Why - What is the fascination with Reptiles ?

[ronhalling]

I was sitting at home yesterday after seeing my new spotty hatchlings for the 1st time when a friend of mine and his g/f showed up, well i was still pretty animated and talking excitedly about the worms when my mates g/f blurted out what is the fascination with reptiles especially snakes, they just lay there coiled up most of the time and even when they are not they don't have any personality, you can't take them for a walk they can't climb up on your lap on a cold night and they cost a fortune to buy and maintain, instead of going into it with her at that time i just shrugged and said that with my physical problems they were a good choice for a hobby. Later on after they had left i thought about what she had said and how many other people were of the same opinion, i suppose each of us has been asked this very same question so what answer have you all given when asked this. I know my fascination started when i was a kid and used to help the late great Eric Worrel at his reptile park in Woy Woy NSW (later to become the Australian Reptile Park and relocated to Sommersby on the Central coast) cleaning and mowing to start and then when i showed an interest in the reptiles i started feeding them and helping with their husbandry, Eric's ideas for getting someone on track with herpitology was always hands on and he always gave the person his undevided attention, some people on here might not approve of some of his teaching methods especially letting a 17 year old handle "HOTS" (supervised of course) but his methods, passion and drive still i am sure live in many of us today and the fire he lit in me never actually went out it just simmered for 38 years, i am sure there would be at least 1 if not more people on this forum who got there start in hepitology from Eric, it was at this time in my life i decided 1 day when i had the room, money and time i would be a keeper of snakes, so in short that is where my fascination started, or should i say love because they aren't a hobby to me they are a passion............................SO WHAT IS YOUR STORY, WHERE DID YOUR PASSION START.................................................................................................................Ron A.R.P Park Founder Eric Worrel - History - About Us - Australia Reptile Park ...........hope the mods leave this link in as it is very interesting

 

[Jacknife]

Mine started after watching Snakes On A Plane. Anything that is out to remove Samuel L. Jackson from movie screens forever is alright in my books...

 

[ubermensch]

I've always been a weirdo who liked reptiles. The fascination with reptiles is how beautiful they are...when people ask me that I tell them that if I wanted a pet that would climb into my lap on cold nights I would get a cat!

 

[sd1981]

I, like most others here, had a facination with them growing up as I lived on the border of a national park and would go for a walk through the bush almost everyday.... I would see snakes climbing trees, crawling along the ground, basking etc... As most kids who had been bitten by the herp bug, I would catch little pythons, lizards, geckos etc and keep them for a day or so ( until my mum found me with them who would yell at me for bringing them home) and then release back where I found them (illegal I found out later, but as a small child I didn't know any better)...
I got my licence a few years later and have been keeping for about 18 years...

 

[Taylor125_2]

I grew up in the country around snakes. All my life, all though summer i'd be helping dad rescue shinglebacks and beardies from chicken wire they got caught in. One day I was running through the scrub, being a kid. Out of no where I got a bad feeling and stopped, I looked down and there was a Frilly sunning himself right at my feet. He looked at me, I looked at him and we both walked away calmly from each other. And there it began. Years of looking after injured reptiles, working in a wildlife park and looking for them all summer. We had one huge black beardie that would bask on our horses hitching rail all day, his name was Manwell and he was awesome.
They are beautiful animals

 

[sharky]

I've always been fascinated in reptiles. My dad brought me up reading about them, watching documentries(Spelling) on crocodiles, lizards and pythons and going to a few reptile shows at wildlife parks. I'd go out with him finding little geckos under the bark of trees, shingles on the farm and blueys in the back yard. When I started school(5yrs old) my passion decreased a bit and dogs became the main thing But in year 3 (This is going to sound weird) my passion was rekindled with a project. We had to draw an Australian animals on a piece of wood board and decorate it by gluing on different types of dried seeds/beans. Of course I did a lizard and that's where the passion began The same year I got two beardies and a few years later my dad helped me breed them!

That's where my passion 'officially' began

 

[NickGeee]

When I was 5 it 6 I came back from school and my grandfather showed me a gecko that he found in the backyard.
I was thought it was pretty cool and afew years later my uncle gave me a blue tongue.
She was pregnant when we got her, and gave berth the day we went camping. 7 counted in total. And for an unknown reason 6 died
Her surviving baby we now presume is now pregnant too after buying a male.
My collection has expanded scince

 

[Red-Ink]

Reptiles make me the coolest badass kid in the playgrounds...

 

[Stuart]

Why not?

 

[Tipsylama]

I always loved Dinosaurs and Dragons as a little kid, hell i still do and i guess reptiles are the closest im ever going to get to have a pet one.

