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Posted by BrianSmith on April 29, 2003 at 04:27:00:
In Reply to: Very long too! :) posted by sybella on April 29, 2003 at 01:13:58:
Thanks, I enjoyed writing it too. It brought back many fond memories. Like I said in my email there was a lot that I intentionally left out so as to insure that the post wasn't too long. But like you I was collecting every snake I could in an obsessed, feverish way. I would constantly ditch school and walk to the local riverbed to catch coachwhips, gophers, kings, whipsnakes, garters, lyres, and water snakes. I would also ride the local rapid transit public buses to the mountains 40 miles away and go catch rattlesnakes all day long. I distinctly remember countless times of getting on the bus with either brown paper shopping bags or folgers cans with buzzing rattlers in them and the other passengers looking at me strangely. I never got along well with my mother, but she gave me a pretty wide berth when it came to my animals. I suppose this was because it kept me a little preoccupied and as a result I was less destructive. But when the number of my rattlesnakes topped 20 or 30 she began to try to dissuade me from getting any more. I remember before she would leave for work she would tell me quite sternly, "Now Brian, don't you bring not one more rattlesnake home today! I mean it today!" And I would promise very genuinely. But I would go and bring back several more. And when she reminded me of my promise, I would become quite the lawyer and point out that I had promised to not "bring back one", and so I had brought four. She was never amused by this, but I always got to keep my snakes. Her only "serious" demand was that they be well fed. As I was quite obsessed with every aspect of these wonderful snakes, including watching them eat, this was not a problem.
I will continue this saga in another post unless everyone is getting weary of my long winded self.
:I loved your story Brian!! Thanks for sharing...It reminded me of me. I started a little later but it's very much the same, except I didn't steal any! LOL!
:My first snake was a Gopher, caught by the mechanic next door where I used to get my bicycle tires aired back up. LOL! I was 11 then and hooked on snakes...After that, I babysat and saved all my money to buy more snakes. I had gotten to go snake hunting once with the guy I bought the majority of my snakes from and came back with an Aligator lizard and a couple of Ca Kings. That was one of the funnest mountain trips! :)
:By the time I was 13 I had about a dozen snakes; the gopher, a rough green snake, a red tail boa, a burmese, a normal corn, a normal retic, 2 ca kings, a desert king and a couple garters. I think that's all of them. :)
:I gradually sold off all my snakes when I was a teenager but one; my retic. The kings and the gopher I released, along with the aligator lizard.
:I finally just recently got myself 2 more snakes. I wanted something small I could handle without assistance. In addition to my retic, I now have a Tangerine Honduran Milk and a FWC. :)
