Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was just wondering how old everyone was when they first got into reptiles in general? Who on this forum has been keeping indigos the longest? Who has the most number of specimens? How many of you work with reptiles as a career? I consider just about everyone that posts regularly on this forum to be highly knowledgeable in the field of reptiles, thats not something you find on most of the other forums.There needs to be more forums like this one.

I was just wondering how old everyone was when they first got into reptiles in general?

Me, I was 8.

Who on this forum has been keeping indigos the longest?

Chuck Elliot... maybe Old herper

Who has the most number of specimens?

Jeff Snodgress

How many of you work with reptiles as a career?

3

I consider just about everyone that posts regularly on this forum to be highly knowledgeable in the field of reptiles, thats not something you find on most of the other forums.There needs to be more forums like this one.

I'm curious how I did on this quiz...

Doug T

I've been keeping snakes since I was 5. I'm now 38.

I first wanted an indigo when I was about 10 or 12 but, didn't scratch that itch until 2002. Now I have 1.2 easterns.

Eric

About 10-11..Caught my first in '68 I think...Had 30 at one time(adults, not counting babies), but I think Rob Bruce may be pushing Snodgrass currently..
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Carl W Gossett
Garage Door Herps
Monument,Colorado...northern territory of the Great Republic of Texas

Posted by: dryguy at Fri Dec 17 07:57:05 2004 [ Report Abuse ] [ Email Message ]

About 10-11..Caught my first in '68 I think...Had 30 at one time(adults, not counting babies), but I think Rob Bruce may be pushing Snodgrass currently..
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Carl W Gossett
Garage Door Herps
Monument,Colorado...northern territory of the Great Republic of Texas

Dr. G, it's Snodgres, not Snodgrass! Oh well, you're not the first to try and make me out to be an "ass"!! ;0)

Jeff

I thought the question said who had the most supspecies... which I'm pretty sure Jeff Snodgra...gress has us all topped.

The Most specimens probably is R.B. right now. I think that's something of a dubious honor since I know what it takes to care for 1 indigo.

Doug T
Doug Taylor Reptiles

Started an interest in snakes when I was 8 or 9. Got interested because NO ONE could answer any of my questions about them when I'd see one in nature. Saw a great big indigo as a display animal at a petshop when I was a teenager and decided I had to get one. Went through the permit process and got a couple in my late teens. Been in the hobby long enough now that I've decided to keep my collection very small with the nicest animals (2 or 3). More forums like this one .... go to below link:

And see the forums button. May be more there.
indigos

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Thane

I suppose I was around 6, when I first discovered my passion for reptiles, upon discovering a speckled kingsnake, as it passed through my family’s backyard. This was confirmed when I viewed a photo of a Mountain King. This was confirmed when I viewed a photo of a Mountain King in a children’s encyclopedia around the same age..
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There are a total of 40 Drymarchon within my personal collection, of which 25 are adults, with all six of the available Dry subs being represented within this group..

Guess you could say I spend at least half of my day working with reptiles professionally, as I teach herpetology and environmental biology for the University of Arkansas, in conjunction with my other duties.

I captured my first Eastern indigo when I was 11, while residing in Homestead, FL. It was a 6' specimen I saved from a neighbor’s dog. I have a picture of that beast somewhere that I will post when I find it, truly an event which was burned into my memory and the event which set the course regarding my pursuit of higher education.
I have to admit, every time I manage to get musked by a Dry, I am “pleasantly” taken back to the day I captured my first Eastern indigo.

I have been actively keeping Drys for just over 20 years. Though, as Doug mentioned, I believe Chuck Elliott, OH and perhaps Dr. G have been keeping them longer. At least it makes me feel younger to think so!

There are a total of 30 Drymarchon within my personal collection, of which 25 are adults, and all six of the available subs are represented within this group.
I believe Robert Bruce may have a few more specimens than I, and should his breeding projects prove successful next year, he will be certain to top the scale in sheer numbers, though he keeps D. couperi exclusively these days.

