What supports YOUR addiction?!

[eunectes904]

I get a lot of emails and questions about how i got started working with and owning reptiles, as i'm sure a lot of you other guys get.  I wanted to share with everybody, especially the younger folks in here how I got started with reptiles, and what I do in order to keep/feed/buy them.  There are MANY ways to obtain reptiles without just forkin over the cold hard cash.  Some people start with two reptiles and breed them to make babies to sell. Some people trade for their reptiles.  Some people know someone that knows someone that knows someone's brotherinlaw that's looking to give away a snake or lizard.  So we want to know how you got started and what you do to support your addiction for these awesome animals.  I'll get the ball rolling.


To make a long story short, i got my first snake when i was just a little kid.  My mom was allergic to dogs and cats, so my dad brought home whatever was behind the house at the time ( I grew up in central NY).  When i started pre-school and was learning phonics and the alphabet, my parents helped me learn how to read on "Zoo books"  I still remember the king cobra on the cover.  After that i was hooked. I've been studying snakes literally since i could read, and i love them as much today as i did when i was a kid. To support their needs and my undying need to collect rare and exotic species, I work as a photographer here in NE Florida picking up any spare job i can for my long list of animals and enclosures i want. I try and talk with breeders directly, and do a lot of research before selecting the species i want.  This way you get the best animals available, you know what you are dealing with, and how to properly take care of it, and usually, better pricing than buying at a specialty store, or from a stranger. I hope this helps, and I look forward to hearing how all of you got started, and to where you are today.

[DGN Reptiles]

Ive been interested in reptiles since I was little and watched things like The Crocodile Hunter and other Animal Planet shows. I had been especially interested in leopard geckos. When my mom took me to a store where she got her fish and aquarium things, my friend and I went through the store and figured out the total for an aquarium, heater, crickets, hides, and the actual gecko. I could afford all of it with the money I had saved from birthdays and things like that. Out of pure luck my mom agreed. After that, she started getting interested in them, and both of us wanted to eventually breed. We got a male, and then soon more females. It took a lot of convincing and luck (including a lot of times where she completely turned me down). We ended up quite a few geckos by the time I was 11. When I was 13 my parents let me get my first snake, which was a kenyan sand boa for winning the state level of Reptiles and Amphibians in Science Olympiad. After that I aquired a few corns for other things like good grades or awards. I got into bearded dragons and blue tongue skinks. Last year I got into boas and ball pythons.

It escalated pretty fast. I am still only fourteen, but have a total of around 40 reptiles (including ball pythons, boas, corns, garters, beardies, blue tongues, and russian tortoises). I get enclosures as gifts for the most part. I breed my own rats to save money. I do yardwork and things for neighbors and help out at a local reptile breeder's to afford new reptiles or cages. I will also sell or trade some of my animals.  Ive gotten animals from all kinds of places including online, expos, craigslist, local people, and through stores. The more fellow reptile people you become friends with along the way, the better. I get, and give, discounts from/to people I talk to often. Once people in the area know you're "that person with snakes" theres a good chance you'll get some things from people who have to rehome or want to sell their animals. Ive been lucky, if my parents hadnt let me get started with geckos I would have never become the reptile person I am today. For the most part I hate telling people my age. People I talk to will figure Im 20 or 30 because of my experience (of course Im no expert) and how I talk. When I say Im only fourteen it gives the image of some bratty kid who begs his parents for things, but I care for 30+ animals by myself, and my parents wont go near half of them. Hope thats what you're looking for.

[Rachet]

i got into reptiles when i was around 6 and i met my older cousin's Retic...he was 16ft wheni first met him and i thought he was the coolest thing since ice water(i lived in the desert sothat was pretty damn cool to me) i helped take care of that thing every chance i could even if it was just pickign up it's poop...i later started helping with his geckos...when  he went to jail i had to put a halt on my love for them...i picked it back up when i started getting money for SSI and bought me a Savvy...cute lil guy although he died i could even name it...he died of a seriously large amount of parasites a month later, it didn't stop my love for them and a month later and after a few months of research i bought my argentine black and white Tegu Akira(changed the name because it's a she =D ) now i'm upto 5 reptiles(savvy, 2 croc skinks, bp, tegu) and looking to get another one(tegu)...lately it's been SSI checks that i don't really need supporting my animals then my gf every once in a while...now i'm hoping to get a job rather quickly before the food runs out...i'm also hoping to start breeding someday if i can get the necessary help and advice on how to do things properly.


