Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was reading some post below and feeling really old about it. It was a couple of guys asking about if they had ever been to a reptile show. The one fella answered I went to my first show 12 years ago in Orlando. The other guys response was “Wow 12 years ago, you must have really seen some changes in the hobby since then.”
I chuckled when I read the post and don’t mean to offend anyone with this post, but it struck me as kinda funny. To just think about how much the hobby has changed (for bad and the good) since I started keeping back 23 years ago. I think wow that is a long time for a guy to be playing with snakes, then I think of some of the other herpers that I know or have known that have been out there much longer then that. Dick Bartlett has been doing this much longer then I. I met him twice, the first time was the day that I produced my very first litter of Boa Babies, He was in a Store in Ft. Myers here talking with a friend (Chris Maquade) and most likely taken pictures of some of his stock, when I came in with the new for Chris that I had a litter of babies (33 babies and 1 slug). Mr. Bartlett acted impressed with my efforts and was very polite about the whole thing, even asking several questions. I felt very honored that such a well known herper would be asking ME questions on breeding boas. I doubt Mr. Bartlett ever remembers the event, but I do.
I even remember Chris’s opening add in the newspaper when he opened his store, he kept it framed in hi store for years, “Indian Pythons $10.00” Wow you can’t even get Indian pythons anymore!
I remember, the store that Tom Crutchfield, Chris, Bill Love and few others worked at/owned (I still don’t really know who the main owner was of that one) Herpitafunan (sp). It was a store out in Buckingham FL (East Of Ft. Myers) when you could get just about anything, if you knew the right guy to get in, they were mostly a wholesale outfit then. But I was lucky enough to have gone to school with Chris (who is a few years older then me) and he was good friends with my best friends brother, so I could get in every once in a while…. Greek Tortoises for $15.00, Helmeted Iguanas for $5.00, Grey Banded Kings (then Sold under the name of Tex-Mex Kings and Mex-Mex depending on the Sub-spps) for a whopping $18.00 bucks. Solomon Island Boas for $7.00 and even at that price nobody wanted these neat little boas.
Snake and lizards and turtles from all over the world, most of which you can’t even think about getting today, and for good reason.
But even before these guys set up shop, or at least before I knew of them, there was Joy’s Petland. Your typical small dingy little pet store not related to the “Petland “ chain today and in that little store he would have different animals in each week. Exotic fish, birds and reptiles all at a fair price and what seemed to be with good knowledge. Of course I now realize that most of the information he gave me was incorrect, but it was what was thought to be correct at the time!
I have seen the hobby transformed from a small group of Loaners with that only knew each other by necessity, to the industry it has become today. Please make no mistake, it is an industry. One trip to the Expo will tell you that, those 500 vendors are not there to lose money, the are there in hopes to make some. Many of them are still the small time Hobbyists, some are small time Hobbyist that have gone to an extreme, while others are there to make their only form of a living that they can. None are better then the other (in my opinion)
I have seen this go from being a “kids thing” to crossing all walks of life. From bankers to bikers and cops to criminals we are all herpers.
The changes that I have seen in the hobby is amazing now that I sit down and look at it, but the changes that I have fail in comparison to the changes that the real founding father (and Mothers) of this hobby have seen. In my 20 years of herping I have seen a lot, imagine the things that Mr. Bartlett has seen during his time herping? But yet he still took the time to talk to a kid with his first litter of boas. I hope that kind of kinship never changes.
Sorry for the ramble and I will shut up now and go work in my snake room!
Thanks
Jim

hobby (yes, it is still a hobby to me) seem short! Thanks for the stories.
- Eric

ALMOST 2 years. lol.
it's great to have you guys here to learn from and to help bring up us youngsters in this hobby.
thanks for being so helpful to everyone and i look forward to the day that i can be as helpful and knowledgable as you guys are.
jb
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Jonathan Brady
My Kingsnake Photo Gallery

that will mean you are as old as mold..like us.

I held my first snake back in 1968 in high school in Maryland. That was 35 years ago. I became a caretaker for a tank of small snakes (about the size of ringnecks). I never knew what kind they were, they were identified at that time as water snakes. I was told to forcefeed them small balls of rough ground beef that we would massage down their throats. I guess it worked pretty well at the time, as none of them died over the school year. I shudder now to think of doing that to those little guys once a week, but who knew then? Towards the end of the school year, someone brought us in two rough green snakes that we put into the same aquarium. Same feeding regimen, also. We also had two six foot black rat snakes (I think) and a very sweet eastern chain king snake in our biology classroom. The eastern king was a long term resident of the school and would take a vacation about two times a year and escape from his tank. He was always found, although one time it took a few months before he was found in someone's locker. One of the black snakes was brought in injured (out of the wild) with a slice towards the tip of his tail and the teacher was trying to get it healed. I don't know what they were fed. I know that the black snakes were released at the end of the school year. One of the "tough" guys in our classroom was fooling around with one of the black snakes when the teacher was out of the room one time, claiming that he wasn't afraid of no snake. Of course, the snake ended up latching onto the end of his sweatshirt sleeve and wouldn't let go. You have never seen anything like the way that his face turned pale and he almost fainted. The teacher had to come in and unlatch the snake's teeth from this kid.
sue
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sue

You know I too remember, vividly, the snakes my 7th grade teacher kept in his lab. Now a days they are not allwoed to keep animals in the classrooms because of Liability, Field trips are limited, and the learning curve is based on a stupid standarized test. I really think that our schools have suffered when someone decided to take common sense out of the equation. I don't blame the teachers for, they are wonderful people who truly care, but the Administrators and bean counters need to spend some time in the class roomss. it is a shame that my kid's kids won't ever have those kind of memories,
thanks for sharing them Sue,
Jim Hopkins

I've only been keeping 12 years or so, so far. Even in that short time, I've seen a number of changes in the community as well as the public perception in general. One of the main reasons I keep coming here is people like you who've been keeping these great animals most of your lives and still find joy in it and the desire to share your experiences. It also doesn't hurt my feelings to know someone out there who was doing this before I was. And it also means I have something to look forward to...many more years with my beloved critters.

Raven