A Birthday Surprise

No, it's not my birthday but it is someone in my family's birthday today. The surprise was not what she got for present but that my large female Hermann's tortoise laid 4 eggs today. I did not think my two year + old male was ready nor big enough but apparently he was good to go. So, in another 65 to 90 days or so, there should be a batch of 4 new Hermann's tortoise hatchlings scampering around my herp room.

All the best,
Glenn B

Three "New" Species of Herps Discovered

The three new species of herps, two lizards and a frog (previously unidentified by science) were recently discovered in an isolated ecosystem in Australia. See:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/australia/10408499/Scientists-discover-new-species-in-Lost-World-in-Australia.html

A hat tip and my thanks to Mike G, an online friend of mine, who sent me the link.

All the best,
Glenn B

Jumping Out of The Lab To Do Real Scientific Research

Researchers who were studying frogs were flummoxed over the Guinness Book of World Records relative to the longest distance ever jumped, in a single bound , by a bullfrog. Their lab results had shown that the best a bullfrog could do was a jump of about 1.3 meters; however, the GBWR showed that a bullfrog named Rosie The Ribeter had jumped just over an impressive 2.1 meters (21' 5 3/4") at the Calaveras County Jumping Frog Jubilee in 1986.

In 2009, the eggheads decided to take a look into whether or not it was fact or fiction that such a long jump could be achieved by a bullfrog in a single bound. If you would like to read about what they found, hop on over to the article at this link:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/10/131016213042.htm

A hat tip and my thanks to Deb H for this one.

All the best,
Glenn B

Reminder - LIHS Monthly Meeting, Sunday, October 20th

The next monthly meeting of the Long Island Herpetological Society (LIHS) will take place on Sunday October 20th at SUNY Farmingdale in the Conference Center. Click here for directions. As usual, it will begin at 1PM and is slated to end at 4PM although it may end earlier. The speaker will be LIHS member John Heiser and the topic will be:


Reptiles & Amphibians of Long Island
Part 1 - Snakes and Lizard

 

In addition to the planned speaker and presentation, we should be holding nominations for board members at the October meeting. We usually hold nominations in both September and October but the nominations were overlooked at the September meeting. Hopefully we will have a good turn out of the membership at the October meeting for the nominations (and for John's presentation).

As usual, the meeting is open to LIHS members and to the general public. Entry to the meetings are free, there is no admission fee. Hope to see you there.

All the best,
Glenn B

Robert C. Stebbins March 1915 - September 2013

 

If you are a herper and looked at the title of this post and then thought who the heck is Robert C. Stebbins, all I can figure is you are probably pretty young. I would think that any herper who was middle aged or older would know the name, he wrote one of the most widely used herpetological field guides ever. That would be The Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians which was published first in 1966 as part of the Peterson Field Guide Series. I was ten or eleven when it was published and soon after that I got to see it in the library. It was not more than a few years after that when I owned my own copy. It wound up being the perfect companion for my copy of A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of the United States and Canada East of the 100th Meridian by Roger Conant and was a constant companion many years later when I traveled afield in our western states. I am indebted o Mr. Stebbins for many a herp collecting adventure that his field guide inspired within me.

Throughout much of his 98 years, Mr. Stebbins was an accomplished author and illustrator, a eminent herpetologist, a biologist, a naturalist, a conservationist and professor emeritus as well as being an inspiration to many a youngster who developed lasting interests in reptiles & amphibians. To see more about Robert C. Stebbins see these articles:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/08/us/robert-c-stebbins-chronicler-of-western-reptiles-and-amphibians-dies-at-98.html?_r=0

http://www.latimes.com/obituaries/la-me-robert-stebbins-20131006,0,6487001.story

http://bioaccumulation.wordpress.com/2013/09/24/in-memorium-robert-c-stebbins-march-31-1915-september-22-2013/

May he rest in peace in a place with lots of herps.

All the best,
Glenn B

Rapid Evolution of Italian Wall Lizards

"Italian wall lizards introduced to a tiny island off the coast of Croatia are evolving in ways that would normally take millions of years to play out, new research shows."  

