She was so happy with these pics
(Emily, Hideyoshi, Leela and Mango)
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Amazing pics 
it’s so great knowing the next generation enjoy reptiles too.
They all look so happy 
My eldest (8yo) likes them, he has his own ball python, but I will not post pics online.
I’m trying to get my youngest (4yo), who’s autistic, into them. But his SUPER afraid of animals. His happy enough to be around reptiles & likes looking at them in shops but he his too scared to hold them. It may not sound it, but this is a huge improvement compared to other animals.
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She looks so regal with her glowy tassle crown and cascading armful of noodles! 
I’ll bet she had a lot of fun with that one.
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This is a nice thread. As a young person grappling with the idea of to have or not have kids one day, its nice to see that having kids doesn’t seem to stop the ability to pursue a passion for reptiles. I always assumed you’d either need to give up your collection or wait until kids grew up and left the house to have reptiles, but its clear that doesn’t need to be the case!
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Not just kids, but my grandsons also love our reptiles.
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Aw! Love that!
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Kids do take up a lot of time! But I still have my hobby to stop myself going insane! And so reptiles is just that… I don’t really watch TV or go out with friends.
I don’t get to spend as much time with my reptiles as I’d like because of the kids & work. But I still make sure I do & the reptiles probably prefer it lol
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I think kids have a natural curiosity for reptiles. Besides, as long as you have locks on the tanks, probably on the reptile room as well, and keep track of your keys, then it shouldn’t be a problem. Growing up around reptiles of all kinds teach kids a great deal on holding compassion for all creatures regardless of how different they may at first appear.
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Honestly, I thought about this before too. And really I’ve come to the point where I know that I want kids but I also will have reptiles (many) in my life so everybody’s have to deal with everybody lol 
.
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Mine do, especially my daughter. I have to keep drilling in her head, when we visit Arizona this year do not catch the reptiles. None of them. She fires back what if its a king snake, i ask how do you tell it is. She describes it, i tell her no that could be a coral. What about lizards- i ask her if she can id a gila monster. Nope. Just dont catch any reptile without an adult who can identify species. Last thing i need is her to get tge hurt juice. Lol
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We always tell our grandson (5 yo) that he can only touch inside snakes and lizards, and not outside. If he sees one, he has to tell an adult.
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A great policy! I see WAAAAY too many videos of toddlers picking up snakes outside while the parents film and scream. Like, I know Ohio only has ~1 venomous species, but venomous or not they can still bite, and thats a great way to give a kid a lifelong phobia and continue to push negative stigmas against reptiles, especially snakes
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Have you all found that you need to avoid certain things if you mix kids and reptiles (excluding the obvious being keeping hot species around kids)?
For example, I know pregnant women are heavily advised against scooping cat litter bc of the toxoplasmosis parasites, is there a similar warning for pregnant folks or those with an infant? Or is it just the tried and true ‘wash ya gosh darn hands, don’t like the reptiles, and don’t let the little ones lick them either’?
Its cool being able to ask parents with reptiles directly about this stuff, great thread!
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Yea having a stupid reaction like screaming is not ok. Actually kind of childish. My daughter catches all the snakes in the neighborhood. We dont live in a region that has anything scary so its fine. I believe in safety and she isnt able to reliabiliy identity anything but a garter snake so its best she doesnt catch them in Arizona. Now she finds one i am on my way with my camera to get pictures and teach her about them.
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Orrrrr give up the kid 
I only wanted animals myself, Emily wasn’t the panned. But she loves them, she even got her hoggie in her room. (She’ll be 8 in June!)
She’s been growing up with them since 2 1/2 roughly, loves seeing the Cresties hatch. She can’t wait for the snakes to breed or the Ackies too 
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Yay. Obsidian our Mexican black king is in my daughters room. She spoils him. My son keeps a 75 gallon oscar tank in his room. Again very spoiled fish.
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Same girl as in my last picture but 5 years later! Look how much she’s grown!!
(During the photo shoot she was actually trying to explain to me all the reasons why i should give my mexican black kingsnake to her instead of selling him, you know, ‘if i ever decided to do it,’ lol.)
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And just like that, the MBK is hers 
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yeah right, lol. I told her i could give her his shed.
I would love to get her into reptiles the way i had at a younger age, but her mother would kill me!
Too bad, she’s really confident around them. She’d be a good keeper if she was given the chance.
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