Reptile & Amphibian Forums

The weekend started off on the right foot. Lance and I met up with Mike Price and Shawn from the San Angelo Nature Center for Dinner and photos. Lance and I went right at open to the convention center. It was probably the best show I have ever seen in Arlington... EVER... Over 30 vendors and some decent variety. I got to see Nigel Marvin and ran into many folks from the past. Lets start with the Animal listings and then attendees.

1. Ball Pythons, Ball Pythons, Ball Pythons.. all phases and prices from 50 bucks to 10,000 dollars. The most hilarious phase was "Latte" phase.
2. Decent variety of colubrids. Lots of corns and some kings and milks. A few lone males.
3. 2 Vendors with Green Tree Pythons.
4. 2 (decent) Vendors with Arachnids.
5. Lots of Variety of Lizards, skinks, agama's, monitors, etc...
6. 3 or 4 Vendors with Tortoises.
In attendance was Bob Applegate, Jeff Barringer, Dave Barker, Bob Clark, Bill Love, Larry Briggs, Don Shores, Mike Price and many Alterna Land Folks.
Strange that in 16 years now in the herp community that I have met so many people and in my own back yard, until today I had never met Dave Blody. It was a real pleasure talking with him for a while.

Big Thanks to Jeff B for the kingsnake.com shirt and meeting Chris McMartin. Chris I am sorry we didn't get to do a meal or something. My wife is getting close to labor and I was pushing it by attending the convention. I hope we can meet up again soon and spend more time. Well, I left the convention with 1.1 Sanderson Alterna, .2 Black Gaps, 2 t-shirts (both free), 2 posters and a new snake grabber that is AWESOME!

Take Care,

Steven

Sorry to have missed you guys, I did meet up with Todd LePettus and and Tom Stevens, met Don Shores and watched Todd walk out with one of Dons' awesome axanthic splendidas! Some cool snakes, almost walked out with a Pepper's Hill blonde suboc and a striped goini but already have males of each. You must have hit it hard and fast or made prearrangements! Good score! Best consolation prize, Todd let me walk away with his female het for albino splendy and a t-shirt! Thanks Lepidus!
Todd Hughes

If I had a nickel for every ball pyton at that show I would be able to afford the latte, or at least some cresteds that caught my eye. I walked out with a pair or Howard Draw (pandale) alterna from Michael Price. Both are in shed, but I will post pics once they shed. They are 06s and larger than the 05 black gaps that were there. Mike said he started them on lizards and that is all they have eaten from day one. The guys that went with me got some australian water dragons. I will be back sunday for a short time to drop something off and try to pull a deal or two. Have a good one guys.
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South Texas Herps

If you see Mike Price, ask to see the Howard Draw snakes that I have from him . They are ultra light and phenominal. He took a couple of shots on Friday Night of them. I was very tempted Friday night to buy the smaller H. Draw snakes but I held off cause of the lizard issue. I know they are much larger than other animals, I even told mike that and showed him some late 05'277 animalss. His were larger. I still think you got some great alterna and please keep me posted (if you can) and what they look like. I really liked the darker female. I will now boast and say keep an eye out for the dark sanderson (black on orange) I picked up at the show. Yes... It was a very good day for me... Thanks to Larry Briggs and Don Shores... It was a very good day indeed.

Take Care,

Steven

Here is the male... The female is in shed so I can't take a picture yet. My camera is NOWHERE what Mike Price's camera is so...

Take Care,

Steven

The snakes turn out to be north sanderson animals. WC
North of the 2400 cut off. I am a happy man.

Take Care,

Steven

Steven,
At the risk of exposing just how much of an alterna dork I may be, something about that animal looked familiar. It has tendencies that were common among babies that some of my Pecos county snakes (north of FM 2400 on US 285) produced. I thumbed back through some of my old clutch photos and swear that the male in the upper left hand corner is your guy. If you have a female she may be his sibling and she may be pictured as well.

Here's the photo (sorry about the size... tried to make it so you'd have as much detail as possible for a possible positive ID):

If it does turn out to be your guy (and your girl's pictured as well), just let me know and I'll pass along info on the parents.

Take care!
Damon

did I meet one of you? I was standing at Larry Briggs' table discussing a thayeri hatchling that I have that will not eat. Another guy at the table mentioned a recipe using veal baby food. Was that one of you? if so, please email me as I have questions.

db

I don't believe so. I only talked about Thayeri with Dave Blody yesterday. If you have tried brained pinks (which used to be the old school way to get them to eat) then I would try Lizards for a while and see if those work.

