Research

[ToddBecker]

I have been in this hobby for many many years and am amazed how some things progress. Back in the 80's when someone figured out how to breed a species, Tree Pythons for example, they didn't freely disclose that information. To do so would put a dent in the livlihood. Today it is a much more hospitable hobby, which is a good thing. Keepers today are usually much more freer with their advice, whether it is good or bad...lol) and many including myself love to help when I can. Here is my one complaint of the people that are getting into the hobby today. Most are lazy. They do not take the effort to learn about their herps. They comeone to one of these forums sites and ask questions. That is fine because not everything is always found in other forms of research and personal experiences are often much more usable, but please take the time to research the animals you intend to care for are already have. There is vast amounts of information on all the species that people keep. Almost all the questions I see readily asked(what temp should my BP be at, my snake is bubbling out his mouth, whats that mean) can all be answered by doing a research, either online or in books. The hobby has progressed so far in the last decade and the keepers that have pioneered it have almost all written incredibly informative books on their perspective reptiles. Read them. Use your own ability to research the animals and gain the knowledge yourself. You will gain much more appreciation for them and gain that sense of accomplish for doing it yourself. Sorry but I just needed to get this little rant out. Todd

[The Snake Guru]

LOL....it's not just ranting it's the truth man! Not even on forums only. Hell my local petshop has people call me when they have snake issues, it's rather un-nerving when you get a call that goes something like this "Hello, my corn snake won't eat, what should I do?" My reply: Well how is your tank setup? "It's in a 10 gallon." My reply: And? "And what? It's in a 10 gallon." My reply: What about heat sources? Lamps, heat pad ect.? "I need that kind of stuff?" At this point I'm usually banging my head on the desk and procede to go through normal setup requirements and all that noise. Amazingly enough once the snake is setup right 9 times out of 10 it eats within a week....go figure! LOL

And of course all this could've been avoided with a quick read on the net. or a book.
~B~

[knox]

What amazes me is when I read a post that says "Can someone give me information on keeping a ________?" Do they not have a search function on their computer to type in "_________ Caresheet"? That is all it takes to get more than enough info from many different sites.

I think we all feel this way. Specific questions are understandable. Broad questions like that amaze me.

[The Snake Guru]

True enough, but sometimes people are just "fishing" to see what others have to say about it. I feel your pain though. LOL

~B~