Epiphany - (awakenings)

[gregmonsta]

After always playing with lizards and slow-worms when I grew up in Germany the idea of owning a pet snake was always at the back of my mind ... one day (approx age 14/15) I came across a 'first snake' book in waterstones and just had to buy it .... this became my bible and as it spoke so fondly of Garters I finally ended up with two lovely ribbon snakes for my SYS project ... and that's how it started

[KITKAT]

Hmmm...

When I was about three years old (this is one of my earliest memories) I was playing on the porch, and a grasshopper flew and landed near me.

I was frightened and ran into the house.

My mother came out and explained to me that I could watch the grasshopper, play with him, and he would not hurt me as long as I did not hurt him.

I played a game of stomp and fly with him for awhile.

As I grew older, I always brought in bugs in jars, and would have also brought in frogs, snakes, injured baby birds, and whatever else I could find, but my mother would not tolerate the herps.

I often kept pets like this and hid them from my mother.

As a teenager, I had a private room in the basement, and kept a cricket frog in a terrarium, hoping he would sing for me. He later escaped, and after some months, I found him living in a hole in the floor near the entry to our garage, where he found ample food. I left him there and it was our little secret.

So I don't think I ever had an epiphany... I always wanted snakes and other such critters as pets, and when I moved away and got married, my husband worked for the DNR, so I was free to do what I wanted, with some agreed-upon limits.

[crzy_kevo]

well as a kid when i went to go visit my dad out in the middle of nowhere in michigan my sister and i would go out and catch garters just to look at them
then about 6-7 years ago i was doing a school project on a self contained eco system and thought how cool it would be to have a garter snake in there and thought it would be cool to have one for a pet
however i never got around to finding one and even if i had my mom wouldn't have let me keep it

so now that im all grown up and living on my own when i found george i just had to keep him i have always loved snakes

so he just makes the perfect pet for me.

[Odie]

I would find them and play with them, take them home as a child. My Mom would tell my to "Put it back were I got it!!" Even if that ment walking two miles. About two years ago My wife (Robin) came home, after her morning walk, with Strip and we both got infected We are the proud caregivers to 5 Garters now

[el lobo]

The first time for me was when I caught a smooth green snake at 6 years old at castle rock, MI.

[el lobo]

I wanted to keep that one, but at the time, my parents were adamant that I not take animals out of their natural environment...they still don't like it, but they ignore it now haha

[jitami]

Then one day, Samantha (My daughter) captured Xena and asked if we could keep "it",

Sounds soooo familiar. I was a tomboy growing up. My cousins and all the neighborhood boys were always catching something! I don't think I ever caught anything bigger than a "blue-belly" lizard, but was always holding some snake or lizard for the boys.

Then a little role reversal. Met my husband, became room mates with another couple and both my (then boyfriend) husband and the other guy were laughingly afraid of snakes. The other guy would scream like a girl and my husband just didn't care for them... said they smell... sigh. So I never pursued snake ownership.

Skip forward a decade or so and I have boys of my own, dancing around the front yard with 4 or 5 other boys, passing this cute little garter snake around. "MOM, can we keep it?" All the while they're dropping it, it's flailing wildly, musking, generally very unhappy. I rescued the poor thing, now named Sly, from the tortuous little boys and it's lived a life of luxury ever sense.

Way back then I got some great advice from the kingsnake forum and KitKat in particular. I had read or heard that their lifespan was about 6 years. So, skip forward almost 6 years and it's time for Sly to come out of his self induced brumation and he's staying hidden. I get a little stressed, thinking, this could be it. Finally get up the nerve to check on him and he's fine, but that little scare reminded me of how much I've come to enjoy the little guy and how much I would miss him if he were gone

Soooo, I take a couple new pics, get on kingsnake and post an update on my little man and soon learn that a 10 year lifespan is common in captivity In the meantime someone has pointed me this direction and I quickly discover that I'm going to *need* more garter snakes in my life in the near future.

[Lori P]

These are all great stories!!

I've always loved snakes, but it never occured to me to keep any... until one day I got a call about a neglected ball python. It totally blew my mind... a ball python was such a foreign concept to me. But I'm up for any critter in distress, so while a friend of mine went to get her, I got on the internet and started reading... and that was the end of my snake-free life. LOL

Over the next few months, in my travels over the internet reading everything I could about snake care, I came across an ad for a Puget Sound garter, and HAD TO HAVE SOME!!!!! Then I found this site and lived happily ever after!! :-)

[NikkiSixx]

i have owned/caught snakes my whole life... witch has only been like 15 years! but yeah i have always been catching snakes with my dad ssssnakeluvr.

[Garter_Gertie]

i have owned/caught snakes my whole life... witch has only been like 15 years! but yeah i have always been catching snakes with my dad ssssnakeluvr.

I *thought* that was your dad, Nikki! Welcome! Glad to have you here and see you're picking up your dad's great habits!