First to the owners and moderators of this forum. I did not mean for this to lead into a discussion of evolution and religion. Second, I am sorry it has taken me a few days to get back to you.



Some of you make intelligent and thought provoking points and I thank you for that. That is the reason I like public forums such as this. While, some of you digress to making no meaningful contributions, but enjoy belittling and insults in a manner you would never dream of doing in person. That is what I dislike about public forums and the reason I rarely use them anymore.



Matt, you are 100% right, as you normally are. However, I wasn’t making the point that all NY timbers are small. I would expect the population, as a whole, to become larger, if given the opportunity to live longer. My point was, my timber rattlesnakes form the NY mountains are considered the same species as my canes from south GA, yet my NY timbers are no where near as big as my south GA canes, and they never will be. Different environmental influences have altered them. And if all things remain constant, they will probably secede even further from each other, BUT…and this is important, they will remain rattlesnakes. The canes are not going to develop legs to make it easier to catch prey in the lowlands.



Some of the other responses here are an apex example with what is wrong with internet forums today. In the beginning, one could come onto the early internet reptile forums and read posts from keepers I look up to and respect. It wasn’t unusual to converse with Dr Bryan Fry, Jim Harrison, Dr Ray Hunter, and many others. But, that early success digressed to people who have never really added anything to herptoculture, belittling, arguing, and insulting each other and people they have never met----In many cases people who have added great contributions to herptoculture. Many people whom I respect and would like to hear from have completely abandoned internet forums, and I certainly can see why.



At one time I loved using internet forums. Getting the view point of others always helped me to shape my opinions. Information not available in print often is available straight from the mind of other keepers. However, given the digression of this system, I very rarely use forums anymore. Occasionally I still wish to share and get opinions and I make a post. And unfortunately, I am quickly reminded of the reason I stopped using the forums in the first place.
Chuck Hurd Serpentology

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