Reptile & Amphibian Forums

what did you bring home?
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1.2.1 Leopard Geckos
Blizzard females, male albino tangerine,
and a trempor albino
Turtles
1.0.0 Common snapping turtle
0.1.0 Belize slider
0.1.0 Egyptian tortoise

I arrived Friday around noon. Spent some time at the Adam's Mark bar and talked to a bunch of folks.
Saturday was nice and for a change, was not overly crowded. About noon though, the place was packed. The whole operation was very smooth.
There were hundreds of hatchling RES and hatchling stinkpots and a large number of red-bellied sidenecks too. Didn't see a whole lot of oddball things though like in previous years---very few African sidenecks, NO Staurotypus and not a whole lot of Asian things either. Of course, they COULD have been there and I just missed them.
There was (at least it seemed obvious to me) quite a number of almost certainly wild caught turtles and tortoises though.
Picked up a copy of "Keeping and Breeding Freshwater Turtles" by Russ Gurley.....seems to be pretty well done with lots of pictures.
Not a single live critter this time. Boy, is my wife happy!
BTW.....the weather was spectacular......sunny but not too hot.

I did. In past years I've come home with 20 different species of hatchling water turtles. Not this year though. My only pond has a 62 lb. male alligator snapper in it. So I just went just to take in the sights. There were fl. red belly, RES, cumberland sliders, nic., ven. braz. mex. sliders, yellow bellys, northern red bellys, fl chickens sold out at the 1 vendor that I saw who'd had some, all kinds of mud, musk, stinkpot, pen. cooters, texas/ rio grande cooters/ sliders, various types of map, common snappers, smooth softshells, fl softshells, all 4 types of painted were represented (yes even midland). The prices were awesome. Some vendors had 4 turtles for $10. I'd covered about 90% of the place just focusing on domestic water turtles. Then I saw a table with some 25 year old sulcata tortoises along with hatchlings. Man they were cool. I spent some time talking to the seller and went ahead and bought a hatchling for $50. Other vendors had them for less ($45) but this guy was the nicest and took the most time so he got my business. I then bought a book about the tortoises, a tank, some bulbs, a fake cave and a lamp and that was that. He's doing well.

One a side note, I saw a vendor with two baby salt water crocs in a tank ($500). Awesome to see. Amazing expo. I encourage all who can to travel down for it.

Forgot some: lots of spotted hatchlings, some 'blue' yellow bellys, a few clown red bellys and pastel sliders, central american wood. I skipped over most non-native turtles and tortoises though hundreds were there. I didn't take note of the species. Side-necked this, snake-necked that, red cheeked, pink-bellied there was a lot there that I skipped over.

My girlfriend was blown away by how tiny the baby stinkpots were. They were like the runts of your milkdud bag.

Kevin

I have to ask, with such a big and well-known show, why was there a need to have so many common and - let's face it - over-sold animals like RES and sulcata? I'm strugling to find quality homes for all the sliders and sulcata that get dumped here in MD, and then I hear about a show selling animals so cheap, you know most of them will end up dead or in rescue in the next five years. I just don't understand it.

I do like the fact that there were lots of muds, musks, and painteds for sale. Once I get a larger reptile room, I want to try to breed eastern muds or stinkpots.

Katrina

I went and had a lot of fun. The only turtle I got was a Chinese Thread at the auction. I also got 4 crested geckos. I go every year. It's been a lot easier since I moved to FL, but it's a pilgrimage I think most reptile people should take, especially if you are into turtles since the show is basically run by turtle people.

There were some really cool albino turtles there. Some highlights were the albino red foot tortoise,albino softshells, and albino pink belly sidenecks. Other cool turtles included a few adult Cuora trifasciata and some neat Geoclemys hamiltonii. There were quite a few NA wood turtles (some as low as $60). Spotteds seemed more expensive this year. Some critters, like mata matas, seemed to be missing from the usual selection, but overall there was a bunch of cool stuff.
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1.0 Woma
1.0 Australian Water Python
1.0 Australian Olive Python
1.0 Albino Green Burmese
1.0 Lereh Green Tree Python
1.1 Loxocemus bicolor (New World "Pythons" )
1.1 Hog Island Boas
0.0.1 Chinese Thread Turtle
1.0 Alligator Snapper
0.0.2 Leopard Tortoises
0.0.4 "Flame" Crested Geckos
1.0 Yellow Ackie

I saw those L. bicolor too---awesome! I had one about 15 years ago that I got as an imported hatchling. Was one of the neatest snake I've ever kept.
Hope you breed them.