Buying online vs Show

[Jhill001]

Shows are a bit like a big flea market. You can offer 10 bucks less for a snake or something like that and often your offer will be accepted if it's not insulting (don't offer 10 dollars for a 20 dollar snake, but offering 280 for a 300 dollar snake is reasonable).

That said, some shows are in smaller venues that REALLY get crowded. I'm talking shoulder to shoulder. I hate it and I go there to get mice and I leave. Earlier this year I met a member of the ssnakess forum to help him with picking out a specific type of snake (water snake, likely to be wild caught). He didn't have much experience potentially buying a WC snake and wanted to have someone there for a second opinion. I was REALLY excited because A its an uncommon species for people to want which I always encourage (sorry BP folks) and B I've never met a random from a forum before. It was a really positive experience to be honest and I'd encourage you to reach out to other Atlantians who might be willing to accompany you so you don't feel nervous.

A tip, go to the reptile show before you buy online. Don't be pressured to buy ANYTHING. Just see what some of these snakes look like in person, you might not be as excited about X BP morph you thought looked so cool online or you may even fall in love with a gopher snake or milk snake or something. It happened to me at my first reptile show 15 years ago where I went with mom and dad to find a grey banded kingsnake and left with a sonoran gopher. You might think you want a banana or whatever ball python but you'll see a perfectly patterned plain Jane hi yellow and not only save money but truly find out what you want or take it home with you. Go with maybe 50 dollars max, anything worth more to you is also worth a trip to an ATM. This will help you with impulse purchases.

That said, make sure you have a terrarium set up before you leave. In the event you make a purchase only a few adjustments are required to change a ball python setup to most any snake's setup.

Just for fun and entertainment of others here are some slightly based in fact people you'll see at reptile shows:

1 - Guy carrying large snake for absolutely no reason - Doesn't matter if its -40 degrees some guy will carry a boa constrictor or something similar into the reptile show. It looks to be in terrible health and its best not to mention it.

2 - Reptile rescue people with large lizard or snake you can pet - Pet the monitor or Burmese python, drop a few dollars in the jar. Many people never get to touch a huge snake or monitor even regular keepers so its really cool, consider adopting one of their ball pythons if that's what you want, they are already quarantined and such so its not the worst idea for a first pet snake.

3 - Guy who smells REALLY bad - This is the guy the media uses to represent the reptile community explaining our poor reputation. He never showers because "his reptiles don't care" completely disregarding that snakes have one of the best senses of smell in the entire animal kingdom.

4 - Know it all explaining to a person who breeds their species that they are wrong - This one isn't as common to see but it for sure happens each show. "Mealworms will eat your lizard from the inside out" or "over head heating will literally kill your snake and collapse the universe" etc. Pretty sad to watch an experienced breeder be completely defeated by not caring at all.

5 - The over aggressive salesman - This is a guy to look out for, "Not only is this wild caught chameleon with ticks on it totally fine, but you can also keep it in a critter keeper and it'll be fine" or the "How much do you have? That'll work" guy. He's also yelling like a fruit salesman at a flea market.

6 - Guy who has an entire conversation with a breeder you want to ask a question to and then doesn't buy anything - Yeah, crap. This guy.

7 - Multiple people behind the table you ask one a question and they never come back - I was inches away from buying like 5 banded geckos and forming a colony. Asked a question about the price that wasn't listed, she said she'd ask. I waited 10 minutes. Helped me avoid an impulse purchase but still, very annoying.

8 - The guy who runs the amphibian table - It's like a zoo, this guy has some of the rarest animals at the whole show (and most don't even have morphs). Definitely take a look even though people are standing in front of the table forever and seemingly never buying anything. Maybe get a inkling for a frog in your future, if not, it's still cool to look.

Anyways good luck at your show and I hope you find what you look for.