I guess this might end up half rant, half informative-ish blog.

Before I begin may I add that I am NOT asking ANYONE to do any of what I'm talking about, I do NOT want anyone trying ANYTHING, understand? Not everyone reacts the same, and not everyone can deal with it, if you willingly subject yourself to a bite and it causes damage and y'know, almost kills you it is NOT my responsibility. I am experienced in this because I've been doing it since I could walk and I've never ever put myself through it where it would be really dangerous. I am merely justifying what I do, and perhaps giving you a little insight into my world so I don't look like a complete and utter pyschopath. Please, and I repeat this, PLEASE do not do anything questionable without good care. Or at all. Seriously. You're not my problem. K? Fine, lets begin.

I AM IN NO WAY REFLECTING ANY OTHER KEEPERS IN THIS HOBBY. THEY HAVE SOMETHING I DON'T - COMMON SENSE.

The bug hobby is relatively new, if we compare it to everything else available to us. What started out as an area of scientific study has become available to everyone. We have, available to us, venom packed animals that we can keep as pets, breed, sell or research. It's a world of opportunity.

Of course, with opportunity comes the fun of experimentation however I have found many people aren't so friendly with that thought. People are awful set in their ways and for most there are rules. Rules are good, theory is proven to work, we are carrying out tried and tested methods and that is all very fine, but for some of us, and I mean some of us, they should only be accepted as guidelines. There is so much we can learn by pushing the boundries, so much we can acomplish that under normal circumstances we could not. We need to learn about our animals, about our world, our own bodies and the society we live in and what makes it up and by closing our eyes and simply continuing on as allways will not acheive results. Progress. That's what it's all about. Knowledge and expansion. Moving forward with the knowledge we allready have as our guidelines. Stagnation is mankind's greatest fear, or at least, it should be.

So how does this affect our hobby?

Well we are, as I said before, capable of getting bugs that are dangerous, how much do we actually know about the effects of certain types of venom and mechanical damage done to us? I'm not talking about tarantulas here, these animals have been studied to death (and rightly so! keep it up folks!), I'm talking about centipedes, assassin bugs, wasps like ichneumon,  especially parasites (not big in the pet trade, hehe, but still a worthy feild, no?), and other odd and unusual inverts. The line of where knowledge stops is very visable and there may well be huge archives of knowledge in universities and so on but it's not within easy access to the rest of us, and any knowledge doesn't look like it's going to be shared any time soon. To advance and progress we MUST know and follow our curiosity and in all honesty, what little I can dig up is too much for most, but yet not enough for many of us. Things aren't looked into enough, and there's plenty of things people don't want to find out first hand and that is completely, totally and utterly REASONABLE! That's totally normal! Nobody wants larva living in their skin, nobody wants under-the-skin fungal in fections, nobody wants to take a hit from a giant centipede because to most, it's just not pleasant.

But what do we actually know?

Sure we know it's not nice. Were all very aware it's not nice. Effects have not been studied enough, though, and all our details on many things are usually based on a sample, a sample that has no control. Why? Because nobody wants it. That is totally sensible and that is a good thing, however us few (were not elite, I'm not saying we are, were just mad, have no sense of self preservation and have that terminal kind of curiosity) have the desire to find out for ourselves and contribute to this pool of knowledge.

So let me get right down to it.

When I take a bite from a venomous bug I'm looking at how long the venom lasts, the intensity of the pain, what damage is caused during and after, the best possible care for the wound. I will be putting up bite reports in many places to ensure we have a good pool of knowledge to work from. I don't want someone running like the blazes from Platymeris biguttata and say... standing eye level and poking a mombo. We MUST and I emphasise this, MUST know the damage our animals can do. ****If we live in ignorance we may pass up chances to keep certain animals, or worse, expose children, pets and frail folks to something REALLY demonic with the beleif that it's all good because it's, say, part of a relatively harmless genus or something.***** <- this is REALLY important 
This information isn't allways readily available. I am looking to bridge the gaps where I find them.

I have been taking bites for a long time, I am not the most experienced however I have long learned how to deal with most venoms, pain and any other side effects that happen. I am doing what I've allways done, guys, don't assume I've suddenly got this mad urge to do these things, I've been doing this for as long as I've lived, but now, I feel I'm doing it for a good cause.

This doesn't just affect bites. I desire to work this mentality into bug keeping. We are taking animals from their natural habitat a lot of the time and trying to build a habitat for them that reflects the one they were in. We need to know what non-familiar things we can use to mimic their own worlds and see how efficcient we can be.


And so
I've spoken
This is me and the drive behind my madness, I want you to at least understand how I'm trying to do my bit. Well I do other bits too, but this is my favourate one. I give my pain, itching, burning and flesh damage to you all, so you will know how not to.

So yeah. That's all I've got to say.
Thank you all dearly for reading.

Choobaine

over and out.

Tags: Bites

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