Preventing Theft at Reptile Shows

The title says it all. I was reading some articles recently and wanted to know how everyone prevents theft at the reptile shows they vend? I know most people use acrylic display cases but what other precautions do you take? Do you let there be 10 snakes out of their displays if people want to view them?:confusd: I assume its always best to have several friends at your table to help watch.

1 snake out at a time...

most cases are long and heavy, so someone just can't pick them up and run.

So you just tell the customers that they have to wait until the other person is done?

Yes. Any serious buyer wouldn't mind waiting.

to be honest most vendors don't let you hold the snake unless the sale is almost final...

Nobody wants their snakes to get sick.

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Originally Posted by sorazme

So you just tell the customers that they have to wait until the other person is done?

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Yes. Only one snake out at a time. A common theft method is to distract the breeder at one end of the table, while an accomplice is removing animals at the other end. It is unfortunate that you have to conduct business like this, but you have to face reality. Another thing I do is keep all normals and cheaper morphs at one end of the display and make sure I position myself at the opposite end.

I know a few people at my local shows like to put some netting across their free standing containers if they don't have acrylic displays.
It's not visually nice, but it does it's job.

If you can link up with another breeder and share tables then you can get more eyes on your animals. I have always wondered though, anyone know what the legalities are on chaseing someone down and getting your snakes back forcively? I mean what if you watched someone take something off your table.....I can't really just see myself waiting for the police to show up as that can take 30-90 minutes or more.

Yeah, we did our first show in October, and the first day we were mobbed by kids wanting to handle snakes. At one point I realized we had my lavender albino, two pieds, and a genetic stripe out. It was a mad theft risk. (And I think it was driving away customers, because they had to wade through throngs of kids just get to the table. I like mobs of kids, especially enthusiastic ones, but plenty of adults just can't deal with ten or fifteen of them at once.)

So we instituted a one snake out at a time rule.

We also had locking acrylic cases. And there were two of us, so the table was always manned.

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Originally Posted by OctagonGecko729

If you can link up with another breeder and share tables then you can get more eyes on your animals. I have always wondered though, anyone know what the legalities are on chaseing someone down and getting your snakes back forcively? I mean what if you watched someone take something off your table.....I can't really just see myself waiting for the police to show up as that can take 30-90 minutes or more.

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I think anything over $250 or $500 (can't think right now) is a felony here.
Oops that normal you just took was really a double het that was priced at $600. Now you are a felon, thanks come again. :p

People who steal are the lowest of scum. I would chase them down, get a plate number or something. Tell the cops they are being held at gun point and I bet a few show up before the 90 min mark.

We typically have about 6 people at the booth when we help out Rons Reptiles. We have a method of diverting the mobs of kids that just want to "hold a snake". Distraction is key! We take out one of the BIG snakes and keep it at one end of the booth! Also having that many eyes on the animals/merchandise really helps! I dont know how the big booths with only 1 or 2 people do it! Honestly, theft would be simple without enough eyes.

I don't mind the mesh over the top.. secure it down on the front and sides of tables so items can only be reached from the vendor's side of the table, or with obvious great difficulty by a theif. I do enjoy fancy displays with thick acrylic or glass and locks though :) Best visibility of the snakes, and most secure against theives.

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Originally Posted by OctagonGecko729

If you can link up with another breeder and share tables then you can get more eyes on your animals. I have always wondered though, anyone know what the legalities are on chaseing someone down and getting your snakes back forcively? I mean what if you watched someone take something off your table.....I can't really just see myself waiting for the police to show up as that can take 30-90 minutes or more.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shopkeeper's_privilege
Above is a basic explanation; you should search your state law for statutes as to what is permissible in your state.

Make a cheap display to house the deli cups or whatever you have the snakes in. Off the top of my head...


1. Use universal sized deli cups 1 layer deep on the table.

2. Make a rectangle out of 1x1 wood

3. Use the plastic you seal up windows with in the winter to cover the rectangle

4. Put the box over the cups. You would have to lift the rectangular frame up to get the deli cup to slide out from under it. That should be much easier to watch. You could go a step further and build a 'bottom' that the top rectangle fits on.

