Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Is it against the rules to bring your own snake(s) to the reptile show if you are not showing them officially? Just for social purposes?
Thanks.
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)}{( Love and Serpents )}{(
_CaitLin

Dunno about the "rules" but I would recommend against it. A few thoughts:

- What to do with yours when if/when it getes tired or stressed?
- Mites?????
- RI and/or IBD

I would think bringing your own snake to the show then of course making the rounds of all the vendors would expose your snake to much more than any one vendor with his snakes at his booth.

Even though the risk is small, is it really worth it?
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Thanks,

Dave "Rainbows-R-Us"

0.1 Wife
0.2 kids
4.12 Brazilian Rainbow Boa
1.1 Ball python
0.1 BCI "Elvira" normal from 1989
1.0 BCI albino / het-anery
0.1 BCI Hypo / het-albino
0.1 BCI Anery / het-albino
0.1 BCI Hypo (possible super)

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

...At many of the smaller shows it is common practice for show managemant to allow visitors to bring in snakes. They often bring snakes they want to sell or trade with the vendors. I hate this practice because as Dave mentioned it increases the chances for transmitting diseases. The snakes they want to trade are often Ball Pythons. Nothing wrong with Ball Pythons, they are neat snakes but too many of them are imports that have been kept in poor conditions during transport. It is also annoying to go to a show trying to make a little money and have half the potential buyers trying to trade rather than give you real money. I am a snake breeder. My collection is way too important to me to risk it's health just to make a couple dollars dealing and trading in questionable animals. Because of these reasons, especially the health reasons I no longer travel to small shows to sell. At the big good shows the show managers stopped the practice of allowing visitors to bring in snakes a long time ago.
...I also think there are way too many small poor quality shows and that they detract from the number of people going to the good shows and this really hurts the good big shows. I wish that instead of dozens of really small shows all over the country every weekend there were only one or two really big shows per month spread out across the country. It is really worth it to drive a couple hundred miles and spend a nice weekend seeing thousands of the best animals and talking to the best breeders in the country. It is often disappointing to spend a saturday driving 100 miles to a small show to see a smallish room of mostly dealers and traders with their same old imported animals. Having written that I have to say that I have no personal knowledge of the Sacramento Show but have heard that some of the BIG California shows are outstanding.
Jeff

BONUS!!! BONUS!!! BONUS!!! BONUS!!! BONUS!!! BONUS!!!
Free advice on how to tell good breeders from the dealers and traders at reptile shows??? The good breederss are careful about their transport and display procedures to make sure that animals do not get mixed up with one another. They know which animal came from which litter and they want to keep straight on that information. Also the good breeders often have hand cleaning supplies out for you to use on their tables.

Another thing I do and have noticed not enough others do, I keep detailed records on each baby, I know when it was born, the parents, eat and shed dates. This info is passed on to the buyer. I also supply care sheets with each and every purchase. As the breeder, these are my babies and I care very much where they go and how they are taken care of. I have noticed some other vendors pull a snake from a communal box, sex it on the spot and place it in a individual deli cup with the species and sex on a very professional looking pre-printed label. Not saying the label is bad, but as Jeff indicated, no history, not been treated as one of the "babies". I keep each individual in it's own shoebox, checked daily (OK, I'll admit it....sometimes I miss a day). The only time I have kept babies together was just after birth and prior to first shed, I simply had so many I ran out of places to put them.....was a great year!!

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Thanks,

Dave "Rainbows-R-Us"

0.1 Wife
0.2 kids
4.12 Brazilian Rainbow Boa
1.1 Ball python
0.1 BCI "Elvira" normal from 1989
1.0 BCI albino / het-anery
0.1 BCI Hypo / het-albino
0.1 BCI Anery / het-albino
0.1 BCI Hypo (possible super)

