I think what Judy is trying to say is that you have to learn what you're doing first before you can start experimenting. There are several right ways of doing things, just as there are several wrong ways and what works well for one may not work at all for another.

Some of the best teachers on how to take care of these animals are the animals themselves. But before they can teach you how best to care for them, you have to learn how to understand what they are saying and this can take a long time. Going slowly and proceeding with caution while keeping your eyes and mind open are much safer ways for the novice. You have to learn to crawl before you can walk and walk before you can run.

Eventually you'll find out what works for you, then you can start experimenting to find out what works even better.

However, not EVEYRONE here is a novice, and unless you hear some differing viewpoints and techniques, how can you know to try them yourself? I think that this is where the real value of open discussions on these forums are.

One of the reasons I like this forum is because it seems that most people here tend to be more tolerant and open minded. There are already plenty of forums where there are a few experts whose word is law and if you don't do things the way they think it should be done you're obviously a horrible person who shouldn't own snakes ***cough cough kingsnake cough cough*** I would really hate to see that happen here just because someone has opinions or experiences that are different from 'the norm'

Mark