Bothersome thoughts after first expo experience

[pbenner]

I did see a couple of guys who really loved it and were enthusiastic about telling me the stories about the individual snakes. They even had some of the parents of the babies on display. I also noticed their display cases were much better quality and the snakes could be comfortable in them for some time.

Then there was the company that must have had over a thousand animals in deli cups. Seriously, stacks and stacks of them around a U-shaped table display, with several employees exchanging money for animals, and none of them knew about the individual animals. There was one side that was just lizards, a table covered with deli cups stacked about 4 high and all the lizards were hanging upside down by the air holes.

And then there was the neat display of rattlesnakes by a rescue/education group. They all looked healthy.

We have enough pets, so did not buy any critters. Except my daughter bought some live plants for her chameleon habitat, and some wormy treats for it. I am not sure if I will be so eager to go back to an expo anytime soon.

I personally have aspirations of eventually breeding my BPs. I've bought animals with that end goal in mind. I want to be the first category. I want to know all my animals, and be able to provide lineage on the individual snakes. All my breeders came from solid places and I'm very interested in getting there. In the mean time I have some really beautiful snakes that have wonderful temperaments. I have (or will have) enough genetic diversity to be able to produce some beautiful animals from the beginning and I don't lack for the space.

I do NOT want to be in the second group. No way no how.

I think if you want to get a specific animal morph then an Expo is the way to go. If you don't care about gender, or morph, there are many options out there to find your animal.

Best,

Paul

[redshepherd]

I find that in general, the vendors/breeders with the weird, unusual species are also the good breeders and good caretakers of their animals, and they have fewer animals.

When a vendor gives you hand sanitizer, it's to protect their snakes from having illness or mites transferred over if you've touched other infected snakes. Not to protect you.

You see more iffy vendors of ball python morphs. There's always the good and bad.

Of course expos are stressful on the reptiles- they don't know why they're there or what's going on. But think of it this way- every time a snake is bought and shipped to you in the regular way, they also spend a day in just as or more stressful conditions (a shipping box being tossed around). The glass display boxes at shows are actually very expensive to buy, so don't think wrongly... That's purely for display reasons at the show and definitely not the cheap way out lol. Deli cups are cheap but make a worse display and are easier for people to steal the animals.

I am new here and don't want to come to quick judgements, but when I see people breeding lots of snakes I do wonder what happens to the normals, or any of them for that matter. My daughter said it reminds her of that old game DragonVale where you can cross different dragons, and you get a lot of normals and one very special one-- but you still have to house and feed the normals. Good lessons in that game. :-)

I mean, snakes can live 20+ years. That's a lot of mouths to feed, and a lot of rats to provide.

If a breeder is producing many normals on the side, they actually tend to be culled and sold as feeders to snake-eating species if they're unsold. Of course we're all bleeding hearts here for snakes being born to die, but it's exactly what we do with rats and mice!

[Dianne]

I find that in general, the vendors/breeders with the weird, unusual species are also the good breeders and good caretakers of their animals, and they have fewer animals.

When a vendor gives you hand sanitizer, it's to protect their snakes from having illness or mites transferred over if you've touched other infected snakes. Not to protect you.

I’ll add that you need at least some familiarity with vendors selling more unusual animals if those are the species you are looking for. There’s a guy that comes to the local shows here that imports a lot of animals. He typically treats for external parasites and does appear to care for the animals, but there are more risks with imports...parasites, stress from captivity, feeding issues, etc. That said, you can also get some awesome animals and new blood lines for breeding.

In regards to hand sanitizer, it’s a good idea to carry your own as well if you intend to handle several animals. This covers you in case the vendor doesn’t have it on hand. When I was selling my babies, I always had folks use it prior to handling my animals and after...my protection and theirs. I also pretreated my tablecloth with Provent-a-mite so that my displays were on a protected surface. Overkill maybe, but I never brought any unwelcome visitors home with me.

[silverbill]

Every expo I’ve gone to, the normals are always sold first because a lot of new owners don’t know or don’t care about morphs (especially kids) and just want the cheapest snake.