Animal related topics > Animal Welfare, Pets, Animals
You know you're a herper if....
frogmommy:
You Know You're A Herper If...(author unknown)
Your local power plant knows the exact moment your timers go off!
You've bred rabbits for 15 years, yet have no idea what their average life span is.
You hear someone describing their new high-resolution 20" monitor and wonder if it's Australian or Indonesian.
You answer the door holding a big fat snake & wonder why the Jehovah's Witnesses won't talk with you.
Your snakes spend more time in your bathtub than you do!
You check the "free to good home" ads daily, yet have no desire to own a mammal.
Your house was raided by the police after a tipoff from the electric company suspecting you of growing pot.
You and a friend are overheard talking about your babies & someone asks about them, and you reply "yeah, my 'baby' is 15' long & weighs around 125 pounds!!!"
You have a special drawer to keep perfect sheds in.
Your freezer is full but the kids whine that there's nothing to eat!
You're the customer at the pet store but answer all the herp questions.
You overhear someone talking about monitors and you wonder what species they're discussing....you know your varanids, your favorite is the Crocodile Monitor - computers never even come to mind!
You keep deceased herps for sentimental value even after you've cleaned out the freezer time & again.
You do a double take at the latest prime specimen in your local herp store haunt & as your significant other begins to glare you say "This is it!! The last one I promise!! I promise!"...and you are believed for the very last time!
Your husband/mom/wife knows about you & your excursions out into the woods and into the local pet store, and now frisks you down as soon as you enter the house!
You tell your girlfriend/mother/husband "that IS the same snake...it just changes colors and body shape. Yeah, it really is growing fast - I changed its name from "Mr. Cal King" to "Annie Anaconda."
Your arms say you're an I.V. drug user...your python says you're dinner!
Your mind races endlessly as you imagine hatching your next clutch of designer ball pythons.
You suffer the "Oh yeah? Look at this baby!! I got this scar when I tried to take the RABBIT AWAY from my Burm!" "Yeah? That ain't nothing - my water monitor railed me when I cut his nails. Check this out...4 stitches!"
You feel guilty picking your "pet" rabbits in front of a group of bunny-adoring children.
You bypass your girlfriend's Victoria's Secret catalog to get to your latest Reptiles Magazine.
The employees at the local pet store give you dirty looks every time they see you heading for the small animal section.
You convince your wife/husband that it was just make believe, anacondas don't get as big as the one in the movie, they only grow as large as the tank they're in!
You have a bedroom but no bed!
You've learned that defrosting rodents in the microwave DOESN'T WORK!!
Your snakes are having a better sex life than you & you're happy about it!
You have way more pillowcases than you have pillows.
You tell the salesperson at the pet store you won't be needing the seven-day health guarantee on the mouse you just bought.
Your best friend's cat died & you wonder if you can have the body.
You name your rodents things like "Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner."
You tell yourself you don't look stupid while people are watching you flip rotted boards hunting for snakes on the side of the road.
You pretend that there really is a good reason to flip boards by the side of the road while people stare like you're crazy!
People come to your house and ask "What is that smell?" and you reply "What smell?"
You spend countless hours inventing stupid things like this.
You drive around on recycling day looking for the biggest piles of newspaper & feel guilty and sneaky when people look out their windows & come out yelling at you for stealing!
Your girlfriend/husband gets mad because you spend way too much time in the Rubbermaid container section dreaming of ways to use them, yet give her/him a 2-minute limit when s/he's buying clothes/tools!
You can go into someone's house and pinpoint the exact location of a decaying rodent.
You find a dead mouse that your friend planted in the bottom of a mayonnaise jar & laugh while eating your tuna fish sandwich. Yeah, good one...munch munch.
You do your best to give the guy wearing snakeskin boots your dirtiest look & start to wonder if you could get off on just manslaughter.
You can speak Latin well but have never taken a formal Latin course.
You buy car loads of bark mulch but could care less about landscaping.
You want world peace, a cure for AIDS and a better way to kill mites.
Your neighbors watch your house closely during hatching season when they see people entering empty handed & leaving with small boxes, and then report you to the police as a drug dealer!!!
People ask you to pack the truck when they move because YOU have the uncanny ability to fit more fish tanks and sweater boxes into the smallest space available.
You can get to the center of the newspaper on the first try.
There is always enough room on your credit card to buy another herp, but you ignore your bills.
You are foolish enough to do this as a business & actually thought you might make a living at it.
