Why are shows so lame now?

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Originally Posted by Godzilla78

Never been to one. I do everything online. Ive bought and/or sold 10 different ball pythons in 2 years, all through the internet.
Ive window shopped hundreds of snakes online. Ive learned everything i know about snakes online.
Im typing this right now on the internet!

With the internet, i see no reason to attend a reptile show, except for just the novelty of it maybe.

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Originally Posted by Ernie Mccracken

It's one of the few social outlets for the hobby. It was a great place to meet breeders in person that you hear about online (you might be surprised at how your perception changes), talk to some of the 99% of local hobbyists who don't participate in online forums, and maybe learn a few new tips and tricks. Plus, seeing animals in person is sometimes different than photos on a screen. Now it's just a giant pet store catering exclusively to the pet store crowd. Oh well, times change.

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u make some compelling arguments for why shows are still pretty cool. all that stuff still happens. overall u sound kinda like a hipster. a herping hipster! "the hobby and shows were so cool back in the days. it's so mainstream and lame now." ok u were into snakes and stuff before it was cool. i'm sorry, not sorry, but there's gotta be some kinda growth if we wanna change the perception of snakes, reptiles and herpetoculture. a simple pet BP or gecko can help change that. times change and change can be good.

;)

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Originally Posted by Ax01

u make some compelling arguments for why shows are still pretty cool. all that stuff still happens. overall u sound kinda like a hipster. a herping hipster! "the hobby and shows were so cool back in the days. it's so mainstream and lame now." ok u were into snakes and stuff before it was cool. i'm sorry, not sorry, but there's gotta be some kinda growth if we wanna change the perception of snakes, reptiles and herpetoculture. a simple pet BP or gecko can help change that. times change and change can be good.

;)

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The shows are different because the hobby is way different now than it used to be. Unless you're really into low end pet BP's or cresteds (which is most of this site, admittedly), it's hard to argue that they are objectively better. I'm over it, though.

Today's "low end" bps were once 5000 dollar animals, in many cases, more... funny how people get bored so quick and thus relegate older morphs to the cull heap. I'll remember this thread when I'm 90 and picking up a nice highway bp for 200 bucks. :rofl:

I've only been to shows in ATL area. Organized by two different groups.

At all the shows I've been to, there have been a LOT of BPs, leos, cresteds. Also, a lot of flippers selling many different animals they didn't breed..some WC as well.

In the maybe 8 shows I've been to, I've purchased 3 of my 5 BPs, a hypo BCI, a carpet, a BRB, some frogs, and some supplies. I'd say that at most of the shows, I couldn't find what I was looking for if I went with a very specific animal in mind. It took me 3 shows to find a nice darpet, 4 to find a nice BRB. 2 of my 3 BP purchases were good, one was a slightly lower-quality example of the morph I wanted, etc.

I think they are the most successful when you go with a list of "possible purchases" in mind instead of looking for a single morph.

The local repticon in ATL has some good BPs... We have several good breeders in the ATL area that vend there (Albey and Bob Vu come to mind) in addition to some local KSB breeders as well. So, good animals can be found.

Now, I haven't been to a show in about 1 year and I likely won't be going to one at least until next fall (if even then).

I would definitely attend more shows if we lived closer to them. As it is, it's a 2.5 hr. trip one-way to the shows hosted on the north side of ATL so that does kill basically our whole day. I only spend a couple hours tops at the show anyway...Typically look for what I want quickly, buy, and leave.