For the source of that quote and for the rest of the story, see the article at this link:

http://news.nationalgeographic.co.uk/news/2008/04/080421-lizard-evolution.html

Male and female Italian Wall Lizards, Podarcis siculus. They are a
fairly common sight around certain areas of Long Island since their
unintended introduction to the Garden City area in 1966. Photo source.

Makes me wonder if the Italian Wall Lizards on Long Island have evolved since their establishment here. For more info on Long Island's Italian Wall Lizards, see the linked article by Russell Burke.

Personally, my hypotheses has been that at least some evolutionary change, maybe even most of it, occurs much more rapidly than over millions of years. It has been witnessed happening at a much faster rate over and over again, after major habitat changes, yet many scientists still seems to think the process is a long drawn out one. Lasting catastrophic habitat changes can and often do take place rapidly. It seems reasonable that the only creatures that would be able to survive, in some way, shape or form, would be those that adapt to it rapidly. Introduction of a species to a habitat for which it is not already adapted would force such changes or would likely result in the demise of the species in that new location.

Thanks to Deb H for the article.

All the best,
Glenn B

Another Herp/Cat Relationship Post

I don't know exactly what it is with Deb H sending in all these submission for the blog that involve cats but here is yet another. In this one it looks as if the herp, a tortoise, has the last laugh an maybe winds up with a hairball.

I kind of doubt it hurt much, if any, but it startled the cat. I guess it is not too often that the cat plays cat and mouse with a tortoise when the tortoise plays the role of the cat.

Another hat tip to Deb for sending in something for the blog.

All he best,
Glenn B

Upcoming Long Island Reptile Expo

The next Long Island Reptile Expo will be held on Sunday, October 13th, located at the:

Huntington Hilton Hotel 

598 Broad Hollow Rd. (Rt. 110)

Melville, NY  11747

 

 

The LIHS will have a table there. My guess is that volunteers (LIHS members only) to help man the table are needed. If you are an LIHS member and want to volunteer to help out at the LIHS table, please contact Rich Meyer Jr. at: gojiira@optonline.net.

 

All the best,

Glenn B



Long Island Herpetological Society October Meeting

The next monthly meeting of the LIHS will take place on Sunday October 20th at SUNY Farmingdale in the Conference Center. Click here for directions. As usual, it will begin at 1PM and is slated to end at 4PM although it may end earlier. GThe speaker will be LIHS member John Heiser and the topic will be:

Reptiles & Amphibians of Long Island
Part 1 - Snakes and Lizard

 

In addition to the planned speaker and presentation, we should be holding nominations for board members at the October meeting. We usually hold nominations in both September and October but the nominations were overlooked at the September meeting. Hopefully we will have a good turn out of the membership at the October meeting for the nominations (and for John's presentation).

As usual, the meeting is open to LIHS members and to the general public. Entry to the meetings are free, there is no admission fee. Hope to see you there.

All the best,
Glenn B

Hatchling Chameleon

I don't know what species of chameleon is this but if someone does know, please leave the species name in the comments. Thanks, yet again, to Deb H for this submission.



Source: Click here: http://i.imgur.com/NWoWjwQ.jpg

All the best,
Glenn B

Yet Another Cat - This One With A Jurasic Tortoise

The cat in this photo seems to be the one being teased. It looks like it is totally amazed at what it is seeing (or is it just me who was amazed to see a tortoise dressed up in a knitted dinosaur outfit). The things some people do with their herps is a bit mind boggling, at least for me. Once again, a hat tip and my thanks to Deb H for this one.

Source: http://i.imgur.com/i2KtRZS.jpg

All the best,
Glenn B

Cat Teasing A Snake

I sure likes the cat is deliberately toying with the snake - doesn't it! For the cat's sake, I would hope the snake is not venomous. Looks like a black racer to me.

A hat tip to Deb H for this one.

All the best,
Glenn B

LIHS September Meeting Review and Upcoming Events

The LIHS kicked off its 2013/2014 season with a general meeting this past Sunday, September 22nd. The meeting was attended by about 15 members (to maybe 20 at best and I think that a stretch). We discussed some general stuff and then Vin Russo ran the scheduled Snake Sexing Workshop. He probed and popped a lot of snakes. While that was going on, the rest of the membership talked about whatever.

