We visited our first reptile show on Sunday (26 September 2010) - The International Herpetological Society show at The Dome in Doncaster UK.
With excitement, we went on a Saturday night for a night at High Melton, near Doncaster. Arrival in almost 1:00, it was a long day. We were up early on Sunday morning and in the wings, we were going to go to a room full of reptiles and other critters for sale. It was very exciting.
We arrived later than we wanted to be, and although the queue was massive circular. We waited patiently for a little more than half an hour, and we were finally in! For the first minute or so, we stood with his mouth open, curious at the tables outside in front of us, full of reptiles in search of new homes.
Once we got our tongues back in our mouths, we started moving the tables - there were snakes, lizards, invertebrates and equipment, all at good prices! We smiled, excited when we saw what we have. Everywhere we turned were critters that has our eye! Far too many bearded dragons and leopard geckos and corn snakes for our taste galore. It's a shame - we could not afford to buy them all and were looking for something different to Critterish Allsorts customers.
As we walked around, we noticed that there is an exotic mammals section above. OMG! We ventured upstairs. A tiny room with tables full of furry little creatures that fed memorable as lemmings and pygmy hedgehog - especially the cinnacot, but with a price tag of 125 it was way out of our price range.
Back in the hall, we were amazed at some of the animals we saw. A breeding pair of albino gopher snakes, which were stunning, some amazing insects but most clearly a file snake - an incredible animal with very rough scales and an almost triangular shape. I kept it short and it was amazing, I fell in love. They are incredibly hard to find, and this one was not for sale, but I have my name down to be notified when they have available.
There was python morphs available at prices from 1500 to the top! We had been around the room twice, as I said to my wife: "We must begin to miss buying stuff now or we start." We came up with a table full of milk snakes and king snakes (babies) - this was where we chose our first order - Queenie, our Chihuahua Mountain Kingsnake. Smiling and revels in their beauty. We sat in the hall, looking at the tables, considering our options. We looked at and dealt with many critters, finally comes to a table with all sorts of creatures - baby geckos, baby snakes, turtles, amphibians. My wife noticed a baby corn snake - even though we had not said more corn snakes (we had 2), this time was a "reject" marked and priced as a give away, just caress. She was beautiful, but had a slight genetic defect - a bent spine, not for breeding. Now we have a look at Ivy from her chest and could not resist - we would her a loving home. At the same table, I discovered the axolotl - I have one since you looked at Chester Zoo wanted as a child on a school trip! I bought them both!
So now we had 4 new animals. I had the giant prickly stick insects spotted before. There was also milk snakes at this table and we really feel like a milk snake - problem is that babies are very fast and shy and could not be removed. Well we stopped and had another look at the stick insects. They were interesting and great to not only one-third the size grow to mention it would be! They were so cheaply priced that it was not worth to say no! An interesting addition to our menagerie!
We continued, and that was when we, what was on that, our tangerine Honduran milk snake is happening. A gorgeous orange and black banded reptile with an amazing temperament. He was too strong for us, price, and my wife thought fit a crested gecko would make us better. The guy would not move on its price and so we set out for a drink and some lunch. We sat with our friends Gary and Lisa Gr8 Reps We compared purchases and congratulated each other on new critters. Then about an hour later we returned to the hall and prices began to fall.
We are always on the table with the milk snake, and he said to always come back later and we'll see what we can do. We went back 3 or 4 times, unable to decide what we do with our last bit of money! Finally, we succeeded in the milk snake in such a knockdown price that we get in a position were to get a crested gecko - and despite the fact that no body would Crested Gecko Prices range we have managed to get, that too at an absolute steal :)
If you have a budget to go to one of these shows and do your research. You must know what you want, but you also need to know how to care for, house and feed the creatures you want. Can you do it everything it needs? If you can not provide an animal with everything it needs to live a healthy and comfortable life, then please do not buy it - only buy if they can give him, keep in mind that these animals for 10-20 years of life, after you have purchased it. You need your love, your commitment, your attention, your care, your money and necessary vet care in their times of need.
Our journey home was full of smiles and excited conversation about our new living thing - and we called each! It was a great fun adventure that I am that we repeat in the future for sure!
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