book smarts is all fine & dandy but hands on experience will give you the true wisdom you'll need if owning hots is really what you wanna do.
there can only be so much documentation on the species your interested in but you know what? what you read about a venomous snake will be far different then what the actual snake's personality is like during an encounter.
do you really think they're gonna behave exactly the way the books, websites & everyone says they're gonna act?
not trying to be rude or anything...just letting you know that every animal is different even varying from animal to animal within a species.
pit bulls for example have horrible reputations as being aggressive killer dogs that are supposedly "out to eat up our kids" & although i'm scared of them i've met pits as docile as lambs who've let the small kids in their homes out right sit on them without so much as a dirty look.
back to snakes,
my mojo bp has her days, some days she's flighty & jumpy while others she's obviously woken up on the wrong side of the hide box and i swear if looks could kill she's murdered me many time over.
i joke but in all seriousness, do a buttload of hands on experience with every species your interested in, at the least, do that then decide if hots really are for you.