I don’t want to pick on this person individually but this is another thing that happens to be a pet peeve of mine….. When the heck did we move from being herpers to being scientists? The last big snake show I went to, I did not see one white lab coat, no microscopes or DNA analyses machines (if there is such a thing). What I did see is a large amount of mostly large tattooed men that looked kinda of scary with tattooed women on their arms with nice boob jobs….. Ok maybe I was looking into a mirror at the time, but you get what I mean.

I don’t see a great deal of us as the scientific type. Yes I can recite genetic principles better then most biology teachers, yes I can use the fancy Latin names for many snakes and make people think that I am more educated then I am and yes I have more reptile knowledge floating around in my head then most professors who teach Herpology (if that is a word LOL) But I am by no means a scientist!

Like most of us head I am a blue collar working dude that happens to have a hobby that freaks most people out. I have studied my hobby since I was 15 years old (that’s twenty-four years for you other non-scientific types) so I have accumulated a great deal of information. I use this information to make “completely unscientific assumptions” about my animals. I have happened to travel a bit herping and plan on doing so once a year, but I won’t ever collect my own Boas from the wilds of Suriname or Colombia. So I will always have to make that “completely unscientific assumption” about the locality of my boa constrictors.

But based on this information, we don’t really no if our Colombian Boas are Colombian, If our Nics are Nics, Where our Albinos and Hypos really came from and does anyone really no if there ever was any Boas on Hog’s Island? Have you seen them there before they were extinct? Well for that matter, how many of us here have ever really seen with our own two eyes Boas in South America, not on TV but in person? Do Boas really exist there at all, maybe they are really from Canada and this entire thing has been a “completely unscientific assumption” on our parts, those dang Canadians can be sneaky you know!

My point to this entire rant is GET A GRIP PEOPLE! At some point we all have to realize is that we are just your normal working folks, some breed professionally, some are, Teachers, Cops, Bikers, living on disability, construction workers, bankers, rock stars, and there may even be a scientist or two out there, but I doubt that they are arguing over the true locality of there boas. At some point in time you have to trust someone on where your animals came from and then you will also have to realize that nobody really gives a crap that we make “completely unscientific assumptions” about them. If you are a breeder with a good reputation and an honest person, that is good enough for most, the rest of the argument is just there for the sake of arguing and that is “completely unscientific behavior”

Just thought I would chime in with my cent and a half.
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Jim Hopkins "Hoppy"
Hopkins Holesale Herps
Hopfam1@aol.com

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