NEWS-JOURNAL (Daytona Beach, Florida) 25 August 08 Reptile lovers revel in breeders expo (John Bozzo)
Daytona Beach: Snakes, lizards and turtles -- oh my.
People showed up from near and far Sunday to see reptiles at the Ocean Center on the last day of the two-day National Reptile Breeders' Expo.
Organizer Wayne Hill said attendance was strong despite Tropical Storm Fay.
"Surprisingly enough, these people are so hardcore and so devoted to their animals, that this year we had as good a crowd as last year and last year we had good weather," he said.
Hill said the event is the second-largest event of its kind in the world.
In the crowd, Jerod Newbury, 13, of Monroe, La., looked intently at the small blood python in his hands.
"That will grow to be about 8 inches in diameter and about 6 feet long," said his father, Shawn Newbury, who drove here with his son for the Expo.
They have about 10 pythons back home and were undaunted at the prospect of keeping a full-grown python.
"Snakes are easy," said Shawn Newbury. "You just get a big plastic tub and they're happy."
They plan to breed a piebald python over the years. Such snakes cost $1,500 to $2,000 to purchase.
"The cheapest way to get exotic snakes like these is to work your way up, breed into it," the father said.
Chris Jones, 20, of Gainesville, plans to breed and sell the four ball pythons he purchased Sunday. Jones paid $60 for the quartet of snakes at the Expo. Back home, buying just one would set him back that much.
"Great prices," he said. "It's like breeder rates. I can't pass it up."
Jones said he'll breed two of the snakes and sell the others right away to get his money back, and them some.
He acknowledged an attraction to snakes.
"Ever since I was a young age, I stayed out in the country," he said. "At first I played with wild venomous snakes. I thought I would get something safer."
Brad Viveiros, 32, of Hollywood, said it's common for hobbyists to breed and sell reptiles.
"It's a hobby that pays for itself," he said, adding that he's made anywhere from "a couple hundred" to "hundreds of thousands" in a year.
Viveiros walked along the displays with sons Bradley, 13, and Kain, 9, who have their own breeding project together.
"I like snakes because they're all slithery and they slither around," Kain Viveiros said.
Tom Reyes, 23, and his family traveled from Miami for the Expo. They stopped at a table where a handler displayed an albino American alligator.
"I like to look," he said. "I wish I had more money."
Reyes said he's trying to breed tortoises.
"It's surprising, reptiles have so much personality," he said. "You can get them to the point where they remember their name."
Some of those attending the event weren't reptile enthusiasts.
Amy Holley, 39, of Holly Hill was on a photo safari with other members of a photography club.
"They're (photo) opportunities everywhere I look," she said, after snapping shots of a chameleon hugging a branch above one of the vendor tables.
"Creepy opportunities. I don't like snakes. I'm more of a pets with fur kind of person."
Reptile lovers revel in breeders expo