Controversial topic?

[Michael823]

I don't consider these forums peer pressure for me to get the "cool" morph, because what appeals to me is absolutely unique. I would never get a snake as a means of showing off, and don't have enough opportunities where it would matter anyways. Sure there are snakes I see on this forum, and look at in awe, but only because it offers me satisfaction. I admit I love to show off my snakes, but not in an egotistical way, or an "I'm so cool" way. I show them off in hopes other people share my interest, and if not, it's no big deal.

 

[ceduke]

I absolutely would, I'm very limited on space so every snake I bring in is well planned for. Showing them off is an added bonus, but the pleasure they bring to ME is the reason I have them.

That said, in the last few years I have taken on two rescued boas....and found myself way over my head....health problems, feeding issues, and I was flat-out terrified of one of them. So I poked around and found two very experienced keepers who I felt comfortable with, and I am confident that both of those animals are in good situations now. I do miss the rainbow, and I wish I had been up to the task of caring for her.

 

[Jynx]

There is no doubt in my mind that I would still have the animals I have. I've been keeping snakes for a while, and have enjoyed keeping them long before I knew forums existed. I am constantly on a quest to learn & experience more though, and I do admit that endless internet research has introduced me to a few species that I became really interested in (ie my Tricolor Hoggies & Rosy boas). I am very picky about my snakes as well. I don't always go for huge morphs. I actually tend to learn towards the "quircky" reptiles lol. I'm even happy with the "boring" morphs, and the "same old colubrids" that I have, and I adore each and every one of them. I like to take pictures as well. Even though I possess nothing like the talent I see from many photographers here, my snakes, spiders, and my cars are my favorite models.

I have also met people that basically buy for bragging rights. Even though I know the animals are well taken care of, it always strikes a chord. I believe in getting what you want. Elle as much as I adore your candoias, I'm happy to admire them from afar. I guess they're just not for me. The same goes for alot of animals I see here, including my own... which is just fine with me. It always interesting to see what other's have. After all, how else would we get such good exposure to other species? Still, it shouldn't dictate your purchase decisions.

Maybe it's just me, but I still enjoy following the stories of other snakes on forums. After you get to know the members, you get to know their snakes and you warm up to them. I've watched Susan's Boo grow up from a little guy into a gorgeous adult... I cried when Windsor, Rhet Butler, and Marquesa's litter died... I clapped when Vhead suprisingly turned up het for Cinder... Its been such a joy to be able to get to know all of these snakes! I am a bit of a sap though

 

[Ssthisto]

The problem you bring up is that humans are in love with WANTING more than HAVING. It is how our brain works. we can't help it. We WANT something we see. Once we get it, it always seems to be a let down and we move on to wanting the NEXT thing. We are in love with WANTING....not just in love with HAVING. That's part of the reason the images in the forums spur people to buy and sell....because they think the next HAVE will satisfy them while the WANTING is what their psych craves.

You've definitely got it there. Back when my partner and I couldn't afford anything, we WANTED everything out there. The fact that we'd have to scrimp and make sacrifices to get it didn't matter - we wanted it. And sometimes, I must admit it didn't work out.

I *thought* I wanted a striped albino Cali king. I found one that was absolutely gorgeous and that someone was willing to trade for a baby Kenyan sand boa born from an adult pair we co-owned with a friend. And Sierra was the spawn of Satan. Or more likely the spawn of the toilet, because you touched her and she'd fling musk and snake pee at you. I might not be able to *smell* musk ... but boy can I ever *taste* it if it's flicked in my mouth by a wildly gyrating tail. In the end, although I loved the paint job, I hated maintaining the snake. She went to someone who has other kings and who is used to that sort of behaviour; I had been spoilt by the behaviour of our Mexican Black King, who is a real sweetie once he realises you're not giving him his dinner. I win; I don't have a snake that I am obligated to take care of because anything less would be wrong; the new owner wins because she got that snake - and another one who was unfortunately mislabelled as a related species, and I really did want the species I bought it as, not the one it turned out to be - for a price we were both happy with.

When we unexpectedly came into a windfall, and suddenly most of the things we wanted were in reach... we stopped buying things. We had the leisure to sit there and think about what we really wanted, because having the opportunity to buy at a whim meant we didn't NEED to. We didn't get the "pleasure hit" from buying something that we could just about afford at that point - we got satisfaction from thinking very carefully about what we really wanted in the long run and then being able to go out and buy THAT. When you know you can HAVE something if you really want it, the "I-Want" seems to fade a lot. Although we did "impulse" buy a reverse trio of California redsided garters at the last show, it wasn't so much of an impulse buy as a "We've been thinking of having these for a while, the breeder we're talking to right now is a very reputable one and will give good after-sales service, and the price is right." I very much like the little guys - my first indoor snake was a garter, and I THINK she was a red-sided (although she could have been an Oregon red-spotted) ... so it's a little bit like being a kid again every time I see those little red faces peering at me through the sides of the faunarium.

