Dunns Mountain Reptiles is the fulfillment of a dream that I've had since I was a young boy growing up on 57 acres in southeastern Rowan County, North Carolina.  I spent my summer days in the fields and woods looking for snakes.  A local dairy farmer owned several hundred acres that surrounded our family property, that I was free to roam at my heart's content.  There was a sizable creek that bordered one side of our property and a small pond that my uncle put in, fed by an underground spring.  Through the years my dad and mom sold acreage to his and her family members, so there developed a small community of uncles, aunts and cousins.  Whenever someone encountered a snake, I would get the call to come identify it, rescue them, and save the day.  I never was fearful of snakes, and seemed to have a knack for handling them.  I also soon realized that being able to show off a snake without much fear could bring attention that a shy little blonde-haired boy desired.
My first collection of snakes was a book shelf full of jars with snakes "pickled" in alcohol, snakes that others had killed, or I found DOR.  As I entered my pre-teen years, my mom finally allowed me to keep snakes in small aquariums.  I kept a few in my bedroom, usually garter or kingsnakes, but each summer would amass a sizable collection that I housed in a small room off of my dad's garage.  I would line the shelves with aquariums and collect king, rat, garter, hognose and rough green snakes.    I started painting a mural, that I never finished, on one wall, of a coiled rattlesnake striking out with fangs showing.  My favorite snakes were kingsnakes, and I kept one very nice mole king for a couple years.  This is the one that escaped from my bedroom and my mom found in our bathtub.

I read about Bill Haast and his Miami Serpentarium, and about Raymond L. Ditmars' quests as a young amateur naturalist, and dreamed of becoming a herpetologist some day.

My first snake book

 
Mike in 1973 at age 16 with a small
redtail boa and the summer's catch

Somehow that dream got side-tracked as I turned 16, bought a car, and got a job in textiles with help from my mom.  I kept very few snakes for almost 30 years, but after getting laid off from my textile job, and getting a job as a naturalist in a nature center,  have gotten back into herpetoculture.  To date, I've collected about 100 snakes.  I started out buying adult males that I could afford, to use in programs that I get because of my job as a Naturalist.  I met some great local herp guys and purchased quite a few babies to raise into breeders.  I've also added some females to pair with the adult males, some of these from individual breeders advertising online, or at reptile shows in Raleigh, Charlotte, or Columbia, S.C.