What got you into reptiles in the first place???

[theintouchable88]

I didn't know armadillos were edible!! What do they taste like?

I don't know tbh I was sad they would eat them so I wouldn't lol they used to tell me it tasted like chicken but just a little more chewy

 

[kinyonga]

I wouldn't have eaten it either....strange how I can eat beef and chicken but not rabbit or iguana.
Can't say I like that any animal has to be killed for food....but everything we eat pretty much is/was alive.

 

[theintouchable88]

I wouldn't have eaten it either....strange how I can eat beef and chicken but not rabbit or iguana.
Can't say I like that any animal has to be killed for food....but everything we eat pretty much is/was alive.

Yeah it sucks but I don't like vegetables so it's either that or I starve to death lol whenever my gma had animals that they were gonna slaughter I wouldn't eat because I would form a bond with them. Except for a turkey that attacked me several times. I enjoyed those meals lol I remember her getting 2 little piglets male and female and they grew to be I wanna say 400lbs the female and well over 500lbs the male. She bred them and sold the piglets but then they slaughter the female for some festivities. I didn't eat her food for a week because everything was pork. I managed to convince her to hold on to the male but he ended up passing away of asthma or a ri after a week long storm. His name was Mario lol

 

[tenchijin]

I've been fascinated by herptiles for as long as I can remember (which means since the age of 2 or 3), and used to spend time searching for garter snakes and tree frogs in the yard. Any time we went to a naturalistic area (which was frequently) I would try to find them. My parents would let me keep the hapless critter for a day or two at most and then I would release it. Pretty smart really.
Then I learned about tropical animals and all the reptiles that lived in the region. I became enthralled by "chameleons." Many of you are old enough to remember when anoles were called chameleons in pet stores. For my 7th birthday my grandmother gave me $5 and a painting of a chameleon named "camelot" who was waiting for me at the pet store. Pretty cute. I could not have been more excited for that day to happen. Anyway I got my "chameleon" soon and had a number of anoles over the years as a young child in addition to the other frogs, toads, and snakes I would catch.
Back then true chameleons were very seldom seen in pet stores in this area (the pacific northwest). The first time I saw one I stayed in the store for over an hour just watching it. I was hopelessly in love with it and called the store 10 times each day to see if they still had it. I was only 10 years old and could not afford the $50 price and eventually they were sold.
It wasn't until I was just finished with high school that I finally had the chance to own a real cham. I had a part time job at a pet store with areal, bona fide "reptile room." That was the BEST. I had a chance to keep a C. Chameleon, Brevicornis, and Jackson before moving on to real keeping in my own home. That led to breeding veileds, and carpets, and quads, and panthers. Fun times!

 

[Dino_]

Its tough to say really - I grew up way out in the country (as in closest neighbor was about 5 miles away). So as a real little kid of course would play with salamanders, frogs, paint turtles, snapping turtles, snakes. No lizards though, lizards are pretty freakin' rare around these parts. Never really kept any as true pets until probably my early teens - my brother won a goldfish at a local county fair type deal. Parents wanted to get rid of it, I decided otherwise and that little probably 10 cent goldfish snowballed into everything . I started keeping freshwater fish, and at the local pet store the owner had this big paludarium setup. It had frogs, it had anoles, it had geckos - I saw that and decided I needed one of those. So I set one up, still one of my favorite tanks I've ever setup. It had a land section and a water section, with a little stream that ran through the land portion. There were fish and some dwarf frogs in the water and a pair of green anoles. The anoles led to more tanks for geckos and a bearded dragon and everything else. I've been hooked ever since!

 

[EveryGreen]