People spend big bucks to get rid of rats & mice and you spend bigger bucks breeding them.
You're friends with a guy who owns a large reptile facility & invest all of your spare time trying to help him keep it going.
There is always space to set up yet another cage for your next herp.
You spent your last dollar on a reptile book and don't get paid for another week!!
You drive an hour to a zoo just to visit the herps & buy a reptile shirt to wear tomorrow.
Your freezer contains more dead mice than ice cream.
You buy 100-watt bulbs by the case.
You keep your apartment at a constant 85F, with lights pointed at the couch to make a 95F basking spot.
You sex fruit flies when you're at a grocery store.
Upon seeing the Vanity Fair issue with the picture of Cindy Crawford naked, with a boa around her, the first reaction of my herper friends was "Nice looking snake, distinct markings...must be Boa constrictor constrictor...looks like a Surinam."
You see someone walking their Chihuahua or Yorkshire and think "hmm...snake food."
Your friends need to pull at least three guinea pigs out of the fridge when trying to find the salami.
You go through the store checkout with 18 different fruits and veggies, none of which you plan to eat.
You judge the quality of a garage sale by the potential herp housing units for sale.
You get regular shipments of thousands of live crickets & your postman just rings the doorbell, drops the box and runs.
Everyone you know says "Why on earth do you want to go to DAYTONA, FLORIDA in AUGUST every year??"
You get a sunburn and worry that your shed isn't coming off in one piece.
You've sold your soul to the produce manager in exchange for dandelion greens.
You sleep on the couch but have a lovely reptile setup in the bedroom.
You've said "Are aquariums all right?" to a prospective landlord and don't own a single fish.
You evaluate potential apartments/townhomes by the location of the electrical sockets, & how easily the second bedroom can accommodate all of your turtle tanks.
You have 27 bowls marked "dog" or "kitty" and no dogs or cats.
You ask the local drug store for a No-Pest "fly" Strip in January.
You got in trouble with your wife/husband for looking at the "free kitten" ads with a gleam in your eye.
You have a well-stocked medicine cabinet and none of it is for you.
The Delta Cargo people recognize you on sight.
Your wrists are so criss-crossed with scratches that people think you're just really bad at trying to kill yourself.
You tell people on the phone "I can't talk now, I've got a lizard on my head!!!"
You're lulled into a deep sleep by the melodic chirp of crickets even though you live in a high rise.
Redecorating the house means finding a way to squeeze in yet another aquarium.
You don't take vitamins but all your herps do.
You lie awake at night trying to figure out why your crickets aren't reproducing.
Someone at the emergency vet leans over and asks you if your animal is real.
You know the calcium-to-phosphorous ratios of common vegetables without looking them up.
You consider collard greens, dandelion greens, parsnips, mustard greens and escarole to be "common vegetables."
You keep insisting to your spouse that the trio of Brazilian rainbow boas you just brought home only cost 45 dollars!!
You think finding bugs in your house is a good thing.
You have a bag full of pinkies in the freezer next to your chicken breasts.
Your neighbors think you're a prostitute or a photographer because they can see a red light in one of your windows every night.
You have to explain to the lawn care company that you like dandelions and insects in your yard.
You've ever had to lecture a pet store employee/manager.
You've ever carried along a pillow case when mountain biking.
You've ever had to clean mouse guts off of ANYTHING.
You tell your snake she's "sexy" more often than you tell your wife/husband.
The person behind you at the checkout asks how you prepare the collard greens you're holding and you say that you haven't got the slightest idea...or you tell them, "Rinse thoroughly, chop into pieces no larger than the size of a dime, and dust lightly with calcium and vitamin supplement."
You find "tongue flicking" an attractive attribute in members of the opposite sex.
You refer to a pregnant woman as "gravid," and if she had twins you want to know if the babies came out with a ratio of 1.1, 0.2 or 2.0 & what they're het for, if anything?
Hetero doesn't mean heterosexual to you.
You separate your mail into 3 piles: "bills," "junk mail," and "this month's price lists."
You're standing in the pet store checkout line with your purchase in hand & the person behind you says "Oh, they're so cute! Do they make good pets?" and you reply, "These? Hmmm. Actually, I have no idea... I never thought about that..."
You get out of your car and start directing traffic around a rattlesnake/turtle so the wriggly thing can get away.
