# The Reptile 'Community'



## Barney_M (Apr 2, 2008)

Now, I cannot help but laugh at the reptile 'community'. Sure I am a member, i keep herps, i love herps but to people who are not members of the 'community' we must look completely stupid and honestly we are not doing anything to promote the hobby. in fact we probably put people off!

I think this post is long voerdue and we need to discuss the reptile 'community'. All everyone in the community does, especially on youtube and forums is bash each other. We alwasy find something to bash each other about and onlookers must laugh in our faces and think we look stupid, because we are. Instead of helping people with questions or trying to advise them on how to care for an animal better, we insult them. we call each other stupid, insult each other beyond belief and dont help each other.

this is not a good image to give ourselves and it probably puts people off owning reptiles. Everywhere i look with this community people insult each other. for example there is a certain user on youtube, anyone says a comment about his reptiles and he makes a video about them calling the f*gs and basically trying to convince other member of the community to turn against them. why?! Surely our aim should be to help each other and get along and PROMOTE the hobby. 

I am actrually in dispear with this 'community' as to be honest it is a load of bol*ocks and i am not a proud member. i do not feel like i can discuss everything on forums and i do not feel like i can bring some subject up with the fear of everyone insulting me and what not and it shouldnt be like that.

This community needs to open its eyes and see what is going on and sort out these problems. we should be proud of other members and not spend the whole time having a dig at them. we should spend more time helping and promoting the hobby. Yes this has been a rant, but a much needed one. this community needs to open its friggen eyes and do something about it.

rant over


(lets see how many insulting comments i get for this post)


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## Demon Reptiles (Jul 31, 2008)

I know exactly what your getting at and things do need to change and insults do need to stop.


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## Mason (Jan 21, 2008)

Don't mistake this forum for "the reptile community" This barely scrathes the surface. Agreed on other points though, this forum can be a disgrace sometimes, embarrasing.


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## Barney_M (Apr 2, 2008)

yes i know but it isnt just this forum. its youtube, ball-pythons.net(rarely though) etc

yoyutube would probably be the biggest contributer tbh


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## kaimarion (Dec 31, 2007)

WTF promote the hobby ,the only thing I'am intrested in is promoting good husbandry and are you the same Herper666 from youtube? Sorry just thought I would ask.
And I know MuffDaddy really doesn't help prote the hobby when hes showing videos of live feeding and taking the piss out of people like "Dave Vicious" or anyone else that has something to say about him.


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## peaches (Apr 3, 2007)

Nah it's not the reptile community it's the internet in general and every type of community out there. Others forums I'm on it's the same, and this is not rep ones.

There will always be the keyboard warriors, people ramming opinions, arguements - you have a wide range of very different people, posting annonymously (sp) they will never agree on everything.

So basically, it's not just 'us' it's everyone.


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## Meko (Apr 29, 2007)

i live in Walton Le Dale, thats a community, this is an internet forum and a reptile 'community'?? its a none entity. We're just owners of reptiles who post on the same website.
Its a website on the internet! it's not a bible to owning a reptile, its a website people come on to share stories, concerns and question about their pets. along with that there's an area to talk about anything from your computer being broken, to your new car to your favourite dirty website.

There's 5000+ people on here all with different points of view, senses of humour and attitudes to keeping pets. If you want to look at it as a community you need to remember its not a commune and people don't always share the same point of view.


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## Barney_M (Apr 2, 2008)

well its just the arguing i tihnk needs to stop. we need to advise a good book not slag off.

and yes i am herper666 form youtube. soon to switch my acount as i have lots of 'secret' animals no one knows about. all will be revelaed soon enough when i decide to make my new channel public


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## Reptilover (Jan 15, 2007)

kaimarion said:


> WTF promote the hobby ,the only thing I'am intrested in is promoting good husbandry and are you the same Herper666 from youtube? Sorry just thought I would ask.
> And I know MuffDaddy really doesn't help prote the hobby when hes showing videos of live feeding and taking the piss out of people like "Dave Vicious" or anyone else that has something to say about him.


i was also wondering are u the same herper666 from youtube? if you are im very sorry but i dislike you :whistling2:


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## Barney_M (Apr 2, 2008)

i dont care who likes or dislikes me. i hate people straight out. i get on with a select few people on youtube, the others i culd give a dog sh*t about. sorry but i dont even know you and thus hate you. jut the way i am.