Being that only about 15 or so members attended the meeting, I got to wondering what we could do to increase attendance at the meetings. I have a few ideas of my own but I would sure like to hear from any of the membership as to what you guys think we can do to make the meetings more interesting for all of us. If you have an idea along those lines, anything at all within reason, please leave a comment to this post with your thoughts.

Some upcoming LIHS Events:

1) On October 13th, Sunday, the LIHS will have a table at the Long Island Reptile Expo. If you are able to volunteer to help man the table, please contact Rich Meyer Jr. at gojiira@optonline.net.

2) Our next meeting is scheduled for Sunday, October 20th, at 1PM. The meeting will consist of general business, nominations for the executive board (which were not held last week) and a presentation: Reptiles & Amphibians of Long Island, Part 1 (of 4 parts), Snakes and Lizards. I am pretty certain that the speaker will be John Heiser. It will be held in the Conference Center at SUNY Farmingdale from 1-4PM (it may end earlier).

Hope to see you at these events.

All the best,
Glenn B

CHA - WHO - A

Went to the NY Metro Reptile Expo at White Plains, NY today and spent the entire day there from about 8:15 AM until about 4:15 PM. As opposed to usual for me at a reptile show, I barely looked around at any of the reptiles or amphibians. Instead, I spent almost all day at a vendor's table with John H, Rich H and Vin R. I brought along a Hermann's Tortoise and three Crested Gecko babies that I got rid of while there.

While I did not look at many herps at the expo, I managed to get two large bags of Keepers' Choice red cypress substrate and a jar of Rep-Cal Tortoise Food from Slither & Swim, and a piece of cork bark (used as a hiding place for my lizards) and 1,000 3/4" crickets and 500 1/4" crickets from other dealers.

I also managed to make a major score in that I found (really my good friend John H found) a dealer selling a female Rhacodactylus chahoua (New Caledonian Mossy Gecko) at a very good price.



New Caledonian Mossy Gecko, Rhacodactylus chahoua.
This is a female and is of the mainland variety.

The females usually go for anywhere between $500 and $700 apiece but the price being asked was substantially less and the price I paid was even less than the asking price. It was the friend of a friend price kind of a thing. Al I can say is that it is good to have good friends who are good friends of herp dealers. Besides getting the excellent deal, the chahoua is guaranteed to be female.

Being it is only a year old, I will have to wait at least a year and a half or more before trying to mate it with my male. Mating these lizards is not all that easy like it is with Crested Geckos. My understanding is that they sometimes do not readily accept a mate just because it is the right species and the right gender. Time will tell if my pair hit it off and if chahoua eggs and babies are in my future.

All the best,
Glenn B

Don't Fly To Close To The Water

Phil: "Hey Fred, don't fly to close to the water!"
Fred: "It's okay, just watch as I swoop down clos..."
Phil: Fred, Fred, where the heck are ya Fred?

CLICK THE IMAGE

 

 

A hat tip to Deb H for the pic at the click.

 

All the best,

GB

NY Metro Reptile Expo - Tomorrow September 8th

Just a reminder that the NY Metro Reptile Expo will be held in White Plains tomorrow. It is always an excellent opportunity to see and purchase reptiles, amphibians, feeders, and herp care accessories & supplies. For more info see: http://reptileexpo.com/nyfirst.htm.

All the best,
Glenn B

Long Island Herpetological Society Meeting Season Begins This Month

The Long Island Herpetological Society's meeting season begins this month and will continue through June 2014 with monthly meetings. Meetings are open to the public. If you have an interest in reptiles & amphibians please feel free to hop on over to join us. The meeting schedule can be found at this link: http://www.lihs.org/files/meetings.htm.

For more information on the LIHS, please go to the page at this link: WWW.LIHS.org.

All the best,
Glenn B

"Extinct" Vipers Born At St. Louis Zoo

Montivipera wagneri

The Ocellate Mountain Viper, the range of which was once thought to be restricted solely to Iran, was rediscovered in Turkey in 1983 after having been thought of as extinct since the 1840s. Upon rediscovery, many were collected and some wound up in U.S. zoos, the St. Louis Zoo winding up with the largest captive population in the world - 23 of them. That number includes 9 recently born baby vipers. That is good news since the worldwide population of them is believed to have decreased by 80% in the last 20 years or so.

See the story at this link for more info.

