I was always wandering through the woods turning over everything I could lift in hopes that I’d be lucky enough to find a salamander, a lizard or on a good day, a snake! When I wasn’t in the woods I’d be neck deep in a pond sneaking up on a baby painted turtle to take home for a few days. It wasn’t until my teenage years that I actually started keeping reptiles as pets. I’d flip through every maga
zine, send requests for every price list and regularly visit every pet store I could find looking for my next critter. Then there was the day in the summer of ‘87 that everything started heading a different direction. I was at a local pet store looking for a new tarantula when the owner walked over and handed me a baby amel corn to hold so he could another customer. I immediately fell in love and knew it was coming home with me. That was the beginning of my snake addiction! I went back in the next day and got a girlfriend for him. Within six months I had over 30 and I was up to about 100 in just over a year. I bred that first pair of corns, accidentally, 13 months later. At this point it was becoming obvious that my career was going to revolve around animals. I started working at a local pet shop and was soon responsible for the daily operations of the store. I was caring for my personal collection of animals in the evenings and into the early morning hours while doing every weekend reptile show within driving distance. After a few years of trying to work construction in the morning, the pet store all day, and work with my animals all night, something had to give. It was the pet store. It was being sold to a new owner so the decision was obvious and Rick Krumrine Reptiles was officially born. Reptiles, primarily snakes, have been my passion and my living ever since. I am fascinated by a wide variety of snakes, my collection proving that fact. I keep everything from corns to cobras and virtually everything in between. You can find me at a reptile show just about every weekend these days with my son Barrett, who is usually playing.( I hope to edit the second part of that one day soon!) And if there is no show I’ll be back where it all started, neck deep in the water or flipping tin!
*edit: Barrett is working now! ;)
