# How It All Started



## Wild~Touch (May 29, 2014)

Please share how you got into reptile keeping

Always had a fascination 

A friend kept some reptiles

Your kids wanted a snake

My son wanted a snake from the time he could talk....LOL saw one in a pet shop in Melbourne and that was it


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## apprenticegnome (May 29, 2014)

Always had a fascination. Caught and briefly kept baby beardies as a kid before releasing them. Kept Blueys briefly as a teenager and have a bit of a fascination with snakes. Got to love what this Country has before its gone. Australian history, native plants and animals are my interests. Your avatar is very cool by the way.


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## Pythoninfinite (May 29, 2014)

When I was 5 (1953), a neighbour brought home a Western Bearded Dragon and gave it to me. I had no idea what it ate or anything, but not long after I got it I was turning over bricks in the backyard with the lizard on my shoulder, and disturbed a large centipede. The dragon jumped off my shoulder and attacked and ate the centipede, so we were off & running. I had it for about 3 years until the cat got it . That was my introduction to reptile keeping. Snake keeping was delayed a few years after I caught a large Dugite when I was 8 and my father found it in my room... The things you do when you're young...

Jamie


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## Beans (May 29, 2014)

Playing with earthworms. I was really interested in how they moved without legs etc. Mum then got me a 5 year old spotty.

Was in year 6 at the time.


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## xterra (May 29, 2014)

My family home backed onto the Logan River and my dad had a rule that we had to be out of bed at 6am on the weekends and out of the house......riding motor bikes, catching things whatever we wanted really.
Somehow we ended up with some carpets that i think came from the Yatala Lion park when it closed.
This is a pic I think was taken around 1984-1985 at the Australian Reptile Park.


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## sharky (May 29, 2014)

My dad got me into reptiles from a young age. I think I was about 2 when it all started....days of watching the crocodile hunter, reading reptile books, watching documentaries, drawing reptiles, going to see the reptile exhibits in wildlife parks/zoos, buying me an abundance of reptile softies/toys as well as clothes and my most favorite was going hunting for geckos at midnight/early morning in the bush when I was 5. I loved it. We would walk to big gum trees, dad would gently left the bark away, shine the torch and reveal a beautiful little gecko every now and then...or a big huntsman spider  Either way I loved it!Sometimes in the early morning we would see a brown or an RBB sunning himself on a large rock...dad always made sure we kept our distance and scooped me up when we saw one just in case. 

Then for my 6th birthday, he bought me 2 beautiful Bearded Dragons. I was so excited and it was by far the best present I had ever received. Ever since then I've been hooked. My Beardie boy is coming up to 10th Birthday this year....unfortunately Miss Dragon passed away 3 years ago from cancer...I was so devastated but she's in a better place now. It seems so much longer than 3 years that she's been gone


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## Schnecke (May 29, 2014)

My brother.

His coastal is coming up on 11-12 years old now and has always been a great snake. My ex partner wanted a snake and I took the plunge with him and 3 years later, shockingly enough, I still only have ONE reptile.


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## Wing_Nut (May 29, 2014)

I caught the bug from Jamie [MENTION=1228]Pythoninfinite[/MENTION]. A big shed in the perth hills full of snakes and a noisy Macaw (I already had the bird bug anyways) was all it took.


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## insitu (May 29, 2014)

I saw the prices on the internet and thought "thats the game for me"


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## Aelodrea (May 29, 2014)

Ive always had a fascination ever since i was a young girl, i begged my parents for one and we almost did but they never got one cause they were too lazy to set it all up properly.
Then one day in about year 4 a school mate brought over their childreni and that sealed the deal for my love of pythons.

And last year around April i finally got my first, a cape york jungle. Ive never been happier and looking to get a woma in the near future.


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## Jimie (May 29, 2014)

I hated all reptiles with a passion as i was extremely scared of them so scared I wasn't able to put my feet on the ground when sitting on a couch, I also couldn't watch them on TV without having nightmares as I had nearly been bitten by a red belly as a 13 yr old kid, it wasn't until a mate of mine gave me a spotted python and told me to look after it or he'd beat me up that i realized they aren't as bad as people make them out to be, now i'm just a little addicted and have 17 scaly friends.


