Here is my 2 cents. There are at least two sides to this issue. There are the animals themselves and the people that keep them. The snake keeping community would have to decide on the public face they want to present. This not only means the way they present their animals but the way they present themselves. This means no matter how well you present your snakes in public, if you look like you come from the fringes of society your pets will be looked upon that way. I personally do not judge people on anything other than their brains and their actions but most of the world frankly does not work that way. Some of the biggest names in the business present themselves in public looking like they just rolled out of bed or they are a leftover from a failed rock band. I respect their knowledge immensely however as entertaining and educational as it is, we as a group are not being served by the public seeing some long haired, tattooed guy wrestling a reticulated python with blood running down his arm.

The other thing we have to recognize is that snakes are not for everyone especially the giants. Industry self regulation is the key here. In my opinion the sellers should make some attempt to establish if a person is getting in over their heads. It is better to pass up a sale in the short term than to eventually not have the opportunity to make a sale at all.