A Day in Daytona

So after all that moving madness My Guy and I are in Fla to visit his family and to attend the Reptile Breeder's Expo in Daytona. We walked into a convention center chock full of reptiles: lizards, turtles, tortoises, snakes, more snakes, tiny frogs, big frogs, chameleons, geckos, and much more including the things they love to eat (crickets, worms and grubs etc.). There was even a tarantuala vendor. There were beautiful critters and lots of interesting people watching (all kinds of people are into reptiles.).

We did not go to the venomous expo b/c it was 18 and over (which would exclude M and J) and they had this crazy suspicious waiver you had to sign, giving one the impression that poisonous vipers were going to drop on your head from the ceiling.

Pictures that follow are not from the expo, they are ganked from others who take reptile pictures. I, as usual, forgot my camera. *slaps forehead!*

My Guy commented that this expo was "snake heavy."
He was sorely, sorely tempted to buy a pair of big healthy red footed tortoises


(from http://nytts.org)
But decided not to.

His brother, M, bought a leopard gecko

(from http://www.proexotics.com)

and a bearded dragon

(from http://www.dragonsbynature.com)

His sister, J, wanted some tree frogs

(from http://www.ultimatereptiles.com.au)

After a few hours, I started coming down with the reptile fever myself. Most of the vendors were selling lots and lots of tiny babies. Adorable tiny little babies. The frogs were the size of a thumbnail. The tortoises were smaller than a bar of soap. The snakes were tiny, they fit in a 6oz humus container. (Trouble is, they get big. Some of them get really big.)

I started to covet:
the dart frog

(from http://jrscience.wcp.muohio.edu)

the leopard tortoise

(from http://www.eastbayvivarium.com)

the spider tortoise

(from http://www.eastbayvivarium.com)

the gecko

(from http://kingsnake.com)

the california king snake

(from http://wildliferescue.com)

the corn snake

(from http://www.junglebabies.com)

Clearly, my packrat covetous nature could get me into all sorts of trouble. I wanted them all and more than one of each. (The tubs with ten small bearded dragons were sooo cute. They chill out together and will all turn to look at you as a group.)

Cooler heads prevailed. I barely manage to clean the litterbox and have neglected all my plants to the point of severe wiltage. I am not ready for the exotic pets. Yet.