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## hayden123113 (May 29, 2014)

I'm absolutely loving this thread, despite out diversity we all love reptiles. For as long as I remembered I've loved reptiles and growing up as a kid every birthday I would ask my mum for one and nothing else, she would say no and ask me for something else, but all I said was a snake so she had to choose her own present. Finally when I was 12 she said yes and I got my first diamond python, started building up my small collection over the years and had 3 awesome snakes then had a house fire which unfortunately there was no survivors. But only now only about 14 months later I have 2 snakes a beautiful woma and olive (who is growing so fast I can even believe it)and ridge tail that has revealed I have a soft spot for lizards too. Mum now likes reptiles but has started saying no again as she will be the one taking care of them for me when I cant because of I plan to go to Uni.


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## Senator358 (May 29, 2014)

We lived next to a rental property and one of the tennants had snakes. When he moved out I went through the bin and found a dugite preserved in a jar. Had it for years and couldn't stop staring at it. We also had a blue tongue that lived in the backyard near the pool eating the strawberries. Used to watch him and pick him up occasionally. That was as far as it went until I grew up and moved out because my parents didn't like reptiles.


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## GlenyseT (May 29, 2014)

I'm new to reptile keeping but have always loved finding lizards while out bush walking. Pythons fascinated me but scared me at the same time. I started volunteering at a zoo and had the chance to complete an animal handling course so I could do meet and greet and hopefully teach visitors about reptiles. I fell in love with the zoos pythons and recently decided to do some research and get my own. I've only had my hatchling children's python for about a month but I'm hooked. I won't be rushing into it but I can see myself getting another before too long.


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## mad_at_arms (May 29, 2014)

Spent time as a young kid on the riverside catching water skinks and stuffing them in my shirt (Dad wouldn't let me keep them) as i collected them.
I had 14 inside my shirt one day. A slow day fishing was a good day herping for me.


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## AllThingsReptile (May 29, 2014)

Always spent the spring/summer months catching small sp. of skinks as a little kid, would carry them around for a couple hours and let them go..
We lived about 50m from the murray river and behind the house was a floodplain,
when i was about 11-12 i flipped a piece of tin and there was a juvi red belly curled up under it, after about 15 minutes of carefully pinning its head and trying to pick it up, i took it back up to the house to show the family and was yelled at,
but that started my love for snakes, from then on i was always out looking for red bellies (being on a floodplain, there was an abundance of them).
For my 14th birthday i got 2 Beardies, after a huge amount of begging and pleading,
4 years on and i have my first snake (Darwin Carpet), and some blueys and cunningham skinks.
But ever since that first little red belly, they've always been my favourite snake, and probably always will be


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## GeckoJosh (May 29, 2014)

Grew up in the City until 4 then moved to a bush property in Blue Mountains NP, after seeing my first Mountain Dragon (I used to call them geckos lol) I was hooked.
One day not long after starting school I found a common froglet under a rock in our garden, I thought it was the coolest thing on earth having never seen a live frog before, then I was hooked line and sinker!
I remember when I was about 7ish a kid in my class brought in 2 Green Tree Frogs for show-and-tell, I hated him so much lol, lucky little ******* 
I kept various local species in a pit.pond area in our yard until I was about 10 then we moved and I let them all go 
After moving there was a gap of about 10 years where I never lost the passion but focused on other things such as girls, school/work, girls, skateboarding, girls and other teenager stuff lol
I got my reptile license when I was 20, started with 1 gecko, within a year I had numerous species of frogs,geckos and dragons! soon after I decided that it was time to finally get over my absolute gut wrenching fear of snakes so I bought a Jungle hatchy, I knew there would be no way my fear would get in the way of me looking after it properly so I forced myself to get over it, didnt take long cos within 2 years I owned 5 of them lol.

Since then I have kept many different species and I dont expect that to ever change


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## KheaLouise (May 29, 2014)

Held my first snake a view weeks back and now getting my first childrens python hatchling tomorrow. 

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## Justdragons (May 30, 2014)

Love dinosaurs.. Lizards were pretty close.. Rest is history.


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## Gizmo101 (May 30, 2014)

My dad rocked up home with a diamond which he bought from some idiot who wasn't caring for it properly. He have it a bigger home and fattened him up to condition and we had him until I was 14. I thought it was so cool I wanted to do everything with it, so my dad taught me how to care, handle and maintain it. Then after he died I got my own license and snakes.


