reptile show

[Doyle04]

ok im going to a reptile show tommorow in manchester NH. hopefully ill be bringing home a BP. anyway, can anyone give me good tips for picking healthy BPs? ive heard of tongue-flicking and being tightly wrapped around your arm but anything else?

[Cody]

Hmm, well when I'm going to get my BP at a mom and pop reptile place a few towns over, I'm gonna look for things like alertness(looking around, checking things out), tounge actively flicking about, checking for a tight grip when I handle the BP, checking for signs of RI(wheezing, bubbling mucous stuff around nose and mouth), signs of a bad shed(pieces of shed left over and not helped off yet...usually points to careless keeping), check out the environment the snake is being kept in to see if the husbandry is good, see if there are any mites visible, and finally I'll ask to see if they have any feeding records so I know it's a good feeder. That's what I'm gonna have to check out when buying from a reptile store. But if you're at a reptile show, I doubt you'll have to be that curious and inquisitive. You can usually trust to get a good pet from some good breeders at reptile shows. But those are still good things to do when looking for a nice baby to take home. Better safe then sorry, if you ask me.

Good luck, and have fun.

[led4urhead]

I've found that when at a show its always a good idea to talk to the vendor. Find as much information about the animals they have for sale as you can. Find out if the snake you wish to purchase is Captive Bred, Captive Hatched ( Farmed ), or Wild Caught. Most times vendors dont actively display that kind of information, you have to ask them. I would definitely talk to a couple of different vendors before selecting the one you wish to purchase from. I look for things like: number of animals in an enclosure, signs of bad sheds, missing/bad scales, dirty enclosures, and amount of people looking at that particular vendors reptiles. I've found that ( usually ) the quality vendors tend to have more people around their displays simply for the fact they have quality animals. Make sure you get mulitple different bp's out before selecting the one you want. That way you can see how different animals are being kept. Even try different species if you ge the chance. Just because their bp's look good doesnt mean that they keep them in good shape. Check for dented eyes, firmness of girp, general disposition ( is it friendly or the spawn of the devil ), does it actively flick its tounge, the color of its belly, quick check for mites ( sometimes they are really noticeable ), vent area ( does it look clean?, does it look damaged ).

Hope that helps! Good luck and have fun!