Ive just been reading back through this thread. Pretty messy, let me say. Ill take some of the blame for that. But I will say this. Theres a lot of hate going on here. Im no hippy, I fight violence with violence, and thats what has happened here. I postulated a theory based on intelligence and personal observation, comparable to anyone here, and was immediately prosecuted for my statement, as though I had personally attacked people, some of which werent even in the conversation yet. It then desended into a turbulent swill of defensive comments from myself, Ill admit, aimed at various people uninterested in accepting a new idea, ie, one they didnt already believe.
The world doesnt always provide you with answers people, sometimes you have to find some for yourself. Constantly attacking someone for 'evidence' and then shooting down their observations and ideas is not at all helpful. You get insulted for doing this. Yet again, what has happened. Its not my fault if you felt I implied youre an *****. All that proves is that you were one of the negative forces behind the less constructive parts of this discussion. Indeed theres people like you on every forum, the ones that scare off new members because youre so set in your ways and instead of providing helpful insight or constructive testaments, you attack, and fill any given thread with a negative attitude, painting anyone with a different idea to you as a bad person, and ultimately succeeding in drawing it out of them while they attempt to defend their position. I guarantee that the reply to this statement will be something along the lines of;
'It was your fault, you started it'
'You attacked us, it was your negativety'
'When you call someone an *****, theyre going to attack you back'
Im afraid thats how you'll always see it. Youre unable to comprehend that your negativety IS actually the first blow. Some people just take it when theyre told theyre wrong by other people. In my experience, other people are generally wrong. The majority of people are idiots. Thats just how the world is. Ill stand my ground.
The correct way to disagree with someone's idea is this;
'Thats interesting, however, ive noticed something different. Of course, my experience and knowledge may be no more than yours, and so my opinion is no better than yours and if I were to outwardly deny your claim, id be a everything thats wrong with peope today'
Im no longer interested in this discussion, Im afraid. Some members have proven in the end to be reasonable, butters, but others are still only interested in proving something about themselves, or myself. I dont even know what theyre trying to prove in fact.
I guess attempting to discredit someone in whatever means they can, whether it be misconstruding their past words or selectively highlighting something that can be made out to be bad or wrong, is just what people with nothing constructive to say always fall back on.
To answer you question, 'insert whoever asked it, I honestly forget and dont really care', butters is correct in that the captive animals I have kept on licence are imports from NT. However, as any young boy interested in reptiles has done, I did keep wild reptiles in the past, before I got my licence. Im sure Im not the only one to have done this. I wont have been the last.
My statement that I catch wild reptiles. I dont mean to belittle anyone, but if youve honestly never caught a reptile while herping, youre not really herping.
You learn only half the facts through observation and photography.
If youve never held a small dragon from gemmatophora or diporiphora you wont know that their breath all smells the same, an earthy, bush smell thats common to all of them, strange, i know, but their it is.
You wont know that the scales on the underside of a Angle Headed Dragons tail are enlarged, raised and strongly keeled to give them strength and provide the animal with a set of climbing spikes, supporting the dragon on vertical limbs with no effort.
If youve never caught a green tree snake, or a keelback, you wont understand how strong the musk from these animals can be, and how terribly difficult it is to removed.
If youve never disturbed a stone gecko, because youve only watched from affar you wont have heard the intense scream it produces as a defense mechanism.
If youve never held a wild land mullet youll know nothing of the intense body strength they possess.
And if youve never held a number of Odatria you wont realise that they attempt to escape youre grip by wiggling backward, rather than pulling forward like a dragon or skink. Why, I dont know? But I wouldnt even have thought to ponder it, unless Id actually taken the observation to the level that any zoologically minded individual does.
If youre lucky, or wealthy enough to keep every species of reptile in Australia, Im happy for you. But quite honestly, Id still rather experience them in the wild.
Im sorry, but I will always capture and study every tiny detail of any reptile I come across. Why? Because Im genuinely interested in them. Not just how the look, but how they feel, their texture and strength, their vocalisations and indeed their smell. If you'd rather not touch them, thats your perogative, but dont insinuate Im a bad person because I choose to take my passion further than you, may.
(you like how I said 'may' at the end there. That was so people cant say that Im singling them out. They seem to get very defensive when you say, well, anything).
Finally, If you dont have something constructive to say in reply to this thread, dont reply. The above doesnt need attacking, thats not constructive, at all. Im probably wasting my breath ( and unecessarily rubbing the letters off my keys) but...... you do not need to attack this comment. There are better things to do that are more beneficial to everyone. Cool?
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@ snowman and lithopian
My statement about ALWAYS throwing coils is in regards to live prey animals, in my experience. I admit, it may have been hastly to generalise without more input from others' experiences. I guess thats what a discussion is about.
I admit also snowman, that the evidence is inconclusive to someone who isnt already biased. I believe the evidence could be provided by proper studies however, especially down the track when differences are likely to become more apparent with continued breeding.