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## Reptilover (Jan 15, 2007)

oh lol, never mind, i do like the Herper666 on youtube, i thought u was tht fat one from the USA who thinks he good .... thank god :2thumb: i like ur vids


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## MrMike (Jun 28, 2008)

Herper666 said:


> i dont care who likes or dislikes me. i hate people straight out. i get on with a select few people on youtube, the others i culd give a dog sh*t about. sorry but i dont even know you and thus hate you. jut the way i am.


Contradiction much? Look, I hate petty arguements on forums too, but comments like this is what causes it in the first place.


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## Barney_M (Apr 2, 2008)

no

simply stating a point

and the big fat youtube god is muffdaddy not herper666


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## kaimarion (Dec 31, 2007)

Which fat one "havean" or "MuffDaddy" :lol2:?

Bugger you people and your Ninja tactics of posting while I'am writing grrrrrrrrrr.......


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## Meko (Apr 29, 2007)

Like he said ^^^^



edit... i meant Mr Mike but people reply too fast.


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## Declan123 (Dec 29, 2007)

Muffdaddy2 is a complete wanker... he gives out lethal adivse, both for snakes and people..

He came on this forum not to long ago, calling us all tea drinking wankers..

Prick


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## Barney_M (Apr 2, 2008)

he is a bit of a sod. fortunatly never given me a hard time


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## James (Aug 18, 2007)

Declan123 said:


> Muffdaddy2 is a complete wanker... he gives out lethal adivse, both for snakes and people..
> 
> He came on this forum not to long ago, calling us all tea drinking wankers..
> 
> Prick


 I agree mate I seen couple of his vids he knows no't:censor: Y does these people be allowed to give out dodgy advise?:censor::censor::censor::censor:


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## Declan123 (Dec 29, 2007)

johonny said:


> I agree mate I seen couple of his vids he knows no't:censor: Y does these people be allowed to give out dodgy advise?:censor::censor::censor::censor:


Thanks for the backup mate,


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## kaimarion (Dec 31, 2007)

johonny said:


> allowed to give out dodgy advise


What dodgy advise are you talking about?


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## Declan123 (Dec 29, 2007)

kaimarion said:


> What dodgy advise are you talking about?


He was talking about Venomous snake bites on one of his videos, and how to treat one

But it was exactly the wrong adivise, and if somone actually listened to him and did what he said, they could now be dead


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## Barney_M (Apr 2, 2008)

some of his adivse is questionable.

some of his housing conditions are appalling


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## kaimarion (Dec 31, 2007)

Ok so thats one bit of dodgy advice but its still a really bad thing to do"give bad advice on snake bite".


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## Declan123 (Dec 29, 2007)

kaimarion said:


> Ok so thats one bit of dodgy advice but its still a really bad thing to do"give bad advice on snake bite".


Prehaps one of the worst things you could actually do, and he keeps venomous himself

scary


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## Barney_M (Apr 2, 2008)

he told everyone a boa was a good first time pet and a 12 year old could handle it

well ok nick if you think so.
boas i have worked with have been big, strong and occasionally nippy. not a 12 year olds pet


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## kaimarion (Dec 31, 2007)

Herper666 said:


> some of his adivse is questionable.
> 
> some of his housing conditions are appalling


Your right both of the above but in the case of his boscs he is supossedly giving them a full room to themselves with substrate but I doubt he will do it/has done it.


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## Declan123 (Dec 29, 2007)

Herper666 said:


> he told everyone a boa was a good first time pet and a 12 year old could handle it
> 
> well ok nick if you think so.
> boas i have worked with have been big, strong and occasionally nippy. not a 12 year olds pet


Yeah mate, i forgot about that one


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## Declan123 (Dec 29, 2007)

kaimarion said:


> Your right both of the above but in the case of his boscs he is supossedly giving them a full room to themselves with substrate but I doubt he will do it/has done it.



Remember though mate, am i right in thinking he was ment to be getting rid of them all, due to him not being allowed to keep them in his property?

he needs to buck up his ideas, pronto


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## kaimarion (Dec 31, 2007)

Herper666 said:


> he told everyone a boa was a good first time pet and a 12 year old could handle it
> 
> well ok nick if you think so.
> boas i have worked with have been big, strong and occasionally nippy. not a 12 year olds pet


Come on you can't hold someones age against them and by the time the boa got large the kid would be older ,thats if he gets a young one. Sorry but I don't know too much about snakes but a redtail doesn't sound that bad.


