daytona beach expo

the expo was crazy saw so many awesome things was kicking it with Art and Kelly from Kelly's Balls all day ...they introduced me to some awesome breeders ended up purchasing a nice female cinny with a nice ringer to go with :D ....meet greg graziani awesome guy ......albeys cool reptiles ,por exotics,metal morphs ,ball pythons south just to name a few awesome crowd for my first show wow was it amazing i went from 6 balls this morning in my collection to 7 in my collection by the end of the day lol !!!!!!!! post pics of the cinny later and pics from the expo

The show is pretty disappointing this year IMO. 100 less vendors than last year and they raised the admission price. Lots of bigger breeders did not go. Still a nice show compared to most, but not nearly what it used to be. It used to be the show that no breeder would miss and people would have to fight to get a table there. I know the show is not that great when I actually come home with cash in my pocket. I walked around for a while trying to find something to buy but nothing caught my eye (aside from the crazy expensive stuff). Still a good time though. Mostly just go to hang out with friends now. Tomorrow afternoon should be crazy.
I might pick up a male Black headed python tomorrow but the ones I saw there were not great examples of them.
One good thing is I actually think the prices were a bit higher on a lot of stuff than I expected.

Dan has his plants selling pretty well there today(Zen Orchids), and he said he was astounded at how busy it was. BUt.... Dan hasn't been to Daytona before, this is his first. He's only done small shows. I'll be going tomorrow, and I'm not expecting it to be the biggest Daytona ever, and I know I'll miss some of the big breeders not being there, but I expect to be wowed anyway.

Will report in afterwards!

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Originally Posted by J.Vandegrift

The show is pretty disappointing this year IMO. 100 less vendors than last year and they raised the admission price. Lots of bigger breeders did not go. Still a nice show compared to most, but not nearly what it used to be. It used to be the show that no breeder would miss and people would have to fight to get a table there. I know the show is not that great when I actually come home with cash in my pocket. I walked around for a while trying to find something to buy but nothing caught my eye (aside from the crazy expensive stuff). Still a good time though. Mostly just go to hang out with friends now. Tomorrow afternoon should be crazy.
I might pick up a male Black headed python tomorrow but the ones I saw there were not great examples of them.
One good thing is I actually think the prices were a bit higher on a lot of stuff than I expected.

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I agree. I did get a very nice reduced spider though. Why do you guys think Daytona is going down?

There are a lot of reasons. The new laws in FL, more competition from other shows (tinley, hamburg, toronto...) and a few other reasons that can't be talked about here.

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Originally Posted by wolfy-hound

Dan has his plants selling pretty well there today(Zen Orchids), and he said he was astounded at how busy it was. BUt.... Dan hasn't been to Daytona before, this is his first. He's only done small shows. I'll be going tomorrow, and I'm not expecting it to be the biggest Daytona ever, and I know I'll miss some of the big breeders not being there, but I expect to be wowed anyway.

Will report in afterwards!

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If he thought today was busy wait until he sees tomorrow afternoon. I saw his booth. He had some pretty sweet plants.

I'm hoping he sells out actually! He deserves it, he works really hard with all his stuff. And he's personable and cute! Not that I'm biased!

I think Daytona has been hurt by both the economy and by the new laws. The laws made a few big breeders decide not to attend, and all the reptile shows I've been to in th elast year have been smaller. The ball python market crash probably also affected some of it, since I remember massive ball python tables at some of the first shows I went to, and that's much less now.

Overall, I can think of a few reasons it would be smaller, but I'm hoping it's still a spectacular show, and fun to attend. I love Daytona and look forward to it all year!

Who's Dan?

Well while the daytona show is not quite what it used to be it is still worth going to. It does bite that the admission price has gone up. All in all it was a pretty good show and a good time. I would love to be able to attend some of the other shows out of state one day.

i guess because i have no other show to compare to and that this is the first daytona i have ever attended lol .....but i wish nerd was there and ralph davis .....but hope one day to attend one of the big shows out of state one day

No RDR or Nerd this year?

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Originally Posted by TessadasExotics

No RDR or Nerd this year?

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No - neither have vended Daytona for the past 3 or 4 years.

Dan = Zen Orchids. Sorry. I was at DAYTONA !!!!

Sorry. I look forward to this all year. It was much smaller, but the lanes were wider and roomy, so it wasn't crushed up. I saw a lot of neat critters and Beachie and I took lots of pics. Saw some folks from BP.net too!! Whoo! I wore my BP.net shirt in hopes that maybe people would recognize it, and there were a few!

When the pics get uploaded, I'll post some in a thread.

I was very disappointed. I flew in to Orlando to take the kid to Disney and then rented a car to go to Daytona in hopes that I would be driving back with something. I ended up with a two day drive home to Houston with nothing but a bottle of cleaner I bought thinking I could have been home already on a plane. I won't make the mistake of booking this trip again unless more of the big breeders return. With this show shrinking and the NARBC now putting on two shows in Texas, it just isn't worth it to me.

I've talked to several people who use to attend as recently as three and four years ago - and they've all talked about what a disappointment this show was and how they don't think they'll go back any more. That makes me sad. :(

I think I'll pass on Daytona next year and do Tinley instead.

I vended at Daytona this year, third year in a row. I've attended this expo for over 5 years. It is different now. Like was said earlier, NERD and Ralph haven't been here for a few years. This year Pete Kahl wasn't there. I think some of the NARB shows are replacing Daytona as the show for the big breeders to go to.

However, from this vendors point of view, it was a great show! Crowds and some with money who bought ball pythons. Sometimes when some of the big guys are not at a show, some of the small breeders, like myself, get a chance to show off our stuff. :D

It's also a great time to meet and have fun with fellow herpers. Lots of great people I've only talked to on-line came by the table and introduced themselves. It's always so nice to put a name to a face. It's also fun to talk shop with fellow breeders who know so much more than I do about this great addiction. Brock, Sean, Marc, Michael, Amir, Tim, Ben Siegel, BHB, Mark and Kim Bell, and so many others. I learn so much just talking to them and picking their brains.

I also have so much fun seeing some of the newest combos, especially the bananas and champagnes.

The auction was a blast! In addition to all the cool stuff at the silent auction, the person running the live auction actually auctioned off a roll of paper towels, 4 cold pizzas, two cold Popeyes chicken dinners and plain old air (or nothing at all as he described it). Over $40,000 raised last I heard and that was being matched, dollar for dollar, so over $80,000 going to a very good cause.

So, IMHO, it is different, but still a great show!