How it all began...

I kept alot of animals when i was young. During my younger years, i was fascinated by animals, my animals are from garden caught frogs, fish, beetles, grasshoppers, snakes, birds, if u saw an animal in your garden, i probably have kept it before.

During my teen years, I was fascinated by fishes. I can't remember how many fishes I started keeping. some were blood parrot, red devil, goldfishes, black moors, kaloi, oscar, sucker fish.. all those common fishes you see in Brunei Fish stores.

I was schooling, and feeding them requires me extra chores thus extra cash to spend on the foods, treatments for this fishes. To me fish keeping is alot of work & is expensive for my budget. If u ever kept fish before you know the drill. Coincidence, there was a snake show that was held in gadong (I cant remember the year).. where I 1st saw reptiles & snakes. That where I got hooked & wanted to own a snake.

I did my research in and out, and found out.. Snakes perfectly fit the criteria of easier to keep pets, less maintenance, very nice & totally cool & its very unique.

Then in Nov 2005, was the day, i finally get myself a snake. My 1st snake was a cornsnake, a reverse okeetee cornsnake.

From then on, I wanted to increase my collection. Due to the non-existence of pet snake in Brunei, I kept only one snake for 2 years plus. (And that snake is still with me).

During the HM birthday in 2007, I saw an exhibition booth in Kuala Belait. There was a crowd going on. I cant believe that, there is a snake exhibition in Brunei. I meet the owner of that exhibition, Marvin.
From that day onward, I owe the increase in my collection from Marvin.

So people ask, why am I into snakes?

Well, for Me. I keep my 1st goal why I started to keep snakes. That is "easier to keep, less maintenance & still very nice & cool at the same time." Everyone got to have a hobby, either is modfying cars, collecting toys. I dont know, i guess a hobby makes you occupied rather than talk-zero.

Anyway, why snakes?

• Easier & cheaper to keep.. as they only need to be fed.. every 7 days, and if you are really that lazy.. 10-days without food ia still ok. They even can live without feeding for a month. But I wont do that. I want my snake to have a healthy growth..so my snakes are on a 7-day schedule. How is it cheaper? So 1 snake, you will only be spending $10 a month. if the seller, sells 4 mice of $10. But if you breed some mice, it will self produce & then can feed your snake for free.
• Less maintenance.. I keep my snake using used newspaper & unprinted papers.. I know other people will have a negative comment on this.. but Im keeping to my goal on why I started to keep snake. used newspaper is virtually free. easy to dispose, hygienic & Almost everyone (other snake keeps from all over the world) use newspaper as their bedding.

• very nice, cool & unique at the same time... How? well, if u saw a snake/reptile exhibition.. ask the owner, that you wanted to hold one.

• Reptiles don't have fur. Usually fur will make someone's allergy comes out. Its a fact that, there is no known reports of reptiles causing someone to have allergies. If you are allergic to cats, dogs, rabbits, hamster.. Maybe a reptile is a pet for you.

Each one has a different view & taste on pets. Some people keep cats, dogs, rabbits. Each has their reasons.. I think almost all the people in the world, has a negative feedback on snakes. One top question, the people here in Brunei is.. "Inda be-racun kah?" "Inda gigit kah?" I dont blame them on this question, as I mention earlier, the negativity on snake has effected everyone, I think this is due to movies, documentary & old folk tales.

There are many snakes in this world, poisonous & non-poisonous. ALL the snakes that I keep are NON-POISONOUS & off course they do bite, just like your cats, kitten, rabbit, dogs.. so if even if they bite me, I will still be OK & not going to emergency rooms, except for some cool scars from their bite. And since all my snake are captive breed, they are no risk on me from contaminating either parasites & other harmful organism. Fyi, I have been bitten a few times already, and here I am still capable of typing this long long long "essay" which i dont normally do.

The snake that i keep, dont grow to monster size. Bruneian people would say, if seeing a snake, its either "Oh, ular sawa or penalan".. "Oh, ular cobra tu.. berbisa" All my snake would grow to a max of 6 feet for female, well that is what the internet says. My 1st cornsnake the reverse okeetee is a 6-footer now btw she is 5 years old this year (2010). The fully mature adult male would grow up to 5-feet. Anyway, Im almost repeating my facts.. which you can all easily find the snakes info, either by goggling or yahoo.

Excuse me, as my interest expand. I do infact keep 3 "medium" monster size snakes. 2 Blood pythons & a Boa constrictor. I hope, i will be able to resist myself from adding a few of this as they will require space big time. But they are still babies, and with a modest feeding schedule i intent not to boost their sizes too fast. Even snakes or any other pets, be a "responsible" pet owner.

After keeping snakes, then, i decide to keep my life a bit more busier.. which i got my self a pair of sugargliders, then into Tarantulas. Both this animals, are also categorised as "Exotic Pets" or new world pets. Except the sugargliders requires a bit more TLC.

well, its a long post.. until next time. Hope you enjoy my story.. something of a change once in a while.