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"To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research." -- Steven Wright Charper 2010-10-02 "Fool! Don't you see now that I could have poisoned you a hundred times had I been able to live without you!" -Cleopatra VII missionTOburma 2002-08-31 "About the worst thing that can happen to an animal, is to have humanity for an enemy." -- from a shark documentary on the Discovery Channel Charper 2000-08-17 We as HOT keepers, owe the animals we keep, the continuation of their species, intact, and not diluted by hybridizing for profit or whimsical appearances sake. Barry4 2000-08-21 "The biologist, in his work, is always confronted with the mystery of life. He learns a reverence for it which, compounded of wonder and awe, keeps him honest and willing to admit without despair that here is something quite amazing, worthy of continous study." ~Hans Zinsser~ DougW 2000-09-03 "Antivenom is like the Texan's gun. He always has it, because although he doesn't need it very often, when he does, by God he needs it bad!" - Jimmy Ashe, from 'Sun Sand and Snakes' by S.Spawls AllenH 2000-08-21 To many people who keep Hots are fascinated by the death.Those of us who truly love these amazing animal,and don't just keep them for entertainment,are amazed by the life. oxyuranus112 2002-10-30 "With a hiss like some weird, ice-cold version of a steam boiler rupturing, a sound I'll hear in sweat soaked dreams for many years to come, first one, then a second dull, gunmetal length of murder appeared, as if by witchcraft, four feet in front of my face." -- Peter Hathaway Capstick from a 1979 article that appeared in The American Hunter, entitled "Mamba Means Death" Charper 2000-09-14 "In the end, we conserve only what we love. We love only what we understand. We understand only what we are taught." ~ Baba Dioum sawscale4 2001-02-10 The rattler, more than any other cause, made the High Plains country a hard-liquor area....One who had applied the precepts of safety first by imbibing freely was immune to rattlesnake bite until the effects had worn off. So the cure was taken as a safety measure against a possible encounter with the affliction. From L. M. Klauber's Rattlesnakes as quoted in Minton & Minton's Venomous Reptiles 1969 Buzztail1 2000-09-23 A little fear is a good thing. It leads to caution and respect for these venomous reptiles. bugbee_4 2002-10-30 With bright, unblinking eyes, an ability to seemingly rejuvenate themselves by casting off their aged skins, and wonderful agility-"the way of the serpent upon the rock"-snakes are clearly different from other animals. from Gulf's A Field Guide To Snakes Of Florida by Alan Tennant Buzztail1 2000-09-28 "Snakes are just as important to the closed ecosystem called Earth as are other animals, as well as plants. Unfortunately, they lack the emotional appeal of tigers and seal pups. However, both seal pups and snakes would benefit more from the actual control and preservation of habitat than the proliferation of regulations specifically addressed to individual species." John M. Mehrtens, Living Snakes of the World. DM 2000-10-01 Ophidiophobia is an acquired fear, learned as we age by ignorance from others. We only fear what we do not understand. Bear this in mind when exposing someone to your hobby, don't set them back any further in their thinking than they already are. But take time to educate and make them realize the serpent is as beautiful as a bluebird in a tree! Maybe one day they will see the light :) LEPIDUSMAN 2000-09-30 "Early colonists did not have the knowledge of venomous snakes that we have today. In their eyes, a snake was a snake, they all presented danger, and thus should be killed on sight...Most roundups in those days were done for the purpose of clearing and securing areas for possible settlement...Through the years, however, the meaning of the rattlesnake roundup has changed drastically. These days it seems like nothing more than an exercise in machismo." W.P. Mara, Venomous Snakes of the World DM 2000-10-01 A resident of good raccoon hunting country, the canebrake rattler takes a toll of hounds every year. Like the diamondback, it hunts at night in the summer and during the day in cool weather. Raccoon hunters should wait for a frost before taking their hounds into areas where this snake is found. “Poisonous Eastern Snakes” by George McKenna, American Rifleman September 1965 Win 2000-10-04 Many timber rattlers den up together…. On a bright fall day one will occasionally come across a dozen or more sunning themselves within a radius of 100 yds. of a den, giving the hunter who wants snakeskin belts an opportunity to take all he needs. “Poisonous Eastern Snakes” by George McKenna, American Rifleman September 1965 Win 2000-10-04 To conclude, all other living creatures live orderly and well, after their own kind: we see them flock and gather together, and ready to make head and stand against all others of a contrary kind: the lions as fell and savage as they be, fight not with