Growing up I was the kid who got in trouble in elementary school for leaving the playground and heading to the woods. I will never forget my 4th grade teacher opening my wet paper towel and finding snails in it. I was not allowed to have pet snakes as a kid so my first corn snake lived under my bed. High school and college found me working in pet stores. I remember when reptiles magazine came out and had every issue. I sadly gave up my collection to serve my country in the army. When I got out I started over. I mostly began building up a boa collection. Just as my first females matured enough and began giving birth I met a woman. I blame Morphmarket for this. Kingsnake was the only site back then. It bored me so I went to a dating site. Fast forward a year and I was getting married to a woman with children. We bought a home and guess what? Suddenly there is no room for snakes. Sadly, I gave them up again. Well that did not last. Apparently you can’t marry crazy and expect it to last. Fast forward many years later and here I am. I have been a zoo keeper around 20 years and plan to retire within the next 10 years. With just 2 ball pythons currently I plan to begin a collection. I have watched the market for years and set goals. I plan to start out small. Quality over quantity is my goal. I love the clowns. Desert ghost clowns are my first goal snake. So, if you breed clowns or desert ghost don’t be afraid to say hello. I have money and you have snakes. We can be friends. Lawrence
First off welcome to the community. It is an overall great place to learn and share knowledge in our hobby, and there are a lot of helpful people on here.
I see you’ve gone through the ups and downs of reptile keeping like myself. And I’m happy to see your passion is still strong, I’m a little jealous you’re a zoo keeper. That would be a nice job to go to each day.
I also want to say thank you for serving our country. My father served in the Vietnam War and I’m very great full for your service. Our military doesn’t get the recognition they deserve.
Like @mnroyals said, thank you for your service & welcome back!! Good luck as well going forward, life changes along with the hobby but you make the best of it & keep moving forward, right? 
DG Clowns are insane btw!! On my project list as well for the future.
Hello and welcome! I hope you enjoy it here! Sounds like you’ve had many years of experience in the hobby, I’ve only been a serious part of it for about 2 years now