I like living life spicy lol
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My first pet reptile was my Russian tortoise named Tortie. We had very large glass aquarium with a metal frame that either my grandfather or great grandfather gave to us to. The thing weighed a ton, but the plan was to use it for fish and that would of been my big birthday/ Christmas present that year. But because it leaked, so my mom said she had to find another pet for me and while in a local pet store getting cat food she saw the tortoise and just knew that he was the pet for me. So that year the day before Christmas on my 5th birthday I remember walking into my bedroom and seeing him there in the tank and I fell in love with him. 14 years later Iām 19 and Heās one of the best pets Iāve ever owned. He has a great personality, when ever my mom or me comes in the room and he hears our voice he immediately comes out to see us. When I was younger and at school my mom used to let him out and heād follow her while she sweep the floors or dusted. Just all around an amazing pet. He no longer lives in that aquarium by the way, he has a huge tortoise table but I like to think heās what started my fascination with reptiles and why I chose to breed reptiles.
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Mine was a corn snake that I got when I was 7 years old. Unfortunately I only had him for about a year, as my parents had a rule that I could only handle him when my dad was there to supervise, and he didnāt have the time or inclination to be there as often as I wanted to hold him. After it escaped one day, it was relegated to the garage, which decreased handling even more. So one day I went to handle it, and to exacerbate the situation, it was in shed and so it bit me.
The next day my dad drove the snake back to the shop. My mom said that it was just for a few weeks so they could 'train itās but it never came back.
A couple of years later I was old enough to buy my own reptile books and so was buying books on snakes from pet shops and book stores, and a few years after that, aged 12 I was able to get snakes again, also corn snakes.
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Hopefully Iāll be able to get my 1st herp soon, probably next year or the year after. I want my darn Uromastyx already. (Ideally Iād live out on my own and surround myself with various animal companions across all the categories (mammal, reptile, amphib, invert, bird, etc).
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I had a lot of amphibians before getting a reptile, but my first reptile was a Brown Anole named DJ. I caught him on a family vacation to Florida. He only had three legs, which is probably why I was able to catch him. Shortly after bringing him home, he began to have problems with one of his eyes. We took him the vet, who told us he had cancer and needed to have his eyeball removed. The surgery was expensive, but my parents went for it. He survived the surgery but died shortly after. I donāt remember exactly how old I was when all this happened, but I think I was in the 5th or 6th grade.
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My husbands childhood bunny died the day we got engaged, so I decided to buy him a bearded dragon from a reptile shop, Iām not sure why I chose a bearded dragon over other reptilesā¦
Unfortunately, despite very regular treatment from the vet, she died of tumors several years ago aged 4 (I think). She was bright yellow with orange chin, she was such a character and very very grumpy. I donāt have pictures of her 
Our passion grew to other reptilesš I donāt think we will ever get another bearded dragon, not because we donāt like themā¦ Just wonāt be the same
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They are aw some, I always wanted some but they seem to need really difficalt environments, maybe im wrong.
Me too, im a bit aspergses or something, prefer animals to humans. (except morphmarket members lol)
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My 1st was in '89 Zanzabar a normal ball python, unknown gender and I did everything I was told from the pet store which I now know was everything wrong. Lol
I had for 6 years then gave to my brother along with the 2 iguanas I also acquired during that time.
My wife & kids always heard stories about it and Iād mentioned always thinking Brazilian Rainbow Boas were the most beautiful and wishing I could have one. So years ago they surprised me with MOJO and now weāre up to 50ish breeders of various species (pythons&boas) not including raise ups & hatchlings that have their own āSnake Roomā in the house. Itās a crazy obsession this hobby!
I just realized, I donāt have any pics of Mrs MO
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My technical first was a wild rat snake I caught as a little kid, butā¦ younger sister got ahold of it and tried āplayingā with it so that didnāt last long š„² of course because this was ages ago I donāt have any pics of it.
My more recent āfirstā is my normal ball python, Delta. She was a chain pet store impulse buy, but it turned out to be a good decision because now I have a life goal: being a successful snake breeder and business.
I got her August 12th, 2018. Sheās just now hitting 1000 grams. Been a super slow grower, but thatās okay! Hoping sheāll be breeding size by next season, Iāll be pairing her to my banana pied boy.