one another: serpents sting not serpents, nor bite one another with their venomous teeth: nay the very monsters and huge fishes of the sea, war not amongst themselves in their own kind: but believe me, man at man's hand receiveth most harm and mischief. - Pliny The Elder (23 AD - 79 AD) Nightflight99 2002-11-08 Attitude, rather than disposition, is more definitive of serpent behavior. From the moment they emerge into this world until they complete their life cycle, their attitude is, "Don't tread on me. I am well prepared to defend myself, but content to pass through life unnoticed. I mean no harm to anything or anyone that our creator has not proved as my bill of fare. I am self-sustaining, and I like it that way. Please pass me by." -Bill Haast TimG 2000-12-15 According to the Discovery Health Channel, snakes are listed as the number 1 "extreme fear" by 25% of Americans (13% men,35% women). No wonder snakes are in trouble. CYNTHIA 2001-01-11 Human beings have the ability to rationalize that we need cars, tigers, sharks, crocodiles, heavy machinery and grizzly bears. And all of these things can have terrible consequences when encountered in the wrong or unintended manner. Venomous snakes also belong in this category: Potentially deadly, but undeniably necessary. Charper 2001-09-18 Rattlesnakes have the same appeal for me that hawks and owls have among the birds, the cat animals among the mammals. They are magnificent. - Carl Kauffeld Nightflight99 2001-02-28 One of the most spectacular aspects of nature is its diversity. This diversity has a very special property that it is not continuous, but consists of discrete units, species. - Ernst Mayr Nightflight99 2001-02-28 "The Crotalus" is the largest of our rattlesnakes, reaching even to the length of eight feet...I have seen others over seven feet long; a more disgusting and terrific animal can not be imagined than this; its dusky colour, bloated body, and sinister eyes of sparkling gray and yellow, with the projecting orbital plates, combine to form an expression of sullen ferocity unsurpassed in the brute creation. - John Edwards Holbrook Nightflight99 2001-02-28 Rattlesnakes...and bison lived together in western Oklahoma for thousands of years, and it was not the snakes that nearly exterminated the buffalo. - Richard Lardie Nightflight99 2001-02-28 There's a beautiful snake with a rattle That is meant for defense, not for battle. But the fear it begets Will caution your pets; If the dog doesn't warn you, the cat'll. - Martha (Mickey) Bogert Nightflight99 2001-02-28 If there is a just God, how humanity would writhe in its attempt to justify its treatment of animals. - Isaac Asimov Nightflight99 2001-03-20 Rattlesnake! The mere mention of the word elicits a response - always! There is seldom middle ground. - Manny Rubio Nightflight99 2001-02-28 "Odd is it not, that the public seems to regard snake bite as a sort of super-serious bee-sting. You get a shot of AV and go merrily on your way. Telling them that it don't work like that seems to do little to dispell that ridiculous myth. Snake bite is like marriage: a really good one lasts a lifetime, whether you survive it or not." Phil Gillette Buzztail1 2001-05-06 Casualness breeds casualties. BGF 2001-05-09 "You know those two-foot downhill putts with a break? I'd rather see a rattlesnake." Sam Snead filthy 2001-05-23 As a former bomb disposal technician, I kept a sign on my desk that I looked at several times a day. The sign was only two words and now hangs on my snakeroom door............It reads "complacency kills". Robbie 2001-06-29 "Every scrap of biological diversity is priceless, to be learned and cherished, and never to be surrendured without a struggle." -E.O.Wilson HELERI 2001-08-28 Defense Counsel: How many of you are afraid of snakes? (Many jurors raise hands.) Defense Counsel: How many of you are not afraid of snakes? (No response.) - Trial transcipt extract, The State versus Summerford, February 1992, Jackson County Courthouse, Scottsboro, Alabama Nightflight99 2001-07-01 Long before the adoption of the Stars and Stripes, the rattlesnake had stood for the spirit of liberationist America, defiant, fearless and quite prepared to defend itself. By 1996, however, America had moved on and its opinion of itself had changed. America had disclaimed the rattlesnake. The snake had suffered a fall from grace. It had become mean, malevolent and it now belonged to Satan. -Jeremy Seal, 1999 Nightflight99 2001-07-01 The rattlesnake may be esteemed an emblem of vigilance. She never begins an attack, or, when once engaged, never surrenders. She is therefore an emblem of magnanimity and true courage...She never wounds until she has generously given notice even to her enemy, and cautioned...against the danger of treading upon her. - Pennsylvania Journal, December 1775 Nightflight99 2001-07-01 The colours of the American fleet have a snake with thirteen rattles...described in the attitude of going to a strike, with this motto, 'Don't tread on me.' - London Chronicle, July 1776 