I was going through old pictures as I clear out my stuff and I found some of my very early herping life. Too bad I basically had a 15-year hiatus in the middle, because I started out strong.
Doesn't look like I had any ingrained fear of snakes. My dad bred a few corn snakes way back then:
Don't play with your snake food!
Here's my dad about that time, doing his thing:
Okay, not quite herping, but my early experiences in the outdoors.
Apparently my early snake hook training was done with a backscratcher. Can anyone ID the species?
This is me in fifth grade. I brought a box turtle, White's treefrog, and corn snake to school for show-and-tell, and the teacher liked my talk about them so much (both natural history and pet care) that she sent me around to give the talk at every grade level in the school. Interestingly, over 90% of 1st graders were willing and excited to touch the snake, while only about 50% of 6th graders would do it.
This is a normal male corn snake that my dad had hatched and reared, and an amelanistic female corn that had been dropped off at the zoo. It was my introduction to genetics - I bred them to each other, then bred one of the offspring back to the mom, leading to half of the offspring being amelanistic themselves. I did the punnett squares myself.
p.s. - I also apparently liked that shirt.
A couple falconry pics to end it.
p.s. - I noticed none of these pictures involved actual field herping. Simple reason - dad took me hiking. Mom had the camera. Thus, all the early snake catching and salamander flipping was never recorded for posterity.
Back in the days, when I was young....
Moderator: Scott Waters
- Christopher
- Posts: 140
- Joined: June 22nd, 2010, 8:53 pm
- Location: SFL
- Contact:
Re: Back in the day, when I was young....
Some great pics, looks like great raising for a herper! What/where did your father work if I can ask?
Re: Back in the day, when I was young....
Yeah....
Who's yer daddy?
Who's yer daddy?
Re: Back in the day, when I was young....
Great post, Jonathon. Between living in more houses than I am old, and nearly as many towns, I have no idea if there are still pics of me around anywhere from herping. I too used to take snakes and turtles to class for show and tell when I was little. I also had a mullet and exclusively wore dinosaur shirts it seemed like.
Re: Back in the day, when I was young....
My dad worked at the California Alligator Farm in Anaheim, which was basically a zoo filled almost exclusively with reptiles, including 20 of the 25 species of crocodilians. He later moved to the Sacramento Zoo and then the Oregon Zoo (formerly the Washington Park Zoo), which he recently retired from.
- Erik_NorCal
- Posts: 73
- Joined: July 16th, 2010, 10:13 am
- Location: East Bay
Re: Back in the day, when I was young....
Nice Kestrel. My favorite bird.
- RockRatt Rich Morgan
- Posts: 141
- Joined: June 7th, 2010, 7:03 pm
Re: Back in the day, when I was young....
Very cool Jonathon. I too brought many reptiles in when I was in 4th grade and had show and tell. The weird part I remember is the teacher LET me bring in the snakes (Rosy's of course) into the classroom but made me leave the mice outside the classroom. I was PLANNING on showing the kids how snakes ate. I said planning because ALL the mice died being left outside in a glass cage in the sun. Was the Alligator Zoo in Ananheim or Buena Park? I ask because my FAVORITE place to go when I was little was the Alligator Zoo/Farm (cannot remember exactly what it was called) that I remember was located right accross from Knotts Berry Farm? I loved that place. They also had some primates and other stuff from what I kind of remember, but I definetely remember all the alligators and Crocodiles.jonathan wrote:My dad worked at the California Alligator Farm in Anaheim, which was basically a zoo filled almost exclusively with reptiles, including 20 of the 25 species of crocodilians. He later moved to the Sacramento Zoo and then the Oregon Zoo (formerly the Washington Park Zoo), which he recently retired from.
Re: Back in the day, when I was young....
Yes - that was this spot, right across from Knott's. They had spider monkeys and ostriches - those were the only non-herps in the whole place, I believe.RockRatt Rich Morgan wrote:Was the Alligator Zoo in Ananheim or Buena Park? I ask because my FAVORITE place to go when I was little was the Alligator Zoo/Farm (cannot remember exactly what it was called) that I remember was located right accross from Knotts Berry Farm? I loved that place. They also had some primates and other stuff from what I kind of remember, but I definetely remember all the alligators and Crocodiles.