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## Slickturtle (May 30, 2014)

It started when I was a small child. My earliest memory was being held on my fathers hip and someone held up a glass jar containing tadpoles and a frog or two in water. I was hooked from then till now. 
But growing up in the mid north of S. A. meant that I had a choice of pretty much one species of snake - the Common Brown. My poor mother had to put up with her 12 year old some coming home on a push bike with brown snakes bulging out of the peg bag that I pinched off her clothes line. I am not sure if my love of brown snakes was spurred on by the fact that my elder brother was bitten (and became very ill) from a brown snake bite - maybe!! He used to push me around a lot. Maybe I saw some revenge there. I did get bitten by a small one once. Again, my poor mother got up every hour or so through the night to take my temp. I had no reaction at all.

I got lucky scoring a job at Adelaide Zoo when I was only 17. From there I worked for about 10 years with reptiles at the Australian Reptile Park (ARP) with Eric Worrell (that was an eye opener) and finally Melbourne Zoo's Reptile House. Man alive I was lucky when I think about it. The ARP in 1970 was competing with Taronga (Graeme Gow and Paul Horner then) in having the biggest collection of exotic reptiles in Oz. The species list is mind blowing by todays standards. It seems as though zoos are keeping far fewer species of animals these days - probably in better quarters than were used in Ye Olde days.


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## chimerapro (May 30, 2014)

*A multi generational effort was how it all started for me.*

My Grandfather was involved a little with Warragamba African Lion Safari (Stafford Bullen opened in 1968 closed in 1991) and my Father had a little experience with keeping elapids under the guidance of Jeff Banks (Mt Druitt) in the mid 70's. My first memory of a reptilian encounter was living in Darwin NT with father serving as a chef in the Air Force living in Nightcliff, he one day found a childrens python Antaresia childreni in the food storage area feeding on mice in there. Bringing it home as a pet for myself 5 and sister 3 until mum found it hidden in the linen cupboard a few weeks later and made it be released back out into the bush. My next encounter was in 1993/94 when we caught this carpet python (Bob) as a pet,

it was housed in an old wooden chest with a light bulb, holes for air and was fed live rats I caught from inside the chook pen (Oh how times, equipment, husbandry techniques ect have changed lol) We had Bob until he sadly passed away in 1996 from unknown (most likely parasite or husbandry related) causes. Not long after that NSW began a licence system so it was not until I was old/mature enough to get my own licence (1998/99) was when my passion and interest in reptiles really took off as did my interest and formal qualification training in Aquaculture. Throughout my later senior years of high school I kept and bred a few bread and butter species (Eastern beardies, bluies, water dragons, water skinks, carpet pythons). With guidance from a very long term herper Ron Briggs (who I owe my current interest and handling knowledge in elapids and field herping) 
In 2001 I had the pleasure to deal with Peter Krauss in North Qld and purchased my first non local specie a hatchling water python Liasis fuscus
Bitey is his name and is still a part of my collection today 13yrs on. I now am able to work operating my own Herpetoculture/wildlife relocation/public edcation business in Toowoomba Qld passing on and educating future generations of reptile keepers, field herpers, wildlife advocates and just doing my part to promote respect for the environment and its inhabitants.


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## Luvbuz (May 31, 2014)

I was born into a family where the only good snake is a dead snake and so became petrified of anything that moved without legs (earthworms excepted!). That fear continued until my late 40's when I was at a pet store and watched a couple of little kids handling a male spotted. I thought if they can do it then so can I, and asked for a hold once the kids had finished. The store keeper had overheard my trepidation and took me through handling the little ant. From that moment, when I realised snakes aren't cold and slimy and bite at will, I was hooked. I was fortunate enough to hear about a bloke in town who was selling a blonde spotted (lined) python and went for a look. I already had my recreational wildlife license because of my birds, so did the deal. That was four years ago. I now have had a blonde spotted, a beautiful big BHP girl, two hypo bredli and an albino darwin. Space, like with a lot of other posters became an issue and I ended up selling the blonde and two hypos, but will never part with my big, placid BHP or the tantrum throwing albino, who is going through his terrible two's at the minute. If it wasn't so expensive, I'd be doing what chimerapro does - running education programs for kids in the Far North. Too many people today still reflect the way I was brought up, and I would dearly love to tell them "I was just like you and look at me now!"... I'm not in the game to breed or make money, I just enjoy the quiet solitude of looking in my animal's enclosures while they do what snakes do and marvel at them!


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## Cockney_Red (May 31, 2014)

Catching Adders and Grass Snakes back In blighty nearly 50 years ago...


