Reptile & Amphibian Forums

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 A3, 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.

Another thing I hate about all this is the bargain-desperate buying public that looks for quality for nothing. They perpetuate the push to supply the simplest, the inadequate, the minimal.

Though this is often the case, (especially when the parents are not into it, and it's simply "another" distraction for the kids)I have seen just the opposite.

Most of the people I spoke to that were buying chameleons this past week were into it--they wanted to do it right. They were there to get not only the animal, but everything they needed. In fact, many were upset they couldn't find cages large enough for their tastes.

When parents back their kids's interests up by facilitating the "science/knowledge" aspect of keeping reptiles, the kids want more and more books on the animals. I saw some kids that were JUST learnign to read, ask their parents to buy them reptile books so they could understand more about their pets.
Very encouraging--reading is a great path to knowledge.

Lots of parents go the cheapest way, and probably don't care that the thing is going to die soon anyway. they aren't doing it for educational/knowledge-based reasons, they're just appeasing their kids so they leave them alone.

The parents that are really into it with them, that want to get their kids into something scientific, they're spending some money. Some serious money. Might as well make it spent on things that are worth it. Instead of expensive UVA bulbs, reptile sanatizer, vitamin spray, etc.

I guess many of the dealers make quite a bit of money off the parents that want the cheapest, fastest way out(whatever looks good, costs less, etc.) Otherwise why would they be selling the stuff?

Educate the people,and the vendors eventually will stop stocking the uselessities.

I noticed the same type of thing at the Daytona show. Crickets in cages with herbavores, along with pairs of chameleons all fired up. Supplies were reasonably priced.

Now, Ft.Myers. I have heard of populations of wild Tokay Geckos. Now Veiled Chams? I need to go down there and do some exploring. I have found an article by UF describing some reasearch on them in Ft.Myers

Eric,

I agree, I heard it was terrible this time. I can't tell you how many phone calls and e-mails I received during and after the show complaining that I was not there. The consensus I heard was there were no trustworthy honest people selling Chameleons (and alot of other reptiles) this show. I was told this was the worst Tampa show yet.

We have grown tired of the other vendors that are only concerned with the money and making a sale rather than the animals well being as well as have grown super tired of the idiots that only care about saving a few dollars by purchasing an animal from another vendor than us that might be cheaper. We have had countless times that our prices were 25-50 higher on some species because they were LTC, treated, and well established over the fresh imported, on death's door animals at the other vendors and the customers will go to the other vendors to save a little cash and then call me after the show when the animal purchased from the other vendor has perished. We got so tired of it that we are currently not doing shows any more.
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Rob Trenor
RK Reptiles
www.rkreptiles.com
www.rkreptiles.net
www.oldworldchameleons.com
www.ballpythonmorphs.net
www.beardedragons.com

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