Sheās got several het pied markers, and is similar in appearance when compared to my actual het pieds, so itās a small ādinkerā project Iām gonna use her in.
Sheāll never be leaving my collection, thatās for sure.
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I have bought a few normals recently, I think they are under rated.
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Before I ever got my own first reptile my husband and I spent a summer caring for his best friendās collection while he was away at a summer internship. 2 savannah monitors, 5 leopard geckos, a crested gecko, and a colony of hissing cockroaches stayed at our home - all of his snakes were at his home and we just travelled there to take care of them. He had several ball pythons, a few corns, rat snakes, a retic, a couple of western hognose, and a pair of hateful northern pine snakes.
After that summer we ended up with a few snakes of our own - my most notable was Budro - he ignited my love for ball pythons. I picked him up off of craigslist for free, he had been a childās snake and was very curious and docile.
Me and my pal Budro back in 2009
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If I recall correctly my first was a blood red Corn Snake babyā¦I still wish I had never given it away upon catching snake fever and wanting something bigger. I went from a Corn Snake to a Yellow Tailed Criboā¦It was a pretty big difference to say the least especially since the Corn never bit me and the Cribo got me on a few occasions lol.
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Though this thread is abit dead I believe it deserves
A revival so hereās my first reptile my bearded dragon named mango!
An older photo from maybe 2 months ago.
(Forgot to mention he is my only reptile for now aka in 3 years I hope to have a corn snake, to bad my parents and grandparents all hate snakes.)
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my parents hated snakes, now I have 4 
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Bit of a sad story. My first grade class had a field trip to the Serpentarium in Lodi, CA. I saw the snakes and knew I had to have one. I begged and begged and begged my mom to let me have one (she has terrified of them) and she ended up letting me get one for my birthday. I went to the Serpentarium and picked out a male normal corn snake and named him Andrew. He was big, more of the red phase normal, and had the most wonderful easy to handle personality. He was a sweetheart, never rattled his tail once at me. I had him for a few years. My next door neighbor at the time had a bearded dragon, and we let them āplayā together. One day, the bearded dragon bit Andrewās head, crushing him. He died shortly after that had I was devastated. He was a great first snake and I learned a valuable lesson that day. RIP Andrew, the coolest corn snake ever.
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When I mean afraid I mean afraid talking my grandparents would
FAINT if they saw a snake, not my parents thankfully 
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My first reptile was probably a garter snake or a smooth green snake when I was 5 or 6 years old. I would catch snakes, bull frogs, painted turtles and snapping turtles in the spring and keep them all summer then let them go late summer early fall. I had cages in my parents garage, on the side of the house in baby pools and even use some of the basement window wells to hold reptiles. Some of the snapping turtles where the size of truck tire. My mom neve knew what I would bring home when I took my canoe out on the Calumet river.
Got my first baby Colombian BCI boa when I was 11 years old. I have had them ever since then. That first boa went every were with me when I was growing up, I even took her to school in my gym bag.
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Lol I love this! This is something that I would have done 
.
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My first reptile (not counting the local fence swifts, alligator lizards, and horned lizards Iād catch and keep for a few days before releasing back to the wild) was a bearded dragon named Ziggy that I got when I wasā¦I think 11 or 12. Iād been pestering my parents about getting a beardie for years, Iād always wanted some sort of reptile, and at the time, bearded dragons were what everyone recommended as a starter species. After one particularly rough week when all 3 of my pet rats died within a few days of each other, my parents asked if I might want to get something with a slightly longer lifespanā¦and I jumped on my chance to finally get a beardie.
Ziggy was awesome. So chill and easy to handle, took food from my hand, just an all-around awesome lizard. I had him until my early 20s, when he finally passed away. In hindsight, there were some flaws in my care, but I think I did an okay job caring for him given the available information at the time.
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My first reptile somewhere around the preteen age was a young banded water snake that I caught in the backyard pond. Named him Viper and had him for a few months. He was soo red and I loved feeling the keeled scales. It was also so fascinating watching him catch fish. I ended up releasing him back into the pond because he stopped eating and my parents convinced me that was best for him (instead of you know, researching proper husbandry). After that it was Scarlet Rose, a San Luis Potosi kingsnake that my sister had gotten from a relative and decided she no longer wanted. Had her from age 17 to 22 when she passed at approximately 15y from rotten retained eggs.
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