PS. if anyone knows anyone looking to get rid of a younger tegu give me a pm ^_^

[Gloryhound]

Below is my wifes story from our web site, but it pretty much covers me as well!

Their story starts like many others. Shandra had two snakes when she was in college in Texas. One was a California kingsnake and the other was a ball python. While the California Kingsnake was nice, she quickly fell in love with the ball python. Fast forward twenty years, and their daughter wanted a "reptile". David was hoping to get a water dragon, but Shandra was leaning towards a ball python. Shandra knew they were solid and docile and would be a good first snake for Ana. So, while David was away on business, Shandra took their daughter to The Enclosure in Plum Borough, PA. They brought out a cornsnake that was about as big around as Shandra's pinky and very "lively". She could barely keep a hold of it herself. Shandra pictured that snake getting dropped on the floor where their cats and/or dogs would kill it, or it would escape. Shandra asked if they had any ball pythons because she didn't see any on display. They brought out “Apophis”, and he was calm and sweet and large enough for their daughter to hold without squishing it. Shandra purchased him and surprised David. While Shandra's husband wasn't initially thrilled with the idea, he soon warmed up. Shandra started researching online and found N.E.R.D.'s website with their collection of ball pythons. She couldn't believe all the beautiful morphs they had in their collection! That's when it happened - Shandra told her husband she wanted to start breeding designer morph ball pythons, and, as they say, the rest is history!

[Brandon]

well i got into reptiles when i was 10 when my family bought this burmese that my brother had he took care of it for bout a year then left it up to my parents to care for it well i loved the burmese and ever since then i fall in love with them and then it wasnt till 2006 when i got back into keeping a reptile which it was my very first ball python i loved it then when i turn 19 few months later i gotton my first burmese aka juels then after my bp misteriously died i gotton a boa constrictor then to a female burmese which i didnt kept to long then gotton my first female boa big boa and then i got my first albino burmese fifi


i work at kroger part time but it supports most of the things i need in life my reptiles my phone food and such and im looking in to getting another job

[Peter_Steele]

I got interested because living in central florida i saw reptiles running around all the time. My dad started keeping balls when I was 4 and has bred and raised tem with me for 14 years now. I have over 200 snakes in AZ still and no money to ship but im not too worried because my dad is taking good care of them. anyways right now I have 3 snakes that were rescues and hopefully will be breeding them this year to add more to my collection. Ill use some for trades and keep most if i can get the female not to throw slugs on me since this year she is just old enough to breed. But yeah currently I work at wal-mart as a cart pusher to pay for the food and such for my snakes(no rent were i live with my friends thank god) so it takes about $80 a month to feed my 3 snakes. I plan on breeding my own rats because it is so much cheaper.

[Southern_Boa_Gurl]

Holy cow, $80 a month to feed your snakes??  Wowsers, check out http://www.rodentpro.com and save money

[Peter_Steele]

Yeah the onlyproblem is though my snakes like pre-killed food not frozen thawed. I have checked them out from donnie. Yeah it is 6.99 a large rat and 3.50 a small rat. Figure that is close to 18 dollars and then tax comes out to about $20 a week for just three snakes for one meal. It is crazy. That is why I want to breed my own here soon and call it a day because I know I won't spend $80 a month on rat food.

[Southern_Boa_Gurl]

Ahhhh so why not try to switch them to f/t? 

[Peter_Steele]

I have tried Arya is my only snake that will take F/T. The other two preffer pre-killed for some reason. I have tried to get them to eat F/T but honoestly thawing them out grosses me out lol. It is wierd because I can kill a rat in my hands but not thaw out a rat. I don't know im wierd like that but i just feed them whatever they will take. I guess i can slowly start to try and switch them