Reptile show tips?

Hi gang!

Former snake owner but lifetime snake lover :)

It's ts been a while since I've owned anything, but I have owned a couple red tails, an albino burmese Python, a Brazilian rainbow boa and a canebrake. Now I'm older (47) with an awesome 6 year old daughter that shares my affinity with this awesome creature. Her mama not so much lol. But it's important to pass along how great snakes are and how bad a rap they get. I have an agreement with all neighbor's to call me before ever harming a snake and I'll come get it with my snake hook and relocate for free. I usually take my daughter and we've recently relocated a large king snake and really large eastern rat snake. She loves em.

So I want to get another snake and have all but decided on a BP. So many gorgeous morphs but I think I just love the pieds. I doubt we will breed, etc just provide a great home to the BP for a long time. I've owned snakes before so I know snakes can be tempremental but I really need to find a gentle one to keep wife and little one from overreacting.

Repticon Atlanta is coming up and I'll be going. What should I look for in a small juvenile pied at a reptile show, characteristic-wise? I plan to have the habitat set up at least a week in advance. I also need to research more about feeding F/T. I haven't done that and my wife as a teacher is actually fond of rats and mice. Animal lovers we are I suppose. Not sure she is going to let me put frozen mice in freezer beside the salmon. Need to think about that. :)


Is it reasonable to think I can get a real good deal on a pied at repticon?

Thanks in advance

TNK

Welcome to the forum, and welcome back to the hobby. You should be able to find the perfect pied for yourself and your daughter. Only suggestions I can think of are to bring hand sanitizer and ask the breeder you end up buying from a bunch of questions. Whenever I've purchased ball pythons I prefer to only get animals that have readily taken frozen thaw, as it was well worth it to me to help avoid headaches of going and getting live food.

Regarding keeping the feeders in the freezer, paper bags make it far less off putting for those who aren't particularly happy about sharing freezer space.

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Originally Posted by The Night King

Hi gang!

Former snake owner but lifetime snake lover :)

It's ts been a while since I've owned anything, but I have owned a couple red tails, an albino burmese Python, a Brazilian rainbow boa and a canebrake. Now I'm older (47) with an awesome 6 year old daughter that shares my affinity with this awesome creature. Her mama not so much lol. But it's important to pass along how great snakes are and how bad a rap they get. I have an agreement with all neighbor's to call me before ever harming a snake and I'll come get it with my snake hook and relocate for free. I usually take my daughter and we've recently relocated a large king snake and really large eastern rat snake. She loves em.

So I want to get another snake and have all but decided on a BP. So many gorgeous morphs but I think I just love the pieds. I doubt we will breed, etc just provide a great home to the BP for a long time. I've owned snakes before so I know snakes can be tempremental but I really need to find a gentle one to keep wife and little one from overreacting.

Repticon Atlanta is coming up and I'll be going. What should I look for in a small juvenile pied at a reptile show, characteristic-wise? I plan to have the habitat set up at least a week in advance. I also need to research more about feeding F/T. I haven't done that and my wife as a teacher is actually fond of rats and mice. Animal lovers we are I suppose. Not sure she is going to let me put frozen mice in freezer beside the salmon. Need to think about that. :)


Is it reasonable to think I can get a real good deal on a pied at repticon?

Thanks in advance

TNK

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I had to chuckle when reading this because I just went through this same experience. For some reason out of the blue, I woke up wanting a BP and my wife thought I was crazy. For 2-3 months, I watched youtube videos which gave my wife the impression that I just might be serious about this obsession. I actually went to the Repticon Atlanta a month ago (is it really coming up again?????). I went w/ the intentions of really seeing if this obsession was limited to the videos or if seeing some of these morphs in person were as stunning as I imagined they might be. I walked around talking to as many breeders as possible, asking the same questions that I've asked and read about on these forums. It wasn't until the last breeder that I encountered a BP that really peeked my interest. I debated purchasing him there but he was feeding on live food (which I did not want to deal with). I ended up looking around online and found an amazing breeder who had the same snake on F/T and that's all she wrote......

I have to say, I was one of the lucky ones who won my wife over w. my purchase. There's no way that I wanted an aggressive snake because of my kids or a snake eating live food. I would suggest researching the names of the breeders attending. You definitively get a sense when you're there of who is really a legit breeder who is just trying to make a buck.

Your comment about F/T next to the salmon is funny. I have my blue box of F/T hidden in the corner so my kids don't see it and I just ordered a fridge for the basement so I can bulk order some rats ;)

Now you have me excited about the Atlanta Repticon. I didn't know it was coming again.

Well what else are your snakes going to eat? Tofu?

Slightly off topic...I think mice and rats are very cute. They also make great food for medium sized predators.
I MUCH prefer feeding live since it is easier and more natural, the snakes clearly prefer it.
However, lately I mostly do frozen rats, just for the convenience. The snake IMO does a very quick humane killing. It takes only seconds for the suffocation to happen, and then it is done. IT IS ALSO PERFECTLY NATURAL! millions and millions of rodents are killed by predators each year. It is normal, and if people are AGAINST it, I think they are nuts. As killing and eating is how life works.

if I had the time to keep live rodents, I would definitely do live feedings. Frozen/thawed makes feeding more of a hassle for me.

It's not about it being natural and normal, its about the well being and the safety of your snake. As the snake gets older and the bigger the food, the more dangerous it is feeding it live food.

I, myself do feed live as the owner of a male BP who won't ever eat anything larger than a small rat, which can do damage but I always supervise and never had any accidents. Feeding anything live size medium and up, to me is dangerous.

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Originally Posted by PythonBabes

It's not about it being natural and normal, its about the well being and the safety of your snake. As the snake gets older and the bigger the food, the more dangerous it is feeding it live food.

I, myself do feed live as the owner of a male BP who won't ever eat anything larger than a small rat, which can do damage but I always supervise and never had any accidents. Feeding anything live size medium and up, to me is dangerous.

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it is fine with supervision. I agree that medium and larger can be risky. I only do small rats as my maximum now.

tips? take alotta pix of all the cool animals and sights and post them here on the forum to share! :)

Edit: bring what your budget allows u to buy is cash. leave your credit cards/debit card at home or u might break the bank lol. i'm sure u will find a reasonably price Pied male. health of the animal is #1. look at he overall shape, it's scales, that its alert, tongue flickering and no mucus/bubbles coming from the mouth. Repticon is a big show, so the breeders may be busy. u can ask questions but don't wanna come off as a tire kicker. be polite, be firm, have fun!

Tip#1. Never go shopping for groceries when you are hungry.

Tip#2. Never go to a reptile show with an empty cage at home.

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Originally Posted by enginee837

Tip#1. Never go shopping for groceries when you are hungry.

Tip#2. Never go to a reptile show with an empty cage at home.

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Love Tip#2!!!

I left w/ my 1st cage and no snake which almost guaranteed I had to put something in it sooner then later!