Lets hear all them questions

[Artemis]

I love most of the questions I get... some of them include

"It gets BIGGER than that???"

"You let Willow hold it???"

and "YOU own snakes??"


These questions I am always more than happy to answer, and I find that even if they seems silly, these questions, when answered for people, help propogate a little more accurate knowledge about keeping herps, and even sparks a great deal of interest in some.


Artemis

[ydnic]

I love the questions. I love being able to share information with other people because I love learning. I spend about 2 hours a day reading up on reptiles - all species to see what interests me.
Passing that information on is important. Many of my friends were scared of snakes. Basically because they have never been around them and think they bite and are poisonous and soo forth. Now they come to my house sit in my snake room with me and ask questions - even silly ones and they know I will answer them with the best of my knowledge without making them feel stupid.
as for complaining about having to name off the various species of snakes you have - what a shame. I take pride in that, but I guess I have always taken pride in knowledge. I guess if you don`t want to recite a list of snakes - don`t mension them to begin with.

As for the biting question - I ask that too. Any time go to hold a snake I always ask the temperment - I know a snake can bite as i`m sure everyone does - what I want to know if it usually bites.

The food question is quite valid - could you imagine eating tuna everyday for the rest of your life. I`m sure thats what goes through a lot of peoples minds when they find out all it eats are mice or rats.

I had never once considdered this an elitist hobbie but now some of you are making me wonder...

[beanersmysav]

haha seems everyone forgets to mention the question I posted about earlier where the person asked what type of snake he could get that would restrict and kill live mice and eat them, I guess that's not a stupid? I think it is personally *shrugs*

[Ixidor]

Constrict* I don't think thats stupid at all. In fact, thats what constricters do in the wild, correct? I don't have any snakes, but I think that when we all first got are reptiles one of things we were looking forward to was watching it eat. Constricting and eating is normal in the wild, so at least the person has a bit of knowledge about the snakes eating habits. So my question to you is how is that stupid at all ?

[Removed_2815]

Originally posted by beanersmysav
haha seems everyone forgets to mention the question I posted about earlier where the person asked what type of snake he could get that would restrict and kill live mice and eat them, I guess that's not a stupid? I think it is personally *shrugs*

I was going to reply before but thought I was getting too outspoken Now that a few hours have passed, I will post what I was going to say. Again, I don't like using the word stupid, but the so-called stupidity comes from the motive for wanting to own the snake, regardless of the fact that it is in the form of a question...
Ryan

[Kev_Mc]

Well the stupidest thing I heard a girl at my school say to me was, "There are girl lizards?"

I was like ummm yah, I am perrty sure of it..lol

[nita]

In most cases, no question is stupid but in relation to the person who was asked if the snake was poisonous replied no and then was asked why he wasn't afraid to hold the snake cause isn't it poisonous. Yup that is either a stupid person or someone who simply refuses to use their brain.

I got the same thing one day from a man on the bus while travelling with my children. He first asked if they were triplets, I replied yes, he then asked if they were all mine. I honestly felt like saying no only one is mine the other two belong to someone else. DUH..... Trust me as a mom of triplets I get a lot of questions that seem rediculous to me but to the average person may seem to make sense. It is the same with snakes, people who don't have them don't seem to understand them, I take pleasure in educating people whether it is about my snakes or the facts of multiple births.

[CamHanna]

In case anyone was interested here is what Dr. Fry said about Pantherophis:

Me

Dr. Fry, on your website you mentioned getting cobra-type venom from ratsnakes. What species was this? Have you ever done studies with our NA rats (pantherophis)? What did you find?

Dr. Fry

We looked at a pretty large amount of snakes, including representatives from as many of the families of 'colubrids' as we could. It appears that the common N. American ancestor of the clade that contains such snakes as Lampropeltis/Pantherophis/Pituophis underwent a secondary loss of the venom and reverted back to the more primative constricting condition. This is not unprecendented. Within the highly venomous elapids for example, two lineages of sea snake have independently begun the process of becoming non-venomous, they feed exclusively on fish eggs and have greatly atrophied venom glands and tiny fangs.

