Dana C said:I, for one, almost never get into who's right and who's wrong discussions for what seems like obvious reasons. The more heated a discussion becomes, the more I ignore it. Of course all forums are started to share thoughts, ideas and knowledge and as such, will attract people who have a compulsion to belittle, run down or otherwise make posters feel uninformed, wrong, stupid etc. It is "the nature of the beast".
As much as I don't like what is being said I do understand a little about human nature and the need to defend a position, thus prolonging what 98% of the time becomes a pointless argument.
While I am guilty of getting a little excited once in a very great while, I usually only contribute to a thread or start a thread when I have something to contribute, which is hopefully what I am doing as we speak. I try in earnest to be factual and 98% of the time can provide my sources and have done so in the past. Other web sites, published papers, field observation reports, verified and respected herpitologists and what I have read from very successful breeders of a specific species are my sources of information. I almost never repeat what I read in forum threads on this site or any other for that matter.
Having said that, I do recognize that there are some gems of knowledge to be found here and will copy and paste them into a Word document for further review and may quote them, giving credit to the author on occasion.
I personally don't follow care sheets if you must know. I experiment with heat and humidity until I arrive at a combination that works for me and my tegus or monitor. I feed a variety of things, again experimenting until I find several food sources that they will eat and thrive on. I use and have used various different bedding and substrate materials. As a result, I have been told that my lizards are going to die, get sick or whatever. I have been told that I should have done more research, when I in fact have read every word in print on Tegus and V. albigularis.
do I admit it when I am wrong? Any of you that have read all my posts, have seen me say as much.
Do I care what most people think, no. Do I care what a very few, very knowledgeable, people think? Of course I do. I am older than most of you and not giving a rip comes with age. I do things the way I do because they work. They may not work for you however.
The loss of Rob from this forum is your loss more than it is his. Knowledgeable, approachable, erudite and helpful people are a rare commodity. It is sad that we lost another one.