I have been eager to go to my local reptile show all week, and when the day finally came today, I was very excited. As I walked in I instantly noticed that it was a little smaller than usual, no big deal I know that they had a show the day before further north and most exhibitors probably didn't want to do both shows.

Making my way around the show I was pleasantly surprised to see much more boas than at the last show I had attended. There were even some nice sub-adults and adults for sale. At the third table I stopped at I found some AMAZING looking Surinames boas, beautiful peaks, and truly breathtaking color. I start talking to the gentleman at the table and noticed the price...$125...un-heard-of for that quality of Suriname. So I ask to hold one of the best looking one there (there were 4 in the same box, and the best looking one was by far the biggest). As he takes her out and hands her to me, I instantly notice two things. Number 1, her head is WAY to big for how small she is, number two, although see appears to have good structure (like a loaf of bread) when I held her she felt like mush. Therefor I was instantly on guard. I started talking to the man there, asking my usual questions regarding the snake, but he would not tell me where she came from. The first response I got when I asked if he knew where she came from was "yea". So I ended up asking who she came from, and his response was "a friend of mine". That got me thinking...

As she frantically tried to get away from me I could her her "popping" as she breathed. Not a big deal to me, since a lot of boas can get a "popping" or "wheezing" sound when they move a lot. But this one was different. I could feel it "rattling" inside of her.

Putting everything together, insane price, big head, small body, mushy feeling, "popping" it became pretty evident to me that I was holding a sick snake. By that time I had gotten her to calm down enough to inspect her face/mouth, and noticed bubbles...lots of them...like she was drooling coming from the left side of her mouth, as well as her now breathing with her mouth open! I instantly gave her back and walked away in desperate search of some hand sanitizer.

After that experience (and a couple rounds of hand sanitizer) I continued walking around the show. One of the last tables I went to had a lot of spiders on it. I have never owned one, but have given it some thought so I stepped in for a closer look. I found an adult (I messed up and didn't write its name down) that was stunning..but not for sale, however there was a baby of the same thing above it for sale! At that point I was super excited and stared looking for the owner to talk about husbandry and purchasing the new pet.

As I look up to find the guy behind the table (he was helping out some other people) I realize that he was the guy who sold me my first two ball pythons...ball pythons that he sold to me as morphs, that were not (see this thread http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...-my-new-python ). So I waited around for him to finish up with his current customer, not sure of what I would say to him. I stood there for a minute or so, and decided that it just wasn't worth it, and that I did not want to make a scene, so I walked away.

In all I didn't have a great time at the show, but at least it gave me something to do for a couple of hours (long drive up there). Hopefully the next one will be better!