yeah i feel ya. you are putting your life in another persons hands so to speak. It's a risk some are willing to take i suppose. I personally don't have any experience with hots. Heck i don't even have experience with an aggressive snake other than a nippy neonate lol.
i wouldn't even consider a hot unless i found a mentor and got quite a bit of experience under my belt first. after that i'd decide on the hot/venomoid but that would still be pretty far down the road.
thanks for all the info guys, it's been good reading it all so far