My first reptile show!!!

Well, I went to my first reptile show this weekend and got to see a lot of great stuff, despite it being a pretty small show. I saw GTP's, Ackies, Pastel BP's, Hogg Isle Boas, and JCP's for the first time this weekend. The GTP's looked nicer than I even expected in real life. The Ackies, Pastels, and HI's were about what I expected, but still great to see. JCP's I thought look better in pictures, but are still quite nice.

Now, I have always loved monitors (I had a Savannah monitor as part of my collection when I was much younger). There were some baby nile monitors there that were gorgeous, and as much as I wanted one at the time the largest enclosure I could provide would be a 6'x6'x6' which just wouldn't cut it. I was also thinking about Rusty and her rescues which helped me to stay firm, LOL. I also saw a great looking Sav that I just had to handle. He was very alert, with lots of tongue-flicking and was seemingly both calm and active at the same time, so my first impression was that this little guy has a pretty good temperament. Needless to say, I ended up taking him home :P I'll take some pics once he's acclimatized. I fed him a pinky today, and put in a few crickets afterwards, in case he were to get hungry. He hasn't eaten any of them yet from what I can tell; I'm not sure if he's just full from the pinky or if he just doesn't like crickets, but I'll find out soon enough.

Anyway, I have a feeling that this is just going to be the beginning of monitors in my collection. I am thinking about bringing back some CBB Timors across the border in my pants, LOL. I am also waiting on some yellow ackies from a local breeder.

My GTP dream is also more alive and kicking than ever, LOL!!! If I had any enclosure at home that would have been any good for housing one, I might have bought one. However, I'm going to order Greg Maxwell's book along with a temp gun and some monitor stuff from Pro Exotics. I definitely won't be buying a GTP until I've read the book cover to cover. For such a significant investment and a more challenging species, I just don't feel prepared enough just yet, even having read pretty much every caresheet on the Internet on them.

I don't know much about GTP's, but fromwhat I've seen of the one my local breeder has, it just sits there on its branch all day o_O. I wouldthink its a good show snake, but thats just me based on a few looks at this one particular GTP.

Aren't reptile shows the greatest? I always try to go to the ones near me, even if I don't need anything. It's just a wonderful way to see what the latest and greatest is and maybe chat with some breeders... naturally I always end up buying at least a book or a piece of driftwood or something. Of course the southeastern PA shows I go to are totally redneck... I'm the outcast for dressing nicely, having all of my teeth, and not having some crazy snake around my neck :shock:

But they're still fun anyway :wink:

I love a reptile show. :) GTPs are definitely a gorgeous animal and I can definitely see why you'd want one. Heck, with the temps and humidity in my house right now, I wouldn't even need an enclosure to keep one if I put the cat up. ;)