Nightflight99 2001-07-01 It is simplicity [simple-mindedness] in any one that shall tell a bugbeare tale of horrible, or terrible serpents, that are in that land. - Thomas Morton, 1654 Nightflight99 2001-07-01 "Which is better: to fear all snakes and keep out of danger,or become educated and fear those only that can be harmful to you?" Bill Haast on the Discovery Channel KingCobraFan 2001-07-04 "I would be the viscious, feared eastern garter snake. I would look foward to slithering away from rampaging lawnmowers, hiding out under logs, and running away from pretty much everything. -Anonymous post in the "Speak Out" section Trigger 2001-09-25 Which animal is more dangerous? A species that might bite you only if it feels threatened? Or a species that kills other members of the same species for material objects? Trigger 2001-09-25 Keeping Venomous Reptiles is like being Dr. Kevorkian. Everyone is uneasy, but nobody really cares until you screw up. Then everybody suddenly knows what needs to happen, and what needs to be legislated... Alex Crotalidae14 2002-01-20 I've Always been amazed with RattleSnakes and now that I raise them I am more Amazed RattleSnakeRangler 2002-02-11 "The gaboon viper, Bitis gabonica; it can reach up to 1,7 meters and be wide as a human arm. Like other vipers it uses it's long fangs - they can be up to 4 cm long - above everything to kill it's prey with, and it is harmless to humans, atleast if one don't step directly on it." - From a very old animal book by Dr.V.J. Stanek. IGULFAST 2002-05-06 "An old bushman's saying runs: 'Tread on a black snake and it will turn and bite you. Tread on a Taipan and you have already been bitten.'"The Taipan, The World's Most Dangerous Snake" (Masci/Kendal) TAIPAN78 2001-12-06 One of the first to attempt to popularize snakes and other reptiles in this country was Raymond L. Ditmars, Curator of Reptiles at the New York Zoological Gardens. His famous "Reptile Book", first published in 1907, was for many years the only non-technical reference book on the snakes of the United States, but it has long been out of date. from Field Book of Snakes of the United States and Canada by Karl P. Schmidt and D. Dwight Davis (1941) Buzztail1 2002-01-20 Water standing ever still. There they linger to seek their fill. Eyes are dark. Their faces cold. A mouth of cotton... Venom bold. Dare to seek them I am told. D.L.'96 copperhead0426 2002-01-20 There are in fact two things, science and opinion; the former begets knowledge, the latter ignorance. - Hippocrates (460 BC-377 BC), Law Nightflight99 2004-03-11 "A rattlesnake that doesn't bite teaches you nothing." Jessamyn West (1902-1984) BWSmith 2002-04-08 "These foul and loathsome animals are distinguished by a heart with a single ventricle and a single auricle, doubtful lungs and a double penis. Most are abhorrent because of their cold body, pale colour, cartilaginous skeleton, filthy skin, fierce aspect, calculating eye, offensive smell, harsh voice, (!) squalid habitation and terrible venom; and so their creator has not exerted his powers in making many of them." - CAROLUS LINNAEUS. Snakebitelove 2002-02-11 Hey snake, you powerful shining muscle iridescent in the light. Hunting silent under premise of surprise and fear and fright. You scapegoat of religion cast as Evil in our time. Young in evolution it's Man you undermine. Go gliding through your deserts and your swamps in innocence. And soon the god of life will give its final recompense. Go deaf and unblinking through life on Mother earth. And never fail and always hail the One that gave you birth. -MARK LESLIE McMAHON Snakebitelove 2002-02-11 "It's not the critic who counts, nor the man who points out how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit BELONGS to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives, who spends himself in a worthy cause." Theodore Roosevelt tonyl 2003-02-10 No one is listening until you make a mistake. bitisatrox 2002-07-19 It is a good morning exercise for a research scientist to discard a pet hypothesis every day before breakfast. It keeps him young. - Konrad Lorenz Nightflight99 2002-11-14 Basic research is what I am doing when I don't know what I am doing. - Wernher von Braun Nightflight99 2002-11-14 Research is the process of going up alleys to see if they are blind. - Marston Bates Nightflight99 2002-11-14 If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it? - Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955) Nightflight99 2002-11-14 Against logic there is no armor like ignorance. - Laurence J. Peter (1919-1988) Nightflight99 2004-03-11 Sorry Homer, I was born a snake handler and I will die a snake handler. (Moe to Homer on his religion) jared 2003-04-28 The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance. - Socrates (469 BC-399 BC) Nightflight99 2004-03-11 Something flinched a little in the dust, and a tiny voice said: ``Be careful. I am death!'' -- Rudyard Kipling surucucu 2003-04-28 "I observed on one of the drums belonging to the marines now raising, there