Thanks for posting this in a reasonable manner. It's all too easy for any of us to become angry and fling insults, but it is the admirable thing to approach the subject in a calm and rational way.



I'd like to think that the conflict with Joan and I can remain just that, between her and I. You know that I respect you and your experience and your voice in this forum (and others) and I would really like to keep it that way. You can see from her last post below how personal her agenda with me is. She bent over backwards in her post in efforts to try to make me look bad. It's obvious and it's pathetic. As if by lessening my credibility she in turn increases her own? I really don't know. What does this have to do with feeding in the cage? I don't know that either. And the irony of the whole issue is that all three of us actually agree on the subject, lol. I think that maybe she is just having a bad few days and her cap just blew. Who knows. In any event, it's become such a joke that I totally consider it over and done with. Regardless of what dirt she flings about me, I will not respond in kind. But I must tell you Rob, in spite of all your references of how wonderful and intelligent she is,. this behavior is certainly not any evidence to support these claims. In fact, since first seeing her in here many moons ago I have really only seen one post that was even remotely insightful or knowledgeable. So even the text record lacks any real support. Most of the posts I just remember being critical, or rude, or bitter in some way, almost always being judgemental of others,.. but almost never helpful. I don't know what she is like in real life but in here she just seems unhappy, unsociable and very bitter.



Anyhow, like I said, let's not allow this absurd personality conflict ruin us or the rest of the forum. It really isn't fair to others. Plus, they depend on guys like you to help hold this place together and to provide reliable herp husbandry advice. As far as I am concerned, I'm like you in that I don't chalk up one disagreement or argument as such a magnitude as to undo 99% positive experience with a person. My hat is still off to you in many ways.



I too know a lot of big names in the industry that go way back into the mid 70's. And I don't mean some breeder that made it big financially on some nifty new morph. Anyone can do that. I mean the kind of guys that are waist deep in the love of it. The names you rarely hear in mainstream herp circles of present day, but are revered and renowned worldwide. I don't even post about 95% of what I do or what I have done in the past because for one thing these forums are exclusive to a particular breed and not everything I have accomplished has had to do with a burm, or a tic. But I'd bet that you have seen at least a dozen of my reptiles in different movies over the years and would never know it. It's not something I talk about very much because for one thing I don't think it is all that big of a deal. For another people tend to not believe things that sound a little extreme. But I just thought you might find it interesting that you may have seen a big varanid or crocodilian or venomous snake in a movie and may have taken the time to admire it's beauty and majesty and never know that it resdies 20 feet from someone you post to daily.



Anyhow,... back to the forums,....





>>Brian, I read all of the posts and I suppose I also misunderstood your comments (so you can throw the rocks at me too). And, I appreciate your being upfront and take absolutely NO offense to any of your comments...but I do wholeheartedly disagree that my credibility was somehow chipped away by my coming to Joan's defense (and believe me, she doesn't need a knight to defend her, she is one intelligent lady who can stand on her own)....to be honest, Joan is a VERY reputable person in the herp world and someone I am thankful to know...how can my credibility be tarnished under these circumstances? This forum is not the end all, not even close, not even .00001% of my herp career (and the short amount of time I spend on this forum is probably too much time spent on the computer), and my connections in the herp world (private breeders, zoological institutions, well known authors, herpetologists/academic, etc.) are diverse. I take great pride in being known as a person of integrity and honesty and my forthrightness may be taken the wrong way by people who are oversensitive (and I will be the first to apologize when I feel I was too harsh...ask Cito). And no one ever said that the CHS is the subsidiary of responsible giant snake keeping....but, on a sidenote, you won't find a better bunch nor knowledgeable group of people than Joan and others who actively serve the CHS. If it weren't for the CHS providing a grant to start up my wildlife center, that now features over 60 species of herps including venomous and reaches over 20,000 annually, I wouldn't be able to have the dream jobs of dream jobs.

>>

>>But, as you said, this will blow over and we will get back to the nuts and bolts of husbandry, responsible ownership and other issues on this forum. We will agree on some points and disagree on others and that is really okay; that is what makes life interesting. We will have our little spats and our pats on our backs when things go well....hey, that's life.

>>

>>On a sidenote, I don't know the sex ratios on the indians and it is by no means close to being a done deal (still lots of negotiating to take place). I'll keep everyone posted. Our intent would be to breed these animals but right now, things are speculative at best.
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"If I had 365 enemies it would only take a year out of my life to settle all scores." Mia Miselfani

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