Is your significant other supportive of your reptile hobby?

[Putty]

My fiance hates my snakes.

and spiders.

 

[wstphal]

Yeah, I'd say she's pretty cool with it all.

And she has great taste in snakes!

 

[darth-hayzer]

My wife hates snakes , but I convinced her to let me get one for my 40th birthday ( turn 40 this Nov ) and I finally got a baby okeetee last month . Now she has touched Eva a couple of times and I can tell that she is getting better with this hatred she has towards snakes . Education is the key with a lot of people who either hate snakes or fear them . She is even now getting interested watching her change colors as she get older and I very happy for her that she is getting more interested in my snake and I know one day she will hold her , that will be a great day !

 

[courtney1121]

You just need a rack! One rack would use the floor space of 1 or 2 tanks.

yes thought of that as well....but we have no space for the rack. lol

 

[courtney1121]

My wife hates snakes , but I convinced her to let me get one for my 40th birthday ( turn 40 this Nov ) and I finally got a baby okeetee last month . Now she has touched Eva a couple of times and I can tell that she is getting better with this hatred she has towards snakes . Education is the key with a lot of people who either hate snakes or fear them . She is even now getting interested watching her change colors as she get older and I very happy for her that she is getting more interested in my snake and I know one day she will hold her , that will be a great day !

patience! lol eventually she will be the one bringing home snakes. my mom was the same way. i know when i got my first snake my mom wouldnt get near him or watch him eat. now 6 months later shell hold him, let him crawl all over her, and sits down and watches him eat! patience...give her some time and she will come around. good luck with your journey.

 

[DeadMouse]

And she has great taste in snakes!

That's OK, I've been called worse! :laugh::laugh::laugh:

 

[smerten]

My fiancee started out kind of scared of my snakes. Now, over 3 years later he is the one who gets to handle the extra pissy corn hatchlings to get them calmed down. He gets such a kick out of these micro tiny snakes trying to bite him! I would do it too, but it's soo much work cleanin, feedin, photographin, and documenting them all! Basically he more than tolerates them, but is not as enthuased as I am. (His addiction is four wheeling) He does get very jealous of the time I put into them, but seems to be getting used to it. (we're still engaged) Even though snakes aren't really his thing he enjoys going on a road trip to an expo, and making me happy when he says "yes" to a snake!!! I really couldn't ask for more from him, I've got it pretty good

 

[Hellstrom]

My Hubby was pretty indifferent when he met my first snake (when we started dating). He likes my snakes now and will hold them and will even talk to them when they do something funny. He also realized how easy snakes are to have after we got a beardie. I think it helps that we agreed to name all the critters after Red vs Blue characters...

 

[tyflier]

My wife hates snakes , but I convinced her to let me get one for my 40th birthday ( turn 40 this Nov ) and I finally got a baby okeetee last month . Now she has touched Eva a couple of times and I can tell that she is getting better with this hatred she has towards snakes . Education is the key with a lot of people who either hate snakes or fear them . She is even now getting interested watching her change colors as she get older and I very happy for her that she is getting more interested in my snake and I know one day she will hold her , that will be a great day !

My best friend is in his 50's and was never a huge fan of snakes. He didn't dislike them, and never killed them, but he never saw the point in keeping them as pets. His wife was absolutely terrified of them. This was before we met about 5 years ago...

His son bought a couple cornsnakes from me, so John wanted to meet this "snake guy". We got to talking, and he got to looking, and he got to holding a couple corns and kings. He was a photographer and I am a photographer, so we had that in cmmon, and I showed him some roadcruising pictures. He said he wanted to go.

2 years ago he helped me launch the Eastern Sierra Herpetology Club, his wife finally broke and allowed him to get a neonate BCI(which she now occasionally holds), and he has a genuine love and respect for all things reptilian. Sadly, he is getting close to dying from terminal cancer now, but the last few years, his support and enthusiasm for reptiles helped launch several conservation projects in the area, and this year, the herp club started compiling photographs and data for the publication of an Inyo County, CA field guide. None of this would have happened without his support and enthusiasm for each and every project.

Don't give up on your wife. Education and fascination goes a loooooooong way...

 

[SNAFU]

Most reptiles are o.k. but my wife can't stand snakes. She's not frightened of them, just doean't like the way they look or the fact you have to feed them mice, rats, or cute little bunnies.:shrugs: She has always told me she can tolerate the tarantulas and scorpions I have but no snakes.
Our wedding anniversary was July 22nd and she caved and bought me a little corn snake I was wanting so thats a start in the right direction I guess.

 

[Tavia]

Most reptiles are o.k. but my wife can't stand snakes. She's not frightened of them, just doean't like the way they look or the fact you have to feed them mice, rats, or cute little bunnies.:shrugs: She has always told me she can tolerate the tarantulas and scorpions I have but no snakes.
Our wedding anniversary was July 22nd and she caved and bought me a little corn snake I was wanting so thats a start in the right direction I guess.

You know the cure for that? Get a garter snake & you can feed it frozen thawed whole silver side fish.

I have no SO but still live with my parents. My dad could take or leave the snakes but is finally getting to where he doesn't comment on any new ones coming into the house. And he helped clean up & paint a rack that was in the basement for me to use. And he just drew up plans for another rack he's going to build for me, will start work on it Monday, so that's great as well. My mom was mildly afraid of snakes at first but is now my greatest enabler.