was painted a Rattle-Snake, with this modest motto under it, 'Don't tread on me.' As I know it is the custom to have some device on the arms of every country, I supposed this may have been intended for the arms of America." "She never begins an attack, nor, when once engaged, ever surrenders: She is therefore an emblem of magnanimity and true courage. ... she never wounds 'till she has generously given notice, even to her enemy, and cautioned him against the danger of treading on her." "I confess I was wholly at a loss what to make of the rattles, 'till I went back and counted them and found them just thirteen, exactly the number of the Colonies united in America; and I recollected too that this was the only part of the Snake which increased in numbers. ... "'Tis curious and amazing to observe how distinct and independent of each other the rattles of this animal are, and yet how firmly they are united together, so as never to be separated but by breaking them to pieces. One of those rattles singly, is incapable of producing sound, but the ringing of thirteen together, is sufficient to alarm the boldest man living." -Benjamin Franklin Crotalus64 2004-03-11 Science may have found a cure for most evils; but it has found no remedy for the worst of them all - the apathy of human beings. - Helen Keller (1880-1968), My Religion, 1927 Nightflight99 2004-03-11 The Zulus, a native tribe from Southern Africa believes that the venomous snake is the passport to eternal life and an encounter with a snake would mean that an ancestor came to deliver a special message. Buzztail 2003-02-10 "You knew what I was when you picked me up..."---Excerpt of an old Sioux Indian story of a scout on a vision quest to become a brave. RepFan 2004-03-11 The greatest use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it. - William James (1842-1910) Nightflight99 2002-12-29 Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life. - Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) Nightflight99 2002-12-29 Sweet are the uses of adversity, which, like a toad, though ugly and venomous, wears yet a precious jewel in its head. - William Shakespeare (1564-1616) Nightflight99 2002-12-29 "The Beginning of Widsom is Calling Things by Their Right Names" - Chinese saying attributed to Confucius CAISSACA 2003-02-10 People fear what they do not understand. Xeyla 2003-04-28 The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. - Albert Einstein (1879-1955) Nightflight99 2004-03-11 No snake is generally unsuitable for captive keeping. Any species can be kept if the expenditure is arbitrary. Only some keepers are unsuitable for some snakes! - Dr. Guido Westhoff Buthus 2004-12-04 Never get so set in your ways that you cannot subject yourself to change. SAM WALTON elapidking81 2004-10-03 Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought. - Albert von Szent-Gyorgyi (1893-1986) Nightflight99 2004-03-11 "People often ask me how I can put up with venomous snakes in the house. I just tell them how much nicer most venomous snakes are than most people. Their usual response is 'I won't be coming to your house.' My reply? Good! You weren't invited!" The Boss Buzztail1 2004-03-11 I have killed hundreds, and never knew but one case of the rattlesnake's taking the aggressive-in the sense of coming forth to attack. Stewart Edward White (The Pass, 1906) creep77 2004-03-11 "The stunning result of endless adaptation through inconceivable amounts of time embodied by a limbless design with galaxy eyes, quitely caressing the power to show you your boundry in stride and cancel your mind, god i love these animals." unbrokenchain 2004-03-11 The snake is an animal. It has a backbone and heart. It has red blood and drinks water and eats food. It breathes air and feels fear, just like every other animal in the world. And it's in a body that is the hardest thing for the average person to understand. —David G. Barker KLG 2003-07-01 "The air about us was charged with the heavy musk sprayed from the scent glands at the base of the snakes' tail- a defensive measure common in most snakes. The scents vary very widely and are intended as a "discourager" much like the skunk's, but to me the Diamondback musk is one of the sweetest perfumes on earth! Snakes and Snake Hunting Carl Kauffeld jared 2003-11-16 How crotalids lounge prior to shedding. It's as if they are stretching their previous skin in preparaton for exposing the next. creep77 2004-03-11 Where nature is concerned, familiarity breeds love and knowledge, not contempt. - Stewart L. Udall B375Rgt 2004-03-11 "there may be one in fifty with a gentle disposition- one that will not strike or bite like a fiend- reserving thereby the God-given right of every animal to individuality. Carl Kauffeld in reference to black racers, and individuality. jared 2004-04-24 A self correcting problem, is one that Darwin will sort out. RedrumRattle 2005-05-28 Their is only one bite that I fear!The bite of the wife's nagging over me yet buying another venomous snake. Najafang 2004-03-11 It seems