Take Care,

Steven

my email is mike@southtexasherps.com

Let me know how I can help. I can tell you that an 06 I started like this is now 22" in length (6-7 months old). I have not seen the snake yet, but that is what I was told.
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South Texas Herps

Chris I am sorry we didn't get to do a meal or something. My wife is getting close to labor and I was pushing it

More like SHE'LL be pushing it soon. Hope all goes well!

I hope we can meet up again soon and spend more time.

I just shot Price an email volunteering to speak at the WTHS meeting next month, and HOPEFULLY I'll meet everyone at Sanderson in June.

I got off lucky--only money I spent at the show was parking, entry, and the WTHS membership. Oh, and traded my car in for a new ball python morph. It's a good thing I have enviable self-control, though. I could easily have walked out of there with all sorts of new caging and herps I can't afford time or money wise.
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Chris McMartin
www.mcmartinville.com
I'm Not a Herpetologist, but I Play One on the Internet

He said he tried at one time to email me, but my 4 year old pulled me away while I was talking to him and I did not see at the show after she was done showing me everything.

If anybody has his email please pass my contact info along..

LanceBenton [at] SBCGlobal [dot] Net

And let me say that the show was blast, the hours I stayed blew by way to fast...

Hope to see it come back again soon.

Lance

I'd have to agree with your assessment on the show...When I first walked in all I could see were balls, and for me that's not a pretty sight...I was a little disappointed at the selection of alterna, but now I know why...you guys snagged'em all up! Well, I managed to pick a couple things up that I probably shouldn't have, but I've always wanted them...Now I'm trying to figure out how to justify to myself that I made "smart" purchases, rather than the purely emotional purchases that "only" my lady makes Here's what I picked up (sorry they're not alterna)...

Male Mandarin

Female Mandarin (too squirly to get a pose)

Male Jaguar (overpriced, but beautiful)

BTW, Wayne, it was good to meet you...
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Snakes to the Max

1.2 Variable Kingsnakes
1.1 Grayband x Ruthveni
0.1 Western Massasauga (WC)
1.1 Jungle Carpet Pythons
1.1 Pastel Red-tail Boas
1.0 Lavender Motley Cornsnake
4.3 Hatchling Variable Kingsnakes
0.2 Hatchling Grayband x Ruthveni Kingsnakes
0.0.2 Baby Western Massasaugas (big surprise!)
1.1 Black Milksnakes
2.4 Honduran Milksnakes
1.3 Cornsnakes

Holy Cow those are nice... If you don't mind me asking, who did you pick those up from and how many bones did you have to drop?

Sorry to have missed you at the show.

Thanks for the info,

Steven Owens

Thanks Steve...I picked them up from Karl Krumke "Winding Creek Herps." They are F1 from wild-caught from Sichuan(I have no idea how it's actually spelled), China. He was selling them for $300 each at the show...Oh yah, and he used Wayne as an accomplice for the sale
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Snakes to the Max

1.2 Variable Kingsnakes
1.1 Grayband x Ruthveni
0.1 Western Massasauga (WC)
1.1 Jungle Carpet Pythons
1.1 Pastel Red-tail Boas
1.0 Lavender Motley Cornsnake
4.3 Hatchling Variable Kingsnakes
0.2 Hatchling Grayband x Ruthveni Kingsnakes
0.0.2 Baby Western Massasaugas (big surprise!)
1.1 Black Milksnakes
2.4 Honduran Milksnakes
1.3 Cornsnakes

:::))))

I checked those snakes out for a while at the show. Gorgeous!
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Genesis 1:1

Ditto. I will see you out in the field I am sure. Good jobs with the pics! You cracked me up at the show. I could see you fighting with yourself on these snakes. Been there and done that many time just as all of us have! Again, remember what I said about the gene diversification!

Wayne

I haven't heard the name Dave Blody (assuming it's the same one) in a LONG time. If it's the same one that used to work at the herpetarium at the Ft. Worth Zoo, I used to work with him as an Explorer when I was like 14 years old! That was like...900 years ago! I think his counterpart's name was Rick Hudson. I used to have a blast over there feeding critters. Good to see he's still around.
Jason
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Snakes of Hudspeth County, Texas