How did you get into Herp's?

[choppy]

Was mowing the lawn today and thought about how I first became attracted to keeping herps. Remember being into them all my life. As a kid I thought Eric Worrell was awsome and had the good fortune to meet him when I was about 4 [can barely remember it]. My other greatest influence was a guy called Beat [not sure on spelling ] but he used to be on a kids TV show on NBN and I got to meet him to at a similar age. Unfortunatley the influence these guys had on me didn't rub onto my parents and although they didin't mind me having the odd skink in a container for a few days a python or anything larger was out of the question. Luckily later in life I met sparticus, who was also into animals praticuarly herps and he got me hooked again. This time I mamaged to talk the wife around and got my first python, a diamond, since then the collect has steadily grown and hopefully will keep expanding in years to come, only wish I'd gotten into it earlier.

So 'How did you get into herps?' Also who where your main influences? I think this would be an interesting thread? [JMO]

 

[Jonno from ERD]

G'day mate,

I have a few memories of my first encounters with reptiles. I mentioned in an earlier post how I used to always keep Garden Skinks in a fish tank with copious amounts of grass, and also how I kept a Short Neck Turtle in a styrofoam esky.

My first interaction with a snake was when I was 6 or 7, where a bloke named Sharpy (who is actually a member of this forum) brought a pair of Carpet Pythons out to Lakeside Raceway and let me play with them. There were a few photos snapped at the time, but to this day we do not know where they are. I would kill to find out! I also remember meeting Ranger Stacey at Redbank Plaza, where she had a grossly overweight Shingleback. I had never seen or ever heard of a Shingleback, and such a bizarre creature totally blew my mind.

Luckily, I had (have) quite supportive and enthusiastic parents, who support me in just about everything I want to do, so when I was edging closer to my 13th birthday, my mum signed all the relevant paperwork so I could get my Recreational Keepers permit as soon as I could.

Cheers

Jonno

 

[gillsy]

I remember seeing a snake for the first time as a kid, thought it was a hose being pulled from one end of the garden.

Then i realised it had no nozzle, LOL I bolted like there was no tomorrow.

But i got into them at an animal expo, had a black headed around my neck and had a black jacket on, all you could see on the photos was a blunt brown line against my jacket.

The thing touched my face, and I went white.

 

[Reptile_Boy]

being an illagal garden skink catcher and keeping them lol that got me into herps

 

[sparticus]

Ian (beat) Hill....arrrr who can ever forget beat..LOL..with his pet dingo by his side....all those adventures on the poppa ryan breakfast show.....

 

[rigga]

I kept the usual skinks and beardies for a few days at a time when I was a kid, even had a baby brown in a bug catcher for about a week when I was 8 or 9, hehe. But never met anyone who actually owned a snake until last year. This got me started on researching what owning one actually involved and now I have 9. LOL
Gotta love the Herp addiction

 

[xander]

When I started working with them(I work in a wildlife hospital)I developed a 'crush'on them.Ive always loved anything that breathed since day dot though.

 

[jessop]

the 1st time i saw a GTP (picture, not in real life), i said to myself "that is the best GOD can ever do!", i think i was 6-7 Y.O at the time. Seeing that 1st GTP pic totally changed me, i had no fear of reptiles after that... just a huge respect and loving for these incredible cold blooded creatures.

i used to go shooting (rabbits,foxes,feral cats/dogs) in the bairnsdale/swifts creek area, i fished allot for trout too... during these time i encountered numerous browns and tiger snakes. although my father brought me up on 'the only good snake is a dead snake" i always had huge respect for these creatures and would head for the camera before the shovel. randomnly seeing reptiles in their proper environment inspired me to oneday have one as a 'pet'.

since i have owned a python, my father and whole families view has changed on snakes they dont see them as a threat anymore (in fact they have grown fond of jessop) and my dad has offered to make a better enclosure for my DP(jess). My sisters kids hound her constantly to get a snake after handling/seeing mine and am sure they will get one sooner than later.

i think if you introduce kids at the right age we will end up having an epidemic of herpers (wouldnt that be great)!

 

[swingonthespiral]

I owe herps to my late pop..... he was the president of the telecommunications union in the 60s and 70s and travlled the world.... and in every photo from around the world there was pics of him with different snakes....

When i started school i lived out at Broken Hill in far west NSW..... apparently i came home one day with a baby brown snake..... and then the next day i came home with a shingleback attached to my pinkie (still have the scars lol)....

And then came my 7th birthday..... my pop took my to Birdland Wildlife Park in batemans bay on the south coast of NSW and i met Borris..... who was a female adult diamond python.... after that.... i was hooked...

My mum used to say things like 'why can't u ask for a pony for your birthday like the other girls at school' lol..... but no it was always mum can i have a snake??? she ruined my life when i was 10 and she told me i couldnt keep a snake and if i was found with one the rangrs would come to my house put me in jail and i would die lol....