that people at large are unable to surpass common perception, and that the immense fascination and elegance that is portrayed by these magnificent predators is one that was dedicated by nature to an outcast minority that is socially incapable of uncoding the same to humanity as a simple unit of nature's beauty. Nightflight99 2004-10-03 Which animals should we fear the most? Most people fear all snakes even though only 400 species are venomous and of thoughs only 100 could be dangerous to man, and they only kill about 40000 people a year. Ironicly, the anofel mosquito kills up to 3 milion people a year threw malaria and is feared by nobody. Alex Strugariu(Snake17) Snake17 2004-03-11 Remember.. "You can take the snake out of the jungle...but can never get the jungle out of the snake" Phobos 2004-04-24 Funny thing about keeping venomous reptiles...They tend to weed out the keepers that don't meet their standards of safe handling. Buzztail1 2004-03-25 As educators, our first responsibility must be to teach children the difference between fear and respect. Fear leads to destruction and genocide. Respect leads to understanding and conservation. (Wisdom from my father, a man who taught his children to respect reptiles, despite the fear of snakes he had been taught.) Amilie 2004-04-06 "The world is a book and those who do not travel read only a page." -St. Augustine Snakeman1982 2004-03-11 A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. Crotalus75 2004-03-12 When a man wants to murder a tiger, it's called sport; when the tiger wants to murder him it's called ferocity. - George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) Nightflight99 2004-03-12 "If the world goes on the way it is going, it will one day be a world without reptiles. Some people will accept this calmly, but I mistrust the prospect. Reptiles are a part of the old wilderness of earth, the environment in which man got the nerves and hormones that make him human. If we let the reptile go, it is a sign that we are ready to let all wilderness go. When that happens, we shall no longer be exactly human." BanffshireBushman 2004-02-25 Scaley and smooth, slithering through the grass. colour for danger, its bite could be your last. Yannis Rathbone age 7 Rabies 2003-11-16 Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity. - Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968), Strength to Love, 1963 Nightflight99 2004-03-11 Ignorance and inconsideration are the two great causes of the ruin of mankind. - John Tillotson (1630-1694) Nightflight99 2004-03-11 Your ignorance, cramps my conversation. - Sir Anthony Hawkins (1863-1933) Nightflight99 2004-03-11 It is impossible to make people understand their ignorance; for it requires knowledge to perceive it and therefore he that can perceive it hath it not. - Jeremy Taylor (1613-1667) Nightflight99 2004-03-11 Marriage: putting one's hand into a bag of snakes on the chance of drawing out an eel. - Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) Nightflight99 2004-03-11 God loved the birds and invented trees. Man loved the birds and invented cages. - Jacques Deval, Afin de vivre bel et bien Nightflight99 2004-03-11 Don't think there are no crocodiles because the water is calm. - Malayan Proverb Nightflight99 2004-03-11 The two most recognizable sounds in suburban USA - the jacking of a shell into a 12 GA pump shotgun and the alarmed buzzing of an alert rattlesnake - both appropriate warnings. Buzztail1 2004-10-03 An ecosystem is a tapestry of species and relationships. Chop away a section, isolate that section, and there arises the problem of unraveling. - David Quammen, 1996 Nightflight99 2004-10-03 The view of snakes as an evil figure can be traced all the way back into the bible to the story of Adam and Eve. For hundreds of years people have had a fear of snakes. People fear what they do not understand. I belive it is a prime objective of the hepitalogical community to change this majestic creatures tarnished reputation. Despell the many mythys created out of fear that have changed the snakes true identity and turned it into the twisted symbol of evil it is today. Let us help the snake shed the terrifying mask that has been placed upon it. This will allow the truth of this fasinating creature shine though and break though this web of lies that humanity has woven around it. Only then, will snakes truly be saved from their unjustifed persecution. -Me BufoMarinus 2006-07-26 Education, not condemnation, is the best cure for fear. We should Teach the hate and fear away, not hate them for their fear. ALA_herp31 2005-05-28 "Everything we shut our eyes to, everything we run away from, everything we deny, denigrate, or despise, serves to defeat us in the end. What seems nasty, painful, evil, can become a source of beauty, joy, and strength, if faced with an open mind. Every moment is a golden one for him who has the vision to recognize it." Henry Miller Cro 2006-07-25 The two most common elements in the universe are hydrogen, and stupidity. And not neccessarily in that order. RedrumRattle 2005-05-28 Kauffeld described destinations where the dreams of a young herper could come true --- Ramsey Canyon, Duchess County, Okeechobee --- but no place more magical than the hunt club of Okeetee in South Carolina. timberrattlesnake89 2004-12-17 "The most horrific animal that ever lived on earth is Humans".