All the best,
Glenn B

The 2013 National Reptile Breeders' Expo

 

After years of dreaming about it, I made it at last.

Well, after many years of hoping to attend, I finally made it down to Daytona Beach, FL for the annual National Reptile Breeders' Expo. I had been warned, before I went, that it is not what it once had been, that it has gotten much smaller with fewer breeders/dealers and that in recent years it seemed little more than a showroom for ball pythons (thank you JH for preparing me). Still that did not deter me but it made me think maybe the expo should not the only reason for my trip. So instead of flying into Orlando, then driving to Daytona Beach as I had planned, I flew into West Palm Beach and visited relatives there for a couple of days. Then I drove up to Daytona Beach for the expo after which I drove back down to WPB for the rest of my week long vacation. The drive from WPB to DB was about 3 hours 45 minutes long, with the last 10 or so miles taking up 45 minutes of that time due to a traffic jam in the city. When I finally got to the Ocean Center, where the show was held, there was plenty of nearby parking available at an inside municipal parking garage for $5.00 for event attendees. I got to the show at about 1:30PM on Saturday.

I have to admit, I was a bit hot under the collar by the time I got there because of the traffic driving the last few miles crosstown, and because of knucklehead drives in that traffic, but that heat under my collar was soon cooled by a couple of fortuitous events all due to timing. First of all, I drove into the lot, paid the $5 and started to drive up the ramp. I was only about 10 cars in and a guy pulled out in front of me giving me a prime parking spot. That dropped the temperature a bit. Then, when I walked into the show, which was about a block from the parking lot, I got on the line to pay the entry fee. All of a sudden, a guy walks up to me (I was the last person on the line) and asks if I was going to the reptile show. Luckily for me I was not as hot under the collar as I had been a few minutes before or I may have replied with a New Yorker's reply something like: "Where the heck do you think I am going with me standing on this line you moron!". But I didn't reply like that and just said something to the effect: "Yes, of course I am". At that point, the gentleman asked if I wanted a wristband to get in (you had to wear the wristband to gain entry and reentry). Before I could say anything, he said it was free and then said it had not even been used. I said sure and he gave it to me. I thanked him profusely (I hope it was profusely enough) and I went inside. I guess that had I not been delayed in that 45 minutes of traffic I would never have gotten that parking spot and never had timed it just right to have had that gentleman ask me if I wanted his wristband. Funny how things work out sometimes, funny by fortuitous too.

Then, it was into the show for me. I must say that my first impression was a disappointment but remember that was my first impression, probably my second one too, but not my final one. While the hall was big, bigger than that in which any reptile expo I have attended before was held, it was not nearly as big as I would have expected. It had nowhere nearly as many dealer tables as I had anticipated. I had been warned but still thought it would be bigger or at least have more dealers (and yes there were still plenty of them). Oh well, I would walk around and see what they had to offer. Again, after my first walk around, I was disappointed again. Also again, I had been warned; it really was, or seemed to be, mostly a showcase for ball python morphs. Yes there were many other herps offered but I have to say I think I have seen more general variety at the LIHS shows and at the NY Metro Reptile Expo shows in White Plains and on Long Island. My guess would be that 35 to 40% of the animals offered for sale were ball pythons. Sure - there were other snakes offered but not as wide a variety as I have seen elsewhere and as I have indicated, those on hand were far outnumbered by BPs and remember BPs seemingly, to me, outnumbered every other kind of herp at the show.

The amount of lizards at the expo was abysmal. There were a few to several tables with bearded dragons, about three tables with a lot of crested geckos and some leachies (Rhacodactylus leachianus) and other odd lizards here and there - like monitors, crocodile geckos or other geckos - but not many. Again, they were overshadowed by the ball pythons that were in apparent overabundance.

