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The Domestication of Reptiles and it's Effect on the Reptile Hobby?

So just throwing this into the mix: Kid sees snake x decides hey that is one cool snake. Gotta have it. But never even handles it in the store. How is it that it is aggressive or or not matter? Whether someone has tried to breed it to be tame is never going to stop someone from screwing up with husbandry. The kid/parents either know what they are buying or don't. I have read on keeping GTPs. I have read on keeping Granite rock pythons which are also notorious so I have the knowledge. Does that mean I can keep an aggressive snake? Does it mean I won't screw up and kill the snake because I am to afraid to look after it properly? Breeders and stores don't always interview prospective buyers to truly know whether THAT person is qualified. I mean we as group can try our best, but will we know for sure that someones passion for that snake won't wain into neglect....No. Neither can we predict whether an aggressive snake with hard to care for requirements will be looked after any better than the same snake with a tame temperment.

I watched an interview of some average home hobbiers who kept retic and burmese. They were thrilled at the prospect of getting a snake that was going to be so large. Were well informed of the size of said animals. But when they got 16 ft and needed suckling pigs to eat and such were like "I have to get rid of it. It is too expensive to feed. And now it has become sooo aggressive." Well what did you expect?

I think that illustrates the point. Aggression, size it is not going to stop someone from getting in over their head.
 
Although I agree to some extent, I think a little questioning by a seller can weed out a lot of buyers like this. In David's scenario, a couple of open questions about Snake X's difficult husbandry requirements, will be all that's necessary to spot someone who doesn't know what they're doing. And the bottom line is that a sale can always be refused.

My local reptile shop is especially good at this process. I lose count of how many times I've watched eager prospective customers (and not just youngsters either) being sent away without an animal, but with a book, and told to research before coming back. I was there once when a mother brought her teenage son in to buy an Iggy(!). She looked quite queasy by the time the shop guy had finished describing the realities of the situation. After that chat, she wouldn't countenance anything other than a Beardie and dragged her sulking son away empty-handed and with stern orders to think again!

You can certainly never stop people buying unsuitable animals when - on the face of it - they've done the research and appear to know what they're getting into. But I think in David's example, the buyer could be spotted as lacking knowledge and the sale could be refused.

And of course, not every breeder/seller is this responsible.
 
It's always impressed me - and can be quite funny to observe.

The shop guy decribing an Iggy having a bad hair day: "It's like a really, really bad tempered Yorshire Terrier, only you can't train it and it has a bite at least ten times as strong."
 
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