SAN MATEO COUNTY TIMES (Oakland, California) 16 June 03 Reptile-breeding show draws aficionados (Amelia Hansen)

San Mateo: Cheryl Berggren likes snakes -- not as much as her husband Curt, who's had them since he was a kid, or her 9-year-old son, who named his new Colombian boa "Squeezy" -- but would still prefer not to find their pet's dinner in her freezer.

"I went to pull some frozen taquitos out last night, and Squeezy's frozen rats starting falling out of the freezer," she said. "I like snakes. I just don't like feeding them."

Nevertheless, the Berggren family journeyed from Fremont to the San Mateo County Expo Center on Sunday to check out the variety of snakes -- from a baby rat snake to a one-year-old Tiger Reticulated Python -- at the International Reptile Breeders Association Show and Sale.

"I wanted mom to get comfortable with bigger snakes," said Curt Berggren, as his family -- Cheryl, Cole, 9, and daughter Cristen, 6 -- let a long, twisting python loop its way around their arms. "Squeezy will probably be 7 feet long when he stops growing. I'm not sure how fully aware Cheryl is about how big they get."

Snakes are usually considered the most high-profile reptile, but there were plenty of other critters at the weekend show that drew 30 vendors and around 2,000 visitors.

Bearded dragons, leopard geckos, black-throat monitor lizards, blue-tongued skinks, African tortoises -- and a few frogs, posing as reptiles -- crawled in glass terraria and small plastic containers as reptile-o-philes looked on in amazement, delight -- and occasional squeamishness.

This reporter -- drawn to the blue-tongued skink clinging to side of his glass tank -- grimaced when the small-clawed lizard tried to climb inside her shirt.

Randy Washington, an employee with the Outback Reptile Company in Grand Terrace, said he enjoys seeing the range of people who turn out to buy and see reptiles.

"You've got the ones who have so many piercings, if you took them out, their face would drip, to the Ken-and-Barbie couples," said Washington, who's been working with snakes for about a year.

"I used to hate snakes, probably because there are so many misconceptions. "The sliminess, the sneakiness -- they're really not," he said. "We feed 'em, water 'em, and do get attached to 'em. It's hard when we have to sell 'em, but when someone has an ear-to-ear grin on their face, it makes it worthwhile."

Shin and Eriko Okamura, of Foster City, looked rather serious as they carted two cardboard boxes and a few plastic bags out to their car Sunday.

But when asked what was inside the boxes, their expressions quickly changed.

"This is an African Spurred Tortoise," Shin Okamura said smiling down at the hard-patterned shell and the small shriveled head sticking out of it. "They get up to 250 pounds when they're full-grown, and live between 80 and 100 years."

Okamura said because they get so big and live so long, many people don't want to buy them. Even though the 4-year-old tortoise in the box is likely to outlive both Okamura and his wife, he said he's ready to start adapting their house so the animal can roam freely in the back yard.

"I've always been into non-mainstream pets," Okamura said. "Living beings like this are such a trip to watch."
Reptile-breeding show draws aficionados

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• CA Press: Reptile-breeding show draws aficionados - W von Papineäu, Mon Jun 16 20:47:14 2003