Quote Originally Posted by mackynz View Post

If it is so widely available and at least 3 studies have been done could you link me to them? It shouldn't be too much of a bother to find them since they are so widely available. It's just that I can only seem to find one.
Right?


This is the deal. If I was doing something similar to the original poster, would I use BPs from people's personal collections? No. That wouldn't hold much internal validity due to the high variability in environmental conditions between specimens. I would be getting a decent sized sample of ball pythons in order to have as much control as possible in the study. All these cantankerous folks should relax. No one is attacking your intelligence, nor are they trying to take away your reptiles--- except the USFWS. The fact that you're so defensive and aggressive is kind of baffling.

Now the individual asking about these is most likely not someone with funding, and may even be an undergraduate student. If that is the situation, I can empathize on the limited resources available for a study as an undergrad and can see the reasoning behind searching for sample specimens from community volunteers. OF COURSE these proposed volunteers have every right to say no. That's a personal right you have as an individual. But to attack the research itself is preposterous and lacks sound reasoning. Research is good. Bottom line.

If a study has been published one or two times, then replication of a study wouldn't be a bad idea, especially if it was simply for the experience of a new research who may conduct further studies that hold more important implications. Now if that is this individual's dissertation and it has been conducted before, thats on him/her. But if people's political agendas are getting in the way of conducting research (consciously or unconsciously for people with poor insight), then thats unfortunate.