I remember waking up one morning in my bedroom at 801 Elm Road in West Palm Beach, Florida and squinting as I tried to bring into focus what was in front of me. I had three brothers, and we all slept in the same room in bunk beds, so finding odd items in the room was nothing unusual. 

But on this morning, the object was moving, and it wasn't a cat or a dog. As I sat up, I noticed a 5-foot-long yellow rat snake hanging from the drapes, trying to catch the first morning sun. Looking around, I could see an assortment of snakes, some in the hallway, others heading under beds. 

Then one of my brothers yelled out the obvious: "Oh, no, there is a hole in the bag of snakes!" 

Yes, this was not an unusual experience for our family. My parents are herpetologists, and we lived with snakes, frogs, toads, lizards -- you name it. On many days, my Dad would take my brothers and sisters and I to the Florida Everglades, where we would catch all sorts of snakes, frogs, toads, lizards and turtles. 

My dad became the preeminent source of information on Florida reptiles and even discovered a new species of snake -- the melanistic corn snake. Our adventures in the Everglades were just as dramatic and colorful as you would think they would be. At one point, my sister Martha and I found a dead man who had been hit by a car and died in the bushes. And we all had our fair share of run-ins with alligators and poisonous snakes. 

And there was one particular incident in which my Dad was caught hanging upside down under a bridge with an alligator beneath him. You can read about that here. 

My parents now own one of the largest pet shops in the country, taking up several storefronts in West Palm Beach. Called The Reptile Store, the pet shop does not have any fluffy cats or dogs. It specializes in exotics -- from snakes and iguanas to hedgehogs and tarantulas. While many pet shops feature a few dozen animals, my parents' shop features hundreds of creatures. 

It's like a mini Walt Disney World -- except that the animals aren't fake. 

You would think that growing up in an environment with snakes and frogs would be unusual. You would be right. But it was a wonderful childhood that prepared all of us for adulthood. 

All of my brothers and sisters still live in West Palm Beach (I'm the only one who moved away), and they've all gone on to rather interesting careers and professions.