Ok, I worked at the Tampa Reptile show this past week. This time, selling books for Tony(who apparantly bought out a book company).



Now, being the guy selling reptile books, I get all the people that want information.



I was appalled at what were being sold without any information!



Melleri, sold with a cage and a lamp. Veilds and panthers sold with a cage and a 60 watt "UV" bulb, maybe some vines thrown in.



I only spoke to one person who knew her veild's sex, and understood how to sex them!



one couple had a pardalis that was "probably" a male, or so the vendor said, because it had a certain coloration that usually males have at this age. NO mention of hemipenal bulge, at ALL! I looked, and though there were no others to compare it too, was almost 100% sure it was a female, the thing was about 4-5"long, with NO hemipenal bulge.



What I am doing for the next shows: If Tony wants me selling books again(and I think he does), I have reccomended some good, sought after reptile books for him to order. I also want him to make it known that the book booth is also a reptile care information booth--He owns the shows, so it's up to him if he wants to provide a service to the well-paying customers($8 a ticket now, they deserve SOME guidance from a neutral source).



When someone came to me for questions, I told them what they shoudl look for, what they shoudl be prepared to buy, and what they should avoid. As a result, people that talked to me ended up walking out with a healthy, C.B. animal, a good sized cage, Rep-cal or Minerall, a light fixture, bendy vines, and THIS WEBSITE'S URL. People that came to me after they bought often had a less than ideal looking animal, a small yet expensive cage, reptocal/reptical(with more phosphorus than Ca), reptivite/Edema in a jar with a 100/1 ratio of A:D3, a 10 dollar incandescent bulb that outputs UV(A). The "knowledge" that UV from the bulb they bought is the same as UV from the sun, preventig them from even KNOWING they need to use the sun or a UVB bulb.



I can't stand it when I see vendors selling useless junk just cause they can sell it.



The melleri situation is the worst. These vendors keep them out, crawling over each other. They give the impression that they're fine like that. People that buy them put them on their head and walk out, totally unaware that they thing is going crazy with stress, wichi would be apparant, if they knew the pattern displayed was a stress pattern, not just "pretty". Besides, of all chameleons, melleri carry soem of the WORST parasites, I wouldn't put a fresh import on MY head.



So that's what I'm going to do if he allwos me. I'm going to sell his books, and give free general care info. If the vendors want to bypass qulifyign the customer, and go straight for the sale, then I think it's necessary.





Funny thing was I didn't need to push the MV bulbs at all. Everyone had Lianis(sp?), screened in poarches, where they were planning on keeping their animals, or simply letting them bask each day. one nice thing about Florida...



And I found out that there's a SIGNIFICANT population of feral veilds in Ft. Meyers. I just need to find out WHERE it is.

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