- Howard Hunt (Curator of Reptiles, Atlanta Zoo) timberrattlesnake89 2004-12-17 If we as keepers give an inch, law makers take a mile. Such is to be the death of venomous keeping. A true shame. “ by: Wally Vickers” ALA_herp31 2005-05-28 As we step out of the way, new things are born. No seed ever sees the flower.. Zen Teaching emtnurse 2004-12-17 The humanity of a people can be measured by how it treats its citizens, the foresight of a people can be measured by how it treats is natural resources. Dennis Desmond bush_viper17 2005-05-28 "Knowledge without experience is like a bullet without a gun." Jeremy Southern bush_viper17 2005-05-28 If I have learned nothing else from science,I have learned this. Never let curiosity override common-sense. Now don't go get your finger bit. Buckk 2005-05-28 "We Have Met The Enemy and He Is Us" Walt Kelly's Pogo Cro 2005-05-28 We conquered the sea, the land and the trees, all you see is no limbs eyelids or ears. You think we're out to kill when all we want is to survive. Yes some of us are deadly but we use it mostly for hunting. We have no expression on our faces so you think we are ugly. Yet our deadly poisson is used to help research new cures. No animal is more deadly than you the human, so what am I?? I am a snake....! I need your help as much as you need ours. Hyperviper 2005-08-10 "I knew an amazing man who could hold the fastest and most deadly snakes in his bare hands. Too bad he is no longer with us to share his stories." bush_viper17 2005-05-28 “Our very existence on this planet depends upon the existence of all the life around us” Okefenokee Joe Cro 2005-12-12 We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time. – T. S. Eliot, from Four Quartets, final section crotaluscerastes 2005-08-10 The best way to avoid being bitten by a venomous snake is simply to leave it alone. - Joe Slowinski Nightflight99 2005-08-15 To truly grasp the threat posed by ecological invasion, I would need to sweep aside the homogenizing scrim of humanity and seek out unfiltered nature, heterogeneous and raw. - Alan Burdick, 2005 Nightflight99 2005-08-10 Thoreau once suggested that a traveler need never leave his home: he could forgo South Sea expeditions and explore instead the inner world of being. Forget that. I would find my way to the end of nature, or it would be the end of me. - Alan Burdick, 2005 Nightflight99 2005-08-10 "The Earth provides enough for every man's need, but not every man's greed" -Gandhi earthguy 2006-07-26 The best thing about keeping a snake, especially a venomous one is that you never have to worry about relatives dropping in uninvited! RedrumRattle 2005-05-28 He didn't kill them. He didn't fry them. He didn't abuse them before crowds to prove the octane of his testosterone. He kidnapped them out of their habitat, yes. Sometimes he sold them or traded them, yes. Mainly he just fancied them. - David Quammen, 2000 Nightflight99 2005-05-28 Snake fanciers buy and sell, they trade and collect. They view snakes as precious and transcendent commodities - same way another person, hardly more sane, might dote upon cancelled stamps or antique Packards or the Pete Rose rookie baseball card. Snake fanciers know the blue-book value of any species at any given moment. - David Quammen, 2000 Nightflight99 2005-05-28 Tell me and I forget;Show me and I remember;Involve me and I understand. keyz 2006-07-26 Lo, how men blame the gods! From us, they say, comes evil. When it is through their own deeds, they meet with sorrow. Spoken by Zeus in Homers's Odyssey Parcelmouth 2006-07-26 For better or worse, the rapid growth of herpetoculture has finally brought our hobby out into the open. There is no doubt that seeing or reading the news accounts of several thousand enthusiasts attending a local reptile show must make people wonder if maybee they are missing something. something special!! Doug Wagner, Boas! keyz 2006-07-26 Snakes are living pieces of art, coming in all colors and textures and inhabiting the world's most dramatic landscapes. They are enigmatic, enchanting, and efficient. All at once they are mystical and miraculous, sophisticated and surreal." --Dr. Sean Bush toddg 2006-07-25 It's just about impossible to think of any animal that is more hated, more feared and has more myths attached to it than a snake. It is for this reason that we focus much of our efforts on reptile education. When you get a person to open up their mind, let down their guard and begin to appreciate the least respected of all animals, then the rest that nature has to offer is more easily accepted and cared for as well. - Jason Clark (SnakesAreUs.com) roadkruzer 2006-07-25 If snakes were eliminated from the Ecosystem, the