I must say, there were a good number of turtles and tortoises for sale, and they may have given the BPs a run for the money, but even in that area the show was lacking in some ways even if only for me. In general though, it had to have been a turtle and tortoise lover's paradise, there were oodles and oodles of them and very good to excellent variety. Yet, I was hoping to pick up a few baby Russian Tortoises. Very few Russian Tortoises (and no baby Russians) were available although, there were some captive bred ones about a year or two old. There also were a good number of Hermann's Tortoises but virtually all I saw were females and I could have used a young adult male. I was also hoping to pick up at least a few baby Chinese Box Turtles. In fact, these were my prime targets. I would have spent all my money of 4 or 5 of them and not bought even one other animal but only one dealer had them and by the time I got to his table, on Saturday, he told me he was sold out of them. Mysteriously though, he had two of them suddenly appear on Sunday but at $150 each they were only an average deal and were not for me. Anyway, most of my cash was depleted already because of what I bought at the show and the auction on Saturday. I have to repeat again though, the variety and amount of turtles at the expo was pretty amazing.

Being Florida, I guess it would be expected that alligators would be at the show, at least on display. In fact, they were on sale. Mind you, not your average alligator but ones a bit more expensive - albino alligators. You will be surprised to see the asking price that I will show with their pic below.

Amphibians were, in my estimation, sorely lacking. There was one dealer offering dart frogs, another couple or few offering horned frogs and I think one with axolotls. I don't recall seeing many other amphibians, in fact all I can think of now was one other frog and a few blue tailed newts, the newts were display only.

I should add, after the show on Saturday and once I had decided to stay overnight, I attended the auction to help fund PIJAC and maybe also USARK.  The auction was in fact two distinct auctions - one with live bidding and an auctioneer offering individual lots and the other a silent bidder type where you walked around many tables with items up for bid. The items up for bid, in each auction, consisted of live herps, herp keeping accessories, and other herp related items along with some non-herp related offerings. The auctions ran concurrently in the same room. While buying snakes was the furthest thing from my mind while at this show, I saw that Vin R had donated at least one ball python to the silent auction and I decided to bid on it (knowing he offers only high quality animals and not really expecting to have the high bid). As the live auction went on, the silent bidding also continued. Near the end of the live auction and thus near the close of the silent bidding, I noted one woman kept returning and bidding higher than each of my previous bids. I told her not to bother bidding because I would just outbid her and it seemed to have the desired effect - she said she would not stop until she had the high bid.

I don't know if I should say shame on her for fibbing or shame on me for believing her but you can guess who wound up the owner of that snake and it was not her. At least the bid was about $30 or $40 under its value. I also picked up another ball python that had a bid up to $175 and had been valued at $200 by the person who had donated it. Well, he mislabeled it as a female and changed that to male during the bidding. The bidding on it just stopped dead as if the snake was just run over on a road.  When time came to pay for it - no one claimed it. Come close to the end of the night, those still in the hall had the opportunity to grab whatever auction items had not been claimed by the people who had bid on the silent auction offerings. I grabbed that snake and offered the lowest bid for it. My offer was accepted. I now have a male BP, heterozygous for albino and 50% het for pied, that I will be offering for sale. In addition, I picked up a few other items but no other live animals.

As I said, I also attended the show on Sunday. On Sunday, I picked up two baby Map Turtles. Sort of an impulse buy for me but very inexpensive, I paid $15 for both of them.

As for my views on the show, all of my feelings about the show were based on my personal observations. Granted, I might have missed something here and there. I will say though, since I wound up staying overnight and thus visited the expo both Saturday and Sunday, and stayed until closing on Saturday and just before closing on Sunday, I saw almost everything that was offered after abut 1:30PM on Saturday. I looked, or tried to look, at every table's offerings. Saturday seemingly was a much more active day as far as sales went. A lot of people were buying then. Sunday looked more like family day out at the herp show. Both Vin Russo and Rich Hume, who were both at the show as vendors, pretty much summed it up as being that way but with Sunday at least having a few serious buyers early on in the day.

By the way, even though I was somewhat disappointed because of my prior expectations, I had a good there. The show was only somewhat of a disappointment to me because it was not as big as it once had been or as I hoped it would be, and because of the lack of variety. I guess other find BPs all that much more attractive and if they sell, who can blame the dealers for presenting them. I would have enjoyed it more though, despite the smaller size than in years gone by, had there been more variety. That would have made the show truly very good to excellent (it was very good to excellent in some regards such as the variety of turtles and tortoises). As it stands, I would rate this expo as average to good. There were certainly some excellent prices to be had if you shopped around for what you wanted and that helped the rating I just gave.