Your husband/wife tells you to choose between them & the herps, and not only do you tell them you'll miss 'em, but calculate how many shoebox racks will fit in their half of the closet.
Someone tells you they have three balls and you don't think it's weird!
The first time I read this I thought someone was watching me! LOJ and some others here will appreciate this.
EagleOwl:
Where did you get this???? It's hilarious! I picked out a few I found near and dear to me...
--- Quote from: frogmommy on March 20, 2006, 02:10 pm ---You Know You're A Herper If...(author unknown)
Your freezer is full but the kids whine that there's nothing to eat!
Well, my boyfriend whines a little!
You're the customer at the pet store but answer all the herp questions.
Been there many times..Hell, I've even done that at the zoo!!
You overhear someone talking about monitors and you wonder what species they're discussing....you know your varanids, your favorite is the Crocodile Monitor - computers never even come to mind!
:45: Well, come on!! When was the last time anyone saw a computer monitor rip a mouse in half?
You keep deceased herps for sentimental value even after you've cleaned out the freezer time & again.
Why do herpers do this? I'm guilty of it. The only way I get rid of them is if the freezer goes out! I thought it was something I picked up from my old boss, but every herper I know does it! Man, there's nothing quite like opening someone's deep freeze and discovering a coiled gaboon inside!
Your arms say you're an I.V. drug user...your python says you're dinner!
You suffer the "Oh yeah? Look at this baby!! I got this scar when I tried to take the RABBIT AWAY from my Burm!" "Yeah? That ain't nothing - my water monitor railed me when I cut his nails. Check this out...4 stitches!"
I was just noticing how scarred up my arms have gotten over the years, but that can't be all blamed on reptiles, birds have done their share.
You bypass your girlfriend's Victoria's Secret catalog to get to your latest Reptiles Magazine.
Who needs fancy underware when calci-sand is infinitely more important?
You tell yourself you don't look stupid while people are watching you flip rotted boards hunting for snakes on the side of the road.
I don't look stupid...
You pretend that there really is a good reason to flip boards by the side of the road while people stare like you're crazy!
People can stare all they want...even if it's just a six lined racerunner, its still a perfectly good reason!
You find a dead mouse that your friend planted in the bottom of a mayonnaise jar & laugh while eating your tuna fish sandwich. Yeah, good one...munch munch.
I think animal people just have an amazing tolerance for bacteria. I know my hands aren't totally clean sometimes even after washing and I eat a lot of finger food.
You do your best to give the guy wearing snakeskin boots your dirtiest look & start to wonder if you could get off on just manslaughter.
When I worked in a reptile exhibit I always hated those yokels who'd come in with snakeskin boots on, walk up to the first, snake they saw, and say "huh huh...I'm wearin' yer daddy awn muh boots!" I used to identify what species they were sporting and then tell them some natural history on their footwear.
You're friends with a guy who owns a large reptile facility & invest all of your spare time trying to help him keep it going.
That was my first job at age sixteen. I shoveled gravel, loaded concrete, cleaned up the worksite and helped set up cages before it opened and then gave tours through the exhibit as well as community outreach programs after it opened. Now I drive out there to deliver excess produce for the spurthighs.
Upon seeing the Vanity Fair issue with the picture of Cindy Crawford naked, with a boa around her, the first reaction of my herper friends was "Nice looking snake, distinct markings...must be Boa constrictor constrictor...looks like a Surinam."
:45: It could be Ralph Fiennes, and I'd still be more into the reptile!
You've ever had to lecture a pet store employee/manager.
You've ever had to clean mouse guts off of ANYTHING.
Ever seen two bullsnakes get the same mouse, rip it apart, then paint the glass with the entrails? Not fun.
You refer to a pregnant woman as "gravid," and if she had twins you want to know if the babies came out with a ratio of 1.1, 0.2 or 2.0 & what they're het for, if anything?
Yup. Done that one many times. My mom frowns on it.
--- End quote ---
Another one that could be added to the list is If you know what iguana boogers taste like.( they're salty!) There were others I could have commented on, but it's late. Great list!!
Sabre:
--- Quote ---You've ever had to clean mouse guts off of ANYTHING.
--- End quote ---
I disagree with that one.
General Logic:
You have more aquariums in your kitchen than chairs.
frogmommy:
--- Quote from: General Logic on March 25, 2006, 03:32 pm ---You have more aquariums in your kitchen than chairs.
--- End quote ---
You understand that there's no such thing as too many aquariums!
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