thats how I got most of my experience....hands on!! back when I was a kid, the only people working with snakes were the few that wrote books and Marlin Perkins. My mom teased me for years when I said I wanted to be a herpetologist, and Marlin mentioned he was one.... experience is one of those crazy things...you can't get experience cuz no one will give you any because you don't have any....vicious circle!