the moment you realized exotics will be a big part of your life

[jade plaza]

i had just moved to texas, my family decided to go see a butterfly festival, and they had a snake guy there, i was 11 and i was taller than the kids there and shorter then the adults and he asked for a volunteer, naturally i raised my hand, i think the guy was hoping for a kid but he choose me cuz i was the inbetween size, he then placed a medium sized snake maybe 4 or 5 feet around my neck and shoulders. the rest is history

[modest seal]

I saw a rhino iguana on YouTube and was like "oh that's sick", and then YouTube started recommending me more reptile vids

[elfin coral]

I saw a gif of a hognose trying to dig into a blanket and my latent childhood interest in reptiles awoke like a sleeper agent. 3 months later I have a hognose and will have a ball python in a few months and have spent half my waking hours absorbing every factoid about reptile care that the internet has to offer.

[gloomy drift]

I had a snake book as a kid and my obsession never went away

the reticulated python was my favorite because of its pattern

[jade plaza]

Indeed if not for their size I'd get one myself, so I am very happy reach out reptiles found the localities for super dwarfs perhaps one day I will get one

[modest seal]

I mean, SDs still have similar space requirements as a mainland, partially due to the unpredictability of their size, partially due to insane nose rub, I've also heard SDs are a pain behaviorally

[gloomy drift]

these days blood and short-tailed pythons have won my heart but I may get a dwarf or superdwarf someday

[modest seal]

STPs are a vibe

[jade plaza]

Well SDs also only been captive breed from how many generations??? 3?? vs the other common snake breeds that are used to captivity. and as for size variations if I understand correctly it was because some where trying breed a drwaf local with a main land trying to get a smaller offspring but you wouldnt know which gene it got until its adult. But if you get two true SDs (it starts with a K ...kalatoa?there are 3) then its roughly 8-10 feet skinny boi which is a lot more manageable than the mainland.

I havent done a whole lot of reading on them so memory is vague

But that's what I understand, if I am understanding it correctly

[modest seal]

Idk too much about Retics, Ank is a lot better at explaining it than I am so im just gonna grab some pieces of them explaining it:
#『❓』reptile-questions message
#『❓』reptile-questions message
#『❓』reptile-questions message

[gloomy drift]

they are just perfect animals

[modest seal]

i love their colors so much, and i havent checked on the others but sumatrans have such nice orange eyes

[gloomy drift]

sumatrans are beautiful yeah

[tawny vale]

Being 4 watching Steve Irwin

[river kayak]

i kept a colony of yellow jackets as a kid

[glad furnace]

I begged my parents for exotics since I was three. Specifically birds. I always thought they were the coolest smartest things ever

[lofty depot]

Ohhh this is a fun thread!!
Early on, I loved to learn about a variety of animals and watched shows with reptiles, and I got excited at a few pet stores that had baby beardies. What really showed me that it was going to be a bigger part of my life was initially starting to work at the pet store- I wanted to learn about all the animals I could. Kinda the "big moment" was a combination of my manager setting a ball python in my hands and around that time i saw a naturalistic leopard gecko tank build. Those events both really inspired me.

[sturdy fulcrum]

I've been obsessed with animals, but mostly exotics and more obscure animals, so it naturally progressed.