collector. ~Eric~

1989 Arizona Mnt kingsnake. $200

A red tail boa in 1974, I think it was. I beleive it was about $25 which I paid a little of from allowance I had saved up and Pops paid the rest. My parents hoped if they bought me a nice snake from the pet store I would stop catching all kinds of cridders and hiding them in the tree house. It didn't work. lol
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Randy Whittington

Randy, I have never owned one but I still to this day like red tails. They don't get quite as crazy big as my burmese did either.

You're missing out. My old common and my argentine have been the best pure "pet" snakes I ever owned. my common more than my argentine, just because of size--Mr. T was probably 5' long when died at about 10 yrs old...Yoda's scraping 30 lbs now and like 7-8'. So he's a handful, even calm as he is.

Wow, memories, I had to have a melanistic eastern hognose I bought at a pet shop in our mall when I was 11, that thing was the BOMB! Probably cost about the same as yours Rainer. Too much abuse between then and now, I can't remember, lol! My Mom was awesome for back in the day and where snakes were concerned, my Dad, eh, not so much!
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Todd Hughes

wow cool post mine first snake that i bought,and cosidered "high end" was an african grass snake psammophis ssp. it was awsome bright green with a turquoise blue nape and head paid 20bux for it circa 79/80 , it was "the bomb" had him for 4 years until he escaped ... gone pecan...

,,,,,,,,thomas
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Morphs... just like baseball cards BUT ALIVE, how cool is that???

my website www.barmollysplace.com

What a great thread to entice a new user to post! My Brazilian Rainbow Boa "Orion" would have to be my high end snake. This fella's got such a great disposition!

Runner up would have to be our reverse chocolate striped, banana phase Cal. King "Pandora". What a lovebug!

yep, jump on in, the water's fine...today! Nice rainbow, one I'd keep if the city ordinances allowed it.
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Todd Hughes

I love hearing all these old stories, and snakes were cheap! I am under 20 (barely) and I don't even know what quaaludes were, lol! Had to ask my older fiance if we still had them.

I dont have any high end snakes, hopefully soon as I am lending the other half some money to pay off some debt and I told him in return I want a breeding pair of rosys.

But I did qcquire my first snakes in an odd way, I went to go buy a truck and the guy was nutso insane and took me into the garage to see his reptiles. I started going crazy over his snakes and he told me I could have them! Went to buy a truck and came home with snakes (and a 1932 Willys)

If I could have any high end snake, it would be the new Lucy or a Piebald ball.

Isn't anyone going to mention buying a "lid" and using a bible page for the paper ?
On the snake subject, for me it was a pair of Queensland carpet pythons from Steve Hammond. I watched his video tape several times and spent $350 for them. My wife thought I had gone mad !
The attached photo is one of their offspring.

.

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give up television - 100% cold turkey. Leave what isn't real and go to what is real.
Spend time with nature, see the ground and the sky, feel your place on this earth,
see the trees, the plants, birds, animals, feel their life. And feel your own life.
Dr. William Pierce (paraphrased)