There certainly was no lack of variety in the price spread on things in which I was interested. Some prices, for the same type of critters for which I was shopping, varied by as much as $70 apiece. In addition, you could better the price not so much as by haggling a lot but simply by asking once if they would sell at your price. For instance, I asked a dealer, who was selling redfoot torts, if he would come down in price by what amounted to about 20% off if I would buy four of them. He upped my offer by $5 and I bought them. I also got a 25% discount on the two map turtles just because I asked - and I only asked once. It was nice to get some herps that I wanted at good prices. (Even with shipping added, the total cost for the herps I purchased would have been more had I bought them in NY.) It also was nice to meet up with other LIHS members: Vin R, Rich H and Ken S. I was hoping Ed B would stroll into the show, now that he lives in FL, but I did not see him if he did so.

The rest of this post will be in pictures, a lot of them. On Saturday, I had forgotten my camera in my car and so only took a few pics with my lousy cellphone camera. On Sunday, I took pics with my regular camera and while certainly not professional quality, the snapshots I took will give you an idea of the scope of the expo. So, if you have never been to one, you can at least get an idea of what it was like at the 2013 expo.

The first familiar face I ran across, and smiling as usual.
Sorry its not the best quality, I took it with my cellphone.

Vin R, down to high end business at CuttingEdgeHerp.
Vin was selling his balls (as in pythons) and both he and 
Rich were selling corn and hognose snakes as partners.

Russo's leucistic balls. Nice snakes.

Some of Vin's other offerings.

A big mostly black python.

CF Snakes, I think selling only hognose snakes.

EXO TERRA

Some nice EXO TERRA displays.

Freedom breeder rack systems.

George Vesper BALL PYTHONS.
 (Many more BPs to come.)

Looks like you could have some fun with these devices,
maybe not so much fun for the herps though!

Yep, I would bet, not fun for the critters.

Like the sign says.

A pair of Asian Mt. Tortoises.



As promised more ball pythons and more to come.

Thought these might have been Pancake Torts but not sure.

 

Click it to big it and get a load of that Bearded Dragon.
This photo is not enhanced, that was one heck of an orange BD.

Definitely had to be a family pet.

NoCo as in northern California. Folks came from far and
wide to attend this expo Yes, they have BPs on their table.

As the sign reads.

Perfect predators meaning some corn snakes
and a lot of boa constrictors. (What no balls?)

A young red headed girl checking out Pinellas County Reptiles.

The Rep Room; look closely at the countertop,
are they selling a human head?

A pretty big Spur Thigh tortoise.

Sorry about the blurry cellphone pic but
this one has a penny atop the shell for scale.

And now for something completely different, a reptile
tannery. This gentleman was selling knives with sheaths
 made from herp hides, wallets too. Not really all that
different as at least one wallet was made out of BP skin.

Yep, the wallet to your lower right is made from
BP skin as is the one on the upper right.

A small selection of the knives he had for sale,
I think all with herp hide sheaths.

A true denizen of the south. Although my guess would be
that this particular one was captive bred, the first albino
gators on record were wild caught.

Yes, they were for sale for the paltry price of $17,000 each.

 

Some herp artwork, these pieces were more expensive
than many of the live herps at the show.

Adam Chesla Reptiles and yet more BPs.

Constrictors Unlimited and even yet more ball pythons.

A nice blood python to distract from all the ball pythons.

Business picking up on Saturday afternoon.

Black Headed Python.

Family Herps and its a family that likes Ball Pythons.

Are they talking ball pythons or Colt Pythons?

Yep you guessed it, the Florida Reptile Room was
also selling ball pythons.

Dynasty Reptiles and is it any surprise
they too are selling ball pythons.

Happy herpumstance Batman, someone
was actually selling green lizards and no BPs.

Hermann's Tortoises, as I recall all were females.

For the person who always wanted that Addam's
Family look for their living room, I love it.

What did I tell you, yet more ball pythons.

Rows and rows of ball pythons.

An orange headed something or other.
I meant to take notes but forgot.

The sign says it all.

A baby bearded dragon display.

A closer look at some of those baby BPs.
Don't forget to click on any pic to enlarge.



Sure you can hold one, this is a family show.
That brought out some smiles.



Ah yes, the last three pics were of Bearded Dragon Central.