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

>>Another thing I do and have noticed not enough others do, I keep detailed records on each baby, I know when it was born, the parents, eat and shed dates. This info is passed on to the buyer. I also supply care sheets with each and every purchase. As the breeder, these are my babies and I care very much where they go and how they are taken care of. I have noticed some other vendors pull a snake from a communal box, sex it on the spot and place it in a individual deli cup with the species and sex on a very professional looking pre-printed label. Not saying the label is bad, but as Jeff indicated, no history, not been treated as one of the "babies". I keep each individual in it's own shoebox, checked daily (OK, I'll admit it....sometimes I miss a day). The only time I have kept babies together was just after birth and prior to first shed, I simply had so many I ran out of places to put them.....was a great year!!
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>>Thanks,
>>
>>Dave "Rainbows-R-Us"
>>
>>
>>0.1 Wife
>>0.2 kids
>>4.12 Brazilian Rainbow Boa
>>1.1 Ball python
>>0.1 BCI "Elvira" normal from 1989
>>1.0 BCI albino / het-anery
>>0.1 BCI Hypo / het-albino
>>0.1 BCI Anery / het-albino
>>0.1 BCI Hypo (possible super)
>>
>>lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Of the 12 Brb's that I have purchased only three have a documented B.D. Two of those are Jeff's. Personally I find it a bit odd to not know what day they were born. Several have come through a "middleman" but I still think it's strange that no one had the time to find out or take the time to ask and write it down somewhere. Either, it's not that important, or that 10 seconds is just too time-consuming. My records are reasonable, not perfect. There is a period...since May that has not been kept current....note to self-I must do better.....but, it seems to be much more than the average breeder could furnish. I expect a breeder to have a fairly accurate account of the little boogers and am somewhat disappointed if I don't receive that information with the snake.

>>Another thing I do and have noticed not enough others do, I keep detailed records on each baby, I know when it was born, the parents, eat and shed dates. This info is passed on to the buyer. I also supply care sheets with each and every purchase. As the breeder, these are my babies and I care very much where they go and how they are taken care of. I have noticed some other vendors pull a snake from a communal box, sex it on the spot and place it in a individual deli cup with the species and sex on a very professional looking pre-printed label. Not saying the label is bad, but as Jeff indicated, no history, not been treated as one of the "babies". I keep each individual in it's own shoebox, checked daily (OK, I'll admit it....sometimes I miss a day). The only time I have kept babies together was just after birth and prior to first shed, I simply had so many I ran out of places to put them.....was a great year!!
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>>-----
>>Thanks,
>>
>>Dave "Rainbows-R-Us"
>>
>>
>>0.1 Wife
>>0.2 kids
>>4.12 Brazilian Rainbow Boa
>>1.1 Ball python
>>0.1 BCI "Elvira" normal from 1989
>>1.0 BCI albino / het-anery
>>0.1 BCI Hypo / het-albino
>>0.1 BCI Anery / het-albino
>>0.1 BCI Hypo (possible super)
>>
>>lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats
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When the student is ready, the teacher appears. When the student is ready, the teacher appears. When the student is ready, the teacher appears. When the student is ready, the teachers appears.

I agree as well. Seeing as how it's a big risk for those who actually take the time to bring vendored snakes there and perhaps mingle with those who may have mites and other things.
Very good call.
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)}{( Love and Serpents )}{(
_CaitLin

Caitlin,
....I feel that all of us who are into snakes have a responsibility to teach the public about them. The very best way to do this is to show our snakes to children. The best places to do this are in the schools and during the summer at the libraries during their summer reading programs. Teachers and librarians are often very eager to have someone come and talk to the kids and show them something interesting. Children often do not have the misinformation that so many adults have about snakes. If you can show them how beautiful these animals are and answer their question you can do a lot to protect our local snakes from ignorance. Be prepared to answer lots of "interesting" questions. The kids will want to touch the snakes so make sure you take a snake that is TOTALLY tame and calm around people or be prepared to keep the snake's head so that it cannot bite someone. This can be done very easily if you just hold the forward part of the snake and extend the body toward people. This way it does not look like you are restraining the snake.
Jeff

>>I agree as well. Seeing as how it's a big risk for those who actually take the time to bring vendored snakes there and perhaps mingle with those who may have mites and other things.
>>Very good call.
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>>}{( Love and Serpents )}{(
>>_CaitLin
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