 

[SnakeAround]

I think this thread is worth a bump, so I decided to add my thoughts. I do think that being able to buy a top notch morph is not something to be proud of, you just need the money and you need to be capable to go out and buy it. Not a big deal.... Anybody can do that!

It's way more satisfying and worth being proud to breed what you like yourself IMO. And when it's a species that is hard to breed or you had to selectively breed to reach a certain goal, you surely have the right to be proud of what you achieved. It took skills and knowledge, that is something you should be proud off!

I must admit that if keeping snakes would be as common as having a dog or cat, I would feel different about the hobby. I do like to tell people about the hobby, especially if they are biased and think snakes are scary, mean, slimey animals. And I do like the idea of being a little different from the mass 'pet wise'. I can't be sure if I would have had 32 snakes if they had been as common as cats and dogs, because then they might have interested me less, they would not have been as mysterious. At the other hand, now that I do know snakes, they only got me interested in them more!

 

[ghosthousecorns]

I agree with Blutengel think there is a lot to be said for "rolling your own". I think it is annoying when someone is new to snakes and just buys everything top notch because they can afford it, and then just because they can afford all these nice snakes they are suddenly this big name in the herp world when last year nobody had even heard of them. But it happens over and over that these are the flash in the pan keepers who end up selling the whole collection and you never hear of them again. I personally am more impressed by someone who starts out with a couple of hets and works hard to produce the morph they want.

 

[Tavia]

I would have to say that, Yes I have more animals now then I would have if it weren't for the internet. But not really because other people think they are cool. Before the internet I'd have bought a corn from the pet store & been totally happy picking from the 4 or 5 morphs they usually have available. This is actually what I pretty much did with my pet store Classic, whom I really love. However, once I got looking around at all the pictures of other morphs, I had to get some of them. Right now I just have room for the corns I already have, but eventually I would like another 1.1 pair, a Honey & a Caramel het Sunkissed, because I really like both of those morphs. And I have a list of other snakes I want someday, that I probably never would have heard of without being on a forum. Same with my crested geckos. Hadn't ever heard of them before & then all a sudden people on all the forums I belong to started showing off theirs. And they were so neat looking I had to see what their care requirements were. Wouldn't have been able to do that very easily without the internet, either. There are quite a few animals I've seen that really interested me, that after looking into them on the 'net, I've decided not to get, because their care was too much for me. If the internet wasn't around, probably would have taken the pet store employee's words "No, they are reeeally easy to care for" at face value & found out different the hard way. But I do think the OP is probably right to an extent. You do get a bit of a thrill showing off your new additions & you should be sure that that isn't the reason for buying something. You do have to be very careful not to get carried away & find yourself overwhelmed.

 

[wretchedprocess]

I guess I'm not even sure what the Official Showoff Reptiles *are*. And I can pretty definitively say that I would be almost exactly where I am without the forum, except, like others, that I wouldn't know as well how to care for my snakes. True, it would have been harder to find the rescue I got my first two (and will get my next) from without a google search, but I imagine I could have found it through the phone book, and would have. And so far the other kinds of snakes I have fallen in love with have been through either personal experience at the rescue, or a couple of books I borrowed from the woman who runs it. To be sure, pics here and in other places have only made me more impressed, and, admittedly, covetous. And when I do get around to getting a pewter, it will be because of pics I saw online. Then there's the fact that the little bloodred female I'm getting later this year is being purchased from a breeder I met on this site. But apart from that, I don't think there's been too much of a coveting effect. And I knew I wanted a bloodred ten years ago!

I love my snakes a lot, and I admit I deeply look forward to doing a couple of photo shoots with them when we move out to where my photographer friend lives. But that's more so I can have beautiful pictures of them than anything else. I like to "show them off" in the sense of having people meet them, in much the same way I do with my cats, because I am really proud of what awesome animals they are. With the cats, it's more about personality, while with the snakes, I simply think they're gorgeous. I currently have two snows, and next up is an amel, so obviously I don't think this because they're especially fancy morphs. I just think snakes in general are gorgeous.

Yes, I'm keeping them for me. And assuredly there is an aesthetic element in there, or I wouldn't be interested in various morphs, and I am. But for the most part, it's morphs no one else cares about overmuch, just ones I think are beautiful. I'm afraid I'm just not Cool.

 

[ZoologyGirl]

I agree with Blutengel think there is a lot to be said for "rolling your own". I think it is annoying when someone is new to snakes and just buys everything top notch because they can afford it, and then just because they can afford all these nice snakes they are suddenly this big name in the herp world when last year nobody had even heard of them. But it happens over and over that these are the flash in the pan keepers who end up selling the whole collection and you never hear of them again. I personally am more impressed by someone who starts out with a couple of hets and works hard to produce the morph they want.

I hear you there! And although I don't put any fault or blame or negative feelings towards those people who can afford to get a lot of really nice morphs really fast, I definitely appreciate those who work their way up to produce those morphs they want. When I first started the morph I really wanted was a hypo lavender motley, but I could not even afford that, so I instead got 2 other morphs I liked that had the ingredients to eventually make a hypo lavender motley...I can't wait until that dream comes to fruition. It's a very slow process for me, acquring snakes, but it is a fun process.

