What does your family think of snakes?

[jwsporty]

Great question Zoe,

Well let me see. I'm 43 years old, have 20 snakes, lots of rats, lots of mice, a dog, a parrot and a wife.

My wife has been converted so when I say "Honey can you get me a F/T Adult mouse?", She says "No prob, who's eating today? Oh no not the rat pups..Is that for one of the Ball Pythons?". When I buy another one, she says "Not ANOTHER one...can I hold him....where are you gonna put this guy?"

My Mother, who lives on a farm, says I can keep em..she hasn't visited in a year..but I remind her of all the snakes on her property. And she still thinks there are no snakes. around the farm..OK Mom, whatever you say....she's forgiven though, after all, she is "Mom"
My Dad, in his own stoic way thinks I'm nuts, but hey I'm blood. "Son.. you have some weird hobbies!"
My daughter from a previous marriage thinks "Daddy" has lost his mind..but she is still coming for a visit, should be an interesting 3 weeks
My Ex knows I have lost my mind. But keep the child support payments coming.
My Brother tolerates them only cause he has to work with me.
My Sister avoids me like the plague. Must be the motherly instinct of having two kids
My Inlaws always considered me the black sheep, but then who cares, they are just the in-laws.
My Boss thinks I'm nuts, but I make him money so he tolerates it.
My Yuppy neighbours don't come over to borrow a cup of sugar anymore? Suits me fine.. "Hey Jim, it's 6:00 in the morning, what are you putting in the garden?" .Well Neil...hmmm that would be snake skin and aspen shavings..great for the garden...yeah that's it..great for the garden.."
The neighbourhood can't get rid of me, cause I pay my mortgage and condo fees..
The mice and rats fear for their lives
The dog hates it when one of dad's toys is loose
and the bird just wants to keep rooting for the Sens "Go Sens Go". I haven't got the heart to tell him the playoffs are over.

All in all I think the general consensus is I am regressing and I have no will power...what do you think? Now back to building my rack system, need more space, need more snakes..

[drewlowe]

All of my reptiles are both mine and my boyfriends. we both feel the same way about all of them.

My mom thinks i'm wierd but hey she always knew that. But she does respect the odd things i get into. She loves my beardies and now wants one of her own. She doesn't mind coming over sept the fact i have a tarantula. When i first got my snakes my mom was the first one to hold my female snow corn. She even held it before me. So my moms pretty cool with everything. She also likes to come over when my leos hatch. She thinks the babys are adorible. my mom was raised in the country when she was younger, she used to tell me stories about catching lizzards and snakes.

Dad, Who cares he's nowhere around. but if he was he would probly think i was nuts. in fact i know that's what he would think.

My brother thinks it's cool he used to keep 2 snakes. And he wants a bearded dragon for his 6 year old son. but i try to avoid the question cause i know his son is nowhere ready.

My sister thinks i'm crazy but hey i've always been a little different from most girls. my nephews call me aunt freak cause i have tattoos and piercings and now that i keep reptiles. But the oldest one wants a corn snake really bad, and when he gets a chance at school to do a report on reptiles he calls me up. But his dad wont let him have one. Cause i bought his little sister a hamster for her birthday last year and it escaped and went in the vents and died and they had to pay 500.00 to get the smelly thing out. LOL.

My boyfriends family. His mom HATES the snake and the tarantula, but she supports what we do and she is proud of what we do with them everyday. His little sister (13) has her own 2 leos, and wants some corn snakes. we wont let her have a snake though cause she wont feed it. His little brother wants a bearded dragon really bad. but we don't think he's ready either cause he still complains about walking a dog 2 times a day. But at least they ask questions and are very interested in them.

The rest of his family is kinda scared to comeover but they will as long as we don't take anything out of the cages. LOL

[burmer]

My wife is very cool about having them. I can even get her to handle them once in a while. My mother used to freak about me having them in the house when I was younger but she did let me keep them. My mother in law is petrified of them and won't come near them and my father in law is the complete opposite he loves them.