 

[Shotta]

as a kid i loved reptiles used to catch lots of lizards,turles geckoes, and fish, i have always loved looking at snakes watching them move and espeacially feeding time , to me its amazing that an animal with no appendages can move so well ,climb and swim,the colours ,the patterns,their eyes everything about them is wicked! back then i wasnt allowed to keep reptiles so i kept fish and birds,then a few years ago my passion lit up again when a mate showed me his new carpet python and after a couple handling sessions with the little carpet i decided to finally get my license and aquire these prehistoric reptiles of my own and now i am totally addicted to them

 

[harlemrain]

I was 7 and reading an animal book in a tree and we lived in the city in Tassie at the time so I didn't really know what snakes were and I saw a picture of one and I ran inside and begged my mum to let me have one when she said no I asked at least 2 times a year for her to change her mind and now 14 years later I have 3

 

[Python-Lover4lyf]

I was born into a family obsessed with them, dad had 22 snakes and just the whole fascination of them hooked me. I could watch them for hours. The way they eat, drink, move, climb, smell, swim, look, react even the way they feel is just amazing. They're beautiful animals I just wish more people would see past their fear and disgust and see their true beauty too ..

 

[Bananapeel]

See I don't have a beginning to my love of reptiles. Well not that I know of anyway. None of my family are interested in them. I wasn't brought up learning about them or finding them around. I have always been interested in animals and I guess going to zoos and things I came to love reptiles. Then I moved overseas and saw exotics and just fell in love. About 4 yrs ago, whilst overseas still, I cared for an injured lizard that my cat brought in. I reared him back to health and set him free. Occasionally I saw him around the place. After that I decided I wanted a pet reptile as i realised how much enjoyment I had got fro him and watching him heal. I kept asking for 4 yrs and finally mum gave in and I'm picking up a MD python tomorrow hopefully!!!
I will always be keen on animals and I will stay jobless until I find a job working with animals. Yeah my parents think I'm weird and have idea where the love of animals, reptiles in particular came from.

 

[Hamalicious]

I honestly can't remember when i first became fascinated with reptiles. I have been a nature freak since the day i opened my eyes. I do remember watching Steve Irwin working with snakes on tv for as long as i can remember though and he definitely had a huge impact on me, from a young kid and every day since. I still remember the first time i saw a black headed python, my aunt took me to a reptile expo and they have been one of, if not my favourite snake every since.

Ive had more people than i care to count, ask my why i would want a snake as a pet. Everything from "they're scary" to what you got asked, saying they are boring and they dont move or you cant cuddle them. Most of the people who ask these questions are the kind of people who have no interest or appreciation for the world around them. The only animals they like are the cute and cuddly ones. But fortunately for me, ive live near bush land so the people in my area are used to wild life and have a wonderful appreciation for reptiles and i regularly have visitors just wanting to come see my snakes and lizards.

At the end of the day i just accept the saying, each to their own, some people like them, some don't. No reason to stress or worry about it. We love them and thats all we need to know.

 

[Skippii]

As far as snakes go, they're just fascinating animals... No other animal can do what snakes can do.. Look at how they eat, easily one of the most interesting methods I've seen of getting food down.. Also look at how a lot of them can out"run" most people, and they don't even have legs! The way they can survive months and months on end without food because of their vastly different metabolisms, and the fact that they don't have to expend energy warming/cooling themselves because they use outside sources... It's all just so different, I don't understand how anyone could not be impressed or at least interested.

Not to mention the fact that they're easily amongst the most beautiful animals on the planet..

x

 

[joelysmoley]

I don't know how I became interested in reptiles, I have a huge passion for animals, I loved dinosaurs as a little kid and then as a grew a bit older I wanted to become a marine biologist specialising in sharks and now I have a passion for reptiles, not to mention Steve Irwin had a big impact, I used to watch his shows all the time. I am now going to see where my passion and knowledge takes me, hopefully I can get a job working with wildlife in the future

 

[Justdragons]

Unique, unintrusive, dont demand attention, you can collect the whole set, you can take the hobby as far as you want from keeping and loving one python or beardie right through to full scale breeding business. I love hobbies, always have. When i found this one i knew it was for life as ive never felt passion for a hobby like this one.. even music and mixing, very close but reptiles still win..

 

[treeofgreen]

Snakes are expensive to buy and keep? I think the complete opposite... anyone else thinks snakes are expensive?

Heatmat cost + a rat or mouse a week? lol hardly even a coffee!

 

[sharky]

....then as a grew a bit older I wanted to become a marine biologist specialising in sharks and now I have a passion for reptiles......

You stole my life story :shock: I've loved sharks for years and everyone knows me as sharky because dad and I go diving with them every year .....and I have 42 books on them and other stuff

Back on topic....