I think the problem a lot of people have, especially when first starting out in the reptile world, is wanting practically every new species they come across. I know when I first started I had a list of about 10 - 20 different species that, if I could afford them, I would probably own right now, and probably be over my head. However, when my brain had a chance to settle down, I realized that I don't necessarily need to own every species I come across. I can admire them in other people's collections and be satisfied, so I'm kind of glad I couldn't afford them! :laugh: I'd rather work with the few select species that I really want to work with and will enjoy working with. It's one thing to like and admire a species...but it's another thing to actually enjoy working with them.

 

[oneirogenesis]

I've spent my morning coffee time reading through this thread, and it has provided much food for thought. I'm glad it got bumped up so I had the chance to read it.

I have to say I do sometimes feel an invisible pressure to have "cooler" and more exotic snakes/morphs. I think it comes from being new to the reptile community and wanting to make friends and fit in. Those outside of the community don't really understand or take the same interest in talking about snakes as I do, so of course I want to find friends with similar interests. I wouldn't be surprised if many new reptile keepers experience this phenomenon and end up getting in over their heads because they want to make a name for themselves amongst their peers, just like people in any other community.

If I find myself coveting, I have to remind myself of why I decided to buy a snake in the first place. The truth is that I wanted a pet, and personality mattered to me far more than the looks or the status of the animal. I chose a corn snake because it was the practical way to go as a first time snake owner. I knew very little about corn morphs, and in retrospect, if I had known prior to buying Ariadne that there was such a thing as a golddust motley, I probably would still have bought my classic. She is beautiful to me, healthy as a horse and comes from a breeder I respect and trust. Every day, no matter how many pictures of fancy corn snakes I see, Ariadne is still more and more beautiful to me. And I'm going to keep taking pictures of her and sharing them even if she's not going to get a thousand comments or rep points, because I'm proud of her and how much she's grown. I keep all of my snakes and their names in my signature because they're like my kids and I think they're worth sharing.

I do have to say that if it were not for forums (and Facebook!), I would probably not take as many photos of my snakes, and my photography skills would not have improved as much as they have in the past few months. If I didn't have somewhere to share my pictures I honestly wouldn't be as interested in taking them. At this point, sharing pictures of my snakes is as much about the photography, and getting feedback about how to improve. I'm still far from being a good or knowledgeable photographer, but I'm going to keep practicing because I have people to share with.

 

[wstphal]

I read thru this thread last night. I admit the forum has contributed hugely to the number of snakes I have. But I haven't even posted pictures of most of them as I am still trying to take semi-decent pictures and haven't figured out how to upload pictures from my new DSLR. So that is not why. This forum has opened my eyes to HOW MANY gorgeous morphs there are and so I went and got snakes that are easy on the eyes. I also added a kingsnake to take care of otherwise wasted mice. He's easy on the eyes too, although somewhat on the bitey side. I got them because I want to look at them, not because I want anyone else to look at them.

I have a history of plunging headfirst into hobbies & interests, I admit it. I had as many as 7 cats at one point. All of them lived out their natural lives with me except 1 that I fostered while seeking a furever home. So I went overboard for a little while. The cats didn't suffer, several of them were semi-feral and didn't want my attention but needed a safe, indoor home with other cats for them to socialize with and good vet care, and they got all that. The ones that wanted attention got it, I was a student during the high point of my cat population so I was home a lot & played with & petted those cats. Now that my work schedule is crazy, I have 3 cats, and they all get attention.

I don't see rehoming a snake as the same thing as a cat or dog, because snakes don't form emotional bonds with us, so as long as they are given excellent husbandry, one owner is rather similar to another. I do think I have a responsibility to find a home with good husbandry for any snake I rehome, or any hatchling I breed. If I thought a snake had a "special" relationship with me, I would think extra-hard before rehoming. Attitude is probably never going to leave me unless a catastrophe hits that leaves me unable to care for myself, because Attitude is a bitey little monster of a corn and I am not sure s/he would get as good of care as I offer because I don't mind having a mean cornsnake.

I don't think it's my job to criticize someone because they got rid of ball pythons because they had to move, or they didn't match the new furniture, AS LONG AS they find their BPs good homes, whether they sell them or give them away. I may have private opinions about someone getting rid of their BPs because they don't match the upholstery, but I think the main responsibility is that they find good homes for the BPs, not to conform to my opinions of a "good reason" for rehoming a pet. Just don't dump them at a shelter or in the great outdoors or give them to someone who cannot care for them!

Thanks to the OP for starting this thread, and for all the comments.

 

[desertanimal]

I would not own all the animals I now own if it weren't for internet fora, because I wouldn't know about them.

But if I knew about them and couldn't show them off, I would still own all the animals I now own. The snakes I had that the CS.com forum community probably liked the most (my hypo lav and anery lav pair) turned out not to be my favorite and I sold them. Now I know that while I admire photos of the lavender morphs, I don't really care for them in person much. But I needed to raise those morphs up to know that.