Venomous

[Gene Collins]

Ok, so now the "Not great parent" as Bowser11788 put is going to add a little to the conversation. My son is young, he is only 14, but he is extremely passionate about these wonderful reptiles, and very impatient to grow up and be able to do what he dreams of which is becoming involved in the conservation efforts of venomous species in the US which don't seem to have much of a voice. He is interested in cage designs for "hots" because he plans to have them someday down the road. Not tomorrow as some of you seem to believe. I have taught him to plan, research, and learn all he can first hand before beginning any new project. In 7 years he has gone from owning 1 ball python to owning several species, breeding some, and spending as much time as possible taking these fantastic creatures out in public to give demonstrations, especially to younger kids, in an effort to make the next generation understand that these are not evil beings. Skiploader called him "a 14 year old with a bad case of the "know-it-alls" He is by no means a know-it-all, but occassionally comes across that way when he is once again treated like he doesn't know anything. He has been fighting for years to try to get people to take him seriously, and he had come to think that on this forum he would be. When he meets with obstacles he tends to go a bit overboard as only a teenager could, but most of that is due to the frustration he feels because of the struggles he goes through to just try to get advice from people he respects. As for hands on experience, he is constantly looking for new opportunities. He has become involved at the zoo in our area, and will be attending a rattlesnake symposium in April at the invitation of a researcher in our area. I am not a bad parent, and would never allow him to get into hots until I know he is ready (which will definitely be longer than he hopes!). But, please do not ignore his questions or requests just because of his age. I do believe he will be deep into hots at some point, and I'd like to know that he got "good" advice from those of you that are "in-the-know"
He will not be replying to this post again.

Right on mom. As I was scrolling down I was getting more and more angry at each new condescending post. This is a DIY forum and hens here for legitimate help and everyone wants to talk down to and berate this poor guy. Everyone talks about needing to learn and get more experience but last time I checked that was what this forum is for. At least he didn't just say screw it and jump in without any advise at all. I still have 2+ pages to scroll through. I really hope this improved or you all suck! :p

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[The Serpent Merchant]

Right on mom. As I was scrolling down I was getting more and more angry at each new condescending post. This is a DIY forum and hens here for legitimate help and everyone wants to talk down to and berate this poor guy. Everyone talks about needing to learn and get more experience but last time I checked that was what this forum is for. At least he didn't just say screw it and jump in without any advise at all. I still have 2+ pages to scroll through. I really hope this improved or you all suck! :p

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I don't think you fully understand the scope of the situation that was in this thread. This kid says that he is prepared to handle Hots because he can use a snake hook with corn snakes and carpet pythons (neither of which is anything like a hot). Everyone in this thread was trying to help this kid, literally to keep him from killing himself. It takes years of training with an experienced mentor to truly be prepared. Simply knowing how to use a snake hook and what hospitals can treat snake bites isn't enough when you are talking about dealing with an animal that can kill you. It would be completely irresponsible to give someone like that the information to house such an animal. As was stated he needs to learn how to deal with the animals first, then worry about caging. The problem was that he didn't want to hear that. It's not like the worst case is he needs to put a bandaid on a bite... it really could kill him.

Had he simply understood that he was trying to run before he could walk and listened to experienced members who know what they are talking about, the tone of this thread would have been much different.