 

[Becca]

My hubby was almost horrified the day that I decided to get my first snake. He knew I wasn't going to take no for an answer, though, so he went to the pet store with me. I picked out Apopha, my adult female Snow Corn, simply because he was the least afraid of her (and also because I loved her, the minute I picked her up, lol).

He never really did take any interest in her, though he'd "check" on her from time to time (which actually means he checked to make sure she couldn't escape, lol). Then I brought home my first Ball Python and he flipped out. And then it was two more Corns...and then another Ball. The more I brought home, the more comfortable he became with them, because he came to learn that they weren't "out to get him". :rofl: Since then, I am up to 17 snakes (with my newest little hatchling)...and am currently waiting for my second clutch of Corn eggs to hatch. Though he won't hold any of my snakes, sometimes he'll come closer when I'm handling them and actually talk to them. He's making small steps toward being more accepting.

I think it helps that he knows that I really love my snakes. I think at first he thought it would simply be a phase, but he sees how much time and effort I put in to keeping them....and has learned that it is my passion. Maybe in time he'll become more supportive. Who knows...he may even hold one some day.

 

[Asbit]

I picked totally supportive and loves reptiles because the OP did not give the option of totally supportive in spite of not really caring for reptiles/animals in general.

 

[pinupgrl]

Funny story... my husband had a snake before we got married and his ex-wife let it outside and he never found it again. He had always talked about wanting another snake and I thought.... ehhh whatever. Then one day he found out about this RTB that was being kept in a 10 gallon tank and was 5 1/2 feet long and wanted to resuce him (our awesome Brute). Again I didn't really care but didn't really want to take of one. But.....

Once we got him home, and after I got over the initial shock of him striking at my face (thank goodness he didn't actually bite) I was in love! Now he's completely my snake. I feed him, play with him, talk to him (yes, I know he can't hear well that's what makes him such a great listener). After a couple months, I decided I needed another snake and got my little Gladiator (snow motley corn) and am actually currently planning on my next... and my next... and my next.....:shrugs:

Anyway, he loves them and says as long as I am taking good care of them I can have as many as I like. Gotta love the enabler.

 

[maxfox426]

My husband has been wonderfully supportive of my cornsnake-keeping. I'm not sure he always "gets it", and sometimes I'll get a weird look if I mention adding more animals to my projects, but for the grand majority of the time he does enjoy the snakes right along with me! He's pretty interested in the projects I'm working on, though I do have to repeat my explanations of cornsnake genetics a lot.

Honestly, he's been more supportive with the snakes than with some of my other pet endeavors. He's never been UNsupportive of any creature I decide to keep, but he definitely has his preferences. For instance, I love rats, he'll let me keep a few rats, but if I talk about needing more than one cage to keep rats, he starts to squirm. :laugh: Snakes don't take up quite so much room!

 

[GSDlover]

I couldn't be with someone who wasn't supportive of my hobbies!
My significant other is just as interested in the hobby as I am.

We love all animals, and I have a growing zoo.

I love my fish - and he has some special fish too (He owns the ID shark).
Not sure if he's as supportive of the puffer because he's a real time consumer with the 50% water changes, brackish set up, large tank for such a little guy. But he knows I love my little puff puff so he deals haha. At the moment though, I have three tanks for fish.

With snakes he's the one who gave me the push to get one. We got our first ones this weekend. and we're already wanting more - but we're going to wait for a little bit or at least till the next breeders expo (November). haha.

We also have a dog at the moment, but we're waiting for a bigger place to get at least one or two more. Probably another Shepherd and an Alaskan Malamute.
Eventually after school (animal care and vet technician) I would like to breed German Shepherds too so I'm sure there will be one I wont want to give up.

We're also waiting for a bigger place to get a pair of ferrets... He's not wanting any other small critters mind you (ie, bunnies) but that's okay I know I wont have enough time.

As long as I have enough time to give them proper care and enough time for him then I will continue all my hobbies. I love all my animals.

 

[SnakeAround]

My SO said he did not want any animal in his house when I met him, and keeping snakes was a bit weird. He was not sure if he would ever be able to deal with it in future plans together. After just over 19 months or so, I moved in with him with just over 30 snakes He insisted on them being in neat looking Herpteks because they were to be in the living room (mostly). He did pay half of the cages though because they are way expensive. Great deal, ain't it I have my own half of one of the long sides of the living room and a short side of the computer room to put my snakes. As long as each snake gets acceptable space and good care, I can put as many as I want in those area's, but I think I have reached the maximum amount now (Just over 30 snakes and a book shelve closet for baby tubs). I'm a bit happy I can't get more actually, they would take too much time I can also spend with my SO, which he really deserves

Now he goes with me to assist at Expo's where I'm selling, checks out the cages a couple of time a day (also to point out poo) and talks to active snakes. He also 'adopted' his two favorites and wanted to feed them from then on but he has forgotten about that now a bit... well, he ain't perfect....but he sure is one heck of an enabler

 

[Outcast]

So, I finally got the truth out of my wife. She doesn't like that I keep talking about getting more snakes, because she has friends that wont come over because we own snakes. But, she wants me to spend 98 dollars on two pair of shoes....