But that all came to an end when i met my best friend 5yrs ago.... she only had one snake then... and i was his baby sitter....

Now 5yrs on i have 11 snakes..... she has 12..... plus the huge amounts of tag and release and rehab snakes..... and i love it.... couldnt dream of having it any other way!!!!

 

[spilota_variegata]

Nice story swingonspiral I can't remember a time when I didn't have reptiles. I used to spend every spare minute of my time catching them in a suburb called Lalor in Melbourne. Kept bluetongues, cunninhams, whip snakes, tiger snakes (I was a bad boy), brown snakes (bad bad boy). That was a long time ago, many years before permits etc. The vens I would keep for a week or so then let them loose where I caught them. My neighbour was approached by my employer asking what sort of person I was when I was young, and he replied I was a crazy young fool who collected snakes

Over the last few years my collection has grown.

BTW, Eirc Worrel was and still is my hero

 

[Twiggz]

I was a huge Dinosaur nut when i was heaps young......was that into them that i knew majorirty of the scientific names of by heart.....even did a half hour show and tell on them when i was in year 3 or 4.

Thats where it all came from i guess.........the old school reptiles.

 

[0_missy_0]

I got into herps after a lifetime of catching those tiny little skinks that crawl all over fences
Oh, and when my brother and I discovered the creek down the road there were hundreds of water dragons crawling around, they were awesome!
Also after discovering our backyard was full of Peron's tree frogs.

And, same as Twiggz, I was a huge dinosaur fan when I was in pre-school

And what got me into actually owning them, I saw a pic of a green tree python and fell in love

 

[mysnakesau]

With no previous experience with so much as catching lizards, I just decided out of the blue one day that I wanted a pet snake. So I got one and wow, why did I wait so long..

 

[Julie-anne]

I grew up on on property backing onto the bush so we always had snakes around (although i always taught to keep away from them etc)
When i got older i had a dream that i had a snake called Mineko so, well, i got a coastal and called her Mineko
...Now i'm obsessed

 

[stencorp69]

Being originally from Sydney Blue tongues were the first reptile we cuaght and kept (from about the age of 5). We used to catch Water Skinks in the storm water drains in Enfield (NSW), then someone found a diamond python in their engine bay and asked me to come over and get it. With in a short time after that I met up with a guy named Paul Levy (RIP) who introduced me to AHS.

 

[cockney red]

When iwas a kid in London, i used to jump onto the rattler to the burbs to catch adders and grass snakes. secretly kept them under my bed for acouple of weeks,then took them back and released them. At that time impossible to keep frog and lizard eaters in the city.

 

[reptyle]

i have always been into reptiles and insects. when i was young i was often running round in the garden catching anything that moved, lol. skinks, spiders, frogs and scorpions were some of the victims, hehe.
anyway, i ended up watching a few wildlife shows relating to reptiles on tv and i saw a couple of live shows as well. soo, at around the age of 10-11 i asked if i could get a snake. yep, you guessed the answer. "where not having a snake in this house". well i kept asking and asking until on my 12th birthday i had managed to convince my parents it wouldnt be so bad.
a hatchling female childrens python was the first reptile i got. then some pygmy beardies, then a diamond..ohh, and another childrens...umm, then a couple of species of knob tails and some thick tails, lol. ever since that first python, the addiction has grown and i now have a fair few different species.
a word of warning to people not currently involved in reptiles. make sure its what you want to get into, cause once you start, theres no turning back, haha. its great fun but.
thanks, ian

 

[noidea]

my dad collected snakes back in the 70's to be sent to brisbane for venom reasearch and then when they came back he released them, until he started goin out with my mum she really doesn't like them. anyway like most I was always fascinated by any animal and grew up watchin lots of documentaries and wildlife shows( ranger stacy was my hero when i was little), but it wasn't until I had my son that I considered getting snakes as pets, he is an absolute reptile nut (glad i live in QLD otherwise I'd have a croc somewhere) He got a stimsons python for his 3rd birthday and then I joined this site met steve(ponybug) and now have two more coastals and many more on the wish list lol. oh plus the 2 geckos dechlan got from geckodan.

 

[Aussie Python Lover]

It started for me when i was 13 (now 29) when i came across a olive python she had ben hit by a car luckily nothing was broken just alot of gashes and gravel rash at the time i was a volunteer at a wildlife carer just two doors down from where we lived anyway I cared for her until she was able to be realised but she had gotten used to being hand fed and picked up and carried everywhere that my step dad decided to get a permit to keep her anyway I have loved snakes from then. You will never see me near any poisonous ones... Will look but never ever touch...

 

[junglemad]

when i was seven my mum caught hatchie beardie on our paling fence and gave it to me