NARBC Oct 8 2011 Coverage.

Now to use my blog for something that, surprisingly, I have never used it for before: Covering a local animal-related event. Every year, the North American Reptile Breeders Conference (and Trade Show) comes to Tinley Park, a slightly richer suburb than my own. I usually spend way too much money there. This time I got off easy with a new cage setup.


WARNING: THIS POST IS VERY, VERY PIC-HEAVY.



Right outside the convention hall, much to my surprise, was Bubba, the world's tamest alligator. He supposedly takes commands from his owner, which I have yet to see, but remains super-calm around people regardless. This is not the first time I have seen Bubba; we first met in, of all things, a summer school course. He comes to ReptileFest from time to time, too. I could have sworn he died a while back; after clicking around, maybe Lucky the alligator took his place. Still about as peaceful as an alligator can possibly be.

No sooner did I start prowling the floor when I found a baby snake to squee at.  This little fellow is a Ladder Rat Snake, a type of snake native to France and Italy. They were 125 apiece. I don't have a snake from Europe, yet; wouldn't it be neat to have a snake from 6/7 continents, then track the lore that goes with them?

Of course, this was not just a snake convention. They had frogs, turtles, lizards, albino Woopers axoltols, and probably a few newts that I missed.




For the non-snake people, here's a table with leo geckos. That's a lotta leos! They had every color and pattern of Leopard Gecko out on display. Some went into the thousands of dollars if they had a few good genes in them. Ball pythons are still more expensive...

...yeah. Like that. This is one of the more outstanding morphs, mind, and others were still pricier. There was a ball python there called a 'sugar' that had just the slightest hint of speckling on his skin. That was the morph. It cost 400 bucks.

Hypo Burmese Pythons. They look like the kind that, if bred together, can produce 15 feet of pure white, scaly awesomeness. I'd want them IF I could handle a Burm at this point.



SHIROHEBI! Well, sort of. The Iwakuni Shirohebi cannot be taken out of that particular area; this is a male Kunisir albino Japanese Rat Snake alongside a potential het mate.



These stripes should look familiar if you follow my deviantART account! They belong to the Thai bamboo rat snake above, simply called "coxi" in shorthand.



I love albino retics!  Alas, as with Burms, monetary constraints suck.



You would NEVER guess this guy was a cobra if his sign didn't say so.




"Hello, ol' chap. If you let me out of this little plastic cup, I could save you lots of money on car insurance!"

More where that came from. Hope to take more next year, when I will HOPEFULLY have my own money.