Uh....Scott...All due respect, BUT....



You said...



"There are a lot of people in the venemous community who seem to try and make out that you must be an "Expert" to keep venemous snakes responsibly. This IMHO is certainly not the case, usually the people who perpetuate the myth that keeping hots is extremely dangerous and very difficult is by other venemous keepers themselves and this in turn feeds on their own ego (Them being the so called elite)."



Is as dumb a statement as I have ever seen here. Those of us with the expertise that you slam here, post because we have a vested interest in keeping people who make statements (like you just did) alive. If you get bit it supplies more fuel to the ant-snake crowd (I'm not that altruistic).



Only a fool would say being an expert is not necessary. "Common sense" Scott, is partially the capacity to take good advice and apply it sensibly. Your above statement shows a sad lack of it.



My "common sense" keeps me from working with certain hots that I feel my skills (I'm not so limber anymore) are not up to or that I feel might endanger my family or niebors. Thus I do not keep Cobras, Mambas, Brown snakes etc...Though I like them.



Ego....is when you think you have all the answers and act accordingly. Like someone with little or no experience telling everyone he can handle snakes that kill...or making a statement like the one above.



35 years ago I was a rank beginner. Fortunately I had "Experts" like Greg Longhurst, Fred Grunwald and Ron Dupont to guide me through my awkward early efforts till I learned. Thanks to those gentlemen, I still have NEVER had a serious bite (though plenty from rearfangs that were mild enough to ignore). By the way, it was those rearfangs that taught me what I could or could not safely do with the others. That is why I and others said "start with the mild ones".



Scott, an Expert is not an "elitest" to anyone except a wannabe. An expert is someone who managed to do this for a long time and still be alive to give that advice.



At this momment Aaron is showing more sense than you are.





Frank
-----
"The luxury of not getting involved departed with the last lifeboat Skipper..."

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