Here's the paper where Fry let's us know that most colubrids are venomous. It's heady but, from what I understand of it, it's very interesting.

http://www.venomdoc.com/downloads/20...lubritoxin.pdf

A lot more can be found at Dr. Fry's website, www.venomdoc.com

Edit: Also here is the paper by Utiger that revalidates pantherophis. I've never read it and I don't know if venoms are mentioned. It's 2:51 AM so I'll save it for tomorrows reading.

http://www.venomdoc.com/downloads/Ut..._Phylogeny.pdf

[RepTylE]

I haven't had any really dumb questions asked. It's usually questions about how big my boa will get what I feed her etc. Same with all my animals.
My late mother expressed disgust with my snakes until she got to know them a little. On her death bed in the hospital just days before she died she asked me about my snakes and remembered all their names so if that isn't cool then what is?

[dragons&geckos]

i just had a uy ask me if my bp i'm selling was house trained....Apperently his 2 corn snakes only releave themselves when outside on the grass. I asked him what he does in the winter and he looked at me like i had his panties stapled to my forehead and said they go in there cages......i had to try hard not to laugh because he has had these snakes for years and is not just some guy goinginto a store to get his first snake....you'de think he would have a good idea that they are not really "house trained"

[beanersmysav]

Ok true everyone does like to watch them eat but there was definatly stupidity involved in that question if you go back and read it, the way he worded everything and made everything sound was nothing short of disgusting I guess thats the way to put it. I remember he got alot of heat on posting that question, so I guess what I was saying like RMBolton said was his motive for wanting to own the snake, if you haven't taken the time to research a snakes habits you shouldn't be getting the snake. But I guess theres arguements all the way around on this topic and I agree with the there is no stupid question... just stupid people

thats a joke dont need any greif over that either lol

[joey]

Originally posted by RepTylE
I haven't had any really dumb questions asked. It's usually questions about how big my boa will get what I feed her etc. Same with all my animals.
My late mother expressed disgust with my snakes until she got to know them a little. On her death bed in the hospital just days before she died she asked me about my snakes and remembered all their names so if that isn't cool then what is?

awwww......that's ~very~cool....

[RepTylE]

Thanks joey

[Brent Strande]

I get alot of the 'stupid' questions, but don't find them stupid at all. I love my snakes and relish the chance to talk about them whenever possible! My girlfriend (still not a fan of herps) had a friend over one day whose first question was 'Why do you keep snakes?' in a fairly sarcastic tone. Before we knew it, we had been talking about snakes for an hour and a half, and she is now alot more understanding of them and even curious about them!

My family is still not a fan of the animals, but they have begun to see how passionate I am about it when they ask different questions and I can give solid, thorough answers.

Perhaps when people are asked these questions they should use the principle of charity before opening their mouths and responding. Think about it, herping is already looked down upon by many people in society. Giving a rude or sarcastic answer definitely won't help.

I used to get the same "high and mighty" response to a few questions, but then quickly grounded myself. The best example for me is Spiders. I have no clue whether or not they can bite me, if it will hurt, if there is any venom, as well as many other questions!

Same with birds, or fish, or many others.

Just a quick thought, but I still love to hear all the questions that people hear, as they are amusing as in inside joke for herpers!

PS, if you're wondering about the Principle of Charity, it is a great way to approach any comment or question. It basically states that questions of meaning come before questions of truth.
What this means is that when someone asks a question, and it sounds wrong, try and reword it to see if it makes sense then. This is giving people the benefit of a doubt, and if everyone did it, a LOT more information would probably be able to make its way to the right people!

[bistrobob85]

As for me, i don't think those questions are stupid, unless the guy who ask them to you really means to tease you, but there are certainly some non-stupid but VERY ANOYING questions asked... I think i'm going to have some kind of reptile FAQ sheet hanging somewhere in the petstore department, that should solve a part of the problem... All people need is a bit of good info and little less of TV...