[beth wallbank]

My parents are sooooooooo anti reptile.....and dont visit much...heehee....so whether its a good thing or bad is up to the decider. My inlaws are very old, 82+, and went for three months before noticing that there were 3 x 8+' boas in cages right in my living room. Don't think they have any clue of the others in the house, and at their age, I think its best to keep it that way.
Both sets of parents are fine with cats and dogs, but old fashioned where dogs are outside animals, and cats live in a barn.

[LISA127]

My husband just tolerates the snakes, but he enjoys the lizards. My kids think thay are all "cool". My mother and siblings aren't too grossed out by my reptiles, but they aren't thrilled w/them either. I have a two year old neice who immediately asks for Bubba (my blue tongued skink) everytime she comes over! She doesn't like snakes, tho.

[reptilez]

My mom used to catch snakes and different amphibians when she was a kid so she was okay with it. My dad is okay about it but he always tells me "the $300 vet bill is comin out of your pocket."
I find it so funny when he says that.
My other relatives like my aunts and uncles think that its great that im getting involved with this kinda stuff at such an early age.
-Reptilez

[Samba]

My mother is fearless, and loves my big, cuddly Burmese named Bandula. My dad on the other hand doesn't even want to look at him. My brothers and sister tolerate him, but it is really my mom who takes the cake. She's never been afraid of him, and always cares for him when I'm away. Can't ask for anything more!

[Kara]

My mom and stepdad think I am crazed and my grandmother is absolutly terrifed!!! When I do get my snake, I will have to take her to a snake sitter when my Gram comes for a visit. But thats all right, I have some people who are willing to help.
My friends all think I am nuts, but I am slowly converting them! I have one who is going to get a chameleon soon and the others are actually holding a few snakes so there is progress

[Gregg M]

My family loves reptiles but still cant understand why I would want to keep venomous snakes in my place........My Mom calls me every day just to make sure I am still alive..... LOL...... She has been doing this for years......

[The_Omen]

They make the best in-law repellants in the world!

[Gregg M]

LOL @ Omen............

[snakelover111]

my mom absolutely LOVES snakes! my dad is another story :P

[Pixie]

My family thinks I've completely gone off the rocker! I've always been the odd one in the family but now I've apparently graduated to a complete loony to my family since having my snakes and other critters.

I always get questions about my animals whenever I see them and like Clownfishie the usual headshakes, shudders, etc when I answer!

My inlaws think I'm crazy for actually bringing snakes into my flat intentionally. My own family (who is used to me after these years) isn't too surprised but thinks I'm crazy for having so many and still wanting more. My mom doesn't like snakes but she will be okay if she sees one, if I'm handling one, etc. My dad likes them a lot, especially my BPs and loves to handle them. My folks let me bring some snakes over to their place so they can run around in the grass chemical free so they aren't too bad. As long as they don't get closer than 2' to my mom!

My sister and her husband are total arachnophobes. I once brought over the molted skin of my mexican red knee. Even though they were very well warned that it was only the SKIN and not the actual tarantula they still both ran out of the house in panic! Was pretty hilarious!

Thank God my bf tolerates my animals! I just get the usual "Another one??!!!" from him now and then, so no complaints there

Pixie

[red bootz]

My parents used to loathe most of my pets. So when I went to Japan for a year, I had to get rid of most of my collection. Except for the torts. I guess there's something about them that you just can't hate. My mom helped me to care for them while I was gone. I think that when I moved to Montreal she was more sad to see the box turtles and tortoises go than she was to see me go! To this day I still get calls from home asking how the torts are.
Anywayz I blame them for this whole passion since they were the ones taht piqued my interest by keeping an aquarium (two to be exact) when I was kid...It all started when I was three.....

[alan]

My parents tolerate them but would have something to say whenever my collection grew. My sister loves them, especially the geckos. My gf likes my reptiles too and I bring the baby cresties to her house once or twice a week so she can handle them. Her house is right across from mine so the travelling won't do any harm to the cresties. Her family is curious about them but don't mind me bringing them over.