Earth would be over-run by rodents in 7 years. rattlesnake2 2006-07-26 "Of the Monster the rattlenake much we have read...I view'd him with awe and a mixture of dread...But surely he's not such a terrible thing...For no more than his length can he jump at a spring...And the animal's certainly very polite...For he rattles his tail to inform you he'll bite" George Blackburn from his "Astronomer's Journal" (1813) written during an expedition to South Carolina earthguy 2006-07-25 Light travels faster than sound. That's why some people appear bright until you hear them speak. Cro 2006-07-31 If you think education is expensive...try ingnorance! ~Author unknown~ RepFan 2006-09-17 I have never met a reptile that I did not like........I CANNOT say that about humans. Crotalusssp 2006-10-25 A fool thinks himself a wiseman, but a wiseman knows himself to be a fool. - unknown vanerka 2006-10-30 Lastly, keep in mind that there is a fine line between being a professional with a genuine interest in potentially dangerous animals and a thrill-seeking lunatic who keeps deadly animals in containers that normal people keep their salads in. Don't cross it. Nightflight99 2006-11-14 "There is no tongue more eloquent than a rattlesnake's tail" (Apache saying) daesa 2006-12-27 "If everybody believes something, it's probably wrong." Dr. Tim O'Shea Cro 2007-01-10 One Great Serpent Called The King.... Eighteen Feet Of Deadly Thing.... King Cobra. Cro 2007-01-24 "All things considered,there are two kinds of people in the world: those who stay at home and those who do not.The second are most interesting....." -Rudyard Kipling mfezidotcom 2007-03-27 " The world was a better place when those folks ran around naked, worshiped fig trees, ate monkeys, and their only fear was Tarzan and Lions ! " Cro Cro 2007-03-24 "...Don't approach live ones in the field close enough to see the pit...." Vipers: Family Viperidae Pit Vipers: Subfamily Crotalinae p. 397, A Field Guide To Reptiles & Amphibians: Eastern And Central North America, Third Edition, Expanded, 1998. silver_ingots 2007-04-24 A NARROW FELLOW IN THE GRASS ------------------------------EmilyDickinson------------------------------- ______________________________________________ A narrow fellow in the grass Occasionally rides; You may have met him,--did you not, His notice sudden is. ______________________________________________ The grass divides as with a comb, A spotted shaft is seen; And then it closes at your feet And opens further on. ______________________________________________ He likes a boggy acre, A floor too cool for corn. Yet when a child, and barefoot, I more than once, at morn, ______________________________________________ Have passed, I thought, a whip-lash Unbraiding in the sun,-- When, stooping to secure it, It wrinkled, and was gone. ______________________________________________ Several of nature's people I know, and they know me; I feel for them a transport Of cordiality; ______________________________________________ But never met this fellow, Attended or alone, Without a tighter breathing, And zero at the bone. silver_ingots 2007-04-24 "She won't hurt anybody. Come up and pet her." Grace Wiley, inviting a visitor to get acquainted with her massive king cobra. KingCobraFan 2007-05-06 “If you talk with the animals, they will talk with you and you will know each other. If you do not talk to them, you will not know them and what you do not know, you will fear. What one fears, one destroys". --Chief Dan George. DragonSanctuary 2007-06-13 The Voice of A Viper For many moons before you came, I roamed this land, untouched and free. The ones who knew me revered me. I was like a god in this land, limbless and unblinking I traversed the plains, mountians, streams, forests and trees. All was my domain, save for the air. I renewed myself seasonally, keeping an appearance of eternal youth. My scales were called beautiful, my colors too. And then...you came. With you came fear and misunderstanding. With you came guns and a religion that was against the natural order. You called me 'hideous' and 'the devil itself'. You called me 'disgusting' and 'slimy'. You took the ones from me who knew and understood me. You took me and the rest like me and broke our backs under your bootheels. You threw us in pits with no food or water, making us wallow in filth and hunger for months. You smashed our heads to the ground, cut them off, but we could still see and feel. You ate our flesh and wore our skin. And yet, you called me the devil? I never set out to hurt you. Your kind are not my prey; I never hunted you. You stole my lands and my people from me, then called me 'pest'. You have tried your best to wipe me out... But off in the distance, there is one voice, then three, then ten... Of those like you, but with the heart of the ones you took from me. They say, 'You must stop. These creatures are important. We need them.' They keep my kind safe from you, sometimes in their own homes. They takes us far away from your kind to places where we can roam free once