Jeff

Seems as though I cannot remember how many Drys I keep from one minute to the next!!
I actually have 40, not 30, with 25 adults and 15 youngsters!
Now, off to find my class! LOL

Jeff

I'm 47. I had one in middle school. Since I live in Fl I had to release the one I had in 73 when they prohibited keeping them. I was 16 and had kept it for three years. I didn't know anything about grandfather claused or exemptions. Buddy Grout

Fell in love with Easterns @ about 8;ish (30-something years ago) went to a Zoo in Penn, outside Gettysburg area the curator had what appeared to be a 10 footer, I'm sure in retrospect it was 5 foot, something . Holding that big black bruiser gave me a feeling I'll NEVER forget.

Got my 1st CB babies from Dwight Sayers about 3 years ago, currently have 2.4 of them. Currently have 2 adult females bred. Work as a Fisheries Officer in Newfoundland, Canada, also work with Brooksi, Corn snakes, various species of ratsnakes, Kingsnakes, Brazilian Rainbow Boas, Spotted & Box Turtles (Gulfcoast, 3-toed & Florida)

Also breed & Show Belgian Sheepdogs & Smooth Fox Terriers... I really enjoy this forum, most contributors KNOW what they are are talking about in here as opposed to many of the other Kingsnake.com forums. Made some good freinds in here as well..... ye'all know who you are

Dean

In 1961 my family moved from crowded neighborhood to the a more rural area. Garter snakes and ribbon snakes living in the area got me started at the age of 11. BOYS BOOK OF SNAKES, Percy Morris got me interested in indigos. Price lists from Ross Allen's Reptile Institute and a NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC article from the 50's are still memorable. Only indigo I ever saw in the wild was on Cape Sable in the Everglades. Protection was certainly needed. I remember seeing literal piles of Easterns in an Elizabeth, New Jersey pet shop in the early 70's. Saw my first tangerine Honduran milk there too, back in the days when albino corns were rare and expensive.

Good questions. now let me see with my limited memory if I can remember them

I ORIGINALLY did not keep Reptiles as a kid. My FIRST passion was the pigeons outisde my window in my Brooklyn projects along with the neighbors Chickens, who used to crow at 5 a.m. every morning.

I didnt really keep any animals at all until my Father died in front of me when I was eight, this necessitated a move OUT of the projects to my wicked aunts house in White Plains N.Y.

I ended up in Calif, and here kept literally hundreds of different types of fish, bred dozens of them. This lasted a LONG time.I worked in fresh and saltwater shops, for wholesalers, went to meetings etc. Took pictures, raised my own brine shrimp, infusoria, glassworms....you get the idea.....

Then came birds.....which I kept, bred and wrote articles about for about 8years.Then I had a short stint as a Bird Keeper for the San Diego Wild Animal Park.

And along came reptiles with a vengeance......

My first viewing of the Eastern Indigo snake was in the **LITTLE GOLDEN BOOK OF REPTILES** (age 6)
Funny how you get programmed as a kid, what influences you..
Many, many years later I sold my adult male(aka;"Monster" to Chuck Elliot and picked up some neonates from him the next season.

That was a long time ago..............

Its been an obsession ever since..

I would like to tell you that I made my "living" from Reptiles, but as owner of Aztec Reptiles, sometimes sales were goo, at other times they were bad. I do know that a good percentage of people that own reptile businesses work a f/t job also. I've done both.Hope to do it again one day, but a LOT diffrently.

I will say that it is really cool to keep something as an adult that you only fantasized as an inner-city kid when you were a youth.

