I learned to probe before I learned to pop. Stetson University is a local college where I live. (I actually attend now but didn't then). Anyway, I called and spoke with one of the professors who has done a 10yr study on pygmy rattlesnakes and asked him if he would teach me how to probe. He did.

I learned how to pop about a year later when I was picking up some snakes from Michael Cole at ball room pythons south, he showed me how.