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## CrystalMoon (May 31, 2014)

My first memory of my fascination with reptiles....
I found a nest of snake eggs and took them up stairs and put them in my Doll's cot(I hated dollies lol) I was around 3-4 at the time, My mother found them and flogged my bottom. I was told to throw them out! I remember hiding them in my old dress up shoes, then forgot about them lol I was always catching spiders, lizards and snakes as a child. I kept Pythons out in the bush for years(I didnt know you had to have a permit till I moved to town) My keeping methods were crude but seemed to work? The Pythons I had were healthy without any issues...... Old fish tanks with a log hide up one end and a rock at the other, mesh lid and a desk lamp with a high wattage over the rock(out side the enclosure). I gotta admit to live feeding rodents(wild caught) I was a tad primitive back then(and young) I have learned much since being in suburbia(some good some bad) I dont live feed and my enclosures are more modern now  and I am older lol I have never lost my love of reptiles and critters it has only gotten more passionate


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## imported_Varanus (May 31, 2014)

"Righto you kids, outta the House, weekend's are for parents and I don't want to see any of you till Dinner time!"

First lizard was an Eastern Bluie (still love em), first snake was a Vic Tiger (kept under the bed and away from parents).


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## Amynickid (Jun 2, 2014)

Always loved weird things and animals, use to catch and keep geckos, skinks, water dragons in my early teens and release them. My ex owned a coastal carpet and his brother had a collection of coastals, bredlis etc. I decided I wanted one, started looking around online, wernt to a reptile exhibition, found a lovely hatchy jungle there and fell in love. Now a year later I want more!


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## CrazyNut (Jun 2, 2014)

Lifted up a rock when I was little and picked up a pebble that was under it, turns put that wasn't a pebble but a frog, after all pebbles don't jump out of your hand lol I'm assuming that where the interest started, earliest memory of a wild animal encounter. If its nit that then I don't what started it batik now I have loved animals my whole life.

- - - Updated - - -

Lifted up a rock when I was little and picked up a pebble that was under it, turns put that wasn't a pebble but a frog, after all pebbles don't jump out of your hand lol I'm assuming that where the interest started, earliest memory of a wild animal encounter. If its not that then I don't what started it but I know I have loved animals my whole life.

- - - Updated - - -

Lifted up a rock when I was little and picked up a pebble that was under it, turns put that wasn't a pebble but a frog, after all pebbles don't jump out of your hand lol I'm assuming that where the interest started, earliest memory of a wild animal encounter. If its not that then I don't what started it but I know I have loved animals my whole life.


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## Illium (Jun 2, 2014)

I think its hereditary for me. Reptiles and Inverts.
Apparently when I was 3 I used to beat at the front door at 6 on the weekend to be let out to catch skinks and beetles.
Used to go "out of bounds" and get in trouble constantly in year 1 and 2 for hunting animals up the back of the oval. 

Got seriously ****** when a kid a few years older found a bunch of hatchie red bellies at school.

Had several pet blue tongues I found as a kid to the point my grandmother built a lizard pit.

Year 5 teacher used to let me out of class if I saw a beardie on the oval, occasionally came in with bites but laughing about it. (yet generally im a wuss)

As soon a I had a license I went out west, caught a thick tail, ackie at the devils marbles and a crap load of manicatus and yashis.

Got my license, an olive and childs, but then met my wife and she cant handle snakes at all.
Hobby went on hold when I sold them.

Then my son came along, with no coercion he had an obvious knack for reptiles, so we got a beardie, then my daughter is a lizard nut too. So I bought a few more, but now myself and the kids have a real thing for monitors. Expansion is imminent.


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## MissDangerous (Jun 2, 2014)

I have always loved animals, of any size and shape. Used to sit on the grass as a little kid and feed the local lizard population tiny grasshoppers, always fascinated with them. Dad accompanied me on a school excursion when I was in grade one to a local wildlife sanctuary, and i would not stop asking the reptile handler a million questions about the snake he was displaying. All the kids were kinda freaked out, but the handler leaned close and whispered that if my dad said it was ok, I could have a hold when the other kids moved on. Dad knew better than to say no, and with much excitement I was allowed to touch the snake, then had it draped over my shoulders. It made my year! Couldn't wipe the grin off my face, and since then I have always had a fascination with these incredible creatures. 20 years later, I finally have one of my own!

