Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am about to have my first child (a girl) and I am a little nervous about how much my life is going to change. Any one have any words of wisdom about how long it is going to be before I get out to look for snakes again??

I don't want to sound unexcited about my daughter - I can't wait to meet her, but I figured there were probably a few of you out there who have gone though this before. I am just looking for some rough numbers. Should I just put hiking out of my mind this season? Will I be back at it in August? Can I take a three month old on a two hour hike?

You just don't find a lot of this info the baby books!

Thanks,

Jake

Any one have any words of wisdom about how long it is going to be before I get out to look for snakes again??

About two months after the birth. When your wife wakes up for that 2 a.m. feeding (assuming you can't contribute; this won't work if you're bottle-feeding), slip out for a quick road cruise if your local area supports a decent herp population. She will (hopefully) get over it!

Yes, I speak from experience.
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Chris McMartin
www.mcmartinville.com
I'm Not a Herpetologist, but I Play One on the Internet

I remember putting 'em in the car for a leisurely "ride" to get the baby AND momma to sleep. A nice "boring" drive through your favorite road cruise circuit might make everyone happy.
Congratulations to Jake and wife on your new baby!
:Mark

HA ha!! I've DONE that! Actually I said "why don't I get some more milk since we are almost out" and was gone for about 45 minutes. I managed to find a baby cottonmouth on the road (it had just rained). My son is now 2 and accompanies me on some of my field explorations. "Stay right there and watch daddy lift up this rock!" I have also done the "baby cruise" at night to put him to sleep numerous times (ditto Crimson King!) Then returned with a baby atrox or two . "You caught rattlesnakes with a baby in the car???" Well, I guess it sounds bad but believe me it was safer than a drive in rush hour traffic!

Congratulations. My daughter is 22 months old now an I remember the pre-birth anxiety vividly. You will herp a lot less at first, but you will have a whole new outlook and appreciation for life. That is to say YOUR PRIORITIES WILL CHANGE. The first couple of months i didn't get out at all, but soon after that I would take a day to herp here and there and once in a while a night drive to soothe a restless baby is a good idea. I don't recommend you take a 3 month old on a hike, but I take my daughter around some of the local parks and reservoirs and show her the fence lizards and alligator lizards. Once in a while I will bring a rosy boa home to show her and she loves them. Well now, I get out about twice a week and I spent an entire week long vacation herping recently, but my wife is very understanding.
Good Luck
Nathan

I am not a parent myself, however I can understand your concern. I did find a book called "Hiking with Baby" on Amazon. I just took a stab at it and who knows it might have some good advice. After all, all herping is (other than road cruzing) is just hiking the outdoors.
Here is the link:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00003L9AS/103-1820893-8374222?v=glance

Hope it helps.
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I find that the best way to wash a vehicle is in the mud.

When one of mine was a few months old we decided to get one of those baby backpack carriers and take her along for a hike on some levy trails where I found a bunch of snakes basking before sunset. Unfortunately the horseflys knew we were coming and all was a good even battle until the little one would let out a big yell that she was bitten. And after two or three yells it was back to the car and the backpack sat in the garage idle still to this day. Later I tried to take the little ones while road cruising as toddlers but their lust to fall asleep in the car combined with hunger and crying and the timing of their bath and sleep and the wife looking at me like I was nuts made that effort the first and the last. Now I have teenage kids also that really like the road cruise bit however they call out loud every stick a snake and make me break and have a heart attack every half mile or so, much less they are still much slower than me to get out of the truck and see what snake or stick we found. Once I stopped near a baby black racer and my son learned a lesson from trying to pick up a baby racer as the snake stood its ground striking like a mad man at him. And I found some nice stuff with my older daughter so those times together actually are a good way to spend time with your kids as long as they know what the heck your doing driving so slow and stopping so fast to keep them in their seats. Once fish and game pulled me over to see if my daughter was mine as my behavior of stopping made them suspicious that she was fighting me in the car. And there were a few times when I simply passed a snake in the road and she said I passed a snake in the other lane and I went back to find some nice specimens, so the more eyes the better I say.

