Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just completed a nice little documentary about reptiles for my local PBS station.
I'm thinking about a follow up. While I was making the thing, I asked
the experts to describe their first encounter with a reptile. It seemed
that they all had a similar experience! So, help me out, what was your first experience
with a reptile, and what about it made you want to make reptiles
a part of your life? This is open to not only you experts, but also to you beginners.
Thanx to all who respond!

I can tell you my first experience but really it was a number of things that eventually led me to where I am now. Initially it was a friend in high school that got me interested, not by bringing in a snake, but by bringing in a shed skin would you believe. This coupled with two occasions where I was lucky enough to hold a burm (one at Bush Gardens on a visit to the US) meant I was hooked. It was a few years before I actually got my first snake as I wasn't allowed one at home but that didn't stop me doing a lot of reading and spending a lot of time on this site. Now at 21, I have three ratsnakes and my girlfriend has a black ratsnake and two corns.

My very first experience was back in the late '50s when I was probably 6 or 7 years old. We lived in southern Louisiana and were going to visit my grandmother. My dad saw what he called a "Chicken Snake" (actually a Texas Rat Snake) crossing the road and got out of the car and caught it for me. He had a one galon jug in the trunk of the car and put it in there for me. I would say it was probably 3 feet long. When we got to my grandmother's house, I caught a frog and put it in the jug with the snake. The snake promptly ate the frog. I was absolutely fascinated watching that. That snake started a life-long passion (obsession?).

My first reptile was a small rough earth snake that had been hit by a friend's neighbor's weedwhacker. I was a bit afraid at first but it soon turned to awe. I loved how it wrapped itself around my fingers and moved sleekly in between them. I kept the little guy comfortably until he died from his wounds (or that is how I remember it). He only lasted a day or two(a fact which really got to me...I even made a little cross to mark his burial spot with two small pine branches that promptly were run over by a lawnmower lol), but after that I would pick up everything I saw that resembled a snake (heh...glad I am not dead). I now keep numerous snakes (native and exotic), a few lizards, and some exotic frogs, and as well I have a great interest in fieldherping.
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Andy Maddox
The Reptizone

Who are you who can say it's ok to live through me? Alice In Chains

I am now 14yrs old. I have kept reptiles since I was 5. As a child, begining at age 3, I caught garters and toads in the back yard. At 5 my father got me a three toed boxie which I still have today, and then a ball python a few months later. I cant remember exactly when I got hooked but to this day I keep tons of herps.
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herpin1579
mike

Ok so I was really stoned right? Sitting around smoking and the guy sitting next to me in the circle had a yearling Argentine Boa in his hands. I was one of those people who was "scared" of snakes. He got passed the pipe and needed an extra hand to light it. I wasn't paying attention but was rather engaged in conversation with the person on the other side of me.(probably something political) Guy #1 says "here, hold this." I stick out my hand he plops this snake on it. I was too stoned to freak out and ended up really enjoying it. Already huge into keeping animals I made a decision right then and there to get me some snakes.

Disclaimer:I do not condone in anyway the practice of taking illicit drugs. Wait...yes I do. But not by kids though. Yeah and old people with bad lungs, they shouldn't do it either. Anyway, Just say no! unless you choose otherwise. I guess what I'm saying is, think for yourself. You know.
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International Snakes Meetup