What qualifies someone as "experienced"?

I just dont see how large collections fit into this, Can someone explain?

Any guy (or gal) can go out and buy a bunch of snakes if he has the money, keep them awhile ext. This does not make him experienced. Just says that he has alot of snakes. There are people that get into snakes just for the monetary value, they start off with 4-5 morphs on the first order, and just read the breeders caresheets. A person with 1 that has had it for awhile arguably has more experience.

The whole large collection=experience is a coincidence, not a fact. Id say Adam of 8ball, Kevin and Kara of NERD, Ralph Davis... ext. Are experienced and probably experts, but because of that expertise they have built buisnesses around large numbers of animals. Not have all those animals and all of a suden be experts/experienced.

Several species makes you well versed, but id rather talk to someone that just keeps ball pythons and is more experienced in just that area on ideas about Balls, than someone that has general reptile knowledge, overall though its good to have all of those to be better versed in reptiles in general. Many things I learned through my beardie carried over to my ball python regardless the species gap.

Experts are the ones IMO that advance the hobby, they are the people that research UVB in reptiles, and rate the bulbs, Deal with infectious diseases and make steps to help prevent them, make advances in medical techniques, breeding techniques so on and so forth.

I guess I just miss the connection of large collections to experienced, Its a relation, not a rule.

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Lol, too long to read

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Sorry, that and rewording things in different posts is a slight problem of mine ;) :rolleye2:

Does a person keeping a snake in a cage compare to a person observing the same snake in its natural environment?

Does a person great at creating 'natural' captive environments for reptiles have the same experience as a person creating a 'breeding' captive environment for reptiles?

Does a person caring for 200 snakes with no illnesses have less experience than a person has rehabilitated 5 snakes?

There are so many different criteria for deciding who is an expert and who is a novice. There are also many things involving reptiles that some can have a vast amount of knowledge and experience of one topic, but lack experience in another topic that is equally important.

With 'large collections' as an example...

People with large collections generally have experiences quicker with captive reptiles since the more animals you have the more can go wrong or right. But someone spending day and night caring for a captive collection might have little experience observing wild reptiles. People with large collections may have more experience with 'collection management'; however, people with small collections can explore more 'exotic' husbandry techniques than some with large collections. Collection size really has nothing to do with some aspects of reptiles. Those with large collections are just that....Experienced with managing large collections. With large collections you can also subdivide it....large collections of individual species, large collections of multiple species, large collections while running a business, large privite collections, zoo reptile collections.....so many different things to be experience in.

Experience depends on the topic........and there are alot of topics available when reptiles are to be discussed.

great post and excellent ideas daniel!

I agree with all the point made so far.

Just having a ton of snakes on your basement means absolutely nothing.

And I agree that being "experienced' and being an "expert" are two very different things. However, neither requires actually owning anything. The zookeeper who cares for the king cobra in the reptile house for 10+ years is definitely experienced, but may not be an expert. And likewise, the field biologist who studies dart frogs in the rainforest for several years may be considered an expert, but not necessarily experienced.

Experience is more hands on. You can a dozen books about cornsnakes but until you "get your hands dirty" and start taking care of them and breeding them yourself, you're only skimming the surface.

Expertise, IMO, is separate from just having experience with a particular species, but years of learning from others, observing the animals' behaviors, knowing their A&P, etc...along with a little experience.

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Originally Posted by ctrlfreq

I think the real distinction is between "experienced" and "expert". Anyone can become experienced by keeping a large collection or large variety of animals, but experience doesn't always (and often doesn't) equal knowledgeable or competent. There are a good number of people with large collections that are little better than novices, and likewise many with smaller collections that could easily be considered intermediate to expert keepers.

Simply put, when it comes to being an expert (in any field), it's all about having a substantial store of knowledge, and having enough experience to understand and discern when it's applicable.

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We must be on the same wavelength or something.. I agree! No need to re-invent the wheel on my part.