Dan

Hmmm. I to speak from experience. I have a son that just turned 2 this past December. Up until last summer I kept my research and herp trips up like normal and I can tell you I kick myself every day for doing that. I missed so much of that little boys life so far “His first time in a pool, his first ice cream so on and so forth” I must say my research is not worth it. For months now I have been experimenting with balancing research and being a dad and lately the only herps I have been able to find are those on our land while I am out working it or those I find at work. In the past 6 months “Sep 21st was my last trip” my research productivity has dropped about 90%. My son is interested very little with herps but likes to help release them on our land. He is more into trucks and tractors and since dad just bought another truck for my research screw the herps he wants to play with the truck LOLJ I must say this winter I have had a lot of time to reflect on the past present and future and now I am having more fun being a dad than I ever had herping in my past 17 years of doing so. I say the best advice I cant give is plan on little or no herping for quite some time. If when your daughter becomes an age were she can be fairly self sufficient while hiking or walking around a local park and she likes herps then you guys have an awesome family activity but If I could do it all over again I would most definitely give up on all my herping activities 2 years ago and would have not missed out on so much. I suppose you could cut back rather than give up on it but its hard to say as everyone’s situation is a little different. Hope this help a little but dose not detour you from trying to balance the 2.

My reptile research and collection

as we will introduce out grandson to his first reptile adventure this year of Texas. Of course any venomous snakes are out of collecting for photographing but colubrids and amphs, look out !

Forget it your life is over bud.. LOL J/K.. I am not going to sugar coat it for ya. There will be sacrificed herping time, but herping is not nearly important as your child. (congrats BTW) watching your child grow up will be better than any and all herp trips combined. Mine is 14 and I manage a little baseball team, which takes most of my spring every spring. Kinda sucks on the herping end, but watching him play ball is above and beyond any herp trip.. Though I do get out on occasion to enjoy herps too.... Take care and enjoy the new love in your life....

Fundad

Hopefully this will offer you a ray of hope. I have two now, one 26 months (my daughter) and a son who is 14 months. My daughter has two summers now under her belt (her first feild trip she was five months old) herping with daddy and my son has one. I am itching to get it started this weekend all over again.

I invested into an expensive shoulder/back pack that straps one of them in on my back and I carry the other one on my shoulders (there is some yelling sometimes from butt-in-the-face syndrome, but they change places enough to know it won't last forever). I highly recommend not going cheap on these. You can strap a kid in so they won't fall out and have a place for your water, milk bottles, bug jars and your camera.

They love going out in the field with me. We not only do all herps, but have had some good times chasing down butterflies while hanging on to daddy's chin hoping to not fall off. Yes they both have gotten faces full of branches, pricker bushes and muddy from going after turtles, but that never stops them from wanting to find out what is going to be under that next rock and if they can hold it. My kids have no fear of bugs and herps and there is nothing cooler than teaching a 2 year old to gently hold a butterfly, let it go and watch it fly into the sky.

Kids are tougher than you think. Give them the chance to prove it. Whether it is eating wasabi at 1 or getting stuck in rasberry bushes at two, I can promise you there are kids out there in tribes around the world that do the stuff as soon as they are born. Don't sell yours short. They will grow up loving getting their hands dirty and the looks on their faces when they hold a snake or watch a frog jump out of their hand back into the pond is just about the greatest thing there is on this planet. Have fun and don't be too safe...

It sounds like there are a lot of fun parents out there - you make me excited about this. I think that was just what I needed - Thanks again,

Jake aka "Dad"

I can tell by your post you will be a great dad. I was the same way about my daughter before she was born. BUT wait until she is born and you lay eyes on her for the first time.... LOL @ you.
Mark my words

These are some pics I took of her at 18 months old this last Thanksgiving.

Here is my 16 month old daughter discovering her hypo brooksi on the lawn Thankgiving Day 2004:

easing up to it:

maybe if I touch it:

Nope! Not sure what to do?:

Maybe if I wait it will come and jump into my hands:

Awww the heck with this, I am going for it!

HEY! not so fast

Got ya cornered

Maybe if I grab the tail..

HA- Gotchya!

Good thing brooksi don't poop on ya:

Here we go. Gettin this snake handlin thang down!

Look daddy, MY NAKE!

Best Thanksgiving eva!

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