Did you go in the early 1980s? You probably saw my dad if you did. He did many (if not most) of the public talks and such. I still have the video he made for the local school district where he talks about alligator and crocodile features, behavior, and conservation.
.
.
Re: Back in the day, when I was young....
Yah - I think his exact dates there were 1981 to 1983. He used to walk out on a board that went over those two huge niles - I remember thinking that was the scariest thing ever when I was little. I think the big one went a really fat 14 feet. I don't remember the cobras that well, except that one was part of his show. He told me much later that it managed to strike him on the boot once, which is the closest he's ever come to being tagged.craigb wrote:very cool!
I know I must have seen him. I was there 6-8 times in the late 70s and early 80s.
I loved the huge nile croc they had, and the cobras!
.
.
- klawnskale
- Posts: 1211
- Joined: June 7th, 2010, 7:09 pm
Re: Back in the day, when I was young....
"when I was young"... that's a hoot! So what is old? Anyone over 40?
Re: Back in the day, when I was young....
klawnskale wrote:"when I was young"... that's a hoot! So what is old? Anyone over 40?
Well, Ahmad wrote it when he was 18, so I'd say anyone over 15-16 is old. But Ahmad was from right here in South Central, where you grow up fast.
- klawnskale
- Posts: 1211
- Joined: June 7th, 2010, 7:09 pm
Re: Back in the day, when I was young....
Ahmad? Who is Ahmad?jonathan wrote:klawnskale wrote:"when I was young"... that's a hoot! So what is old? Anyone over 40?
Well, Ahmad wrote it when he was 18, so I'd say anyone over 15-16 is old. But Ahmad was from right here in South Central, where you grow up fast.
- klawnskale
- Posts: 1211
- Joined: June 7th, 2010, 7:09 pm
Re: Back in the day, when I was young....
Well, bless you, Jonathan, whatever the future brings your way, I hope it will only be good...
- RockRatt Rich Morgan
- Posts: 141
- Joined: June 7th, 2010, 7:03 pm
Re: Back in the day, when I was young....
That is VERY COOL. I would think I would have gone when I was probably 7-11 years old so about 78 to 82 somewhere in between..I HATED to see it close, I have grown up in Buena Park so I was used to it being a fixture for years.jonathan wrote:Yes - that was this spot, right across from Knott's. They had spider monkeys and ostriches - those were the only non-herps in the whole place, I believe.RockRatt Rich Morgan wrote:Was the Alligator Zoo in Ananheim or Buena Park? I ask because my FAVORITE place to go when I was little was the Alligator Zoo/Farm (cannot remember exactly what it was called) that I remember was located right accross from Knotts Berry Farm? I loved that place. They also had some primates and other stuff from what I kind of remember, but I definetely remember all the alligators and Crocodiles.
Did you go in the early 1980s? You probably saw my dad if you did. He did many (if not most) of the public talks and such. I still have the video he made for the local school district where he talks about alligator and crocodile features, behavior, and conservation.
Re: Back in the day, when I was young....
klawnskale wrote:Ahmad? Who is Ahmad?jonathan wrote:klawnskale wrote:"when I was young"... that's a hoot! So what is old? Anyone over 40?
Well, Ahmad wrote it when he was 18, so I'd say anyone over 15-16 is old. But Ahmad was from right here in South Central, where you grow up fast.
A hip-hop one-hit wonder who wrote the lyrics that I was quoting when I titled the post.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVgTeHhpsYM
- klawnskale
- Posts: 1211
- Joined: June 7th, 2010, 7:09 pm
Re: Back in the days, when I was young....
Okay; now I'm clear. I'm from an older generation.
Re: Back in the days, when I was young....
Freaking adorable. Thanks for posting that. I love the pic of you with the backscratcher/snake hook. That's what my kids are going to be like.
-Marisa
-Marisa