First, please read the entire thread. But I will only include his last response. I am bringing this up here because Sam said to, and its been days now.
Sams last response was.
Posted by: SamSweet at Thu Aug 5 15:26:16 2004
Frank writes "So please, use your education and respond to the real questions, the ones about monitors, the monitors in our cages, because the reality is clear, our monitors are in our cages and we have no other options."
I do, Frank, and you're still missing the point. The ideas and information I provide here are also acquired by "asking the monitors", only these are real, wild monitors. I bet that I like them as well as you do.
Save your breath here; I will post something a little more substantive up top, as to why it matters and why I think you (and others) are missing the point.
I guess I will continue with about what, "point, others and I are missing".
Let me see, I/we, have literature, that is, papers, articules, scientific, natural history, fact and fiction. We have books on reptiles, monitors, combinations of both, by country, hemiphere, ect. We have TV and of course Reptiles(and the like) magazines. In my case, I have lots of field experience with many types of reptiles and monitors are included. I also have extensive captive experience with many types of reptiles, including monitors. I have been fortunate enough to be very successful, which includes generations and generations of many types of reptiles, which includes monitors.
With that, I am wondering what am I missing. Or what are we missing, I wonder because we all have access to all of this. We have access to all the wonders of nature and the papers written, and we have access to what happens in captivity.
In captivity we enjoy monitors hatching, growing, maturing, breeding, nesting, and hatching again. We enjoy witnessing all of this and what happens between these events, like odd things when a monitor moves eggs(on V.net) or throws a dead mouse out of a nest(also on V.net) or when after these were finished, the female took a vigorous bath(also on V.net) We enjoy seeing monitors feed, dig, run, climb, swim, etc. We enjoy watching the dynamics of social groups of monitors, we enoy the successes of that and the failures of that. We enjoy tending the eggs and watching the eggs hatch, and we get depressedwhen the eggs do not hatch.
The nice part of the above are the verbs like, see, watch, tend, depressed, etc. Verbs are action, action is something that happens, something that happens is witnessed by us the keepers.
Please understand, I like reading, but it simply not the same as doing. For instance, When I was young, if I went out and met a beautiful young lady and got, well, lucky. I know Sam would respond with citing, several publications on sex. Frankly, I am so darn glad, I got to do it and not read it. Not that reading about it was wrong. Then having Sam try to explain what I missed by not reading about it. Well, if you ask me, I had a great time and did not care what I missed.(wait, i didn't miss, i did it, oh yea) Then I find out, Sam has never had sex. What the heck. Talk about missing something.
So to say I/we are missing something is odd, we have availible all thats written, and now because of these forums, we can share what happens in captivity.
I do not wall off anything, I will use any information thats benefitual to what we are doing, and on the other side of that, I do not use informations that is of no benefit to our progress. I do not care who wrote it, who showed it, or in what area it was written. Actually I was in Oz and found the locality of a rare monitor, in the oddest place, a fourwheeler magazine.
I guess what I am saying is, I have access to all your saying and access to all captive stuff, so what am I missing.
I need to include something rude to maintain my rep. I posted the above series, then you responded to another, with some citings. I asked, Have you witnessed it? well, have you? seeing is better then reading. In the end, thats what captivity is about. But of course, I am to dumb to know that. FR