Now you've got a closed display that doesn't require an expensive piece of acrylic. I can't imagine the whole setup I just described would cost more than 10 bucks to make.

If you have done lots of shows you know that vendors look out for each other. Yes introducing yourself to the vendors in front of you and either side of you help alot. Everyone uses different displays, but I remember someone picking up and walking away with an entire acrylic display containing either a new morph or a couple. I think it was Pete Kahls table at Daytona about 7-8 years back, maybe more. I think he had snows and a freak boa, paradox animal worth about 20k at the time. So nothing is 'fool proof'.

When I did shows and had many tables I would use those acrylic displays and have the side that opens facing back, so no one could open it and take something without having to actually pull out, lift and turn the entire display.
Lately I do shows with one or two tables and use deli cups. I make sure to lay them out in a specific way so that there are no empty spaces and teach my employees to always make sure there are no empty spaces or holes on the table.
I also put the cheaper animals in front of the table where people are closest to, mid grade animals in the center and expensive animals in the back where I am closest to.
Whenever something sells, we shift containers down to fill that hole immediately, besides writing down what sold, so there is never any doubt.

Daytona/NRBE does not allow animals to be out of their cages! So that makes it easier. I know, tough when someone is looking to spend money and wants to see it!
When you do shows often you get the hang of who just wants to talk and/or hold stuff, and who is serious. You let serious customers handle snakes, of course, while supervised. If i'm alone, one at a time, and always scanning back and forth to check the rest of the table while this person is trying to distract me.

A good theft tactic is to walk around with a stack of deli cups, come to your table and set them down on top of one of yours, then after looking for a minute, pick them up WITH yours and walk away, calmly.. lol.. I've caught a few like that.

I once came back to my table and saw the hole and new immediately. Walked around and found the guy. Stopped him and told him. He insisted he bought it elsewhere, I proved he didn't, then he gave it back to avoid further conflict. Most are subtle and are not going to be brazen and just run out, prompting a chase into the parking lot. They continue to walk around calmly and try to steal more.

The show staff takes theft VERY seriously and whenever we see something or hear something, we alert them. They come and grab the person and take all his info, blacklist him from their shows, and call the cops to pick him up. Don't recommend accosting the perp yourself, always notify the staff asap. I carry my cell phone and call staff as I see stuff. Such as people coming into the show with more animals than allowed to and trying to sell them to people which is not allowed. Chances are if they are breaking one rule, they may break others.

If something comes up missing, alert staff immediately AND other breeders. Same thing when we come back in Sunday morning, there are ALWAYS escapees and missing animals. Staff and vendors are alerted immediately and most times these animals are found and returned.

Not EVERY vendor/breeder is trust worthy, but most are. I once had 3 snakes escape and the vendor next to me saw this, found them and returned only 2. I know because another vendor he told, told me!

Keep in mind that when the show closes, some people might try to stay in so they can go around and steal while others have their guards down. Especially when the show ends Sunday 4-5pm and vendors are busy packing up and not watching their tables.

Another thing some larger vendors are doing is setting up security cameras at these shows! Mounting them on the tops of their banners. A friend who shares 8-12 tables with 2-3 business partners did this, and from one table with about 100-150 leopard geckos in small cups, they caught 3 thefts in one day!

Anyway, just do the right thing, always be vigilant, make friends with the vendors and you should be ok :-)

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Originally Posted by loonunit

Yeah, we did our first show in October, and the first day we were mobbed by kids wanting to handle snakes. At one point I realized we had my lavender albino, two pieds, and a genetic stripe out. It was a mad theft risk. (And I think it was driving away customers, because they had to wade through throngs of kids just get to the table. I like mobs of kids, especially enthusiastic ones, but plenty of adults just can't deal with ten or fifteen of them at once.)

So we instituted a one snake out at a time rule.

We also had locking acrylic cases. And there were two of us, so the table was always manned.

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Don't just write off kids. I'm a 17 year old that looks like a 15 year old and could be a buyer of a 2,000 snake