...pretty easy...when every penny goes back into getting more snakes, buying feeders, racks, etc..make a profit? The animals ARE my profit...it's worse than a crack habit...
Overall, its pretty easy to tell when a hobbyist is in it for the money or not.
I think as far as the animals coming first or not, those looking to question others' motives need to look at all those guys at shows, on kingsnake, fauna, etc that buy and resell...aka Flippers...the problem is that these guys sell cheap and some the same people who whine about the animals not coming first buy from these guys because they can save a few bucks...sounds kind of hypocritical...
Its fairly easy to tell a good guy from a bad guy if you know what questions to ask...