largest collection of pdfs?

[Biology]

Originally Posted by SmackoftheGods

There _is_ a thread out there... I think it's in the Members Frogs and Vivariums section, it was posted probably six months ago.... I don't remember who posted that they have a lot of frogs, but I remember someone that had at least 300 PDFs in their personal home... forget the name.

It also caused a little controversy because some of us don't think that "how many" says much. A person who has a lot of money can buy as many frogs as they want, but that shouldn't be a goal that we aim for. We should be focused on how well we take care of the frogs we have.... I'll do a search and see if I can find that thread for you....

Edit: Aaaaaand here you go: Who has the most frogs?

oh totally agree!!! i was kinda afriad to ask actually... I think every needs to make sure they dont become like the crazy cat lady who has so many cats she doesnt even know when one dies! Interesting stuff though i cant imagine having a 100 vivs at home! God I have enough cages to clean at work lol. Im a big proponent of having oh only the tanks that you can make really sparkle. if you have 50 vivs and they all look like crap with a bunch of dead plants and gravel, take up collecting stamps or something. But hey if you dont have job or just have a ton of time and you can have 50 gorgeous vivs with thriving animals, invite me over or send me pics i wanna see hahah.

Thanks for the link to the old thread too, I loved the comment of "maybe we should be asking how many fruit fly cultures you make a week"

With 170 (give or take) species in the family Its pretty amazing how many species are actually represented in the hobby. kinda scary actually.....

[zBrinks]

I routinely take care of over 70 vivaria at work - mostly darts, some mantellas and treefrogs. I have 37 terraria/vivaria in my own collection, 21 of which are currently set up for frogs.

[Imperial_Aquatics]

Interesting thread, humorous in a way.

As has been said, it's very hard to define who is a serious collector and is not, especially based on frog count alone. Volume is most certainly not an indicator of seriousness.

Someone working with a few tanks of Ranitomeya can be every bit as serious a collector/hobbyist/whatever as a breeder with 2000 sq. ft. of warehouse space.

Personally I'm inclined to think that the real serious people who don't need any kind of peer validation, are not going to list out for you how many frogs they have and what kinds.

[SmackoftheGods]

Originally Posted by Biology

oh totally agree!!! i was kinda afriad to ask actually...

I don't think people should be afraid to ask questions... (although the weekly hybrid question _is_ getting a little annoying).... I just know this question isn't a particularly popular and I figured I'd answer early on and summarize some of the issues in a non-condescending way to cushion the blow.

It's an interesting question, but unfortunately it's not an effective question because the only way to get an answer is to have others respond. Not everyone's going to respond. Very difficult to get an accurate answer.

Originally Posted by Imperial_Aquatics

Personally I'm inclined to think that the real serious people who don't need any kind of peer validation, are not going to list out for you how many frogs they have and what kinds.

I can understand why some people are inclined to think this way. I also understand the idea that a some "real serious" people might believe in transparency. It just depends on the individual's personality. I just don't think the line's that well defined.

[Imperial_Aquatics]

Originally Posted by SmackoftheGods

I can understand why some people are inclined to think this way. I also understand the idea that a some "real serious" people might believe in transparency. It just depends on the individual's personality. I just don't think the line's that well defined.

You're right, it's not a well defined line. For me, it's the same as locking my door when I leave the house, or not announcing to everyone I meet that I have 1500.00 in 100.00 dollar bills in my pocket.

I don't recall how long ago it was that this happened, as I recall I think it was just over a year ago..... A fairly well known "serious" breeder of L series catfishes, the L-46 Zebra Plecostomus, had his place broken into while he was out. The perps stole all his L-46 specimens, many thousands of dollars worth, and threw other specimens of rare L-series catfishes on the floor to die that they didn't want to take. This was someone who participated on forums, and anyone could build a profile of the guy if they followed his posts long enough.

It is an unfortunate fact that "transparency" can also translate into "target", especially when anyone can read all about you on the forums.

As someone who is a "serious breeder" myself, I have an absolute rule of no visitors here, and I divulge very little details about what I keep. While I realize that proudly showing off your collection in your sig file which attaches to every post you make is a matter of pride, it can be like walking down the street waving 100 dollar bills in the air to would be thieves.

It's a risk I would rather not take myself.

[angry gary]

Originally Posted by Biology

oh totally agree!!! i was kinda afriad to ask actually... I think every needs to make sure they dont become like the crazy cat lady who has so many cats she doesnt even know when one dies!

this might be true but at least your frogs aren't peeing on your clothes then eating your eyes out when you die in your sleep.

AG

[SmackoftheGods]

Originally Posted by Imperial_Aquatics

While I realize that proudly showing off your collection in your sig file which attaches to every post you make is a matter of pride

While I take pride in my work, my signature is hardly a matter of pride (nor is it a complete list) or a reason to show off.

I suppose I choose to have more faith in my fellow hobbyists. It's probably also helpful that my house is never without someone in it (the word "never" is not a hyperbole).

My point was simply this. You are someone who doesn't want to share very much personal information about yourself. And that's fine. I don't think that makes you a bad hobbyist or someone who shouldn't be taken seriously. But I don't think that just because I choose to divulge information about myself and invite some of the locals over to my place to chat about frogging makes me any less serious.

[ChrisK]

A good reason for listing frogs in a signature might be that someone that has something you want sees it, i.e. if "0.1 Rio Guarumo" is in your sig and someone sees it that has an extra male.............

[MELLOWROO421]

Originally Posted by Imperial_Aquatics

I don't recall how long ago it was that this happened, as I recall I think it was just over a year ago..... A fairly well known "serious" breeder of L series catfishes, the L-46 Zebra Plecostomus, had his place broken into while he was out. The perps stole all his L-46 specimens, many thousands of dollars worth, and threw other specimens of rare L-series catfishes on the floor to die that they didn't want to take. This was someone who participated on forums, and anyone could build a profile of the guy if they followed his posts long enough.

It is an unfortunate fact that "transparency" can also translate into "target", especially when anyone can read all about you on the forums.

The well known python breeder Bob Clark also had a major theft from his facility. I agree that some things can not be trusted as public knowledge. I also think that the size of the collection or number of species means absolutely nothing if they are sitting in glass boxes and not being reproduced and spread out among the hobby. I know people with 40-50 frogs and have been in the hobby less than 6 months who still send me questions like "When will I get eggs" and "How can I tell if it's a male of female?". Unfortunately it seem pretty common for beginners to think that having rare or expensive frogs or having lots of different types is some how seen as a status symbol and I personally think we should discourage this kind of thinking.

[swampfoxjjr]

I have also seen it happen fairly frequently on these forums that someone posts something rare in their "how many I have" thread and gets inundated by noob requests for pricing. Also, I personally have no interest in engaging in legality debates of mine or anyone's collection over the internet with a bunch of strangers. I would venture to guess that honesty about one's total collection is a fairly rare thing in this hobby.

That said, nobody should be discouraged from asking a question like this if they are curious. Just be prepared for the odd responses like this one...(and by odd I mean entirely unhelpful or related to the original question )