Took a while, but was definitely worth the wait


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## Sheldoncooper (Jun 2, 2014)

I remember when I was around 7 I would spend 6 to 8 hours a day on weekends in the local bushlands. Watching any wildlife I could mainly reptiles. Beardeds, jacky's, blue tounges,shingle backs but I loved watching the snakes and how they moved. Tigers, copper heads, red bellies, browns getting to know there routines and where to find them. And eventually learning how to handle them. Well I learnt pretty quickly that the tigers were best watched from a distance. And yes not very smart I know but I just couldn't help my self. I was chased by a few tiger snakes and only ever tagged once by a tiger but I reckon he struck 5 or 6 times in no time. It was 2 weeks before I was back. Nearly 30 years on if im driving and see a spot where I think I'll be able to spot a few reps I'll pull over and go for a walk. I think once your hooked its a life long thing.


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## montysrainbow (Jun 2, 2014)

My 1st encounters were while i was little growing up in country nsw. I would often go to collect the eggs from our chook pen peel the hesian sack door across to reach in and grab eggs only 2 c a big brown coiled up having a feast! Lol i didnt stop for cuddles i instead ran like a scardy cat back to mum without the eggs....i thought they were interesting but yeah they scared me. It wasnt really until i had my own boys that love lizards that i got into them. My guys still love catching geckos and garden skinks lol letting them visit their day spa ( empty yoghurt tub with milk cap full of water lol) i think all animals are lovely but reptiles are my fave.


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## Wild~Touch (Jun 7, 2014)

I cannot remember not having a frog or turtle in my life ... we lived opposite a swamp where I spent most of my time (much to my mothers disgust.) 

I used to gather frog spawn and lovingly watch them develop into frogs

They were kept in a fish tank on top of my wardrobe as my younger brothers were pests... 

I blamed my brothers for taking my little froggies...years later when the wardrobe was moved I found lots of mummified froggies stuck in the carpet


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## briansworms (Jun 9, 2014)

As a kid it was Stumpy Tail Lizards. That's all I knew them as. ( Shingle Backs) There was the billabong ( just a dam but hey we were kids). We were always catching frogs and tadpoles.
Once in my late 40s I was diagnosed with Diabetes and struggled with depression and my wife thought a turtle would be good. So I got everything I needed and bought 2 Eastern Long Neck hatchies. The need to give them good live food lead me to keeping worms and woodies. After many years Brian's Worms evolved with the encouragement from people on Australian Freshwater Turtles Forum. I still have Chopper my female ( used to be a boy hence the name lol) She would be around 11 years old. I lost Ollie the smaller male a few years back. Really was a very sad day. He was about 7 years old.
At this stage I don't own any other reptiles. I would love a Beared Dragon.


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## aj33340 (Jun 9, 2014)

when my parents brought home a blotched blue tongue and then a few months later bought home some shingle backs i got hooked cant wait to get more its always anew adventure with a new species


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## markannab (Jun 11, 2014)

For the first 25 years of my life, the only snakes I came across were venomous. While I was fascinated by them and had no particular fear of them, I always sought to kill them. Like so many, it was simply the culture I was raised in, especially since I lived the first part of my life in the QLD outback. When my future wife came along, she was appalled that I'd kill animals "just for the sake of it", so I stopped doing it.

Then we moved to the central coast of NSW. I'd heard that "large pythons" lived here so, for the next few years, I excitedly kept my eyes open hoping to spot one. After seventeen years, I hadn't seen a single one in the wild! Then it all changed. One day, I was driving through town when I spotted a snake on the road – injured but alive. I could tell from the head shape it wasn't a python. It looked venomous. So I moved it to the side of the road and called a rescuer. It turned out to be a GTS and later died from it's injuries. My contact with the rescue organisation set my interest on fire. I joined the organisation and bought several books on snakes – especially pythons. I really got into learning to identify snakes and understand their life cycles and anatomy. Of course, being involved in rescues, I got to see plenty of those "large pythons" in the wild . . . and in chicken runs, and attics, even a big diamond in a deep fryer on a kitchen bench!

I admired a friends pythons, including a small carpet. Then, one day, he rang and said that, due to injuries sustained in a car accident a few years earlier, he was simplifying life and getting rid of the carpet – his one remaining snake – and asked if I'd like to have it, along with the 450mm Reptile One enclosure. Naturally, I said yes. That little carpet is now 7.5 feet long and takes centre stage in the open living area in a 7' high enclosure. A later rescue resulted in a second snake for me when the snake went to a NPWS ballot, and I was awarded it – a young spotted.


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