No, It Doesn’t Bite

Herpetology is the study of amphibians and reptiles. I definitely was not a herpetologist but as a child I did love catching the creatures studied by them.

Field herping is getting out and seeing these creatures in their natural habitat.

My interest in these tiny dinosaurs never passed but my willingness to pick up whatever I came across did. I didn’t actually owned any reptiles or amphibians when I was young.

It wasn’t until several different things happened in my adult life that I decided it was time to get a tortoise. The tortoise was followed shortly by a leopard gecko which was followed by several different leopard geckos, a rosy boa, bearded dragons, a pacman frog and most recently a Euromastyx.

What happened that lead me to reptile and amphibian ownership? I grew up with dogs. My kids wanted dogs. My wife wanted a dog….everybody wanted a dog in my household. I happened to see a middle aged mut on the news at a local dog pound. It looked like a mature dog that was not too old to still have fun with the kids. Perfect! I would be able skip the messy puppy stage.

I left work early and took my whole family down to the pound so we could meet this dog. We spent about a half an hour with him in an area designed for people to get acquainted with the animals in order to decide whether or not they were going to adopt. We all liked the dog and were planning on bringing him home. As we were leaving the gated area he randomly decided to attack one of my children. You might be surprised but we decided that we were no longer interested in that particular dog.

The tortoise hasn’t hurt anyone although he does seem grumpy once in a while which can be very frightening. I’m still not anti-dog but the damage a dog could cause has kept me from bringing one home. The Shellton acquisition has lead household full of herp enthusiasts.

I’d like think we are done adding herps to the family but every time we see read about someone locally needing to part ways with their pet we are compelled to bring it home to our house. I’m okay with that.

Gus Stephano is always looking for cool creatures to add to his collection. He’s not an expert but he is a fan. He will find his next pet at Reptiles and Supplies. This Reptile Finder site makes it much easier to find what you’re looking for on Craigslist.