Lifer or Casual Hobbiest?

[jeff]

I was just thinking the other day that I would likely be keeping amphibians for the rest of my life. I consider myself to be a fairly hardcore herper. Just wondering how everybody else views themselves; as a lifer, or just as a casual hobbiest.

 

[edward]

Well I do work with them for a living as well as keep them at home....

Ed

 

[paris]

lifer?...well if it was a sentence i just might get the death penalty.......

 

[jameswei]

i hope for a very long life. i've been waiting to keep amphibians since i was five. its been a 15 year old dream that never dies and never gets old.

 

[russ]

Let's see; started at 4, my focus in college, spend at least 5% of my gross income on herp-related activities now (and I ain't po), passing on a Wasatch ski trip this year to go "poking around". Yes, sadly I must be. HA!

RUSS

 

[morg]

Although you can never be sure what the future will bring, Im almost certain that my interest in amphibians will stay with me, just as my love of punk rock has.
I know I will still be punk rockin as an oap, and feel sure that I will be returning from gigs, then straight into the newt room, torch in hand to see whats going on, just as now.

 

[leanne]

Me lifer for sure!

 

[mike]

I have kept amphibs for 50 years, which makes me a lifer I think.

Roll-on the next 50.

 

[erik]

Lifer for sure, but my specific interests are always changing. Sometimes it's Salamandridae, or somtimes it's Plethodontids or other groups.

 

[sergé]

Lifer for sure, as...from just keeping various species I am focusing more and more on just a few of which I want to find out some specific things. After a few years that can change, but I only keep species which I have also seen (or will soon be seeing) in the wild (which also makes a good excuse for many journeys ;-). The urge to write about them grows as you find out that some things you just can not find, because no one has studied it. So my scientific part of my Jekyl/Hyde personality wins from just being a hobbyist...

 

[carl]

i think a lifer but don't no because i am just young and have only been doing it for about 1 maybe 2 years but it certainly is my hobby now and will remain it so yes i would like to think i will be keeping sals for the rest of my life

 

[francesco]

I've been keeping amphibians since I was 13 when I found my first newt but even before I kept snails, scorpions, spiders, fish...
Wherever I go and whatever I'll do I know I'll always be keeping the odd creature with me.
I can't explain it...I think it just might be the NEWT GENE!!!

 

[jennifer]

It appears that I got a late start: I didn't keep any amphibians until I got newts for an experiment in college. But evidently I had the "newt gene" in a latent form, as I have kept them ever since. I guess that makes me a lifer.

 

[mark]

Lifer for sure.

 

[mike]

lifer

 

[corey]

I'm a lifer for sure! I've maintained at least one semi-aquatic tank with newts and or frog for the last ten years. I'm in the military so I tend to more a lot. However, when I do get to settle down I will definitely have a separate area in my home with several tanks.

 

[dani]

i have wanted to get into aquaria and vivaria since i was a child, and never had the chance [we had sheep, dogs, cats, rabbits, chickens, cows, a horse, finches, budgies, hamsters...instead]. it's only been the last couple of years that i have gotten into it. my husband owned a clawed frog for most of his childhood [it lived in a fishbowl and danced to music].
that said, our goal is to always have at least a few newt species, tons of fish, a frog or few, and possibly a snake and lizard in my house as long as i possibly can. and a dog. and maybe a bird.
suffice to say, i think we will be lifers!

 

[andy]

Without doubt,i'm a lifer! Ever since i can remember i've been into amphibians and reptiles. I used to catch smooth newts out of my pond as a kid so i could watch them breed and lay eggs etc.
My first newts from another country were paddletails, my folks bought them for me when i was about ten, since then there's been no looking back!

 

[andrew]

I've been interested in herps since I was a kid and my grandparents would tell me not to play with the anoles otherwise they would stick to my skin and would have to have them removed with a hot iron!
Well, I was hooked. I kept some in secret inside little shoe boxes everytime I went to visit my grandparents. Then one day I brought a frog egg home from college bio lab, and I was hooked as I saw my egg turn into a tadpole, and a tadpole into a tree frog.
Some how, for someone who wasnt into frogs, I knew all about tree frogs. So I've had the "gene" all my life, and it indowed me with innate knowledge of frogs and stuff.
Also been keeping aquariums since I was 9, and as soon as I got the first one I remember thinking how cool it would be to lower the water level, fill it with soil and put some plants in there.
I'm a lifer for sure!

 

[joshua]

I'm definately a lifer, I can't remember ever not being interested in herps, or not owning at least one. People ask me "don't you have any normal pets" and I'm like these are normal to me. But probobly since I could crawl after them I've been interested in them, they even got me to learn to read.