First a Disclaimer:
I became aware that many of you professional breeders owe allegiance to one show organizer or another. As a consumer I wasn’t aware of this until recently.
This report is just one unbiased consumer’s observation, and I welcome any contradicting reports.
I also need to mention that in the last 20 years, I’ve attended all manner of shows all over the USA, and occasionally foreign, as a consumer only because my work and play travel gave me the opportunity; some of these being the larger Daytona, Texas, Chicago shows to very small rural “pet shows” that can have one booth for reptiles.
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As a way of dealing with the winter doldrums last weekend, my wife and I attended the Charlotte Reptile Show. I just felt the need to say that I was pleasantly surprised at the diversified mix of animals and the number of folks attending.
In several shows in the recent years, there seems to have been an ad nauseum leaning towards one herp type or another. At this one, there was:
· A reasonable representation of small Boids, foreign and domestic, and Ball pythons with a noticeable reduction in the big pythons (IMHO - a good thing).
· A surprising mixed showing of Colubrids, natural and morphs. Ratsnakes being well represented for this time of the year.
· More lizards than just Bearded Dragons.
· A fair showing of CB terrapins and tortoises.
· A fair amount of hardware and husbandry suppliers.
· A few cosmetics (Jewelry, t-shirts, etc.)
· And it seemed like attendance was pretty good, especially young families.
A final note: the number of misidentified herps, that pop up in almost any collection of deli-cups, seemed to be reduced as well.
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Regards, Bill McGighan
