Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have to admit, I'm getting pretty bored with corns.
Even with eggs incubating, I haven't even checked them for a week.
Have any of you guys hit this sort of burnout phase, and how did you deal with it?
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...and I think to myself, "What a wonderful world."

Well, I'm not sure that we have the same feelings, but I too have found that I am not as excited as I once was.

I'm not saying that I'm burned out though. Actually, I would love to have a ton more (corns and other snakes) and the fact that I don't is what I've attributed the lack of excitement to. Then again maybe I'm wrong and this really is what burnout feels like.

I just figured that if I had a lot more snakes to deal with, I wouldn't have time to get bored with them. The fact that I only have 4 means that some days I have no corns to play with due to them having just eaten, etc. So for those few days I just have to live vicariously through you guys. And eventually...after almost 2 years, that can become a little tiresome as well. I think that especially since I'm a housewife, and I can spend a LOT of time on here, it can get especially tiresome after a while.

How many corns do you have? Do you maybe have too many? I said I would like to have a ton more snakes, but obviously that was an exaggeration. Maybe if you have a lot of snakes and you never have a chance to relax between feedings, etc. then that's the reason you are burning out. If so, maybe you should consider selling off a few of your least favorite snakes.

Also think back to what got you interested in the first place. For me it was their biology (I am a zoology graduate).

Maybe you can volunteer somewhere to show off your snakes and educate people about them. Every time I do this, I become more fascinated with the snakes myself when I see other people's fascination.

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alstiver@hotmail.com

1.0 '01 Hypo snow cornsnake (Tesla)
0.1 '02 Ghost (pastel) cornsnake (Banshee)
1.1 '02 Bloodred cornsnakes (Desi and Luci Too)
0.0.18 '03 American toads
0.0.3 Goldfish (Kabuki, Isamu, and Yuki)
1.0 American Eskimo mutt (Rusty)

If we lived close, I'd come get your eggs...I'm all excitement, especially about baby things. LOL! I have 3 eggs here and I can't help but check on them like 6 times a day. LOL!

It's perfectly normal to become bored with almost any hobby after a period of time. Sometimes a given interest seems to go on forever, but often it does not. Or, depending on what else you are "into"...you may temporarily lose interest in your corns, and then find that you are back into them after a period of time. I'm that way with some of my collections. Some years I'm collecting this, and others I'm collecting that, but I hardly ever get rid of anything, and my interest almost always come back around. With live "collections" of course, we have to make sure that we continue to meet the basic needs of our pets even when we become bored. When our interest drops so low that we no longer are motivated to do that, then we must make arrangements for others to do so. I suspect, however, that you are a long way from that point.
How long have you had your corns and how many do you have? Do you keep other snakes as well. Good luck. Duffy

I felt the same way you did Shaky. I had a really nice collection. What burned me out more than anything is having to wholesale out animals that were worth some money simply because I have too many hatchlings. There were some other factors as well but for the most part, I hated selling a cornsnake for ten dollars after putting so much work into them throughout the year. This is what I did. I sold all of my generic corns(amels snows) ect ect. I kept my "high end" stuff and invested some money on some other rarer color phases. Now I can sit on a clutch and sell them as yearlings if I want to. I plan on doing more shows and less internet sales. The shows up in the northeast(NY) VERY RARELY have very nice corns for sale. So, I figured......why not me! So I will take my time this season and blow people away at the shows this year. And if I get stuck(lack of a better word)with any hatchlings, so what, I'll sell them as yearlings and only as a pair or trio. Good luck & I know what your going through. Not checking your eggs will not help the situation. Remember, those eggs are a result of your hard work into your hobby. Good luck. And If you do get out and have any high end morphs, SEND THEM MY WAY!!!! LOL. Just kidding.