more. They understand. (Written by me.) DragonSanctuary 2007-06-19 "The inherent problem with knowledge is that it dispells such entertaining myths." sawscalemedic 2007-06-19 'An expert is one who has made all the mistakes that one can make in a very narrow field" Niels Bohr jared 2007-10-18 "Any frontal attack on ignorance is bound to fail because the masses are always ready to defend there most precious possession- their ignorance." Hendrik Willem Van Loon jared 2007-10-28 A little learning is a dangerous thing; drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring: there shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, and drinking largely sobers us again. Alexander Pope 1709 Crotalus75 2007-12-03 Fools rush in where angels fear to tread - Alexander Pope Crotalus75 2007-12-03 God has made us different,he made us so unique.We slither on the ground,we have no hands or feet.Though you fine us scary or maybe just plain weird,our intentions are not to hurt you or cause you such great fear.Our venoms not meant for humans but to help us when we eat. so please stop the seneless killing before we;er extinct.we'er not saying you have to love us or tell us we'er the best.God's the one who created us.so treat us with respect. written by sarah clark for southeastern reptil rescue boidsnake 2008-02-29 The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche Cro 2008-03-18 "The world has achieved brilliance without conscience. Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants." Army Gen. Omar Bradley jared 2008-04-22 "You cannot hope to build a better world without improving the individuals. To that end, each of us must work for his own improvement, and at the same time share a general responsibility for all humanity." Marie Curie (1867 to 1934) jared 2008-04-22 "What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly." - Chuang Tse Cro 2008-04-22 Too often one confuses their abilities with what they wish their abilities were---to want to have a certian species of snake doesn't mean that you have the mental, physical, or required training to do so. To obtain certian notably aggressive species of snake without the ability to truely deal with them is or should be crimminal certianly immoral we owe society our best work--we owe our animals much more cressm3 2008-06-10 Is it because we have a reptilian brain under our mammalian brain under our human brain that the fear of snakes is so deep in our collective consciousness? Voided37 2008-08-04 "Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail behind." Ralph Waldo Emerson jared 2008-12-18 "Don't be afraid of a reptile's tongue. The only animal that can hurt you with its tongue is the human being." Grace Olive Wiley KingCobraFan 2009-08-06 "He has no fear of dying. He has no fear of any living thing". Nancy Haast, referring to husband Bill KingCobraFan 2010-01-21 "One of the most advanced and wonderfully sophisticated of all snakes - perhaps of all reptiles - is now, in many parts of the territories it once ruled, in real danger of extinction." David Attenborough on rattlesnakes ViperaElapis 2010-04-02 Snakes are just very instinctive to me. I've been playing with snakes since before I could walk. It doesn't matter where or what it is, from the biggest to the most venomous. Steve Irwin HerpHunter63 2010-05-15 Only when the last tree has died and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught will we realize we cannot eat money. Cree Indian Expression CanadianSnakeMan 2010-08-20 "The first law of reason is that what exists, exists; what is, is, and from this irreducible, bedrock principle, all knowledge is built. This is the foundation from which life is embraced. Thinking is a choice, and wishes and whims are not facts nor are they a means to discover them. Reason is our only way of grasping reality- it's our basic tool of survival. We are free to evade the effort of thinking- to reject reason- but we are not free to avoid the penalty of the abyss we refuse to see." -Richard Rahl vanerka 2010-09-08 "Nothing in nature is terrifying when one understands it." Baron Wolf von Frankenstein jay72 2011-01-25 I have no pretense to greater courage than my neighbors, but familiarity with a subject robs it of those vague and undefined terrors which are the most appalling to the imaginative mind. -Arthur Conan Doyle, in The Brown Hand FSB 2011-03-24 " The best armor is to keep out of range" Italian Proverb hornman 2011-04-15 There are three things that are too amazing for me, four that I do not understand: the way of an eagle in the sky, the way of a snake on a rock, the way of a ship on the high seas, and the way of a man with a maiden. Proverbs 30:18 hornman 2011-04-15 "Antivenom is like a gun it may not need to be used often but when it is its life or death" - nathan krahn gaboonviper123 2013-08-06 Tell me: I’ll forget, show me: I may remember; involve me: I will understand. Rompa44 2012-10-09 "In all the world, there is nothing, neither good nor bad, but thinking makes it so." Hamlet TenOx 2014-08-02