I don’t think I will use the word collection just because of the association with it.
Our reptiles have enrichment and space, they are well cared for, just like my dog was.
I don’t have a dog ATM (RIP) and decided not to get another, partly because I’m allergic but mostly because of the bad owners out there. It got to a point where I was scared to walk my very well behaved dog.
I volunteered at a RSPCA and see so many mis-treated dogs 
Yet reptile owners are deemed bad owners! I don’t get it.
What association is that, specifically? Not everyone feels the same way, I don’t have have a negative or positive association with/to that word. Not at all. This thread was the first time I became aware that it has any connotation to anyone.
I take it you have a negative view of it, or you believe that others do?
The devil is in the details, and I like talking about devils.
I see no problem with the word, however when collection is mentioned some people seem to assume the reptiles have small enclosures with no enrichment and minimal care.
It’s only a few people that I found this with, but it was enough to make me think about it
And now I have to think about it too, thanks for your reply, @foxreptile , I apprexiate your perspecrive.
It might not be that way with most people, but that’s just my experience with a few people which made me use the term mini zoo
The word I used to use was menagerie but that’s too fancy for some folks too, there ain’t no winnin’.
I like that 
I call my reptiles, my collection or just reptiles. They are my pets. They are also breeders. I will never make money, that’s not my goal. If they eventually pay for themselves that’s a bonus. The ultimate morphs I want, are too expensive for me to afford. The ingredients are cheaper. So yes some I bought knowing I am not planning on keeping forever, some I bought planning on being their forever home. Each one has a name, I know it’s personality and really enjoy them.
That’s exactly the same with me, although new to breeding.
My reptiles are pets before breeders and any money we make from offspring (if any) will go towards more reptiles in order to get the end goal
I really have no problem with the word collection even though I understand some people see it as a negative word. To me it’s just a word and doesn’t say anything about how you feel about my animals or care for them. If you have more than one ball python you are in some way already collecting them because of their genes or beauty. If you there where only wild types I think almost none of us would have 10 or 20 of them, we would be happy with one or two. And yes, the process of selecting which one I want is not that much different from the way my son picks the next pokemon box or the next lego set, but that is where the simularity stops. He after having played with the set will put it away and doesn’t look at it for a long time.
With snake on the other hand I’m fully aware of my responsibilities towards that animal and start really liking them and even loving them. I have to admit, I 'm guilty of calling them my scaled babies (oooh, I bet a lot of you might be almost throwing up now or calling me crazy 
), like I call my dogs my hairy children. I’m the crazy woman who talks to them almost like the woman from “gotto love carpet pythons” on youtube but than the loud noisy version of her. I’m fully aware they are not dogs or real children or have any similarities with humans or even dogs, but I like it, it makes me happy, it makes me enjoy them more and they don’t mind. They are used to my craziness and do their thing. It’s a good thing I have a “collection” so I can divide the attention and none of them is getting an overload of it.
So yes, they are my pet’s first. But the breeding part is also a fun part. I just started breeding this season and only got 1 clutch but with 10 healthy egg’s, and a second one is on the way. Without breeding plans I wouldn’t have had 21 snakes, I would have stopped with maybe two. On the other side I’m still a little thorn inside between the love for the animals I already have and the wish to evolve in the breeding. It is simply not possible to keep every snake you ever bought and at the same time keep evolving in breeding unless you have a warehouse full of snakes. And if you have a warehouse full of snakes they are to many to have a connection with the individual ones and you lose that part. Most likely you also don’t have the time to care for a warehouse full next to a dayjob, unless you make it a business. But if it is a business than you have to make enough money to pay for the housing and care and own income ect. So it is almost not possible to keep them as pet’s till death, unless you decide not to evolve in breeding. But if I judge the people who go for developing the breeding, than that makes no sense either. I also like all the new combinations and follow for example Justin Kobylka with his next total awesome combinations and also wonder if I can one day maybe get or breed one of them myself. And even though I love them almost like my dogs, they are not dogs. They are snakes and at least most don’t connect to us as we to them. Even the ones I got as adults behave almost the same to me as the ones I got as hatchlings. My dogs will be heartbroken if I rehome them but I think most my snakes don’t mind that much. If they get a good new house with proper care they will be okay.
So my main responsibility as snake keepers is to give them the best care I can and treat them like a pet, and if time comes and I really do want to evolve in breeding I have to at least try to finds a good home for them. But will this time come for me? I don’t know yet. I still really want to keep all and evolving breeding is not a thing yet, I just started, and maybe will never want to evolve. Maybe I just keep these till death. I really love them and can’t think of any of them leaving, but that is more because of my own feeling than theirs. My main worry will be if the next owner will take good care of my snake, but unfortunaly even that one you’ll never know for shure. But that is the same even for dog breeders who never really know if their puppies end up in that nice family home or end up in a shelter years later.
I don’t see any problem with the term collection as a collective noun for a group of reptiles owned by someone. Farmers call their groups of cattle and poultry their herd or flock. Owners of pet birds also call their group a flock. Dog owners often call their group of dogs a pack. Since most reptiles aren’t social, there aren’t any well known collective nouns to refer to a group of them by. Hibernating snakes are sometimes found together in a den, that doesn’t really fit with a captive group in my opinion. You could have a territory in the wild with a dominant male lizard and multiple females in a harem, that doesn’t really work for us either.
I will add that many zoos will refer to their animals as a collection, and I figure if it’s good enough for them, it should be good enough for us!