Second Breeding Attempt

Happy to be of service.

Yeah I realize you're probably all sick of hearing from me by this point. With good reason. To be perfectly honest, reading back through these posts I would be sick of hearing from me too.

I'm going to wax philosophical here for a moment, so pardon the personal content and all that stuff.

I've been a jerk. I came in here with good intentions and hopeful to learn, but straight off the mark I posted a bunch of things that certainly appear designed to make myself look like something special. I see now that this is why I was perceived as pretentious. Because, basically, I was. It may or may not have been intentional, but the fact remains.

It seems partially due to a flux in my life at present. I just took a leave of absence from school, as mentioned previously, to work at a new job and earn enough money to finish my education. I also took the LOA because my academic performance has been lagging the last year or so. I used to have a fantastic GPA because I studied and learned and worked hard. Now it's just above a B average, because I've stopped working so hard. I suppose I've felt that all my work and sacrifice for my family and education has lasted so long that I deserved something. I felt entitled, and stopped listening to people with more experience than I have. That includes all of you, as well as some of my professors. I would like to think this is a common pitfall for people in college, studying a field they have a lengthy background with, though it seems more likely I'm just a special kind of jerk. Though I have a background caring for boas, I don't have a background breeding them and shouldn't act like I have all the experience in the world. I don't. I have no good experience, and I've made lots of mistakes and planned to make others despite warnings.

What I'm getting at here is that I recognize I screwed up. I treated you all poorly and probably burned a few bridges. I'm not asking or expecting to get any trust or respect back because, frankly, not one single thing I've done on here has served to earn that. I simply expected it without earning it. I came for advice and ignored it, even arguing with the people who were trying to help.

I apologize for my actions and attitudes. I recognize it's my own shortcoming that brought me here. I will stop posting updates on this thread. I will begin perusing the forums to accumulate information and advice. I admit I have been wrong and arrogant. The reason I bothered to post this at all is because I believe you all deserve an apology from me. Take it for what it's worth. I understand some of you will continue to be irritated, and I admit that I deserve that. My actions certainly warrant it.

Thank you for trying to help me see the risks I almost took with my animals. Thank you for trying to help me learn. And again I apologize.

I will probably be silent for the next month or so as I accumulate the information I am definitely lacking. I will do my best to learn from you all, and stop being a contentious element. Thank you for your patience and consideration.

Tyrel, all I can say is bravo! You were just able to do something that most on here (myself occasionally included) are incapable of. You were introspective and realized that you are not, in fact, perfect. I myself hope that you are not silent on here. That was not the point of my posts on this thread. I write much like you wrote on here when writing for school.

You just needed to learn that there is a way you speak during research, and a way you speak in the real world. I majored in psychology and am a grad student in a social work program. I speak much differently at school than I do in my personal life because if I spoke like that in my personal life, everyone would think I'm a bigger asshole than they already do. You can speak in an intelligent manner without speaking formally. I believe that Mark Twain proved that time and time again.

I realize that in this hobby, much of the general info genetic knowledge is technically wrong. I took several high level bio classes as electives. But as long as the person who is disseminating the info is getting the nuts and bolts of it correct, calling something co-dom rather than incomplete dom isn't a mortal sin.

Like a few people, myself included, have offered to you as advice, just chill out, come in and have fun. This is much more about enjoying the animals and the fruits of our labor than about the technical aspects of the stuff. What people have learned about boas over the years is that there is no perfect formula for success and that you do what you feel most comfortable with. The only way to find this out is by experimenting over time and figuring it out for yourself. If you want to make a blog about your experiences, great, but I don't know how many people are going to appreciate you making the forum your personal blog regarding your "boa research". Now, if five years from now you have stumbled upon something awesome and want to share it, that'd be great and I'd be appreciative to hear about it.

As a final note, congratulations on removing your head from the bodily orifice and speaking in a less formal manner.

Thanks for that. I didn't mean that I'll be completely silent, I just meant I will probably do more reading than posting. That seems appropriate since I have so much to learn from you guys...

I tend to resort to formal speech when I'm uncomfortable. It gives me something that feels safe and familiar. I was uncomfortable because of my own actions, I'm just explaining why I spoke the way I did.

Part of the reason I'll probably stop updating this thread is because my plans have changed. Once I figured out I was the one acting poorly, I read back through the whole thread. You guys made several good points about breeding that I originally ignored or decided not to worry about. I have changed my plans since then.

Ambrosius will probably be breeding this year, but I'll stick to one female. I don't have an empty enclosure to put both snakes in, and I'm not willing to give my precious baby to Skyler for a few months because I'm paranoid about his well-being, but I have thought of a way that might work to help put them together on neutral ground. I would appreciate input on the matter from anyone with insight. I promise I won't act like you're stupid this time, lol. My bad.

If I were to put Ambrosius in his feeding bin, or just have Emily hold him in the snake room for a while, I could clean and sterilize his enclosure. This might help remove any hormones or pheromones that may mark the enclosure as an established male enclosure and could make it neutral ground for them to meet in.

I realize this is still not quite the accepted or normal breeding practice, which is why I'm asking what you guys think. If there's no way that I can bring in a female belonging to a different person and still have a decent chance of a breeding without bad things happening, then perhaps I'll just have to wait one more year.

What do you guys think?

On second thought, why don't I spend this year learning and next year breeding. Jeremy Stone will be putting out a breeding video in 2 weeks or so, and I'm sure that will be a good resource. Combined with all the stuff you guys already have posted on the forums, and possibly a few questions of my own at some point, I'll probably have a far better plan outlined for next year. Better to just wait and play it safe, just as you guys advised a little while ago lol.

Originally Posted by Scooter1685

Jeremy Stone will be putting out a breeding video in 2 weeks or so, and I'm sure that will be a good resource.

Keep me posted on the video I wouldn't mind picking up another breeding DVD. Congrats on stepping back & making better decisions. I think you'll be a lot more successful with 1 female, more time to plan, & starting earlier in the season then you would have.

Thanks, and will do. Currently his website says release date is set for 11-20-2012, but then again they also said it would be out last month so we'll see what happens.

You're right, of course. You've been right the whole time. With how sketchy I was (am) on information I shouldn't have been breeding this year anyway even if I wasn't starting late into the season. That factor alone should have been enough for me to wait. Instead of getting defensive when you guys posted warnings I should have listened and thought about it... but what's done is done. At least I thought it out before any of my boas were injured or anything like that... And I really am grateful that you guys actually read my apology. I hoped you would, but after how I acted I kinda thought nobody would.

Thanks guys.