Baby snapping turtles.

Balanced Scale reptiles - yes they were selling hognose
snakes but also were selling ball pythons.

Davinci Boas and not a single BP in sight.

The inevitable jewelry tables, you find them at gun shows too.

It seemed the jewelry was selling.

I wonder if related to the Susquhanna Hat Company?
Anyway, yes they were selling BPs too.

Not a BP in sight but plenty of turtles.

Bring us a shrubbery! Well not shrubbery but
certainly plenty of wood for sale at Sun Pet LTD.

Suffolk Selects and yes that means ball pythons. Mind you,
not Suffolk County Long island but Suffolk, VA.

Hot Box Incubators. Speaking of hot, I wonder if
it was the silhouette on the sign or something else but
something surely seemed to draw the guys to that table.

While I should probably throw in a hulk at this point, all I
can offer is Hulker Herps and at least he is not holding a BP.

The obligatory shirt display.

A nice Honduran Milk Snake.

I really wanted to buy a book from him
but he was out of hard covers.

Some kind of monitor lizards.

Yes, more of the never ending parade of ball pythons.

Really, I asked her to smile for the camera. Then what does
she do? She smiles and turns her face away (still smiling)! 
Maybe she had a buyer for one of the BPs they were selling.

PC Reptiles and for some reason I do not think
that PC stands for politically correct. He was selling boas
and ball pythons and maybe some other types of snakes.

Likely at peace with himself because he was not selling BPs.

A table with a truly good variety of snakes and with
an apparent happy customer shelling out his cash.

Love these guys.

Reptilite Calcium Substrate.

Scherer Serpents and yes those are ball pythons for sale.

Josh's Frogs and oh how I wanted to buy four of these:
http://www.joshsfrogs.com/dendrobates-leucomelas-1995.html
but I somehow missed seeing their table on day one and was
just about penniless on day two of the expo.

 

Guess what they are selling at Gulf Coast Reptiles.
If you guessed BPs then buy yourself a cigar (only
if eighteen years old or older please).

Loxahatchee Herp Hatchery. While it may
be a bit hard to say it really fast three times,
I bet it is easy to guess they were selling BPs.

Mike Bell reptiles and yes, they too were selling BPs.

LLL Reptile, I think out of California. They sold both
herps and herp supplies at the show. They had a
pretty big variety as opposed to most dealers.

Yes, I am forcing you to trudge on by even more BPs.

But will reward you with the stunning
beauty of this Green Tree Python

Another rather large Sulcatta (Spur Thigh Tortoise)
of which there were many more than I would have
expected up for sale at this expo. Then again it was
in FL and they would be easier to keep there than NY. 

Suncoast Herpetology and not a BP in sight.

My favorite bookseller. He put a book up for auction that
had a note on it saying he would inscribe and autograph it.
The high bidder never claimed it. I had a couple of bids on it.
I grabbed it at the end of the night and paid my high bid for it.

Incredible that yet another dealer had at least some
ball pythons for sale but believe me it was true.

I don't know about anyone else but
I was not all that wowed by their prices.

Vision Rack Systems.

Wow, corn snakes and only corn snakes.

Turtles and tortoises for sale.

Star Tortoises.

 

 

Kind of got me hungry, I think I went and got
myself a hotdog after I saw this display.

Suncoast Herpetological from the other side
 of their table and still not a ball python in sight.

TSK Supply.

Where do all the breeders go,
now you know, now you know!
Yes, of course, they too are selling ball pythons.

Whadda mean have we got substrate, ain't you got eyes!

Underground herps. That lady sure looks like something
at another table is singing her the Siren's song.

Give these men a cupie doll, all geckos and not a BP in sight.

Reptile Industries had some nice turtles and tortoises,
even had young Russian Torts but not baby Russians.
They also had the only Chinese Box Turtles I saw at the show.

There was only one vendor selling terrarium plants
that I saw at the expo and I was looking too.

As I said above, there were a few gecko dealers
and  Big Fat geckos was one of them.

You may not believe it but yes that is a ball python
she is examining. It was amazing how little interest they
seemed to generate considering there were so many for sale.

Our friends from Zoo Med.

Reptile Basics looked to be selling some advanced accessories.

Frozen rodents, they were making business.