I've been fascinated by herptiles for as long as I can remember (which means since the age of 2 or 3), and used to spend time searching for garter snakes and tree frogs in the yard. Any time we went to a naturalistic area (which was frequently) I would try to find them. My parents would let me keep the hapless critter for a day or two at most and then I would release it. Pretty smart really.
Then I learned about tropical animals and all the reptiles that lived in the region. I became enthralled by "chameleons." Many of you are old enough to remember when anoles were called chameleons in pet stores. For my 7th birthday my grandmother gave me $5 and a painting of a chameleon named "camelot" who was waiting for me at the pet store. Pretty cute. I could not have been more excited for that day to happen. Anyway I got my "chameleon" soon and had a number of anoles over the years as a young child in addition to the other frogs, toads, and snakes I would catch.
Back then true chameleons were very seldom seen in pet stores in this area (the pacific northwest). The first time I saw one I stayed in the store for over an hour just watching it. I was hopelessly in love with it and called the store 10 times each day to see if they still had it. I was only 10 years old and could not afford the $50 price and eventually they were sold.
It wasn't until I was just finished with high school that I finally had the chance to own a real cham. I had a part time job at a pet store with areal, bona fide "reptile room." That was the BEST. I had a chance to keep a C. Chameleon, Brevicornis, and Jackson before moving on to real keeping in my own home. That led to breeding veileds, and carpets, and quads, and panthers. Fun times!

i let my 3 yr old bro handle my geckos all the time. he seems to really love them, doesnt really like holding my cham though his nails are sharp. i told him he was a natural and he seems to take it with a grain of salt

 

[Chatjagz]

Ridiculous pet deposits for larger my kitty's and needed a companion to take care of. Really worked out not being able to have cats. Makes my Cham lots happier.

 

[ChamLB]

My son got us into chameleons. He wanted one for ages. I started researching them on this forum years ago before becoming a member. Finally got him our Ambanja panther, Rambo, as an early Christmas present. Things snowballed from there and now we are as a family actively breeding Ambanja, Ambilobe and very soon Nosy Valiha locales. We even have people driving in from out of state to buy our chameleons.
It's been a good thing for our family. The family that breeds chameleons together..,

 

[Replife]

Hmm kinda hard to narrow it down. I have always loved all animals but once I got old enough to understand people were terrified of reptiles. (especially my mom) . I felt it necessary to pick up every reptile I seen snakes, lizards, turtles and especially frogs and toads and tormented ppl with them lol (especially my mom) so I guess I love reptiles so much because there so misunderstood

 

[Peachypink]

I've just always been the animal person, even as a kid. I've had...birds, rats, snakes, bunnies, dogs, cats, salamanders, turtles, a tortoise.... I worked a summer camp in Florida where I was in charge of the petting zoo first then moved to the reptile trailer halfway through since the guy that was there got fired. Stupid idiot was freezing small lizards and breaking them in front of kids. I've always loved lizards but my husband absolutely hates them. lol. My brother had an iguana when my husband and I started dating and it was very apparent from day one that he was not a fan of reptiles at all. So, many years ago(trying not to divulge my age), while he was deployed I came a cross a bearded dragon that needed rescued. I jumped at the chance. Then as I was in the reptile shop getting some feeders I see some baby veilds and just had to have one. I was able to keep it a secret from my husband for a few months until one night on Skype my 5 year old ratted me out. He was fine, a bit annoyed but he dealt with it. Unfortunately, soon after he got home from deployment my little veiled passed....came to fine out that that entire clutch didn't make it. I had become pretty good friends with the manager at the Shop and he told me that it was a new breeder they hadn't worked with before and will never again. I was devastated. It was in that heartache that my husband realized how much I loved the hobby and was ok with it from then on, even helped me look for another one. This forum has been such a blessing....I LOVE researching the care and needs of reptiles and the work that goes into husbandry is so much fun for me. He doesn't "get" it but I don't "get" his obsession with cars either so we just support each others hobbies and don't interfere with the other. Now if I can just get him to let me get a snake for my son who is dying to have one!

 

[opheliaeatsbugs]

I always had pets growing up - horses, goats, pigs, birds, fish... plenty of dogs and cats. I'm a sucker for a rescue. A boyfriends sister had an iguana and that led to he and I getting a baby iguana. We eventually split up, but I kept the iggy "Gladys". She was with me for over 20 years and is buried in my back yard. My kids would love to have one of everything, but since that's is impossible, we visit petting zoos, pet stores, reptile conventions just to get our "fix". Recently, in Dec., I walked out of a pet store with a female veiled "Ophelia" who was up for adoption (free). I didn't want to leave her there. Since then, we have added 2 juvenile bearded dragons (also free). We are loving our reptiles and learning so much!

 

[KatyM]

I found a lizard in the back yard, then dad showed me a pic of a panther chameleon.