Tell us about your first time

[Fuscus]

OK - tell us about the first time you met a particular herp species. Any species preferbly an unusual one.

I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours.


Me and a Olive :twisted:

IN the early 80s, way before I kept herps, I was diving in Harvey Bay in about 3 meters of water off the northen tip of Goat Island. I glanced up and saw something swimming straight towards me. I thought an eel and it was funny, because you do not normally see eels in mid water. I realized - its a snake, an Olive sea snake. At that time diving was still considered a macho sport and everything in the sea would attack you. I even heard of divers carring hedge clippers to deal with snakes. However, I knew ( thought? ) that the snake was only being curious and anyhow, its fangs were to short to peirce the wetsuit. What I didn't know how miopic the animal was. It swan straight up to me and proceded to check me out from only a thumb width away. Couple of loops around my
torso, quick check of my arm pit then a check of the area where I sometimes wore a Doogie Howser. Boy, was I glad of the thick wet suit them.
The animal then got bored and swam away.

I saw two others that day and dispite thousands of dives in tropical waters I havn't seen another one since.

whos next?

 

[cris]

Not really a match for your story but anyway...
The first time i saw a wild eastern brown snake was when i was around 10 or so. I was out at wivanhoe dam(bigest dam in bris) fishing and i was walking along though a rocky area when i spotted a medium sized adult water dragon on a rock i started getting closer to it when suddenly a brown snake charged out at great speed and bit and wrapped around it. I wasnt too far away and the snake noticed me and left as quickly as it came. I went over and picked up the dragon as it died, I was suprised at how such small holes kill so quickly.
I learnt a very valuable lesson that day, dont be a water dragon :shock:

 

[herptrader]

Up until the age of 6 I lived on the site that is now the Glen shopping center south east of Melbourne. Some of the site was vacant land, mostly abandoned orchards.

Before I can remember aparently we had a tiger snake visit our back yard and our corgi barked and barked causing my parents to come and "save me". The snake got away (yeah!) and I lived to tell the tail.

The next encounter, this one I can remember, was after they had started construction on the first bit of the shopping center, mostly a Woolworths where the Safeway now is. We were forever playing in the tall grass and on the building site. One day I was walking along a very narrow path (single track) and what I now believe was a tiger snake crossed the path in front of me. It happend rather quickly but I could only see about a foot of the the snake at any one time as it went out of the grass on one side and into the grass on the other side. It was the first time I had ever seen a snake. I think from that time on I was always destined to become a herper ;-)

Now that whole block is shopping center and car park including a number of streets with lots of houses. Near High Street there was a creek where we used to catch frogs. Now a David Jones is over this spot. The whole area is totally unrecognisable but I remember it like it was yesterday.

 

[purplefunkything]

funny how you can take a heading the wrong way.......

 

[RevDaniel]

Okay i am unsure is the love of reptiles was somehow passed onto three of my borthers and my sister and i or it is pure coincidence. I have loved reptiles since birth.
Always catching deadly snakes and scaring everybody when i come home with them.
I spent most of my childhood in France {i would have been around 9 or 10}, one time i caught a snake, knew nothing about it. Didn't know if it was a venomous snake or not but was just careful not to get bitten. I took my new snake to my piano teacher's class. I for some unkown reason decided to put the snake outside to give it some fresh air inside a bag. Little did i know that the bag was slightly open and when i came back the snake was not there. My piano teacher freaked and refused to take me home until i caught the snake. When she realized that i wouldn't be finding it she took me home. That was the last time i ever touched a piano as i was no longer welcomed to her classes.
Coming back to Australia my love of reptiles could not be over powered by cars, motorbikes, surfing etc. I would be too interested being out in the dunes catching jacky lizards or black snakes rather than being out in the surf. I don't think my old minister appreciated the fact that i would bring my carpet snake to church. One way to get a good offetry plate or to get plenty of people coffessing sins. But hey it wasn't a catholic church i went to though.
I had a freak car accident and have been left unable to work. I have always believed that there are to sides to every coin. I couldnt work any longer but i could still take care of reptiles though. Actually my injury left me with a memory like a gold fish but the reptiles are what pulled me through. I had always talked about getting a snake tattoo across my back. One day i was waiting for the train and since i had a couple of hours to spare i thought why not get this tattoo started. Rather spontaneous decision but one that i will never come to regret.
Now i have two Tiger snakes tattooed across my back. My tattoo is still a working progress but will be able to afford to get it worked on when i can pry myself away from buying more reptiles.
I Got married a year ago at the Nowra animal park so that i could be closer to the reptiles. If you remember Jezza put up the thread for me.
I bought myself a house at the start of this year and have it filled with reptiles.
Anyway this is my story.

 

[aussiesnakelover]

sounds like were i used to live in melbourne i live in melton and apparently its all constructed now but i woudnt noe haven been there since i moved here 4 years ago

 

[Saz]

Mine is more ironic than interesting. As a kid we used to go to Devon every year for a holiday (I was brought up in the UK), and one year I decided that it would be my goal to try and find a slow worm (Anguis Fragilis), as my Grandad had talked so often about seeing them in Devon.

