Thanks for sharing your story
I’ve always loved reptiles! When I was a kid I would always be out looking for Turtles frogs and snakes and as soon as I found kingsnake.com I was on there every chance I got looking at all the different pictures of all the cool reptiles and just dreaming! Most of my life I’ve kept Turtles and I never really knew a whole lot about morphs. In 2015 my wife and I we’re having our first child and my wife passed away due to complications with the labor .my little girl is doing great! But after that I was really depressed I stayed home from work for like 6 months and during that time I watched a lot of YouTube videos about reptiles I started watching Kamp Kenan BHB always evolving pythons Triple B TV and lots more pretty much anybody who is willing to share information I wanted to learn. Prior to having a child I always grew cannabis to supplement my income but I would never do anything to get in trouble now that I have a child. So I decided I want to try to breed reptiles and I built a small snake and rat breeding facility on my property over the summer!
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I’m so sorry to hear about what happened to your wife, I can’t imagine how hard that must have been for you. I’m glad that you found something that you enjoy and your daughter is adorable and seems really happy in the pictures!
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First things first, your wife must have been a real beauty to produce your little girl, she is unbelievably cute and we know that’s not come from you 
. Never feel like she is not with you, everything you do from here on out is because of her and every time you tell your daughter you love her, you are saying it from the both of you. I’m glad you found a way to cope and bring yourself back to reality and I don’t even know you, imagine how proud your little girl will be when she understands. I wish you all the best with the future and hope to see some great posts from you about both your reptiles and your rat facility.
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@athf1985 Thanks for sharing your story. I’ve heard a few stories over the past year, about how the cold blooded have helped the warm blooded through difficult times. I think you made a good decision going from cannabis to reptiles. We considered cannabis for our son and investigated it again when my wife was diagnosed with cancer. We decided against it. I think reptiles are a healthier alternative , and the effects have been positive.
From my family to yours, we wish you and your daughter the best!
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Like most in this hobby, I’ve loved animals my whole life. And I’ve been in love with reptiles for as long as I can remember. This November will hopefully be the start of our very first breeding season, and I am absolutely excited. But as far as the “why” goes…the idea that I can mix and match all these different genes and all these really crazy awesome looking animals can be the result…well that just blows me away!!!
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But I was seriously just kidding
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I was joking too I didn’t mean to make it seem like I was being serious so I’m sorry about that!
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Wasn’t meant for you. Just for the people that chime in thinking I am. Not everybody has a sense of humor. But you have nothing to be sorry about.
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Stupid simple story. Had a birthday coming up (I think this was 2004 or 2005), mother asked what I wanted, I was randomly looking things up and came across a pair of “breeder ball pythons” on reptile bids or whatever it was. They were both just normals, I didn’t know morphs existed yet, I didn’t even know they could be bred. Was 14 at the time, something about it just fascinated me and I knew I wanted to do that.
Edit
I should probably add that the snakes purchased for my first attempt at breeding were not my first snakes, or reptiles.
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I like the methodical nature of it all. The calculations of odds, determining what genes go together. I like the day to day checks and cleaning and watching little snakes become big snakes.
There are a lot of combinations I want that aren’t readily available so I want to make my own as well.
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What got me into breeding? Seeing all these cool morphs and combos…and wanting to take my hobby to the next level. It’s a really cool community and snakes are awesome!!! I had my first 2 clutches this summer and I learned ALOT! I was 0/11 
but learned valuable lessons. It’s what was supposed to happen and I’m better because of it!!!
CR
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The Lamborghini I can buy with my snake money duh! 
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Our family has a small hobby farm, we raise chicken, goats, rabbits, doves, pigeons, and misc. others stuff. I have always liked reptiles, so naturally, when I finally got some to breeding size, I thought, why not. I will breed a few just for my own stock, and hopefully find some good homes for a few others.
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My little girl is insanely obsessed with the hobby also and I think it goes a long way into teavhing them that about the pitfalls of fear…awesome to see
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Not only that but teaching children about animal also helps them later in life development with a lot of things.
Routine, hygiene, maths to a extent, reading temperature and humidity accurately and most importantly empathy to other living thing.
A 10 year old with these skills will be well ahead of the game in a lot of other career choices they may take. Always encourage your children to at least entertain your hobby (as long as its safe) for as long as they can, they really will look back on it as a adult.
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Haha I know I’m late but what got me started it when I realized I could fund my animals by breeding/selling it was also the fact that I could make living art with these awsome animals and I could make whatever combination I please. Its awsome to read that people are involving their kids in the hobby as well, they are the future of the hobby!
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@stewart_reptiles I hear you! My first project was a 1.4 group of pos het pied I picked up for 600 in 2002. I proved out 1.2 in 2004 and then had to sell the group when I got out of the Army. Those were some crazy times!
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I wanna get to the point where my hobby pays for itself lmao
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That is a big ask but definitely doable if you put everything into it. I guess this is everyone’s dream though. Having a hobby that, could potentially, pay you.
The biggest factors will be how much of the first 10 years profit you invest into new and worthwhile projects, your ability to advertise and your personality.
Hopefully one day I will be buying snakes from Trevors Balls 
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