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## Barney_M (Apr 2, 2008)

hes got a room somewhere now


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## Declan123 (Dec 29, 2007)

Herper666 said:


> hes got a room somewhere now


Pity, poor poor animals


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## Athravan (Dec 28, 2006)

I'm not sure that any sense of true community still exists in this world. Where communities are successful, they are small groups of people who are pulled together by agreement. If you are a collector of thimbles, for example, I am sure, that there is little to disagree on with other collectors (it's a funny world though, so who knows!)

Reptile keeping is such as massive pool of people, across the world, from 10 years old to 100 years old, with one week experience to decades of experience, from little old ladies to gang members. How can you possibly expect people to get together and agree - and worse of all, on the internet?!

Reptile keeping is such a broad subject, it would be like getting a "music" forum, and expecting everyone to agree that one song was the best, you'd get people who loved country music (I think there are some..) fighting with rappers, fighting with pop girls with death metalists, you get my point.

At dire times, people can band together to fight for a cause or help each other out, calling upon their joint interests to overcome other things, and I think that this makes the forum a community at times, but you have to cut it some slack, and understand people are people.

The dictionary defines community as



> a social, religious, occupational, or other group sharing common characteristics or interests and perceived or perceiving itself as distinct in some respect from the larger society within which it exists (usually prec. by _the_): _the business community; the community of scholars. _


And in that definition, we are a community. It says no where that we have to get along, or agree at all


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## Declan123 (Dec 29, 2007)

Athravan said:


> .
> 
> The dictionary defines community as
> 
> ...


:notworthy:


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## kaimarion (Dec 31, 2007)

Athravan said:


> And in that definition, we are a community. It says no where that we have to get along, or agree at all


Agreed :no1:.


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## Flutterbye (May 14, 2008)

I agree, sometimes this forum can be embarassing and discraceful. But then again, it can be brilliant and the people are wonderfully helpful.

To me thats just people, people can be utter :censor: and people can be amazing. Thats just the human race, you're not going to get hundreds of people in one community that are all as supportive, kind and caring towards others as eachother, there will be some bad eggs lol.

Calling it a community is spot on the majority group together to help out others, but it's not an idealistic community. We are all not perfect people, shame that it is. But i know where you're coming from.: victory:


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## ratboy (Jan 10, 2007)

Herper666 said:


> yes i know but it isnt just this forum. its youtube, ball-pythons.net(rarely though) etc
> 
> yoyutube would probably be the biggest contributer tbh


Given that this forum has about 1,000 _active _members and at the last count there were over 1,000,000 homes that have reptiles. The forum is just a drip in a very large ocean. 

Next time you go to a reptile shop ask people there if they use forums or not. I can almost guarantee they will not know what you are talking about or they will laugh and say "You must be kidding."


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## Declan123 (Dec 29, 2007)

I love listen to peoples stories, and what animals they keep/kept... 

And if i can, i will help anyone who needs info on anything..

What i cant stand, is when people post False Information about a certain animal, especially if that information can result in serious injury to either the animal or the keeper

Rant over, ive argued enough for one day


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## Furrag (Oct 11, 2007)

I think it'd be nice if RFUK's more prominent members could unite and expand, fronting some sort of pro-snake/reptile 'movement'. I use movement loosely, as I don't know what, but something in place would be great.

Athravan, Wohic, Mason, Nerys, Rachel, Ratboy and the likes. People with experience, knowledge, and sensibility, not in it for the quick buck.

I don't know what I'm thinking, but some sort of education to the wider public. Perhaps representing RFUK. The point of RFUK to me, first and foremost, is to expand to those looking in snake keeping, and offering potential help for problem. It's the welfare of the animal first, and correcting humans is one way. If people are coming to RFUK, then hopefully they're open to potential husbandry issues.

- In the last week, the forum has been home to a snake trapped in a window which may have to be euthanised that the RSPCA didn't warrant as an emergency. It resulted in someone traveling many miles in the middle of the night, arriving home in the early hours, for the benefit of the snake.

- It's seen a mass look from the top down at captive farmed animals, and the potential problems and how to avoid them, which has been obviously frictional, but hugely educational to those who have read.

- The Boa constrictor which went missing in Kent, and the result expected negative media which comes with snakes.

How about starting up a website for the forums? A homepage. Funded by advert banners in a similar fashion to the forums sponsors. Printable care sheets and such, general myth dispelling etc.

Online though, it's a very come-to-us approach. The way I see the portrayal of the reptile community, which I find to be generally perceived as negative, is branching out and educating people by going to them. School visits with snakes and such. I'm sure the forum is home to only a minority of reptile keepers.