They are a very secretive animal and are rarely seen. I looked and looked all holiday and couldn't find one. On the last day I went out with my Dad on a long walk around the village in which we were staying, checking the grassy banks and stone walls at the side of the little roads. Eventually we had to admit defeat and I dejectedly walked back to the holiday cottage. As we were walking up the path to the front door a slow worm was sitting perfectly still in the open on the path!! He even let me pick him up!!

I swear the little fella was waiting for me on that path! The chances of seeing one was slim enough as it was, but to find one sitting out in the open like that, especially in an area where there was a lot of human activity was incredible!

You've got to wonder if things like that are actually a coincidence, hehehe!!

:0)

 

[africancichlidau]

It was on the Gold Coast, up in the hills around Mudgeeraba. It was a beautiful sunny day and just a little humid. Little beads of sweat were forming on my forehead as I sat there in the middle of the bush, no-one around for miles, reading an old copy of the " Monitor" magazine. The article I was reading was about fierce snakes and it was causing me to occasionally look around with a certain amount of fear, and at the same time wondering if they were found around the area I was in. The bush was quite coarse and I remember thinking to myself that I probably wouldn't know if one was "coming for me" until it was too late! As I got more and more worried and scared about this prospect I was overcome by a very eery feeling and, almost afraid to look up from my magazine, I forced my self to look over to my right and there it was! My first Australian herp!! My mouth went dry and my knees knocked together with fear as I saw it, there, only about 5 feet away, emerging from a small mound of loose rocks was a garden skink!!!! Most exciting day of my life

 

[Morelia_Hunter]

Thanks for that afro, I will add it to the editorial!

 

[NinaPeas]

umm, I was about 5, and we were sitting around a campfire, and someone moved a big log, and underneath was a massive beardie all huffed up and angry, so the parents were trying to pick it up with sticks etc, I just dived in, picked it up and begged mum to let me take it home lol

 

[RevDaniel]

Okay here's another story for when i was 18. I was at Kapooka running traning to be a soldier. This particular day the platoon was doing an execrise in the bush. We where doing the assault course, i remember seeing the biggest Bearded dragon as i was walking with my riffle in my hands. I Wanted to stop the whole army thing and just go back to being a reptile keeper but don't think my C O's would have seen it that way.he he

 

[TrueBlue]

I won my first one in a game of 500, during my school holidays a few years back.
oooh, sorry you mean snake experiance.

 

[BeardyBen]

I am originally from New Zealand so we dont have too many common herps around apart from small skinks. I went to Oregon USA when I was 11 to visit my cousins, pretty much the only thing I wanted to do was catch a snake while I was there (apart from going to Disneyland ) we went up to one of my cousins auntys place in the mountains and went into the redwood forest to see if we could find one. I prayed my little heart out that we would find a snake. Me and my 10 yr old couisn ended up coming out with 13 garter snakes, some adults and some juvies. Everyone was freaking out that we actually found some and the aunty had never seen any the 25 years she had lived there. we released them later that evening.

 

[TrueBlue]

beardyben, what part of the mainland are you from.
NZ also has some of the worlds most amazing and sort after geckos.

 

[BeardyBen]

Im From Hamilton, Yeah we do have some awesome geckoes, i will post some pics of some I took in FEB when I was back home when i get home this evening. awesome green tree geckos

 

[waruikazi]

My first time with venemous snakes....

I was about eight or niine and one of my friends at school said he knew how to catch dangerous snakes. So not to be out done i said i did too and another mate chimed in agreeing that he knew also. Anyay along came lunch time and we decided to go on a herping expidition, we sneekily traversed the the school ground being careful not to be discvered by the teachers out on yard duty, until we came to the out of bounds area at the back of the little kids oval. There was a bit of scrub down there and the teahers couldn't see, so we thouht this would be just about perfect.

Once we got into the scrub and started searching it wasn't long before my two friends managed to find a couple of brown snakes. It didn't take them much longer to get tagged either :? . Any way we got into heaps of trouble and my two mates had to go to hospital for a couple of days. It really sucked cause they got to be in the news paper and on Today tonight and i got nothing.

 

[TrueBlue]

Hamilton?, I went to school in hamilton. Thats were IT happened.

 

[BeardyBen]

hehehe IT he said IT what school did you go to???

 

[TrueBlue]

fairfield primary and intermediate then boys high.

 

[soulweaver]

my first real encounter was in bush land up the back of frankston. i sat down on the path to do my shoe laces up and was resting leaning back on my hands as we had been chasing blue tongues all day. Then my friend got up and started to continue walking down the track, it was at this point a copperhead came out of the bushes. Flicked its tongue in my general direction, i just kept still and didn't move. It crossed the path in front of me, and at one point crossed my shoe. After it disappeared i crapped myself got to my feet and got the hell out of there lol


the funniest thing i ever saw was one day we were out collecting garden skinks. A mate had half a dozen or so in jar and was walking ahead as we looked for a jacky dragon that had ran off. Then we hear this girlish scream and a jar go flying into the air. skinks everywhere, he then came bolting around the corner, right past us and contiuned down the track. Wondering what had happened i slowly walked up the track and sunning itself on the side of the track was a adult brown snake. My mate never went into the bush again lol