JUNIOR MEMBERS SECTION
MY REPTILES
The way it all started
The way it started is that on my holiday to Disneyland Paris which we went because it was my birthday. After we got there we looked round the hotel, it was a nice place. After we went and unpacked we went and looked round the park. When we went back to the hotel we saw a stall full of fake snakes. At the end of the holiday I had a proper look at them all there were small ones and large ones but I wanted the large one. I got the medium one as it was made of rubber.
When we got back we unpacked and went to my Nan’s care home. I took the rubber snake to show her. When we got there as I showed her, one of her carers saw it. He said “do you like snakes? I have one, do you want it?” I ran to my dad and spoke to him, while we were talking dad said “go ask your mother”. So I ran to her but she said no. That night me and dad kept asking her – she ended up saying yes.
Later that night we went to his house to pick it up. It was a Royal python but it would not eat. So we took it home and it seemed OK but it didn’t eat so mum and dad took it to the vets who force fed it. A couple of months later my cousin’s girlfriend bought a corn snake that was like a short shoe lace. They didn’t want it any more so mum bought it off them. Then dad built a small cage for it. But one year later the Royal python died, I was so sad. Mum and dad saw this so one day when I was at school they bought a new snake – it was a 4 foot albino kingsnake to take the place of Mr Hiss (which was the name of the Royal python).
When I got home I saw it in its new home staring up at me. I called it Casper but at the shop it was called Houdini because it kept escaping. She got out three times but she has not done it to us yet. She has a lovely tank now and is over six feet long.
After this we went to the Koi Show as we did every year but as soon as mum saw Nugget (Mark’s snake) she ran over to her and while my mum and my brother were holding Nugget dad was talking to Mick. He mentioned the club and gave dad an application form. Dad soon joined BRAS.
After that we bought two bearded dragons called Chelsea and Bradley because I have always loved lizards. We got them when they were little babies – now they are huge. One of them is really fat but the other is skinny. They both sleep in their cage and we let them come out quite often and they like to dig. Bradley likes to sit on the window sill and watch the traffic go past the house and he likes to watch the day go by, but Chelsea just loves to sit on her log and go to sleep.
After that we got a skink which was up for adoption at the club meeting. It was a male Berber Skink and they warned us not to feed it too much or his legs will break. We spent two days building his cage and he was very happy. Then one day we went to Cold Blooded and there was another Berber Skink so we bought it as a mate for him. Our one bit its tail off but what was amazing was the tail was moving for ten minutes. Later it stopped and we found out the reason it was still moving was it is a defence mechanism which would keep whatever bit it occupied until it got away. We rang Paul at Cold Blooded and he took the skink back. To stop them fighting we should have partitioned the cage (a lesson learned).
After that we got a male Miami Corn Snake which was 12 inches long. We bought it off Helen. It is a beautiful snake but it kept biting everyone – it didn’t hurt because it was only a baby. A week later we bought a snow corn which was 12 inches long as well. It was a female and we called it Snowy.
Then we got two Leopard Geckos a make and a female. We took them home and we liked them but one kept hissing so we left it but later on we were told to hold it more. Then we went and got two more and slowly introduced them. It only took three hours and was not too bad. Now they are all living together in a new cage.
Then at one of the meetings we saw a male albino Corn Snake so we bought it for our other Corn Snake. When we got it home we put it in and mum and dad watched for half an hour to make sure they were OK and then went to bed.
Then three weeks later we went to Mark’s shop and he had three baskets hanging from the ceiling. We asked what was in them and when we got them down there were three chameleons. We looked at them and mum said can we get it – dad said yes. At first we had trouble feeding it but then we gave it fruit flies and now it eats OK.
Soon we hope to get more but this is it for now!
Tony Dunsby
Aged 14