It seems to me RFUK as a community does have a great deal of potential. It's ability at the moment is bringing us together, and assisting us in a great deal with classifieds and such. I can't imagine what it would have been like without the internet. I imagine the care from loving, but possibly ignorant reptile keepers when a wealth of information was only available from pet shops and specialised clubs/meetings has probably lead to a hangover which is why they're viewed in the way they are today.

As I say, it'd be nice to have some sort of branch-network around Britain working for the same course. Rescues and such, as well as smaller groups with the agenda being education.

As I say, it's just an idea. The tallest building started from the bottom. It would be nice though. 

*sits back and waits for somebody to make me aware of the flaws* :lol:


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## Demon Reptiles (Jul 31, 2008)

i would happily do atb's for that movement! :lol2:


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## Furrag (Oct 11, 2007)

It just seems to me that we're all individuals, and there is no 'voice' as such to speak out and portray reptiles in a positive light. Todays Radio 2 radio 'debate' really highlighted the media which damages our hobby.

The potential problem too is what you have to do to 'join/represent', as any Tom, Dick or Harry would be potentially disastrous. I'm constantly learning every day, and in many ways I'm ignorant and unsuitable to give advice on many areas that only someone more knowledgeable and experienced could answer.

If anything as such did come to fruit, I'd imagine the best would be a small group of established keepers who're the founders, who then have to have a 2 or 3 agreeing on an invitational membership, similar to that of the Freemasons format.


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## belfast_tom (Oct 16, 2007)

id like to back you up on your first comments that forum is a disgrace, if you dont agree with something said then your better not posting a reponse as they al thik they are 100% correct and ive seem members baned and deleted for doing this! then they pick on other small forums as they hate the competition!


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## ratboy (Jan 10, 2007)

What I would personally reccommend is more groups like the Ratsnake Foundation. 

A site like RFUK is mainly about fun, which is why it is popular and Livefoods was popular before it and CViewMedia before that. But the problem is diversity. RFUK basically covers every exotic species there is and as such it is too diverse.

The Ratsnake foundation is not very diverse as it covers rat snakes and nothing else. Maybe people should get together and create Retic foundations and Gecko foundations and Tortoise foundations etc. The point is that being very busy does not matter, what matters with specialist sites is that the information you get from them is top notch with articles from people who are out there and doing it and are the best in their fields.

Sod people like me as far as rat snakes go... you need people like F.T.Burbrink and Schulz allowing you to use articles they have written and people from different countries and societies writing articles for you.

Forums is just a tiny part of things, the key in my opinion is quality information and knowing where to find it.


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## slither61 (Nov 18, 2006)

Herper666 said:


> i dont care who likes or dislikes me. i hate people straight out. i get on with a select few people on youtube, the others i culd give a dog sh*t about. sorry but i dont even know you and thus hate you. jut the way i am.


 
Hi all,

Might help if you can stop the swareing, if you don't like people then don't join forums.

slither61:snake::snake::snake::snake:


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## Furrag (Oct 11, 2007)

ratboy said:


> What I would personally reccommend is more groups like the Ratsnake Foundation.
> 
> A site like RFUK is mainly about fun, which is why it is popular and Livefoods was popular before it and CViewMedia before that. But the problem is diversity. RFUK basically covers every exotic species there is and as such it is too diverse.
> 
> ...


I love the Ratsnake foundation. I love it. I hold back from joining though, because once I do, I'll end up flooding myself with rat snakes, and I'm not ready yet. I was trying to think of Lou's name, but as soon as you said Ratsnake foundation, 'Peaches' automatically came into my head. She's another one I'd add to such a list.

Smaller specific groups would be very good, and very beneficial. Though for the new snake owner, I think RFUK serves its purpose.

A good metaphor is computers. I can do standard stuff. To the non-PC techs, I'm a 'computer expert', when I'm nowhere near that. It's the same with snakes. Anyone with standard, advanced basic knowledge of snakes to the uneducated person is displaying a wealth of information.


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## ratboy (Jan 10, 2007)

If there were indeed an online "Reptile Community" which I actually do not believe that there is, what we have in forums like this are breeders, hobbiests and shops basically trying to sell their stock and maybe giving out some advice while they are here </cynic> ( That's not absolutely true... but it does happen )....

But if we *were *an online community.... RFUK could be a portal to other reptile sites. People would meet here to have a chat and a laugh and talk about the hobby then maybe go off to their specific sites of interest for the species they keep or are interested in keeping.


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