Another lonely and apparently bored ball python vendor.
They had some excellent animals on display but not much
business at least when I took this photo.
 

Yet more ball pythons for sale. I felt like a dizzy bee
by this time, for some reason that eludes me.

Wow, someone specializing in boa constrictors, what a relief.

Interesting looking turtles but I have no clue as to
what kind. Ask Harry F, he may know. no, he was
not at the show but he sure knows turtles.

Yes folks, yet another ball python specialist..

Snakes At Sunset, doesn't that just hit you with a hint of
romance a lot like a pit viper might tag your leg on a
moonlit night while strolling barefoot with a loved one.

I picked up two of these map turtles and as could be
expected neglected to ask what was the exact species.
I took the one with the aberrant head markings
(center) and one of the others. Impulse buy, you bet.

In case you think I smuggled my herps back on the plane,
like I easily could have when I was employed as a
federal agent (not that I ever did anything even likle that),
I used Ship Your Reptiles to issue a label for Fed Ex. They are
preapproved by Fed Ex to allow shipping reptiles via their labels.



Mom: "Watch out sweetheart, they bite."
Little girl: "I like it a lot mommy, even if it is a slimy
horned frog and it bites. At least it's not one of those
yucky ball pythons that everyone else is selling!"



Oh come on dad, not more ball pythons. I want one of
those frogs that that girl's mom bought her. I promise to
take care of it. Really dad. I'll take good care of it. 

As you can see, I ended the photo display with words that are all too often believed by parents buying their kids a pet reptile or amphibian (or any pet for that matter) - "I'll take good care of it". It amazes me how many parents fall for that one. The more responsible among them monitoring and nurturing their children to become responsible herp keepers, some maybe even of them taking over in the pet care department if their son or daughter loses all interest and others just not giving a damn and acting as if a live animal was a disposable pet to be released into the toilet bowl. Is there a reason I bring this up? Well, a you can see from the photos, there were lots of kids at the expo and you can bet a good number of herps bought for them by their parents. This is just a reminder though, that if you are one of those parents who buy a reptile or amphibian for your child, you have to expect to become the main caregiver for it, especially when younger children are involved. Don't ever forget that and don't buy on impulse. Research a bit first and buy with knowledge as your basis for the choice of herps you purchase. It will be much more of an enjoyable experience for you and your children and much better for the herps.

 

My final thoughts on attending the 2013 National Breeders' Reptile Expo: I, the great procrastinator, am very happy I finally made the trip. While I had some small amount of disappointment, because of it being smaller than expected and because it truly seemed to lack variety by way of in great part seeming to be a ball python showcase, I still enjoyed myself. In recent years I have gone back to my childhood regarding herps. My first pet was a red eared slider and I have never given up my love for turtles and tortoises, ever since, so long ago (take my word for it, it was long ago). As the years progressed, I kept many more snakes and lizards than chelonia for quite the while - sometimes no turtles or tortoises at all. Lately though, I have reverted back to my beginnings in herp keeping. With my most recent purchases included, I now have 5 water turtles and 10 tortoises. I have some crested geckos, a mossy gecko and 3 adult bearded dragons too. I would have zero snakes except for the fact that on some unfathomable impulse I bid on those two ball pythons that I picked up during the auction at the hotel across from the expo. How ironic, me bidding on ball pythons! Anyone interested in them? If so, I will offer them at a good price, local sales only, first come first serve to LIHS members. Oh well, I am much more into turtles and tortoises than I have been for years and in that department this expo was very good to excellent even though I did not pick up my prime targets of a few Chinese Box Turtles nor any baby Russian Tortoises. Four Redfoot Tortoises and two Map Turtles and those two ball pythons (rolling my eyes) will have to do. That my reptiles made it home alive and in excellent shape was also a plus, shipped with that Ship Your Reptiles issued label via Fed Ex. So, yes, I enjoyed it all and it was made so much more enjoyable by meeting new people and by getting to see some old friends, LIHS members, in action at my dream herp show.

 

In closing, let me just add that  hope you enjoyed this post, it took an awful lot of hours to put together for you. I'll proofread it later and make corrections as necessary. Right now I have got to find something else to do, I have been at this all day long.

 

All the best,

Glenn B