I agree. The hobby is in a death rattle. Unfortunately some of it is self inflicted. The BIG snake keepers and illegal hot (venomous) herp keepers really put our hobby in an extremely negative light. It probably seems unthinkable to us but a large percentage of people see reptiles and especially snakes as repulsive. So you throw in retic & burm pythons and a few cobras and other hot reptiles and people really saw our hobby as being way out of the main stream. I saw it coming back in 2007- 2008 and sold off most of my collection. I keep some box turtles, a couple of lizards and a handful of kingsnakes for my own pleasure. I really enjoyed these forums for a long time and tried to warn folks about the coming storm but I was shouted down.

In addition the Obama economy has literally left folks with no extra $$ for spending on anything but the necessities. Its not just our hobby that been hurt its everything. I hate saying this but I feel we (USA) are on the verge of a financial and political collapse.




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Vichris
"The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane"- Marcus Aurelius

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