Age has its advantages ;>

And I always know where my teeth are(Right on the counter where I left em')

Merry Christmas,

Fred Albury

I saw my first Eastern Indigo when I was pretty short. Maybe 6 or 7...I was completely awed and HAD to have one (it probably would have had me for lunch). Of course, that didn't actually happen until years later...1969 (maybe even 1968...when you get this old, it's hard to remember exactly sometimes). That's when I got my first Eastern, anyway. It was right around my 17th birthday I think. I kept it for a year or so, then volunteered for military duty and had to give it up. As soon as I got back Stateside, in late 1971, I started collecting them again.

Right now I have about 15. Several of them are gravid now, so that number will "swell" considerably next summer....
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We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children. Ralph Waldo Emerson

I don't know if I can remember that far back. Let's just say it's been over 45 years now. As a kid I lived and breathed reptiles of all kinds.

My first book that I can remember was the field guide of reptiles (I don't remember the exact title but I'm sure most of you know the book I'm talking about). I used to look up the maps as to where the different animals were found.

I didn't go anywhere without my book. When the family went on a vacation I wanted to know what kinds of snakes I could catch at each place. I remember asking my Dad to stop the car so I could turn over a board or log. This was when I was about 7 or 8 I guess.

It showed a picture of an Indigo and I fell in love. I knew that some day I would own one. As it turned out I had a few more than one.....

I guess I got my first Indigo about 20 years ago. Over the years I've owned hundreds if you count my babies. I have also owned and bred 5 or 6 other sub-species of drymarchon over the years.

Hope this year has been great for all of you. I also want to wish you all a Merry Christmas and Blessings for the New Year.

GOD Bless.

Chuck

Thanks for all the posts! Ive been in love with reptiles since I was about 6 or so, Im 23 now. Ever since then Ive been reading books, fliping rocks, and cleaning cages. I have never owned an indigo yet, but I knew from the first time I ever saw one in person that I had to have one.seems to me that most people that are interested in snakes start out loving them when they are very young. I guess its a life long passion.

Merry Christmas to all of you.

another great question on a great forum.

i guess by comparison i was a late bloomer. i became obsessed with reptiles as soon as i realized dinosaurs were out.

it started in 7th grade, i was reading a book on adventures with dangerous animals and one of the stories described a close call with an escaped captive bushmaster. it hit me all at once, i could actually keep a captive snake! i read all i could get my hands on at the time -- ditmars, pope, schmidt, kauffeld, etc. this was 1970. i remember a photo of an indigo in the little pet store booklet, "know your snake." my first snake was a 3 foot boa i purchased ($10) from alan st. john, who was then the herp keeper at the portland (OR) zoo. i wanted an indigo, but the few pet stores said they wouldn't carry them any more.

i saw my first live indigo at a pet store in ridgewood, NJ in about 1966. then in 1971 i volunteered at the portland zoo and they kept a large eastern indigo in the children's petting zoo in a large glass aquarium with kitty litter as the substrate. i wanted that snake and new i would take better care of it.

many years go by -- call it a mid-life crisis, or just a boyhood dream that can now be realized and i get my first pair of indigos in 2002 at age 45.

i use lizards and tortoises in my research and whenever i can, i'll weave rattler muscle twitch speed, proteins from banded krait venom, alternating anole ovulation, or uric acid metabolism into my animal physiology course. i often use pseudocopulatory behavior in cnemidophorus, tortoise thermoregulatory tilting, and anolis dewlap displays in my animal behavior course, so i sometimes consider that i make at least part of my living with reptiles.

matt

Sorry my post is late, ahh, Merry "Christmass" everyone! (Remember the reson for the season!)
My first sighting of a WILD indigo was around 1969 OR '70 in Florida.
For professional and personal reasons I have collected, kept, bred, preserved,taken blood samples from and handled up to a hundred Drys over the last fourty years.
Currently I am associated with the California Academy of Sciences as a Field Associate were I have had access to different specimens of Drymarcon in it's various species and countries. As time permits I am sure I will encounter many more specimens in the wild and in other countries were it is found.
Happy Holidays,
Phil Frank